FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Warning! This story contains some unpleasant subject matter and a rape scene. If this offends you, please do not read. Also, this story (as can be told by the length) is not just a 'fap piece'- if you want something short with mindless sexings, go try chapter 1 of Reign of the Dragon King. :)

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Late in the 21st century GeneWarp introduced a new weapon for the United States military. 'Beasts', a breed of genetically engineered super soldiers. Fast, strong, smart.. unlike weapons of the past, these didn't rely on human hands to guide them.

Initially there were two breeds, Wolves and Tigers, but they quickly expanded their lines to cover more species, focusing on the strengths of each of the 'core' animals.

Later, they realized the private sector had a large market, and created a new line of 'designer pet' for private purchasers, as well as domestic worker versions for a lower cost workforce.

Legally these 'Beasts' were classified as property, not human nor animal, leading to no regulations as to how they had to be treated or what you could do with them.

Chapter 1

Lancaster, CA

"Scheiße.." The wolf growled returning from his patrol, soaked despite the trench coat he wore. He tossed the coat aside and shook the water from his fur before returning to his desk to make his report. So far the storm had kept the night fairly quiet, the only exception was a could kids who had hopped the fence to try and steal a car.. one left with a broken arm and the other with soiled trousers. There was also the woman though, she confused him.

Across the street she sat on a bus bench in the rain, ignoring every bus that passed by.. just staring at the dealership. He suspected she was casing the place, or perhaps watching him. He glanced at the clock, 12:07 AM. He noted the time in his report 'Patrol quiet. Mysterious woman still present across street.' There was still one more bus for the night, so for now he would wait.

He turned on the news stream, listening for a moment to some environmentalist rant about 'global cooling' and a reporter arguing that 80 years ago they were crying 'global warming'. Neither mattered much to him though, he wanted news of the war so he changed stations.

"These 'beasts', do they really save our soldiers lives?" The speaker on the new station caught his interest. "No, and they won't until we pull all human soldiers off of the front lines! But we can't do that, because we can't have our entire fighting force being animals. Just this morning an assault team was evacuated from Tucson with only one casualty.. one entirely avoidable casualty!

"One of the team's 3 Wolves was shot and unable to make it to the evacuation point, and one of our soldiers ignored a direct order from his superior in order to get this animal to safety. The soldier, who's name hasn't been released yet, was critically injured in the process and died on the transport back out.

"Now they're calling him a 'hero', and saying he's going to be posthumously awarded the Purple Heart with a commendation for valor... social media is exploding with calls for the Medal of Honor. That's BULLSH-"

He'd heard enough and changed the station again, finding actual news of the war itself. Tucson was still a hot battleground, but reports indicated that the US was finally gaining ground on retaking it, the Cartel was being pushed out of San Diego.. it seems their initial surge from advanced weapons was finally giving way to the US' superior numbers and training. The increased presence of Beasts didn't hurt, either. Not for the first time, he wished he could be on the front lines.

His attention returned to the woman on the bus bench, now sitting with her head in her lap. The last bus of the night arriving and departing, leaving the woman behind. He looked to the clock and growled. She'd been there more than four hours now, paying no heed to any of the buses.. she didn't look like an agent or a thief.. but she had to be up to something, so he grabbed his flashlight and trench coat and stalked out of the office in to the pouring rain and across the street.

"That was the last bus." He growled "So what are you after? Casing the dealership or looking for someone?"

"Huh..?" The woman looked up at him,her voice was hoarse and her makeup run as if she had been crying. She regarded him with a certain amount of surprise and fear, but no real concern. "I'm sorry... I just.. I had to get out, and had no where to go... walked until I couldn't walk anymore.. ended up here and sat... kept hoping to wake up and find it was all a bad dream."

"You expect me to believe that you just went for a walkabout,and ended up on the bench right across the street from my post for more than four hours?"

".. wasn't like I just decided to go for a walk..."

"I know it wasn't the beautiful weather that brought you out."

"My fiance was killed in battle this morning, OK?!" She snapped, "So sorry for inconveniencing you by sitting on a fucking park bench because I couldn't stand being in our apartment all alone, surrounded by his things."

"Scheiße. I'm sorry.. Was he a soldier?"

"Yeah, Army.. deployed in Arizona."

"I see. If you want, you can come in out of the rain." He gestured back at the dealership's office "It's warm and dry, and there's a coffee machine."

"Go from accusing me of casing the joint, to offering me coffee?" She gave him an odd look.

"I'm sorry, forget it.."

"No... you couldn't have known." She shook her head. "I'm sure I seemed suspicious... if you'll have me, I wouldn't mind getting out of this rain, especially since this isn't exactly the best side of town."

"Sure isn't." The wold nodded, he wasn't sure what it was about this woman, or why he trusted her.. but there was something. Besides which, he knew the boss would want to help her. "Come on."

"Thank you... I don't mean to pry, but I thought your kind wasn't allowed to hold jobs?"

"The boss worked around that with a technical loop hole. It's not a job, I'm a 'guard dog'."

".. huh. Do you get paid?"

"Officially? no. Rent is paid, and I am provided a monthly stipend to cover the rest."

"You have it better than most then.. unpaid 'disposable' soldiers, or slaves..."

"Yeah, I got lucky here." He nodded as he held the office door open for her. "So, if you're going to be here a while, want to at least till me your name?"

"Rain, Rain Emerson."

"A pleasure fräulein Emerson." He tossed his coat aside and shook the water from his fur. "I am Adolph."

"Huh, are you German?"

"No, just formerly owned by a German bitch."

"I see." She settled in to one of the sofas for customers.

"I am curious, was your fiance the one I heard about on the news earlier? Lost his life saving one of his team's Wolves."

"Yeah.. that's Anthony." She gave a sad smile. "He refused to see them as 'tools'.. always said there was a point in history when he would have been considered property or second class at best.. one of the last things he said was telling his squad-mate that not that long ago it would have been him considered 'expendable'."

"I'm sorry for your loss, it sounds like he was a good man."

"He was."

"World needs more people like that."

"Problem is.. the real world, heroes die."

"True." He nodded. "They stand for what they believe in though, and make their voice heard.. and they wake the world to the injustices they ignore and inspire others to rise."

"But they'll never see the impact they had."

"No they won't, but that does not mean their impact is meaningless." He let out a sigh. "The price of war is blood, and everyone but the leaders pay. I am sorry your fiance fell, but her fell a hero.. to the people and to my kind, even though I suspect the Wolf he saved would gladly trade places."

"Why?"

"Simple, we have no families to return to. We are created in a lab, trained for one purpose from the day we are born.. military Beasts live in barracks when not deployed. That, and we Wolves are pack animals.. we live for our pack, we would die for our pack."

"Do you have a pack?"

".. not really. I did once though."

"What happened?"

"I.." He hesitated, looking down. "I had to remove myself from the pack, to make life better for the rest."

"I see..." Her voice made it clear she didn't, but that she didn't want to push it. "So.. you're not going to get in trouble for having me in here, are you?"

"Probably not." He chuckled, thankful for the subject change. "Boss wouldn't want you out there on the street alone, he's one of those people who is just genuinely too nice for the real world but somehow makes it work."

"That's rare.. most just get ripped off and end up jaded."

"Indeed." He glanced to the clock, 12:50 "I need to go make my patrol of the lot. I should be back in about fifteen minutes."

"OK. Thank you again."

He nodded to her, pulling his trench coat on before leaving the office in to the slowing rain. As he walked the lot, checking the cars and the fence, his mind wandered, dwelling at the time on Rain. He told himself it didn't matter, that he would never see her again after this night, and that would be for the better for everyone.. but still, he liked her. She had a pleasant scent with hints of jasmine and she was quite pleasing to the eye.. long hair black as his fur and smooth skin of a pale brown on what he considered a nearly perfect body.

He let himself daydream while going about his patrol on autopilot, knowing nothing would ever come of it. When he reached the office again, he realized he didn't remember any of the the patrol, just a little impossible fantasy world. He took his coat off looking over at Rain and smiled, finding her asleep on the couch. Settling at the desk to write his report he glanced at the clock, 01:04. He noted the time 'Patrol quiet. Mysterious woman no longer present across street.'.

The morning remained equally eventless through his patrols every hour, Rain sleeping soundly on the couch.. he figured the events of the day must have finally caught up to her so he let her sleep until after his last patrol at six. The rain had cleared, and the sun shone through the office windows as he nudged her a couple times to wake her.

"Guten morgen, fräulein sleepyhead." He chuckled as she opened her eyes. "My shift is over, so as the old saying goes.. ' you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here' unless you want to buy a car."

"Mm.. how long have I been asleep?" She stretched, standing up.

"About five hours. It's six AM."

".. sorry, didn't mean to fall asleep so long.. yesterday just kinda caught up with me."

"I figured as much, so I decided to let you sleep."

"Thank you." She smiled. "I should head home, if I can figure out how to get there from here."

"Where's home? Maybe I can help."

"L and 40th."

"That's not hard, easiest is to walk down to L and hop the 22W over to 40th."

"Uhm." She checked her pockets. ".. how far of a walk is it? I don't have bus fare."

"About 4 miles. It's not far from my apartment, or out of the way.. I can walk with you, if you like."

"That would be nice."

The morning air was crisp and cool from the night's rain, making for a pleasant, if uneventful walk home filled with idle chatter about the weather and recent developments of the city.

"Home sweet home..." Rain sighed as they reached her apartment complex. "Thank you for walking with me, Adolph."

"It was nice to have the company for most of my walk." Adolph nodded. "I don't get much."

"Shame. Maybe I will see you again?"

"Maybe?" He shrugged slightly. "Auf wiedersehen Rain."

"Goodni- morning?"

* * *

Wolf Point, MT

The man woke to the incessant buzzing of his phone, glancing briefly at the clock he grimaced, it was almost noon.

"This is Steele." He answered quietly so as not to disturb the woman sleeping next to him.

"'bout damn time you answered, Alex." The chief replied. "We've got a possible hit on your White Whale, in Lancaster of all places.."

"Adolph?"

"Yep. It's probably nothing. There's no physical evidence and the two individual's involved are not precisely the most reliable.. and their stories don't match, but one of them described him pretty accurately when describing their attacker."

"Worth checking out still, it's the first semblance of a lead we've had in about a year."

"Yeah, I figured you'd want to go talk to them. Say the word and we'll have a flight booked for you."

"I'll take the bike. You know how I feel about flying, Mike."

"It's 1500 miles Alex. That's going to take you three days to ride."

"Two, tops." He chuckled. "you know how I ride. Besides, it's probably nothing.. so I may as well enjoy the ride."

"Fine. Do you want me to prepare a team to mobilize for you?"

"No.. I'll get back to you in a couple days when I have a better feel for the situation in Lancaster."

"All right. Just don't do anything stupid Alex."

"Come on Mike, you know me..."

"That's why I'm worried."

"Hah, whatever you say 'mom'. I'll check in when I get to Lancaster."

"Have a safe ride, I'll send the report to your phone." The chief replied before ending the call.

"Hey Meg.." Alex nudged the woman next to him, tossing his phone aside. "I gotta go, work calls."

"Hm? Will you be back?"

"Probably not."

"Surely then you don't have to leave right away..?" She asked, sliding closer to him, trailing a finger down his chest.

"Mm.. I suppose I can wait a few more minutes." He leaned in to kiss her. This was how he liked his girls. Accepting that he had to move on, and enjoying their mutual pleasure.. not clinging on and begging him not to leave. Of course, a couple minutes later, leaving was the furthest thing from his mind.

Two hours later found him flying south down the highway at somewhere around a hundred, darting in and out of traffic and even screaming past cops unconcerned. His mind wandered back two years ago, a crime scene in upstate New York.

The middle aged woman had been brutally raped and torn apart, the scene made even the most jaded police officers ill, Steele found himself unable to look at the body, the smell of blood alone has almost been too much for him, and it was too much for the rest of his team.

The woman owned a number of civilian grade Beasts, all canid.. they all said the same thing. 'Mistress was kind. Mistress was good. Adolph hurt mistress. Adolph is bad.' It seemed that the woman had decided to purchase a black market military grade, probably for protection.. that was always a mistake. There was always something wrong with the ones on the black market, and she learned that the hard way.

When they finally caught up with the monster two days later in Pennsylvania it lead his team on a grand chase across the city over a day and a half, leaving only Steele himself intact, before vanishing completely from the radar. The beast, so aptly named Adolph after a murderous tyrant from the 20th century, had killed two of his team, left one paralyzed from the waist down and the fourth in a mental hospital.

Over the last two years, there had been no physical evidence to point to it at any of it's other victims across the country... now, supposedly it left someone alive who actually gave a sound description of it.. it was too good to be true, it couldn't be Adolph, but he had to look in to it. He had to be sure.

Chapter 2

Lancaster, CA

Steele cracked his back getting off his bike. Early afternoon, counting stopping to sleep it took him about 24 hours to make Lancaster, rough but worth it. He walked in to the police station to ask after an officer Barret and was directed to his desk.

"Help you sir?" The cop, presumably Barret, asked.

"Yes, I am Alexander Steele with CLAWS, you submitted a description to be checked by our database yesterday?"

"That was fast.. yeah, I did. Didn't take the kid's word too seriously though, guess maybe it was serious?"

"Probably not, that's why I'm here. We get a lot of possible hits that turn out to be nothing, so we have people like me look in to it before we call in the cavalry."

"I see." Barret nodded. "See, there were two kids.. known trouble makers but their fathers are influential so we can never pin anything on them.. they say they were just walking by this car dealership when they got jumped.. means they were probably trying to go joy riding and got caught by the security guards. One of them had his arm broken in three places, swears it was five guys that did it... the other one ranted about a 'big black werewolf'."

"Yeah, probably just a retired Marine or something and the kids wanting to appear tough."

"That's what we figure, but.. policy is whenever it could be a Beast we submit a ticket to you guys to check in to it."

"You have the contact information for the kids? I'd like to talk to them myself. As well, the dealership they were 'walking by'?"

"Was the Honda dealership on 10th. Take Sierra to K8 and head west, ya can't miss it. As for kids.. lemme see your phone, I'll transfer their information for you."

"Thanks." Steele nodded, handing his phone over.

"You're certainly thorough, Alex." The cop laughed, handing the phone back once the data was transferred. "Last guys we had out here from CLAWS just glanced at the report and told us that our witness was full of shit."

"Most of us are former military." Steele laughed. "I was a cop before joining up."

"That explains it!"

"Indeed it does. Thank you for your help Barret, I'll let you know if you need to be concerned about a crazed killing machine on the loose."

"Yeah, crazed killing machines.. not my jurisdiction."

"Heh, what is?"

".. naked chick dancing in the middle of the highway."

"Those were always fun calls."

"Until you realize she's ugly."

"Then you just get to laugh."

"True. Good luck on the investigation."

"Thanks." He headed out of the station, checking his phone. These kids looked like trouble makers, probably full of shit.

"Just doesn't add up.. can't be him. These kids don't meet his normal victims, and even then.. no way he'd let them live." He mused to himself mounting his bike. ".. check and see if the dealership has a night guard or two."

It was just a short ride to the dealership, where he headed in, having to deflect three salesmen before he even got in to the building where he asked after a managed and was directed to an office.

"Welcome to Lancaster Honda!" The manager, Patricia according to the door, greeted him. "You look like you would be interested in one of our brand new '85 Tyrants."

"Not here for a car, thanks." Steele replied, sizing the woman up. Slightly younger than he and very attractive, and a wedding ring. "My name is Agent Steele with the FBI, There was an odd report from this area the night before last, I was just wondering if you have a night guard?"

"Yeah, what happened?"

"Nothing here ma'am. I was just hoping I could talk to him and see if he saw anything?"

".. oh sure. Let me get you his phone number."

"Thank you."

"His name is Erik" She handed him a business card with a hand written number. "And there's my number too.. if you need me for anything further. Is there anything else I can do for you, Mr. Steele?"

"No, thank you ma'am." Steele nodded, heading out of the office. There would be something, aside from his rule of no married women.

A quick call to the security guard confirmed that the some kids had been prowling the yard, and he might have broken one of their arms in the scuffle. Steele saw no reason to pursue it further, he might drop by and talk to the guard in person that night, if no better opportunities arose at the local watering hole.

* * *

"What are you doing here so late, Trish?" Adolph asked as he walked in to the office, hanging his trench coat on the rack. "Someone call out?"

"No.. was something odd today I wanted to mention to you."

"Oh?"

"Guy claiming to be from the FBI came around asking about our security guard, claimed it wasn't about anything here to me, then when he called Erik he was asking about a couple kids the night before last, one with a broken arm?"

".. yeah, I broke one of their arms, I think."

"Good. Stupid punks need to learn. My concern though is he seemed interested in our security guard."

"What was his name?"

"Said it was 'Agent Steele'."

"scheiße!" He growled. ".. He's not FBI, he's CLAWS."

"CLAWS?"

"Civilian Liaisons for the Apprehension of Weaponized Species, their whole existence is hunting Beasts like me down."

"... shit."

"If he comes poking around much more, I may have to vanish... call Erik, tell him he's officially calling in sick the next few days, just in case. I'll try to let you know if I have to ghost."

"Yeah. I hope it doesn't come to that though."

"Erik probably turned him aside though.. no one it going to believe a punk kid that his arm was broken by an eight foot tall black wolf.."

"Hopefully." She chuckled. "Anyways, have a good shift, I should get home."

"Have a good night Trish. Thanks for the heads up about Steele."

"No problem. 'night."

With that Adolph found himself alone with his thoughts as Trish headed out to her car. If Steele was in Lancaster it could get very bad very quickly. The man had a vendetta and would not stop until one of them was dead. In the morning after his shift, he would make the final preparations in case he had to leave in a hurry, for now though worrying about it wouldn't solve anything.

He tuned in to the news networks to give himself a distraction, and began flipping through until something caught his interest. Talk about the second deep-space launch being prepared for December, many were calling it a waste of the country's funds.. a campaign add accusing the Democratic candidate of relations with Beasts.. An unaffiliated candidate giving a speech, that caught his interest for the moment.

"My opponents want to paint this picture of a perfect world after they're elected." The voice on the radio said, "They want you to believe in that their own little red or blue painted world that there's nothing wrong. They're treating you like a parent treats a child, and you can see it in how they talk to you, like you're too stupid to understand the realities of the world and too young to handle strong language. "Fuck. That. I am going to talk to you like adults. I'm going to tell you that there are problems. I'm going to tell you that the world won't suddenly be perfect on November 7th. I may even swear occasionally. Why do I swear? Because I am emotionally invested in what I do, and I want you to see that! "Change doesn't happen overnight, and I will be going up against the well established Political Machine trying to impede my progress every step of the way. I will do whatever it takes, even if it means personally tracking down and exposing every one of the corrupt fuckers and throwing them out the damn window until jobs get done."

Adolph chuckled as he switched channels, he might pay more heed if he could vote. He had to at least give the candidate credit though, he had the nerve to swear in his speeches.

"If you're going anywhere on foot tonight, be on your guard." The local news reporter came over the new station. "The 'Masked Mugger' is getting bolder, police are still seeking any information that leads to the capture of this individual, a private party has offered a reward of up to one million dollars for said information. Experts are speculating that this could be the work of multiple culprits, either working together or 'copy cats'. They seem to be focused in the area of Leslie Mareno Memorial Park.

"If you encounter this individual, please do not try to fight him-"

He began switching stations again, finally finding news from the front lines. San Diego was free again, the military was pushing the Cartel back down in to Mexico. Tucson was still a hot zone, but slowly the US was regaining it's hold. In Texas the Cartel held south of San Antonio but they couldn't push north, there was discussion of trying to push them further south.

The Navy and Coast Guard held the Gulf of Mexico and the bordering regions of the Pacific. Occasional strategic assaults were carried out in Mexico by the Air Force, in no small part serving to remind the Cartel that they lacked any real air power.

The government and various military heads were discussing how far too push the Cartel. Some wanted to sweep in and take Mexico from the Cartel and annex it. Adolph rather agreed with this idea, and grew tired of the same arguments being thrown back and forth, so finally turned the radio off and brought up his book, Sun Tsu's Art of War.

The night was uneventful, quiet patrols. Not even the usual hooligans were about, it made him rather uneasy when paired with Steele being in town. Finally on his Midnight patrol he heard something as he neared the office and crept up on the source.

He sniffed the air, Chinese food, a hint of jasmine.. and something familiar he couldn't quite place. The intruder wasn't even trying to mask their presence.. unless it was an attempt to seem hidden in plain sight as a delivery person.

"You are tress-" He growled, moving in to their path, because realizing who it was. ".. Rain? What are you doing here?"

"Eep.. er.. Hi Adolph." Rain stammered, almost dropping the bag she was carrying. "I.. couldn't sleep, and I wanted to thank you for being so nice the other night.. and thought you might like some lunch/dinner.. I don't even know what meal it would be?"

"Uhm.. it was nothing..?" He looked down at her, slightly confused and torn on what to do. He knew he should tell her to leave, he couldn't get her involved if things went south.. but she was nice, and besides, the sweet and sour pork smelled almost as good as she did. "Lunch would be nice."

"It was a lot more than nothing Adolph. I.. I really needed it. I needed a friend, because I don't really have any."

So you pick the absolute worst friend you could get here, good going! Adolph thought, listening to her as they walked in to the office.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't dump so much on you." She settled in to a couch, pulling carry out containers from the bag and setting them on the table. "It's just that I don't have anyone to talk to, since losing Anthony."

"No family?" He asked, settling next to her.

"Not anymore.. they were in El Paso."

"I'm sorry..." El Paso had been the Cartel's first strike, every report he heard had been bad.. the last year had not been kind to this woman.

"Top it all off, I got fired yesterday, for missing a day and then 'not being mentally present to work' yesterday.. Boss had the nerve to reprimand me for 'making excuses', too."

"What did you do?"

"Answered phones for a conglomerate of eshops." She shrugged. "Was a decent enough job, a lot of 'work friends', but wouldn't call any of them real friends, and it seems they agreed, I didn't even get a call or text from any of them asking how I was doing."

"I see."

"And you were just so nice to me... I kinda wanted to get to know you better, 'cause you seemed pretty lonely too."

"I am." He nodded. "Out of necessity though for me."

"Why?"

"I have to be ready to vanish at a moment's notice, Rain." He sighed. "I'm not sure if you recognize the differences, most don't, but I am not Civilian quality. I am military grade, was sold on the black market.. we're hunted and 'put down' when they find out about us. I slipped out of their radar about two years ago, but they may have picked me up again."

".. They want to kill you because you were sold on the black market?"

"Yep. There's no telling what kind of contamination entered my brain while in the hands of a civilian owner, or worse left to my own devices."

"God forbid you think for yourself and make decisions."

"Yep. If I were supposed too have a free will, the government would have issued me one."

"Hah, Anthony always said the same thing." She sighed, leaning against his shoulder. ".. you're warm, and .. a lot softer than I expected."

"I get that a lot." he chuckled.

"Did you ever see combat, before you were sold?"

"Nope, just training. It's easier to sell one of us before we've gone in to active duty. Report us deceased for any number of reasons and ship us out.. Shame too, to be honest. I excelled in training, I would have been quite the asset for the military."

"Do you want to go to war?"

"Fighting is what I was made for, what I was raised for. I was built to be the perfect soldier... what else would I want?"

"Freedom? The right to choose your own way in the world? Love? A family?"

"Nice things, all of them. All the more reason for me to be on the front line, defending those for others. Do I want to go die for the country that considers me an expendable piece of equipment? No. Do I want to put the fact that I was built to be a better, faster, stronger soldier with no familial ties to good use to protect the freedoms that this country offers it's citizens? Yes. Am I willing to die in the process? Yes."

"You could head south to San Diego..."

".. and be shot." He growled in disgust. "The military doesn't care, as soon as I pop up on their radar, I will be terminated."

"That's just.. wrong. You're a living being, you have no control over your past, but you have control of your future."

"According to the military, we're not really living being because we 'don't have souls'. Well, there's something more scientific about it, but that's the general intention."

"I find it hard to believe you don't have a soul."

"It's just the line they use to get around having to treat us like humans.. or hell, even like animals."

"People are fighting it though. Especially the older generations, those old enough to remember their grandparents or great grandparents talking about the days when a black man was considered second class.. or just those who have actually read their history books."

"It will take time. It took nearly two hundred years for black people to go from being slaves and property to actual full fledged citizens with all the same rights as whites."

".. well, I don't expect a Beast president any time soon...."

"Give it 220 years and maybe."

"...You read a lot don't you?"

"What else is there to do all night at a car dealership? Besides, racial segregation and slavery fascinates me."

"I can see that."

"It doesn't help that I was named after a xenophobic tyrant, responsible for the largest 'ethnic cleansing' of the 20th century."

".. Were you really named after him, or is it just coincidence."

"Supposedly, I was named Adolph because it means 'Noble Wolf'.. but I don't buy that for a minute."

"Huh.."

The night continued on much the same, idle conversation and consumption of cheap Chinese takeout, interrupted only by Adolph's patrols, until around four AM when Rain drifted to sleep on his shoulder causing him to miss his last two patrols.

Good going Adolph. He thought to himself as he watched Rain sleep. You let yourself get attached. Right when it seems Steele's caught up to you, too. They'll just use her to get to you... You're fucked.

"It's after six, time to wake up..." He nudged Rain to wake her up. "You should probably be sleeping in your bed, not on a random couch."

"Mm.. sorry.. just can't sleep at home." She stretched and tilted her neck until it popped. ".. just.. too much of Anthony. I could deal with it while he was deployed, it all reminded me of him until he came home.. but now.. .."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up.." He wrapped his arms around her as she started crying. Fucked.

"It's fine.." She buried her head in his chest. "You're right.. I shouldn't be sleeping here.."

"It's OK Rain." He saw the train wreck coming before he even said it, but he couldn't stop himself. "You're welcome here whenever you need it, even if just to sleep on the couch during my shift."

"You're too good to me." She looked up at him with a smile, despite her tear-streaked face. ".. another favor maybe? Walk me home again?"

"Sure.." He smiled, trying to annoy the nagging voice in his head. Fucked.

"Thank you."

The walk back to Rain's apartment was once again uneventful, mostly filled with idle chatter about the upcoming Olympics. Adolph found himself guessing that Steele had decided not to further pursue it after talking to Erik, still he couldn't be too sure.

"Thank you for walking me home again Adolph." Rain said with a smile as they reached her apartment building, standing on her toes to give him a quick kiss on the side of his muzzle.. and tuck something in to his shirt pocket. "Goodnight."

"Rest well, Rain." He smiled, watching her go in before checking his pocket, a folded piece of paper with her phone number on it. "So fucked..."

* * *

Steele opened one eye to glance at the clock, almost 8. He pondered going back to sleep, but he needed to write his report about the situation in Lancaster and get on the road back to Wolf Point. He sat up, looking at the naked woman laying next to him in bed, he never even got her name, but she found his 'I'm a secret agent' pickup line amusing. It was great, worked almost every time, and they almost never actually believed him.

Slipping out of bed he found his clothes and pulled his pants on before slipping out the door, barely making a sound the entire time. He finished dressing in the hall outside her apartment, and headed down stairs. There had been a little coffee shop on the corner, built in to the apartment complex, so he headed there to get breakfast.

"Hey, uh.. Paul," Steele checked the clerk's nametag while waiting for his order to come up. "Know a good way to catch the Fifteen, bypassing Barstow by chance?"

"Oh yeah, it's a bit of a detour, but it's sick man." The kid behind the counter chuckled. "So, you head up like you're gonna head to Barstow, fourteen north to Mojave and grab the fifty eight. Just past Boron there's a little road, looks like it just heads out to an old agriculture sight.. actually intersects the road up to that old fort just north of Bastow, take that north and there's a cut off that will take you down to the fifteen. Cops never bother with it, so you can just fuckin' fly out there man."

"I don't have to worry about cops, but speed is king." Steele laughed.

"Then that's your road, man." The kid handed him his order. "Enjoy."

"Thanks."

An hour later found Steele flying down an old access road, cranking up to around 150, dodging minor debris in the road with aid of the enhanced optics in his helmet. He chuckled, not long ago people were saying there was no future in Hydrogen bikes. Checking his pressure, he decided he could make it to Salt Lake before needing another tank.

Chapter 3

Rain sat in the middle of a pile of half packed boxes, wearing one of Anthony's old shirts, trying to decide what she could keep and what she had to ship off to his family.. his family who couldn't be bothered to drive down to Lancaster, and seemed to blame her for his death.. not that they ever liked her in the first place.

Between searching for a new job, dealing with Anthony's family and trying to sort and pack all of his things, Rain found herself barely hanging on to the edge of sanity, more than once she considered ending it all. Only two things kept her going: The fact that Anthony wouldn't want her to give up, and the only friend she had.

She spent more nights at the Honda dealership than she did in the apartment. It was at least friendly there, and not full of things she had to pack up.. not full of memories.. not full of hopes and dreams.

She came across the picture of her and Anthony the day he deployed.. the day he proposed.. they were going to get married when he got back from his tour. Once he had a good job and they had some savings, they'd have a kid or two.. live the American Dream that so many had fought and died for.. the dream he fought and died for.

Choking back tears she dropped the photo in the box she was keeping. There wasn't much, his parents wanted 'everything', what little she was keeping were either inconsequential items, or things they wouldn't know about.. and the ring. They only way they'd get her ring is if they pried it from her cold dead hand.

She continued sorting through Anthony's things, minor items that would seem meaningless reminding her of little things he did, or something they had done together and silly little romantic gestures.

A knock at the door brought her back to the miserable present day. Rising, she wiped the tears from her eyes as she walked over to check the peephole, it was the building manager.

"What can I do for you, Stew?" She asked with the best smile she could muster as she opened the door.

".. Wish I could say nothing, Rain." He said, handing her an envelope. "Lease holder wants you gone. Told me to throw you out, but I told them I have to give you 24 hours notice. This time tomorrow, the locks are being changed and.. well.. yeah."

".. they.. fuckin.." Rain stammered, sinking to the floor. She knew this was coming, but didn't expect it so soon, and it hit her like a ton of bricks. ".. just like that huh.. I'll gt my stuff packed.. try and figure out where I'm going to go."

"Sorry Rain.. if you find someplace to go, I can give you and your stuff a lift over there in the truck.."

"Thanks Stew.. nice to see someone cares about me."

"You've always been a good tenant." Stew smiled. "Greg and I like you, you never cause problems, no pets.. no kids.. you made our job easy. So uhm.. don't let it get out, but there's a little something from us in that envelope too.. might get you a ticket someplace too start over?"

".. Thank you."

"It's nothing.." He glanced around briefly and adjusted his tone to be more stern. "Just make sure you're out by tomorrow morning."

"Very convincing..."

"Oh, I know." He chuckled as he turned to walk away.

"Well... shit." Rain sighed, standing up and closing the door. On the positive side, she had very little that was hers. She checked the envelope, it was an official eviction notice and some cash, between that and her bank account she had enough to get about a week in a cheap hotel, if it came to that.

She moved through the apartment, packing her things while making phone calls and checking in to things online.. by early evening nothing had seemed promising. It occurred to her she had one other option though...

* * *

Adolph was finally able to relax, it had been three days since Steele showed up at the dealership, and no further sign of him since. His nights at work were quiet, except for Rain coming by to keep him company.. He kept telling himself not to get attached, that he couldn't have friends, and definitely not more, but this woman seemed to make logic fly out the window.

It was his night off, so he sat in his apartment drinking tea and cycling through the news before finally settling on a program about the proposed 'jump pad' orbiting between Earth and Luna. They were talking about sending Beasts up to build it as opposed to risking the lives of human astronauts. To an extent he agreed, but he knew that they wouldn't be equipped or trained nearly as well.

The plan was brilliant though, they would build it as a launching pad to the moon, and from there they would be able to spread across the solar system. They even had a scientist talking about his 'gravity field generator'.. most of what he was saying went over Adolph's head though.

Disinterested, he changed the channel again came to an interview with one of the political candidates, this was Nathan Brody, the independent trying to build hist campaign off of open honesty.

"One of this year's top issues, Mr. Brody," The interviewer began "is the Beasts. What are your thoughts on these 'inhuman abominations' as some call them serving in our military or even walking our streets?"

"Well Victor, that's a tough question to answer." Brody replied. "I don't think Beasts are an abomination at all. They may not be humans, but they are living breathing creatures capable of complex thought and emotion... yet so are our soldiers, and our soldiers have families to come home to, where Beasts do not. As much as I dislike the idea of sending a creature capable of rational thought to fight a war without choice, I have to say I would rather their blood than the blood of men on my hands. I would like to see how they are treated in the military improved though."

"What about the civilian version?"

"Do I want to see citizens to be able to own and do with whatever they please to a living being capable of rational thought and emotion? Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we put an end to that back in 1865?"

"We put an end to slavery th-"

"Exactly!"

"This is different."

"How?"

"They're not human."

"Didn't people use the same fucking argument for slavery back then?"

"I..." The interviewer stammered, much to Adolph's amusement, before quickly changing the subject. "What about the space program, how do you feel about the current government wasting billions upon billions of taxpayer dollars to explore space?"

"Wasting?" Brody laughed. "The world's population is above thirteen billion people. Earth has about a hundred and fifty million square kilometers of land, so do the math. That is more than eighty six fucking people per square kilometer of land, which includes the areas of the world that are uninhabitable. Current projections are saying in the next fifteen years, we'll see minimum sixteen to twenty billion people.. How long will be be until we have more people -"

Adolph's phone interrupted the politician's answer, he glanced at the ID before answering. "Hello Rain"

"Hi Adolph..." Rain sounded as she had been crying again, not a surprise with how her would-be-inlaws had been treating her. "Uhm.. can I ask a favor?"

"Anything."

"I just got evicted from my apartment.. I have to be out by tomorrow."

".. Scheiße! That was fast."

"I know." She sighed. "I hate to ask, but.. I have nowhere else to go... do you have a couch I can sleep on for a few days until I figure out what I'm doing?"

"It's not much, but it beats the gutter and you're welcome to it."

"Thank you."

"How much do you have that you need to move?"

".. not much, why?"

"If you like I can come help you move it tonight. I'm just down the street from you at 50th."

".. You don't have to do that."

"I'm just watching Brody cuss out some interviewer.."

"That's always entertaining.. If you want to head over here, I'm just about done packing. I'm in apartment 406."

"I'll see you in a few minutes then."

"See you then.."

"Last question, Mr. Brody," The sound came back on his TV when he hung up the phone. "What about your campaign slogan of 'Fuck That'?"

"It's not my slogan." Brody laughed. "It's more my supporter's slogan, but I think it fits. I'm considering adopting it, because it really does pretty well express what I stand for, and it's a lot easier to say than 'Fuck the political gameshow'."

Adolph laughed, turning his TV off, if he could vote, Brody would have his. For now though, he would focus on things he could do, like help Rain move.. in to his apartment.

Seriously, what are you getting yourself in to? He thought as he headed down stairs. Steele already got too close, you can't be bringing anyone in so close. I can't turn her away though, even though I should.

His thoughts continued to torment him for the short walk to Rain's apartment building, where he found himself stopped by the doorman.

"Hold it right there, pup." The doorman ordered as Adolph approached. "Your kind ain't allowed in here without a proper human escort, and preferably on a leash."

"I am here at the request of Ms. Emerson in 406." Adolph replied calmly, he hated taking the belittling treatment like that, but he didn't want to cause too much of a scene. "She requested manual labor to assist in moving."

".. Pup fancies himself a mover? Bullshit. Fuck off before I call animal control."

"I have a better idea.." He growled and stood up straight, towering well over a foot over the doorman. "You do your job and call Ms. Emerson and confirm she is expecting a guest."

"I.." For a moment the doorman looked like he was going to make a snide response, but thought better of it, hitting the call button for 406. ".. Ms. Emerson, are you expecting a rather.. imposing guest?"

"Yes, I am Jarvis." Rain's voice came back. "Send him up."

".. You're the boss.." The doorman buzzed the door open. "... go on up, just don't cause any trouble."

"Thank you." Adolph relaxed, heading up to Rain's apartment, ignoring the occasional glares he got from tenants he passed.

"Your 'rather imposing' guest is here." Adolph laughed as he reached Rain's apartment, finding the door open.

"Come in, make yourself comfortable." Rain called back from the kitchen. "Make yourself comfortable. Sorry about the doorman."

"It's fine." to Adolph, Rain's apartment looked like a tornado had hit it. Things were strewn about, half filled boxes sat everywhere. Cushions from the furniture were strewn about, dishes piled haphazardly in the kitchen. ".. Localized tornado, or trying to find things?"

"Little of both." Rain chuckled. "Anthony's parents own most of the stuff, and a lot of what they don't I'm not going to bother trying to move, because it can be replaced.. soo.. I'm making it hell for them when they come to get their stuff from the apartment."

"Not bad. I could throw the TV out the window, if you want."

".. tempting, but I'm not quite that vindictive."

"No defenestration?"

"No. If for no other reason than it might hurt someone."

"True. We are on the fourth floor after all."

"I'm just about done packing, just getting anything I want out of the fridge now. It's three suitcases, 1 backpack, and possibly an ice chest. If you want, I can get us a lift down to your apartment."

"As long as your bags are under two hundred a piece, I can carry it easy."

"You sure?"

"Part of my training was trekking upwards of fifty miles, or running five to ten miles, with minimum two hundred pounds of gear on my back."

"So not only are you soldiers, but pack llamas."

"Pretty much."

"Well, I think that's everything I can't live without." Rain said a few minutes later, coming out of the kitchen with an ice chest. ".. feels weird leaving the apartment.. was going to be our home for a while."

"Life tends to change our plans in the blink of an eye." He replied, picking up her bags. "All we can do is keep moving and adapt."

"Yeah, that's what happened to you, isn't it?"

"More than once, yes."

"I've been wondering something.." She locked the door behind them, looking briefly at her keyring before taking the keychain off and sticking it in her pocket. ".. you mentioned being bought off the black market and owned by a German woman, what happened to her?"

"She died." He decided to leave the exact details out for now.. that story was one he would rather forget.

"Oh.. I'm sorry."

"It's in the past."

"Right, let's look to the future. It's nicer than the past right now. In the future, like an hour in to the future, I'm making you steak for dinner. How do you like your steak?"

"Mooing."

"No really." She dropped her keys in to the box for rent checks as they left the building.

"Seriously. Meat is the absolute best raw and still warm from a fresh kill."

".. that's disgusting."

"More disgusting than several days old from a machine-killed cow, and wrapped in plastic to be shipped half way across the country in unknown conditions? If you're lucky enough to get genuine beef, not GeneMeat or other artificial products."

"Touche. It is always the real deal though, that's a concession I never made."

"GeneMeat isn't bad, the other stuff though is just disgusting."

"So I've heard." Rain nodded. "So anyways, the rarer the better.. got it. What about vegis?"

"Green stuff isn't food, green stuff is food's food." He laughed. "Like our quadrupedal cousins, we're not really all that omnivorous.."

".. So meat, meat, meat and more meat?"

"And tea."

".. Tea? Seriously? Diet like that it should be beer."

"Tea has a pleasant smell and a mild taste and offers an assortment of health benefits, and caffeine. Beer stinks, and it takes something a hell of a lot stronger to get me drunk."

".. Meat and tea. I've heard of worse diets. Not much though."

"It's a perfectly good diet for a wolf."

"Sure it is."

* * *

On reaching Adolph's apartment, the first thing Rain noticed is that it was clean, the only thing one could call 'dirty' about it was the couch was covered in black fur. The second thing she noticed was the odd layout, immediately inside the door was a low bookshelf, placed such that she almost tripped over it walking in, a short ways in there was a large light, presently off, that was pointed directly at the door. Beyond that, the only thing in the living room was the couch against the wall it shared with the bedroom, and the TV blocking the window.

"Welcome to my humble abode." Adolph set her bags down. "Mind the shelf.. it likes to trip people."

"Yeah, I noticed." She walked in to the kitchen, glancing around it to get her bearings. A knife block sat on the counter right by the entry way, though what caught her eye were the five bottles of vodka sitting on top of the fridge. ".. so, you like vodka I take it?"

"Not at all. It just has several uses. Cleans wounds, sterilizes instruments, burns well.."

"Gets you drunk."

"That's not a good thing."

"You're no fun." She laughed as she stashed items from the ice chest in to the fridge. "You lead a pretty simple life here, don't you?"

"I do. It's best if I have to move on suddenly."

"Everything has a purpose and a reason with you, doesn't it?"

"Mostly, yes."

"You haven't ever done something because it's what you wanted, not because it made sense to do?"

"I have, just not frequently."

"Like what?"

".. inviting a woman I barely know to stay at my apartment for an indeterminate amount of time?"

"Come on, there's got to be more than that!"

"Not really." Adolph shook his head. "At least none that I really wish to think about right now."

"You really haven't 'lived' much, have you?"

"Frivolity is not a luxury I can afford Rain... even if it were, I have barely been around long enough to have been considered to have 'lived'. Nine years were spent being raised and trained. Almost a year owned by the mistress, and a little over two years trying my damnedest to stay off the military's radar. Doesn't leave much chance for anything.."

".. you're ... twelve?"

"Give or take. I don't really know exactly when I was born.. I don't even really have a proper estimation as to time spent at the in training. I just now that when I was sold, the words 'nine years' were said a lot in regards to me."

"Wow, I thought you were like.. thirty or something."

"Well, we do develop far faster than humans. We reach the peak of our physical development at about ten years. Mentally, we're never allowed to be 'children', so we mature very quickly."

"Makes sense, I guess. Faster maturity means less turnaround time on soldiers."

"Exactly. If they have to, they can send us in to combat at around six."

"It just sounds wrong to think about sending children to war."

"I am no more a child than you, Rain."

".. I guess not. It's just weird."

"It is weird." He nodded. "We're another species, humans are not used to having another sentient species on this world, and initially apply the 'rules' which humans follow to us."

"Except where it's inconvenient. You know, things like .. not being property and having free will and the ability to make decisions for yourself."

"True."

"And there's little we can do, aside from hope that the powers that be wake up and realize that this shit was deemed unacceptable two hundred years ago."

"The difference is, they created us. They consider us little more than machines."

".. you're no more machine than I."

"That is a very arguable point Rain. Biologically speaking it is true, but one must ask the question if the human body is anything beyond a biological machine? Many say that what separates humans from machines is a soul, and it is widely accepted that we do not have souls."

"But there is no science that proves or disproves the existence of a soul!"

"Exactly." He gave a bitter laugh. "Their scientists say 'we didn't give them a soul, so they don't have one.' anyone tries to argue that, they get told to prove it."

"Well, soul or no.. I think you're more than a machine."

"I try."

"So... what do you do for fun, anyways?"

"Read or catch up on the news."

"What do you read?"

"Mostly history, right now I'm reading the Art of War."

"We need to expand your horizons."

"Oh?"

"Fiction! There's thousands, millions even, of books that tell entertaining stories."

"What purpose does fiction serve? It doesn't teach us anything about the past, nor does it prepare us for the future."

"It's entertaining. It doesn't have to serve a purpose."

"Frivolity."

"Is not a bad thing! Lemme see your Reader, I'll get you a classic from the library."

".. I suppose I can read it at work." Adolph handed her his Reader.

"Exactly," She brought up the library and began going through books before finding the one she wanted and 'borrowing' it to his Reader before handing it back to him. "worse case is you don't enjoy it and don't finish reading it, but this one is good. It's really popular with those who supporter your kind having rights."

".. 'Cardan's Pod' ..?" He gave her a puzzled look.

"It's old.. really old, like.. 70 years or something, but the author is kinda prophetic. It deals with genetically engineered human/animal hybrids and their lives and rights."

"Huh."

"Just give it a try, you'll be hooked."

"I'll take your word for it."

"Well, as long as you keep an open mind." She smiled, rising to head in to the kitchen. "Meanwhile, I think it's about time to make dinner?"

"I could certainly eat."

* * *

An hour later found Adolph on the couch enjoying a cup of earl gray tea, while flipping through news channels, with Rain leaning against him, drinking something that smelled heavily of alcohol 'Coke and rum' she had said, he suspected though that it was more rum than Coke, and she was on her second at least.

Polls were showing a steady increase in popularity for Brody, it was looking like for the first time since Mareno in 2016 they could get a non-party president. The Cartel surged in Tucson again, pushing the US back, though getting an unpleasant surprise as they pursued in the mountains to the north, as locals who knew the terrain supported the army. Other stories flashed by, but nothing that caught his interest.

"Anything interest you?" He asked, offering Rain the remote.

"Mm.. lesse." She took the remote and started flipping through channels until she came upon a sci-fi action movie 'Termi-Cop 3: Vengeance'. "Oooh, love this movie! 's so bad!"

".. why do you love it if it's bad?"

"'cause 's fun! See.. Th' Termi-Cop was a cop b'fore he got set up an shot to hell and like almost killed. They built this .. suit.. thing that keeps him alive an makes im like.. super killing machine. In th' first movie he goes after th' people that killed him. Th' second he stops this drug gang from takin' over LA! An' in th' third here.. he finds out that th' people that made him set him up t' be killed so they could robofy him!"

".. I see.." Adolph shook his head and chuckled. "and I think you've had a little much rum for the night."

".. maaybeee.... I need t' pee." She giggled. Standing up a little unsteadily and making her way off to the bathroom.

He laughed, picking up her drink and taking a sniff. Definitely heavy on the rum, he felt like he might get alcohol poisoning just from the scent. He suspected Rain would regret such a consumption of alcohol later, but he also understood that people often drank to forget their troubles for a time.. and troubles were something she had plenty of.

"Oooh! This scene is awesome!" She said as she can back from the bathroom and decided to settle in to his lap, snuggling in to his chest. She started to giggle watching the 'termi-cop' rip a thug's leg off and use it to bludgeon another thug.

".. Uhm.." He stated to protest, but decided against it. ".. human legs do not tear off that easily, and the victim would die in a matter of seconds between shock and blood loss. Not to mention, that seems rather brutal punishment for graffiti..."

"Don' think so much hon." She shifted to kiss him on the side of the muzzle. ".. could give you somethin' to take your mind off th' movie though.."

"I.. uh.." At first he didn't grasp what she was saying, until he caught another scent buried beneath alcohol, arousal. He would know that scent anywhere, and it appealed to him on a primal level. "I really don't think that's.. necessary."

"Maybe not.." Her hand moved to his crotch, idly tracing a fingertip over the outline of his sheath. "but it'd be fun."

"Rain.." Between her scent and the light touch of her fingers he started to swell within his sheath. A growl found it's way in to his voice betraying his lust "You.. we.. really shouldn't do this.."

"I aim to misbehave.." She grinned, kissing him squarely on the tip of the muzzle, the kind of kiss he'd only seen before in movies. Her hand found the fastening for his pants and pulled them open, finding his growing canine shaft and stroking it as it grew.

The kiss perplexed him for a moment, more in how to reciprocate, as the canine muzzle was simply not design for such things, the lack of proper lips making it difficult, so he improvised. He let out a soft groan as her soft hand slid slowly up and down the length of his shaft. He wanted to push her away, but not as much as he wanted to rip her clothes off and ravage her body. He couldn't make himself do the former, and wouldn't let himself do the latter.

As if reading his mind, rain moved her hand to her own pants, unfastening them and shifting to start tugging them down.

He let out a growl, her scent becoming irresistible, lifting her up as he stood, letting his own pants fall around his ankles as he did so, he tugged hers off and dropped them to the floor, eliciting an amused yelp from her, followed by her wrapping her legs about his waist so he could feel the moist crotch of her panties against his shaft, rubbing with each step as he carried her in to the bedroom.

Nosing in to her neck he gave her a soft nip as he lay her on the bed. His hand slid under her shirt to pull it up and off before sliding down her body to her panties, tugging them off and giving the exposed flesh a lick, making her squirm beneath him as he took in her scent and taste, his hot breath washing over her.

"Mm, careful.. might get th' wrong idea about you..." Rain looked down at him with a crooked smile as she undid her bra before reaching a hand down to stroke his ears.

He gave her another lick, letting his tongue push between her lips as it slid slowly over her flesh eliciting a soft moan before he moved back up her body, pushing her against the bed with a soft growl. Her arms wrapped about his torso as her legs hooked over his, pulling him towards her. He needed no further encouragement, lifting her up slightly as he thrust against her, trying to find her warm slit.

"Hn.. thought I was s'posed to be th' drunk one." Rains hand slid beneath him to find his shaft, stroking it and positioning it so the pointed head slid in to her. Her head tilted back with a gasp as he thrust forward, his canine member already a tight fit for her and still swelling. "Nn .. easy.. yer huge."

".. Sorry." He growled, pausing for a moment to allow her the moment to get used to his size. It had been more than two years since he'd been.. he'd forgotten how incredible it felt. He pushed old memories aside, reminding himself that this woman is different and that he didn't want to hurt her. He nipped her neck, rocking back and forth in short slow movements building speed and length with each stroke.

Her fingers dug in to his back, nails dragging across scar tissue beneath his fur. Her hips rocking to match his thrusts, each pass of his swelling knot between her lips eliciting sound of pleasure.

Panting, Adolph looked down at his mate (for the night at least), taking almost as much pleasure from her look of ecstasy as he did from from her tight passage. Sweat made her skin shine, and filled the air with her scent which only served to increase his drive. With each thrust his knot found more resistance, until he had drive it in to her a final time causing her to cry out in a mix of pain and pleasure.

His thrusting was replaced with a short quick rocking motion, the knot putting pressure in just the right places to make Rain writhe beneath him, moaning his name. He let out a growl, lifting her off the bed to get a better angle to drive against her body, watching he breasts shake with every thrust.

The hand supporting Rain dug in to her shoulder, while the other dug in to the bed, his toes curling as he felt the pressure build inside him and quickly reach the boiling point. A final thrust drove her against the bed as his cock spasmed inside of her, filling her with his seed. Panting in to his climax, his head fell against he shoulder.

"Mm.. that was.. intense." Rain kissed him a couple times, breathing heavily beneath him, still tied to him for a while. ".. th' knot 's somethin' else.. stuck here a while though..?"

"Mmm.." He nodded and nuzzled her neck, giving her a soft nip, before wrapping his arms about her and rolling over so she was on top. He knew she would be stuck there for a while longer.

She shifted slightly, letting out a soft moan as she did, getting in the most comfortable position. Placing a few idle kisses on his chest while running a hand through his fur, though it didn't take long for the alcohol to catch up with her, and her to fall asleep on top of him, still impaled on his manhood.

He ran a hand through her hair as she slept, he knew this was a mistake. He would probably pay for it in the morning, and certainly later on. For the moment though, he was happy and he wasn't going to let the past or future ruin that.

Chapter 4

Light filtering through the curtains brought Adolph awake to find Rain still asleep on top of him, though no longer tied. He stroked her hair idly, part of him wanted to get up and accomplish things, but mostly he was content to be right there for as long as Rain slept.

"Mmr.." Rain grumbled a few minutes later, stirring. Her head lifted up briefly, looking at him before she closed her eyes, sliding over on to the bed to sit up.

"Rain.. I-"

"Mm.. Shower.. coffee.." Rain interrupted him, standing up and rubbing her eyes. ".. then we'll talk."

".. alright." He watched her head off to the bathroom. She at least didn't seem mad, so he decided not to push it, and instead got up and went in search of his pants, which he seemed to recall being somewhere in the area of the couch.

In the living room, he pulled his pants back on and switched the TV off. He decided he would go down to the coffee shop on the corner to get Rain her much needed caffeine, pulling a shirt on as he left his apartment and letting his mind wander as he headed down stairs.

"Hey!" The clerk at the coffee shop yelled at him as he walked in. "Can't you read? No animals allowed!"

"Fuck you, Paul." Adolph laughed, walking up the the counter and ignoring the glares he got from the patrons who weren't used to him.

"Hey wolf-man, you're in at an odd time.." Paul chuckled "Usual, or need something with more kick?"

"Usual, a coffee and.. something that goes good with coffee?"

"What kind of coffee, man? .. wait I thought you didn't like it?"

"I don't, and I don't know. It's for a friend."

"Ah-hah. About time you got yourself a lady friend!" Paul laughed as he started making Adolph's tea. "I'll fix you up something nice for her."

".. I never said it was a woman."

"Well, wolf-man, I never pegged you for gay and you have 'fuck yeah, I got laid' written all over that fuzzy face of yours. Plus, you kinda smell like sex."

"Huh..?" He took a moment and focused on the various scents, realizing that that one had just become 'normal' so was being filtered out as he processed them. "You're an observant little shit."

"Gotta be to be a bartender."

"Yeah, but you're a coffee boy."

"For now, I'm going to school." He set Adolph's drink on the counter and started on Rain's. "What'll you do when I finally leave this coffee house and get a job serving up booze?"

"Go to your bar at eight in the evening and have you make me tea, obviously."

"Maybe a long-island iced tea."

"Huh?"

"Vodka, gin, rum, tequila, triple sec, sour mix, and coke."

"What does that have to do with tea?"

"It kinda looks like tea, kinda tastes like tea."

"I think I'll stick with the chai." Adolph chuckled, sniffing his drink, perfect as always.

"No sense of adventure." Paul set Rain's drink on the counter before getting a muffin from the case. "There you go. Coffee black as hell, strong as death and sweet as love, and a chocolate chip muffin. 'cause chicks love chocolate man."

"I'll take your word for it." Adolph chuckled. "What do I owe you?"

"Nothin' wolf-man, on the house to celebrate you finally having a lady friend.. you're too alone up there."

"Thanks.. I think."

"And Adolph.. If you need it, you know you can talk to me, right? I know they don't give you any skills or knowledge outside of war."

"Yeah Paul, thanks." Adolph nodded. For all his goofball exterior, Paul was a good man. Served in the army with one of the early Wolf packs until he lost a leg and a half, not that anyone could tell with the quality of prosthetics he had.

He made his way back up stairs, taking in the sounds and smells of the complex waking up for the morning. Showers, coffee grinding, screaming children, morning sex, engines revving in the garage, elevators droning, feet running through halls and down stairs.. he was reminded why he preferred the night shift.

Once he got back to his apartment, he set the coffee and muffin on the counter for Rain, who was still in the shower, and settled on the couch, turning the TV on to local news. The top story was another victim of the 'Masked Mugger, marking his twentieth victim. It struck Adolph as amusing that the government could pay a group to hunt someone like himself down, but they couldn't put that elite group to work taking out a real threat.

"I smell coffee.." Rain stepped out of the bathroom and walking over to the counter. ".. for me?"

"Yes, as is the muffin next to it." Adolph nodded.

"Thanks." She settled on the couch next to him, sipping the coffee. "hm. Pretty good.."

"Good." He smiled as she sat down, despite showering she still had his scent on her. "I wasn't sure so I had to trust Paul's judgment. Then again the man is never wrong about coffee or tea for people."

"The coffee shop on the corner?"

"Yeah."

"So.." Rain sipped the coffee again. "About last night..."

"I'm sorry Rain, I sh-"

"Sorry for what?" She cut him off. "I don't remember too many details of last night, but I know I was drunk, so I probably came on to you like a cat in heat."

"Uhm.." He blinked. This was not a reaction he had planned for. "Not that I'm complaining.."

"I shouldn't have gotten so drunk, and I really didn't think you would be 'interested'... but.." Rain gave him a crooked smile. "Gotta admit, what I remember was pretty good. Still kinda sore though."

".. Sorry about that." He replied, blushing beneath his fur. "I .. haven't been with many women."

"It's fine." She gave him a quick kiss on he cheek. "I'll just have to make sure I don't get plastered and decide to fuck you again... if we do it again, need to take it slower, and I wouldn't mind remembering it."

"I see..? .. actually, I'm not sure I do."

"I'm saying that it was enjoyable, silly." She smirked. "And maybe a little too soon right now.. but I wouldn't rule a 'rematch' out for the future."

"That's what I thought." He smiled, trying to ignore his mind telling him it would have been better if she'd said she hated him and stormed away.

"..which.. I gotta say.. it feels weird to think and say that. It feels odd to think at all about having a new lover after losing Anthony, even weirder to think it possible to be a Beast."

"Life likes to throw weird twists at us."

"I suppose it does."

* * *

Wolf Point, MT

Steele sat in his office, pouring over cases they had attributed to Adolph, not for the first time trying to find a pattern between them, or a connection of any sort. Twenty women, all fairly attractive, all living alone. Break in in the middle of the night, brutally rape the woman, and break her neck if the rape didn't kill her. Except the first, of course.. she was a matter of convenience that gave him the taste for dominance and murder. It all fit, except for the lack of any real evidence linking him to any but the first. Coroners confirmed it was a canine by the damage done to the victims, but that was all.

"Somethin' buggin' ya, Alex?" Murphy asked, rapping on the open door frame. The only other sane survivor from the run in with Adolph two years ago, and he was confined to a wheel chair due to irreparable spine damage, he now worked in communications.

"Hey Murph," Steele looked up, "things just don't add up, ya know? We've got this stack of nineteen rape/murders committed by a canine, but no sightings of Adolph or any remotely similar wolf in the areas... that wolf is not exactly going to blend in. I'm starting to wonder if he's even still alive..."

"Maybe he died in the fire Jezibel started?"

"No.. I saw him leave the building.."

"Maybe he was wounded and died later?"

"Possibly." He doubted it, but couldn't say why, especially not to Murphy.

"What bring this up though? Lancaster?"

"Yes.. well.. sort of. Lancaster felt like I was chasing a ghost, and I realized that it's been that way ever since Penn. I've never had anything solid to go on, just.. stories and theories."

"Giving up?"

"Not yet, Murph, not yet. Starting to consider requesting a new team though, get in the field again, chase Adolph in my down time."

"It's not a bad idea. I miss being in the field, but.. I don't have the option of returning."

"Of course, new agents think I'm old, crazy and obsessed."

"They're right."

"Shut it, you're not helping."

"There is one question though that I've never found a satisfactory answer to."

"What's that?"

"All the cases after Penn. how did he find and choose his victims?"

"It's a good question." Steele nodded. "One that no one bothered asking, because that's usually more important in figuring out who did it."

"But it might give us a place to look for him?"

"It might, it could be difficult to plot a pattern though."

"Yeah, but it beats chasing after him, always a step behind?"

"True."

"Anyways, I was actually just coming by to see if you wanted lunch? I'm headed to In'n'Out."

"Definitely, thanks."

"Double double animal style and animal fries?"

"See, that's why I don't want a new team, my old one knew me so well."

"You are a predictable creature, Alex." Murphy laughed, backing out of the office. "I'll be back in a few."

"Thanks Murph." Steele said, picking up the first of the post Pennsylvania cases, calling up the details he had on the woman's life and going over them, before picking up the next and doing the same.. this was going to take a while, but if he could establish a pattern, he might be able to get an idea of where it would happen next, which he was expecting pretty soon.

* * *

Lancaster, CA

The day had been fairly quiet, Adolph spent a good portion of the day talking to Rain and helping her look for a job, yet now it was time to head to work.. which of course meant stopping in for tea.

"You're five minutes early, wolf-man." Paul laughed as Adolph walked in. "Usual, or need a coffee for the lady friend?"

"Usual." Adolph replied.

".. OK, something's eating ya, wolf-man." Paul started on the chai. "So, I'm guessing you came in a bit early to talk, eh?"

"That obvious?"

"I know people and I know my customers. So, what's up? ... let me guess, has to do with the lady?"

"Yeah, it's a weird situation." Adolph nodded, and gave him the 'cliff's notes' version of the events leading to the night before.

"I see.." Paul nodded and set the tea on the counter as Adolph finished up the story. "So.. tragic week, she moves in with you temporarily, gets wasted and you fuck her brains out... that could go very badly.. how did she react this morning?"

"It seemed positive."

"So, no accusing you of taking advantage of her, or worse, raping her?"

"None of that."

".. so then.. I think I get it. You like her a lot, maybe you're even a bit smitten with her, and want more than friendship.. but she's coming out of a bad time, her heart still belongs to her recently deceased fiance.. so she sees you as a friend, and last night was not bad but it was a bit of a mistake?"

"That sums it up pretty well, yes." He nodded, taking a drink from his tea.

"Now you don't know what to do.." Paul scratched his chin in thought for a moment. "Well wolf-man, there's not a lot you can do. Be there for her, be a friend.. find ways to help her put the past out of her mind. She needs to go at her own pace though, it's up to her when she decides she's ready for another relationship, and if she wants said relationship to be with you."

"That's pretty much what I thought." He nodded again. "One other question, you looking for help here at all?"

"Maybe for a few hours a day, I could use a cashier at the peak times. Send her down to talk to me tomorrow, eh?"

"Thanks Paul." He put the money for the tea, as well as a good tip, on the counter as he left the coffee shop to walk to work. The sounds of the city winding down for the night kept his thoughts company. Sirens, a couple arguing in an apartment several stories up, crying children, the prostitute on the corner trying to attract a customer, gates rolling down over stores closing up.. it was nearly enough to drive him mad, he often considered heading up the coast to Oregon and finding someplace in the forest there to get away from all the noise and stink of cities. For the time though, he had a good network to keep him hidden here, he didn't want to try and rebuild that.

"Hi Erik," Adolph waved as he walked in to the office, "anything exciting last night or soo far tonight?"

"Nope, not a thing. It's been quiet.. I didn't even get a visit from your friend last night. I was sad."

".. you know about Rain?"

"Everyone does, and now we have a name too!" Erik laughed. "Adolph's got himself a girlfriend!"

"She's a friend."

"A friend, with tits."

"As well as other female parts, yes."

"You know from experience?"

"Women smell different from men."

".. you are no fun."

"And you're a pervert."

"Sticks and stones, Adolph." He laughed. "Oh, and Trish said next time your girlfriend comes over she needs to bring a box of donuts for the morning crew."

".. I'll tell her that."

"We'd also settle for a strip show caught on one or more secu-uph" He was cut off by one of the couch pillows to the face. "... you have no sense of humor."

"I think this is where one of your peers would respond with a witty comeback about your mother."

"Hah, anyways Adolph, I have a hot date with a porn star. Catch ya tomorrow."

"Have fun masturbating." He chuckled.

"Funny.. if it weren't so true." Erik laughed, shaking his head as he left.

Adolph took a moment to ensure everything was locked the way it should be, then settled at the desk to wait for his first patrol. He pulled out his Reader and brought up Art of War, then thought about it for a moment, and called up the one Rain had got for him. He blinked briefly, perplexed by a reference at the top of the first chapter and made a note to look it up sometime.

The night was a quiet one, his patrols uneventful, leaving him plenty of time to read, finishing the book before his shift ended, and spending the rest of the night pondering it, and wishing that the world really worked that way. One of the things he found most interesting was that it had been published in 2008, nearly fifty years prior to the first successful Beast being produced.

He had to admit, Rain was right on this one, and he might have to look in to more books of the sort to read.

Chapter 5

The week passed fairly uneventfully, Adolph and Rain mostly getting used to living with each other. Rain started working for Paul, just a few hours a week but it kept her busy and helped with the finances until she could find something better. Adolph was fascinated to find that genetic engineering had been a stable of 'science fiction' for over a decade, and spent his nights at work reading books ranging from 1991 to the present.

On his night off, Rain convinced him to go see a movie with her 'The Ultimates', about a group of humans with strange powers saving the world from another group of humans with strange powers. He really didn't quite understand the point of the movie, beyond watching two groups of 'meta-humans', as the movie called them, fight each other, Rain seemed to really enjoy it though.

"Come on Adolph," Rain teased, poking him in the arm as they walked home from the theater, which was a rather long walk. "how was that movie not awesome?"

"I failed to see the point of it," He shrugeed, "it seemed to me little more than an excuse for computer animated violence of impossible proportions."

".. yeah.. and?"

"Rain, I was made for violence. My training was designed to make me do thing like that in the real world."

"Huh.. I'm sorry. I didn't think of it that way." She wrapped her arms about his arm, leaning on him. "I just look at things like that as stupid entertainment."

"I don't mind. Besides, I am new to this whole entertainment thing."

"True."

He caught a scent, sniffing the air and stopping Rain. Someone was close.. someone with an adrenaline rush, and a gun unless he missed his guess. Focusing, he turned towards a shadowed alley, he could hear their heart racing.

"Just hand over the valuables.." The man stepped out of the shadows, wearing a mask of a former president and pointing a revolver at Rain. "Nice an' easy, no one gets hurt."

Adolph growled, he heard Rain's heart start pounding, the scent of her fear filling the air. The gun was a .38, possibly lethal to Rain depending on where it hit, for him it would just sting. He might be able to get it from the man, but likely not before he could fire, and probably hit her at this range.

"Just move along, little man." He growled at the mugger, "Find an easier mark."

"Lady," The mugger cocked the gun, ignoring Adolph "call your hound off and hand over your valuables before I have to mess up that pretty body with a bullet hole."

"Adolph.." Rain sounded scared, fumbling her wallet from her purse. "I'll just give him the wallet.."

"Jewels too, toots."

"You're getting nothing," Adolph cracked his shoulder, standing up to his full height. "You have two choices, walk away or pull the trigger. If I'm still standing when you pull the trigger, I will kill you."

"Call off your fuckin' hound, bitch!"

"He's not my hound." Rain snapped, the initial panic giving way and her courage bolstered by Adolph's presence.

"So be it." The mugger sighed, pulling the trigger.

Something Adolph had been trained for was personal defense, which included learning the tells of firing a gun before the trigger was pulled, this gave him the illusion of being faster than a bullet. He knocked Rain to the side, out of the path of the bullet- not quite fast enough, he caught it in his arm, that would hurt later.

Before the mugger could even realize the result of his first shot, Adolph snatched him by the arm that held the gun, spinning him to lift him up being the arm behind him until there was a satisfying pop and scream of a shoulder dislocating, quickly followed by another crack and blissful silence as he snapped the muggers neck and dropped the lifeless body to the ground.

"Let's go-" He turned to Rain, reaching to help her up, but found her already on the phone with the police, staring up at him in shock. "... I'm sorry."

He couldn't risk it, he knew he should stop Rain from completing the call, but he couldn't hurt her, so he did the only thing he could do and vanished in to the alley the mugger had come out of. He had to hop a couple of fences to get to where he could move freely through the city, by which point he heard sirens approaching where he left Rain.

Pausing a moment when he was far enough away, he tore his shirt off and used it to tie over the bullet hole in his arm. He realized he was probably going to have CLAWS coming down on Lancaster in force.. he was going to have to warn Rain, and vanish. First priority was doing something about the bullet hole through his arm, so he headed to the dealership where he kept some extra supplies.

* * *

Rain sat there in shock, staring at the dead body of the mugger. She couldn't remember what, if anything, she said to the police on the phone, all she could think of was how coldly and efficiently Adolph had executed the man, like he had planned it all. She knew he was built to kill, but he had do that as casually as one might swat a fly.

Red and blue lit up the area, and she found herself washed in the white light of a police floodlight and helped to her feet by a uniformed officer who took a statement while other cops cars arrived. It was all a blur to her, until she found herself sitting in the open back of a cop car with a cup of coffee.

"Ma'am.." A new cop walked up, this one wearing a suit and had a rather heavy accent. "My name is Detective Benedict, y' can call me Jethro though. I been in charge of tryin' to catch that mugger for the last month, this isn't exactly the endin' I'd hoped for, but.. at least he's not gonna hurt anyone else now.

"Y' gave Jenkins a statement, and I want to verify a couple things with ya, if y' don't mind?"

"..Sure."

"Y' told him y' were walkin' home from a movie with a friend?"

"That's right.." She nodded.

"An' this friend, moved with 'inhuman speed', knockin' you out of the way of the bullet, b'fore dislocatin' the mugger's shoulder and breakin' 'is neck, then vanishin' in to the shadows?"

"It was kind of a blur, but yes."

"... no where in yer statement did y' think it mighta been important to mention yer 'friend' is a Beast?"

"... I .. don't think of him that way."

".. uh-huh.. Look, let me ask ya somethin'.. do y' own him?"

"No."

".. OK, if y' don't own him, we're going to have to hunt him down and kill 'im, because we have an unowned Beast killin' a human. If y' own him, then it falls under self defense, and we write this whole thing up as closed, the Masked Mugger fucked up and mugged the wrong person. Yer 'friend' and y' are safe, other than maybe y' might have to appear in court briefly.

"So let me ask ya again.. do y' own him?"

"I.." She thought about it for a moment, and decided she didn't want to send the cops hunting after Adolph. "I miss-spoke, sorry. Yes, I own him."

"Thank y' ma'am. Y' said yer currently 'tween homes, an' stayin' with friends, that correct?"

"Yes, sir." She nodded. "I gave Leroy my phone number though."

"If y' want, I can have him drive ya to where yer stayin' right now."

"That would be nice, thank you."

"Just don't skip town, might need t' follow up." Jethro added, before turning to call one of the uniformed officers over.

Rain directed the cop to her old apartment complex, and gave the doorman a line about needing to pay her last month's rent to be able to get in to the complex and wait for the cop to leave. She leaned against a wall and sank to the floor, pulling her phone out, staring at it as if it would hold the answers. She hated to admit it, but she was scared of Adolph.. When he had looked down at her she could tell he felt betrayed.

* * *

Wolf Point, MT

Steele tried to ignore the buzzing his phone, far more focused on the beautiful woman beneath him. Whoever it was though, was highly impatient, this was the fourth time they had called in ten minutes. It buzzed again so he finally reached for it, grumbling and ignoring the girl's plea to leave it.

"Sorry beautiful, if they call this much it's probably life or death." He checked the caller ID before answering. "This better be dire Murph, 'cause I'm balls deep in beautiful girl right now.."

"It's Adolph, DNA confirmed." Murphy replied. "Fuckin' Lancaster. Last seen about 3 hours ago."

"Lancaster?!" He dislodged himself from the girls embrace and tangle of blankets and started looking for his pants. "If you're dicking with me Murph, I will shoot you."

"Dead serious, Alex. The BlackHawk is warmed up and waiting on you. The Alphas will be diverted to Lancaster and be there tomorrow.."

".. Shit. I'll be on my way in two minutes."

"I'll fill you in when you get here."

"Thanks Murph." He hung up the phone, buttoning his pants and pulling his shirt on. "Sorry Jessica, I have to go."

"But.."

"Remember when I told you I was a secret agent?"

".. yeah..?"

"It wasn't a pickup line. I really am, there's a serial rapist and murderer I've been hunting for two years, and he just turned up."

".. If you don't like me you could just say so.." The girl looked like she was about to cry.

"Look hon, I do like you. You're beautiful, fun and great in bed." Well, it was mostly true. "I'm not making this up, I wish I could stay but.. this bastard is slippery, it's the first time we've had a confirmed appearance in two years, it was three hours ago in California."

"OK..." It seemed she still didn't believe him, but he didn't have the time to worry about that.

"Maybe I'll see you when I get back, eh?" He gave her a quick kiss before heading out the door. As soon as he got out of her apartment he ran for the parking lot. His mind went back to the last time he had seen Adolph..

Tomahawk and Jacobs were already dead. He, Murphy and Jezibel pursued him in too an abandoned apartment complex. It had been vacant for a long time and was practically falling apart. The wolf lead them on a merry chase through the dark building, moving in and out of shadows and tormenting them, it didn't take long until he got them split up. Jezibel had fallen through the floor, and a staircase had collapsed on him, leaving Murphy alone pursing the beast.

As he tried to find a way up after Murphy, he heard Jezibel muttering 'all dead.. avenge them all..' followed by the creak of the weapons locker over the com

"What are you doing Jez?" He had asked, scared of the answer, she hadn't quite been the same since she shot Tomahawk.

"Alex!" The reply came "You're alive.. I thought it got you.. like everyone else.. I'm going to make sure it doesn't get anyone else.. hee.. Incendiary!"

"Jez.. don't do that.." He started to run for the exit. "Murph, get out. Abandon pursuit."

"Murph's dead..." Jezibel replied, he could hear her prepping the RPG. "They're all dead.."

"Jezibel.. Murphys not dead. We just got split up." He recalled panicking that Murphy hadn't responded to the retreat call, later he learned that Murphy had turned his com off so Adolph couldn't hear them. "Goddamnit Murph, respond!"

"All dead.. How do I know you're not the beast.. trying to trick me.."

"Jez don-" He got out the door just in time to see Jezibel heft the RPG and fire a round in to the building, the initial burst sent a shock wave through the building and nearly knocked him on his face, there was quickly a second that sent a gout of fire flying out and through the building and set his ears ringing. He realized she must have fired it in to a propane tank or the like.

"Not enough.. not enough!" She cried, working to load a second round in the RPG.

"JEZIBEL!" He ran for her, tackling her to the ground. She was a spry little thing, and a good fighter.. they all were.. she put up one hell of a fight as he wrestled the RPG from her and finally got her in to a choke hold, keeping here there until she passed out, all the while all he could do was watch the building go up in flames and pray to see Murphy coming out.

"Murphy? Come on Murph, you've survived worse!" He tried the com again, heading towards the burning building. He saw a figure coming out of the fire, for a second he thought it was Murphy, but quickly realized it was the wolf. He drew his side arm, training it on the beast, but he hesitated on firing.. there was something in his arms. ".. Murph?"

"He lives. Barely." The wolf said, laying Murphy's limp body on the ground about twenty feet from Steele. His body was smoking, much of his fur burned off. ".. If you're going to shoot me, get it over with, else.. I'll take my leave."

"..." He stood stunned for a moment before holstering his pistol. "Not this time, wolf. Next time though."

"You're on, Steele." He coughed, turning away, and vanishing in to the night...

He reached the landing pad for the Blackhawk, rolling the bike right up the loading ramp. He barely remembered the ride across town, but he made it in record time.

"What's the situation, Murph?" He locked his bike in to a cargo port as the hatch closed and the engines roared to life, lifting the plane straight off the ground.

"It's kind of weird. Doesn't fit with any of his other killings."

"How weird?"

"He killed a mugger, and took a bullet, in defense of a woman."

".. OK, that is weird." Steele blinked, that didn't fit at all. "Any more details?"

"The woman, Rain Emerson apparently owns him, and took him with her to a movie. The mugger stopped them at gunpoint and demanded the woman's valuables, on her failing to comply he tried to shoot her.

"Adolph knocked her aside, taking the bullet instead, and .. in her words 'executed the mugger with calculated precision.' before vanishing in to the night.. apparently to avoid the police."

".. She owns him? He took a bullet for her? Are we sure this is Adolph?"

"Blood taken from the victim's body, presumed to be from the bullet wound on the killer, gives us an 82% match, they're running a few other samples to confirm."

".. 18% margin for error." Steele pondered this for a moment. ".. paired with a supposed sighting just over a week ago, it seems too coincidental."

"I thought you didn't believe in coincidence?"

"Exactly." Steele laughed, "Anyways. We've got a couple hours in the air, I'm going to get some some sleep, since I won't get much in the next couple days."

"Good call, boss."

"You aughta do the same, Murph." He stretched out on a bunk in the cargo space with a sigh. Since Adolph's second victim, he had regretted not shooting the wolf when he had the chance. He had left a few key details out of the report, and let everyone assume that he had drug Murphy to safety. Some day he would have to tell him the truth.. preferably after they had caught the bastard wolf.

* * *

Lancaster, CA

Legwork, the part of being a detective Steele didn't miss. When he got in to Lancaster he got in contact with the cop who had taken the report, who informed him the woman didn't actually own Adolph, the lazy bastard had just convinced her to say that because it was less work. She had been dropped at L and 40th and gone in to an apartment complex. Turns out she had been evicted a week ago, and last anyone saw her she was walking West on L with a wolf who mostly fit Adolph's description.

He tried calling the phone number the police had gotten, but didn't get an answer. Either it was a bogus number, or she wasn't answering, so he found himself walking down L, mostly in the hopes of seeing something that looked promising, when he found a familiar coffee shop.

".. could use some coffee anyways.." It made sense, they had good coffee so if either were in the area they would likely end up here.

"It's the speed-demon," The clerk, Paul, called as he walked in. "So how was the bypass? Is that a sick ride or what?"

"It is, not one for the inexperienced though." Steele nodded.

"Hm, you're not here to talk about killer rides though. You got something heavy weighing on you, and not much sleep. You need something strong, am I right?"

"You're good. What do you have for me?"

".. Just you wait man, it's a surprise. If you don't like it, a replacement is on the house."

"Deal." Steele laughed, pulling pictures out of his pocket and laying them on the counter. "Also, you recall either of these two coming through here at all?"

"Well, that's Rain, just hired her... why, she in some kinda trouble? If so, I had no idea.. I only hired her a couple days ago man.." Paul said, looking at the two. ".. as for the wolf, I dunno.. they all look the same to me."

"She's not in trouble yet, but I fear she's in danger. Do you have her number, or happen to know when she'll come in next?"

".. yeah, I'll get it for ya after I make this drink. She called out today, I'm not sure why.."

"Thank you." He noticed another patron staring at the picture of Adolph. "Sir, do you know this wolf?"

".. yeah, that's 317." The man replied. "Filthy fuckin' beast.. Don't see how anyone could let a creature like that live like a person.. The girl, she just appeared a few days ago, like a week or so. Dunno where, they seem friendly enough, she's probably his owner or something."

".. 317. In this building?"

"Yes sir."

".. thank you." Steele couldn't help but laugh. He'd been that close. He doubted if Adolph would still be there after last night though, he would know he'd be hunted by now.

He paid for his coffee, which was perfect, and sat down at a table. The number he'd gotten from Paul was the same as the one from the cops, so he decided to call again, no answer still. With little better to go on, he decided to enjoy his coffee before heading upstairs.

A few minutes later, he rapped on the door the 317 a couple times, and heard movement inside, but no answer at the door, so he rapped again and tested the knob which wasn't even locked.

"Hello..?" He nudged the door open, standing off to the side with his sidearm drawn. "My name is Alexander Steele, I'm here to help."

"Go away!" The voice was female and, unless he missed his guess, coming from the kitchen.

"Rain Emerson? I just want to talk, I think I can help you."

".. What do you want?"

"Your friend, Adolph.. how much do you know about him? What do you know about his past? .. I believe you're in grave danger."

"I.. I don't know.."

"Can I come in, so we can talk?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you." He holstered his weapon as he entered the apartment, seeing Rain come out of the kitchen. Though looking rather disheveled, she still had a certain beauty about her. Tall and toned like an amazon. He didn't go for darker skinned girls often, but she would definitely be an exception.. except of course for the ring.. and the fact that she's somehow involved with Adolph.

"So, what do you want?"

"To stop Adolph from killing again. I am part of an organization that hunts renegade military Beasts, and I've been hunting him for the last two years, always a step behind him when he kills."

"How many has he killed?"

"Twenty-three, counting the mugger last night and two of my team." Steele sighed. "The remaining twenty were all attractive women between twenty and forty and were all raped."

".. he.. what..?"

"Raped and murdered twenty young women over the last two years. The first was one of convenience, his owner... each following was premeditated, never leaving behind anything we could trace, so we didn't find out until days, sometimes even weeks, after."

".. How do you know it was him?"

"All similar appearance to his owner, started shortly after he dropped off the face of the earth after destroying my team, extremely carefully done showing an awareness of being hunted, damage done to the bodies were all consistent with a canine's penis... let's just say there's a lot of coincidences, and I don't believe in coincidence."

"It doesn't make sense.. he's so nice."

"You're a very odd piece to the puzzle, Rain. You don't look like his typical victim, you've been around him for a while.. and last night, he apparently took a bullet for you, which blew his cover. I'm wondering if you're exceptionally lucky, or if there's something weird happening right now."

".. I don't know.."

"What can you tell me about his actions last night?"

"He.. uhm.. he stopped me, just before the mugger came out, he knew he was there. He tried to intimidate the mugger in to leaving us be, and refused to let me give up my money and engagement ring... he told the man.. something like 'if I'm still standing when you pull that trigger, I'll kill you'.. then the guy did...

"I don't know how he moved so fast, I was on the ground before the shot even registered to me. I looked up while dialing nine one one.. and .. he had already dispatched the mugger.. it was remarkably efficient, and the look on his face was just uncaring, like he'd just swatted a fly.. then he looked down at me like I'd betrayed him and whispered 'I'm sorry' before vanishing in to the alley."

"He's a puzzling creature at times." He gave her his card. "Look, I suggest getting out of town before things get bad, because.. they will, I don't want you getting caught in the cross fire. If you see Adolph, as soon as you're safe.. call me, no matter what time it is."

"Do you really think he planned to kill me?"

".. I don't know. History says yes though."

"I see.." She looked completely lost. "I'll see about catching a train out of here today or tomorrow.. go.. somewhere.. maybe up the coast."

"Oregon is beautiful." Steele nodded. "Thank you for your help Rain."

"Yeah.. sure."

He left the apartment, his next stop was too be the Honda dealership from a week ago, there had been too many coincidences.. he was beginning to wonder if the kid had been telling the truth, and Adolph had a network to keep him hidden.. and he needed to get the locals to put eyes on the apartment, in case Adolph came back for anything.

Chapter 6

The night had been quiet.. too quiet. There had been no sign of a man hunt or even basic search for him. Adolph wasn't sure what Rain had told the police, but it must have been good.. didn't matter though, his blood was all over the mugger, CLAWS would be in Lancaster again soon, and he hoped to be gone by then.. he just wanted too grab some things from his apartment, and warn Rain to get out of town.

In a perfect world he'd take her with him.. but that wouldn't work. That would put her in needless danger, not to mention how terrified of him she looked, he wasn't sure she would even trust him again.

He made his way towards his apartment, staying mostly off the main road. As he neared, nothing seemed out of place. He could slip in the back, get to his apartment completely unseen.. yet he had a sentry in the front, so he made his way to the coffee shop.

"Hey Paul." He called walking in, still no sign of anything out of place.. other than no patrons in the coffee shop, but that might just be it being about ten in the morning on a wednesday. "Anything new?"

"Shit Adolph, you want to be scarce." Paul replied. "Some dude came in here looking for information on you and Rain.. I played dumb about you, told him you all look alike to me, but another guy.. that jackass who wears those stupid glasses all the time? Told him what apartment you lived in, and that Rain was with ya. Guy is still up stairs now."

"Sheiße! Did he give a name?"

"No, sorry.. but he was a girzzled old badass, probably mid 40s, about six foot, a few scars, dirty blonde hair, and piercing blue eyes. Definitely seasoned veteran of something, but good at hiding it."

"Steele..." He growled. Still up there, that meant he was either waiting for Adolph to come home, or Rain was there. "Is Rain home?"

"I don't know mate."

"Scheiße.. Thanks Paul. I'm going to have to ghost.."

"It's been fun, won't be the same without you around wolf-man."

"Auf wiedersehen." He slipped out of the coffee shop and found himself a spot he could watch the complex, figuring that if Steele was waiting for him, he'd eventually give up and have a sentry posted.. which would give him a few minutes.

He didn't have to wait long, Steele left the complex shortly after he got to his perch. He briefly pondered ambushing Steele, but he didn't want to do that in broad daylight.. and besides, they would only send more, anyways.

The path to the apartment was thankfully clear, it seemed that for now Steele was alone. He sniffed the door, Steele had been there, Rain was still inside... no other scents though. His biggest concern now was how to explain things to Rain.

"Rain..?" He unlocked the door and stepped in to the apartment. He caught a glint of metal coming towards him and reacted on instinct, grabbing the knife wielding arm with one hand while the other hand snapped out for the attackers neck, lifting them up and slamming them in to the wall with a deep growl, only then did he recognize his attacker.

"You fucker.." Rain cried, fighting his grip and hitting his arm with her free hand. "You were just going to kill me like all the rest. Keep me around as a plaything until you got bored with me?"

"Rain.." He let her to the ground, letting go of her neck, though keeping control of the knife. "What are saying? I would never.."

"You have!" She continued to beat on him with her free hand, and kicked him a couple times as well. "You're a rapist and a murderer and.. why th' fuck did you have to be so nice... why were you so kind to me.. why did you save me last night?!"

"... that's the past Rain. I've made mistakes, I've done things that I regret.. I've done things that society says were wrong but were the best I could do in my situation."

".. twenty women were 'mistakes you regret'!?" Her foot found it's way right between his legs, actually earning a brief wince, but pain was nothing new to him.

".. twenty? Where did you get... One Rain, one woman.. and she.. the way she treated us.. she fucking deserved it.."

"How can any woman deserve to be raped, let alone twenty, you sick fuck!?"

"One! One fucking woman." Adolph growled at her, her incoherence and wild bludgeoning finally irritating him. "I don't know where you got twenty, but I would certainly remember if I had raped twenty women. I haven't even had sex with that many women."

"The man.. .. he said twenty.."

"He lied! It was just one.."

"One still makes you a fucking rapist!"

"You want to know about rape? Do you Rain?" He didn't want to start, but it had to be said.. it had been pent up inside for years. "No, you don't want to know about a woman who kept Beasts as playthings, including one beautiful German Shepherd who's sole purpose was to pleasure the cunt's three non-anthro shepherds.

"You don't want to know about her using males as flesh and blood sex toys, torturing them if they even tied to enjoy it.. and oh heaven forbid they ejaculate! You don't want to know about her breaking the will of anything that came through her door with the use of shock collars, sexual abuse, whips, sodomy, and anything else her twisted mind could think of.

"No Rain," By the end of his tirade he was crying, for the first time in years "you're focused on the fact that the genetically engineered killing machine she bought off the black market to break, because civilian grade were no challenge anymore, proved too strong for her methods and finally snapped and used her body to sate the pent up needs she created."

"I.. uh.." Rain stared at him in stunned silence.

"So yeah. That makes me a rapist. I get it. I regret it. I wish I had the self control back then to just snap her fucking neck and be done with her.. but I didn't."

"I can't imagine.. I'm sorry Adolph."

"Yeah.. well.." He let go of her arm. "If you still want to stab me, just do it. I can't hurt you.."

Rain looked at the knife in her hand for a moment, before tossing it aside. ".. what about the others you've killed?"

".. I've killed 4 people. My owner I just explained, the mugger you saw.. The other two were members of Steele's team who were trying to kill me at the time. A third may have died, but I take no responsibility for him if he did."

".. What do we do now, Adolph?"

"Go our separate ways. I'm going to head East.. try to vanish somewhere remote for a while. I suggest you get out of Lancaster, maybe head north. There's a stash in the bottom drawer of the dresser for emergencies, take any of it you need.. if CLAWS finds you, they'll try to use you to get to me."

"I want to go with you.. I don't want to be alone again."

"Head north. If I evade capture, I'll find you. I don't want you getting hurt in the fray though, and it will be bloody."

".. I guess that will do.." She gave him a quick kiss on the muzzle. "You probably want to get out of here soon, I'm sure Steele will have the apartment under surveillance."

"I'm sure." He moved away from her and grabbed a bag he kept packed near the door. On a whim he snatched one of Rain's hair ties from the end table and wrapped it around his wrist. ".. by the way, did Steele by any chance give you a number to call him if I came back?"

"Yeah.. should I call him?"

"No, give me the number." He laughed. "I want to chat with an 'old friend'."

"All right." She gave him Steele's card. "Where should I wait for you."

"I will find you, wherever you are." He rand a clawed hand through her hair before heading out the door and up stairs, going for the roof. The front would be watched, but he doubted they would think to pay attention to the rooftops.

"Lebewohl, Rain." He whispered to himself, sniffing the hair tie. He knew he would never make it back to her. Truth be told, he barely made it out of the last encounter with CLAWS, and this would be worse. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed the number for Steele.. "Hello, Steele..."

".. Adolph?!" Steel sounded shocked. "Where did you get this number?"

"Rain.. and I don't appreciate you spreading lies about me."

"I'm sorry I don't know what you're talking about, why don't we talk about this in person?"

"Nice try Steele." Adolph laughed, taking a running jump from one rooftop to the next. "You told Rain I had raped and murdered twenty women."

".. you have."

"No.. just one."

"Bullshit." Steele snapped. "Tampa, July of 82. Montgomery, October of 82. Nashville, December 82. Champaign, January 83-"

"Stop." Adolph interrupted him with a growl. "After Scranton, I headed north. Slipped in to Canada through Lake Ontario and hid out in the forest just off the road between Toronto and Montreal. I stayed there for about a month, to heal up and moved on as locals started getting too curious about the werewolf rumors. I spent about three months traveling across the US, keeping off the radar, until I dropped off a semi truck here in Lancaster. I've been here since late September of 82.

"So if you have a serial rapist you think is me, you're sending your hounds barking up the wrong tree."

"You think that information is going to stop me from chasing you?"

"Nope." Adolph laughed.

"Then why call me?"

"I just wanted to talk to an old friend?"

"Yeah, I believe that."

"Well, if you must be all business.. I just wanted to ask you to leave Rain out of this. It's between us.. She's got no part in any of it."

".. so you care about her, huh?"

"I do."

"Like the last woman you were with?"

"Your facts are skewed on that one, Steele. You saw what you wanted to see and made the evidence fit your theory and ignored the rest."

"Yeah? And what was it really?"

".. I'm not going to tell you, because you won't believe me. You were a detective though, weren't you?"

"I was."

"Tell you what, look at the case again, I'll even give you a hint, look at the collars."

"Yeah, you killed her with a shock collar."

".. by the way, how is Murphy?"

".. wha- He's alive, wheelchair bound, but alive.. what's that got to do with anything?"

"Think about it." Adolph laughed and hung up the phone. He didn't think it would do any good, mostly he hoped to distract the detective in Steele with a puzzle. He considered discarding the phone, but decided to keep it for now, give them something to track to pull the focus away from Rain.

* * *

Steele stared at his phone for a moment, processing what Adolph had said. He wondered how true any of it was. He had to admit, things made a lot more sense if Adolph wasn't the serial rapist.. That just meant there was an intelligent, careful wolf wandering from state to state raping attractive blondes.

But what about the Syracuse case, and why did he bring up Murphy in relationship to it. So Adolph had carried Murphy out of the burning building.. what does that have to do with anything. He closed his eyes and focused for a moment, thinking back on that night on the outskirts of Scranton.

The wolf had laid Murphy on the ground, saying he was barely alive.. why? That had always bugged him, why had Adolph saved Murphy's life? If what he's saying is true, he stayed off the radar and out of trouble after that until saving Rain.

"They're trained to protect.." It was so stupidly simple it was easy to disregard. ".. but why kill his owner? Unless.. that's what he was eluding to."

"We have four kills he admits to.." He mused to himself as he made his way back to where the Blackhawk sat. He figured he could call up the case files there. "One was to protect Rain. Two he was defending himself.. He mentioned collars.. they all wore shock collars, he used one to kill his owner.. a shock collar shouldn't go that high voltage.. .. mother fucker.. he was protecting his pack. Except .. they all loved her.."

Thinking back on the case, there was something that was odd about it to him at the time, but he filed it aside. He would have to look in to it.

"Hey Alex, we got company." Murphy called over the com.

"Eh?"

"The Alphas are here, and they are requ- sorry demanding you 'get your ass here'. Their words, not mine."

"I'm on my way, Murph."

"Roger."

"Fuckin' Alphas..." Steele muttered.

The walk to the Blackhawk took about ten minutes. On arrival, Steele saw the Alphas' craft, 'Sleipnir' next to it, and the Alphas standing around looking impatient.

This was them, the supposed 'best of the best', the Alphas were an elite team, the only one to be afforded their own aircraft. There were five in total, like any other CLAWS team.

Reaper was the current leader, a tall lean man wearing a black cloak. He was a frightening combatant both melee and ranged, equipped with a hybrid rifle/sycthe. Tactically he was a simple man though, his answer to everything was 'charge'.

Anubis was the close combat master, and the longest with the Alphas. The man had undergone extensive experimental cybernetic modifications to make him physically superior to the Beasts they hunted, and had a certain Jackal appearance about himself now.

Orcus, a middle aged man, somewhat over weight and looking as if he hadn't bathed in a while, was the demolitionist. Simply put, he was just crazy. Some say he got put on the Alphas because everyone else was scared of him.

Morana, the only female of the team, was the stealth. She was remarkably plain, nothing about he stood out, though she was probably the most intelligent and level headed of the bunch, she was cold and methodical in everything she did, rumors said even love making.. she could sneak up on God himself though, if she felt like it.

Last was Thanatos, the sniper and most recent addition to the Alphas. A young man who was simply an artist with a rifle, although he looked fresh out of high school.. he was lean and in great shape, but he didn't look like someone who could actually kill. Granted, the only person to ever score higher than him on the Marksman test was Jezibel.

"About fuckin' time, old man." Reaper snapped. "Did you forget where you parked?"

"No, nothing like that." Steele smiled. "I was just doing something that you wouldn't understand. It's called 'investigation'."

"So, Mr. Detective.." Reaper growled, smacking Thanatos upside the head to stop him from snickering. "Where's this... 'brutal killing machine' that wiped out your team hiding?"

"That's what I was trying to determine." Steele maintained his composure, though he was enjoying making Reaper lose his cool. "However, since you guys are so well prepared, I'm sure you can find him and take him out without any of the information I have obtained."

"How far could it have gone in twelve hours?"

"Didn't do your homework?" Steele smirked. "A wolf maintains an average walking speed of six to seven miles an hour, and can sustain a running speed of fifteen to twenty. Adolph was an above average specimen and as of the last report from the training facility could sustain twenty five, with bursts of up to forty.

"So, for those of you who were behind in math class.. he could easily be at least two hundred and upwards of over three hundred miles in any direction."

"I do not need your sarcasm old man." Reaper snapped. "You're here because our boss thought you might have some insight on this Beast, since you have been obsessed over it for the last two years. If you're not going to say anything useful, shut the fuck up and stay out of our way."

"Try asking intelligent questions then, kiddo."

"Fuck you!" Reaper snarled, his scythe spinning from under the cloak.

"Calm yourself, Reaper." Anubis chided, stepping between Reaper and Steele. "Yours were the first barbed words thrown, and he has bested you at your own game. We would do better to not have that hot head of yours getting us in trouble."

"Fine, you deal with him." Reaper snapped, and then smacked Thanatos again. "Stop your fucking snickering you little shit."

"I apologize for Reaper's outburst, Steele." Anubis turned to him. "He is still young and impulsive."

"Thank you, Anubis." Steele nodded, he had to admit watching the man/machine hybrid move was slightly unnerving, he moved more like an animal than a human. "I have reason to believe he is still close by, but likely not for long. As well, I received a phone call from him, I suspect he will have already discarded the phone but I was going to put a trace on it anyways."

"Thanatos, get the number and begin a trace." Anubis ordered, earning a glare from Reaper. "Where does the woman Adolph apparently saved last night fall in to things?"

"Rain? I think she has no real involvement." Steele nodded, giving Thanatos the number Adolph called him from. "My best guess is she fell in to Adolph's lap so to speak, and he decided to toy with her until he grew bored with her."

"Why then would he take a bullet and risk his cover for her?"

"Good question. I would suppose his instinct is still to protect his pack, as that's what he was trained to do. In that split second instinct kicked in."

"Sound theory." Anubis nodded.

"What about her saying she owned him?" Reaper asked.

"According to the local LEOs, they convinced her to say that because it was less paperwork to write it up as a self defense."

"Hmm." Reaper pondered. "I'd still like to talk to her, see if she knows anything."

"You're welcome to. She's at Emerald Grove apartments, number 317. Though I suggested she leave town, in case Adolph came back to tie off any loose ends."

"Guys..." Thanatos returned from Sleipnir. "The phone is still on and still in Lancaster. He's headed eastbound at about twenty five, along Avenue L."

"That's not far from Rain's apartment." Steele replied.

"To or from?" Anubis asked.

"From."

"Morana, you and Anubis head to the apartment," Reaper ordered "check on the woman, if she's fine, see if she has anything useful for us. Thanatos, Orcus, you two take ground pursuit of the Beast on the bikes, Steele and I will follow from the sky."

"Try to not let him split you up, and watch for traps." Steele added. "He's a slippery one and doesn't like to fight fair, don't underestimate him."

"I believe we can handle a single Beast, Steele." Anubis replied.

"That's what we said, too." Steele replied, a touch of bitterness in his voice. "Let's move though."

"Move out." Reaper ordered, climbing in to the cockpit of Sleipnir. "Steele, grab the machine gun and keep your eyes peeled."

"Roger." Steele replied, swinging in to the gun port. "What kind of rounds this beast firing?"

"Standard issue Kill Rounds."

"Good to know." Steele nodded. Kill Rounds were a semi recent development to tactical firearms, as soon as the bullet penetrated something it would burst, dispersing the force in all directions. They were developed to make collateral damage far less likely, as they wouldn't punch through buildings, vehicles or people. As well, they dealt immense internal damage, making a smaller bullet have a lot more stopping power. "Oh Murph, I almost forgot, can you get the file for the Syracuse case loaded on the BlackHawk for me?"

".. Sure, what's up?"

"Just something I want to look at, thanks."

"Thanatos, Orcus, com check." Reaper called.

"Yo." Thanatos replied, flipping his helmet down and revving his bike.

"Present." Orcus nodded, securing something to his handlebars.

"Morana, Anubis?"

"Fuck off, Reaper." Morana snapped.

"All systems go." Anubis replied.

"You know what to do." Reaper activated the thrusters, lifting Sleipnir off and swinging to head south while calling up the tracking information on Adolph's phone.

"You've certainly got an interesting crew, Reaper." Steele said, trying to take his mind off the ground being so far below him.

"They're a tough crew to handle." Reaper nodded with a laugh. "Damn good at what they do though."

"Don't seem too fond of the whole team idea though."

"Nope. Kinda comes with the territory of being the best, tend to want all the glory for yourself. Makes me wonder about you though, why did you never request a new team?"

".. Never felt right taking on a new team before I took out the creature responsible for wiping out my last team."

"Huh, makes sense I guess. I gotta say though, I was surprised when they offered me the Alphas last year. There was a betting pool going when the news came down that Odin was retiring.. most of the money was on you, hell mine was."

"Mine was on Anubis." Steele laughed.

"You'd think.. until you seem him in combat. He's cool and collected normally, but you get him in a fight and he rages. There's no reasoning with him, there's no stopping him. Once I almost had to have Thanatos put him down."

".. Ouch."

"Yeah. I may be hot headed at times, but I know how to stand down."

"Important knowledge to have in this line- There he is, bring us in closer." He swung the gun stand around and switched on the com. "Target spotted, he just crossed the fourteen and is now running across the roof of the Costco. I'm going to try and get him to go to ground level for you two."

"Just kill the fucker." Reaper snapped, swinging Sleipnir in to give Steele a good shot.

"If I can." Steele unleashed a rain of lead in the vicinity of Adolph, narrowly missing him, but getting him to divert and predictably leap off the roof. "Target is Northbound, cutting through the park. Be advised, you will not have air support while he is in populated civilian areas."

"We can take him." Thanatos replied.

* * *

A new sound rose up from the standard din of the city coming from the North.. it sounded mechanical, like a large turbine. Adolph paused a second to find the source, it didn't take him long to spot a peculiar aircraft flying towards him. He assumed it was CLAWS coming after him.

He darted over the overpass for the freeway and veered in to the Costco parking lot, deciding to give them a good solid visual before vanishing. He leapt atop a large truck at a dead run, and from there bounded to the roof of the building, darting across it. Soon enough he found the engine sound drawing right on top of him, followed by a burst of machine gun fire.

Bullets rained down around him, creating craters in the roof and causing him to divert his course and leap from the second story roof, tucking in to a roll as he his and running in to the park.

He knew the first thing he had to do was get out of the park. Too many civilians, too much possibility for collateral damages, and that was something he couldn't risk. As he pondered where to go, he heard the approach of motorcycles and chuckled... they wanted a chase?

He took stock of his options. North and south were commercial districts, east and west were residential.. he wasn't fond of either. Commercial didn't offer him enough air cover, residential was too unpredictable. The freeway was also an option, no air cover, but they wouldn't dare unleash the machine gun in to freeway traffic, and the bikes wouldn't have the maneuverability he did. It might cause some accidents, but it still seemed the least likely to lead to collateral damage.

He darted east, running through the baseball field.. it was vacant, but he cleared it before the machine gun could properly be trained, a hail of bullets following him in to the trees where he made a quick direction change before leaping over the fence and on to the freeway, running north and ignoring the horns and screeching tires. He knew he had a moment before the bikes could swing around to get on to the freeway, so he just needed the right opening.

He spotted it, a commuter bus, and darted across a lane of traffic to get in position. Despite him running full speed, traffic still moved a lot faster, so he knew he had one shot at this.. and that it was going to hurt like hell.

The bus just a little behind him, he leaped.. his timing wasn't perfect, but he still landed on top of the bus, slamming down face first and barely managing to grab on to the emergency exit on the roof. Shaking off the impact he tore the hatch off the bus and dropped in to it, earning startled screams from the few passengers.

"Keep driving!" He snarled at the driver, moving forward and watching the mirror in case a passenger decided to do something stupid. "I don't want to hurt anyone, but I wouldn't recommend testing that.."

"Y.. yes sir." The driver stammered. ".. not paid enough for this.."

"I know.. Do what I ask, and I'll be out of your hair in just a moment."

"You're the boss."

"Good." Adolph nodded, waiting for the bikes to catch up, which didn't take long. "... Hit the breaks and open the door.."

"What?"

"DO IT!" He snarled at the driver, who complied.

The bikes went flying past the suddenly decelerating bus, as soon as it hit slow enough he jumped out, running back down the freeway against the flow of traffic and trying to get over to the southbound side.

His stunt didn't buy him enough time though, the bikes quickly gaining on him. He could evade them for a while, but eventually they would be able to hedge him in.. he had to lose them. As he pondered how to achieve that, a small object went flying past him before exploding under an oncoming car.

"Scheiße!" Adolph leaped out of the path of what was left of the car, narrowly swinging away from another oncoming car. He tried to determine what caused it when he saw one of the two bikers throw a second one, narrowly missing him, and thankfully harmlessly exploding on the side of the road.

Distracted by the flying explosives, he almost missed the second bike coming right towards him, and cracked a grin. He swung just out of the path, clothes lining the rider and grabbing the bike by the handlebars, redirecting it's momentum to send it flying in to the biker with the explosives. Granted, it might have also dislocated his shoulder but, he'd worry about that later.

His attention was brought back to the present by the sound of a truck horn and screeching tires. He glanced behind himself briefly to see a semi coming up too fast to stop, the driver probably paying more attention to the flaming wreck than the road in front of him.

Adolph snatched up the biker he had clothes lined dove out of the path of the truck, watching with rather sick satisfaction as it plowed right over the twisted wreck of two motorcycles and one explosive flinging jackass.

"You're welcome." He laughed, patting the still unconscious biker's helmet, before grabbing his com and activating it. "One down, and I'm guessing four to go. Make you a deal, Steele. Let's just forget about this whole thing, and you walk away only down one?"

"No can do, Wolf." An unfamiliar voice came over the com. "Steele's just along for the ride, and you just made it personal."

"Well, ask Steele how having a vendetta against me has gone for him.. and enjoy watching me tear your team apart, too."

"Fuck you-"

Adolph laughed, turning the com off and vaulted over the divider between the freeway directions and ran southbound until he reached the underpass where he chucked his phone in to the bed of a passing pickup before ducking in to a utility access hatch. He could already hear the emergency vehicles trying to get to the crash, and knew there would be a massive hunt for him soon enough, but he also knew the tunnels, and how to get out of the city undetected.

* * *

A knock at the door broke Rain's focus on looking for a cheap ticket 'north', trying to figure out where and how would be the best bet for her to go.

"Ms. Emerson.." A male voice called through the door. "are you in there?"

"Yes? Who's there?"

"I am an associate of Agent Steele, whom you spoke with earlier." The man replied. "May I come in?"

".. yeah, sure." She sighed, unlocking and opening the door. She started to say something more, but realized who, or what, she was speaking to and just stared. The 'man' if he could be called that was nearly as tall as Adolf, muscular in nature, and had a series of mechanical augmentations all over his body. His legs were elongated and made digitigrade, his arms had been extended as well and now ended in almost reptilian clawed 'hands'.

"You are no doubt wondering why I am here." The cyborg said, seeming to not notice her stunned expression as he walked in. "Especially seeing as you were most helpful with your information to Agent Steele earlier. This is partly a wellness check, and partly a formality, there were a few very minor and likely highly irrelevant questions we need to ask you."

"Huh..? Wellness check?"

"Yes, you see we were able to locate the Wolf you know as 'Adolph' very nearby here, fleeing eastbound. We were concerned that he had stopped here to make sure you could not provide any more information."

".. I see. No wolf here."

"I see that, and I am glad you are unharmed." He replied. "If you are not too occupied, may I ask you a few additional questions?"

"Sure, anything to help catch that monster."

"How did you meet him?"

"Not sure why that's relevant.. but.. uhm.. that morning about two weeks ago I had gotten the call that my fiance had been killed in battle, he was deployed in Tucson, and I had to get out of my apartment. So I went for a walk.. a long walk all over the city, it started raining but I was so numb I didn't even really notice.. finally some time that night I just couldn't walk anymore and I sat on a bus bench.. sat there for hours in the pouring rain.. after midnight, don't really know what time it was.. Adolph comes up to me thinking I'm casing the dealership he works security for or something.. but.. I kinda explain why I'm there and... he invites me in out of the rain... 'couple nights later I brought him Chinese food at work.."

"I see... how did you end up living in his apartment?"

".. I got evicted from mine because my fiance's parents are assholes, and he was kind the only friend I have."

"Interesting."

"Target spotted," Agent Steele's voice suddenly came over the cyborg's com, "he just crossed the fourteen and is now running across the roof of the Costco. I'm going to try and get him to go to ground level for you two."

"Just kill the fucker." A different voice replied.

"If I can." Agent Steele's voice was followed by the sound of machine gun fire before the cyborg disabled his com.

".. I thank you for your time, Ms. Emerson." The cyborg said politely. "I would ask more questions, however it appears that the situation has gotten somewhat hairy with my compatriots, and I must assist them."

".. yeah, good luck." She replied, secretly hoping for Adolph to kill the disturbing man machine hybrid.

"Thank you." The Cyborg showed himself to the door.

".. Fuck." Rain muttered, and quickly went through the house, packing what she could in a backpack. If Adolph survived the encounter, they would be back for her. If he didn't, she just didn't want to be anywhere near the city.. either way, she wanted to vanish, and fast.

She pulled out the bottom drawer in the dresser and found the cache Adolph had mentioned. It had a good amount of cash in it, as well as a small amount of food and some basic medical supplies. She put the cash in her pocket and threw the rest in her backpack.

Once everything was ready, she called a cab and headed downstairs to the coffee shop to wait for it.

"Hey Rain, you OK?" Paul asked as she walked in. "You look kinda shaken up and... that guy came in saying you were in danger."

"I'm fine." She sighed. "At least I think I'm fine... but I've got to leave town, I'm sorry."

"It's OK, I understand.." Paul nodded. "'specially since he has to ghost and all. If you got a forwarding address I'll mail your paycheck to ya."

".. don't worry about it, I don't know where I'm going, and.. don't know how much I want to be found when I get there."

".. Gotcha." He popped the register drawer open and counted out some cash before handing it to her. "This isn't as much as you would be getting, but.. becoming scarce requires green."

"Thanks, Paul.."

"No problem." He smiled. "I'm sorry things didn't work out for you here.. especially with wolf-man. For what it's worth, he likes you. Probably more than he even knows."

".. don't remind me."

"Ouch, you like him too, don't you?"

".. I'm not even sure." She shook her head, "I learned things about him today that.. I really didn't want to know.. and I'm just confused now.. and now he's probably going to get killed because he's apparently got a team of highly trained killers after him, including one that's some kind of cyborg."

"I wouldn't count him out yet, Rain." Paul gave her a reassuring smile and started to make a drink. "Wolves are incredibly resourceful and exceptionally good at surviving... and that one.. I don't know how he did in training, but when he got switched to the school of hard knocks, he had some hellish classes, but he excelled."

"I just doubt I'll ever see him again."

"If he survives this mess.." he set the drink on the counter for her. "he will find you, even if it means traveling to the ends of the Earth to do so."

"Thanks.." She picked it up, sniffing it and taking a sip. It was hot chocolate with.. something she couldn't place. ".. what is this?"

"Perfect thing for you. Hot chocolate with a healthy dose of irish cream, dash of cinnamon, peppermint and a hint of chipotle.."

".. You have irish cream back there?"

"Of course not, that wouldn't be legal since I don't have a liquor license!"

".. of course." She laughed. "It's good.. Uhm.. my cab is here."

"Good knowing ya, Rain. Hope I see you again some day."

".. you too Paul, thanks for everything." She waved, running off for her cab to the bus station.

The cabby had the news running, which was covering a massive accident on the fourteen northbound near L, six confirmed casualties. Supposedly caused by a renegade black Wolf, which police were organizing a search for. She wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad, he was alive.. but he'd caused six deaths?

Otherwise the cab ride was quite uneventful. At the bus station, she got a ticket on the first bus out, which was heading up to Oregon, though she only got a ticket as far as Red Bluff. She would find somewhere else to go from there.

Chapter 7

".. how the fuck did we lose Orcus?" Reaper muttered, pacing about the BlackHawk, occasionally looking over where the body bag was laying. "This should be a routine, easy mission for us."

"Mortality is a risk of our profession, Reaper." Anubis replied, calm as death itself.

"I say we find the fucker.." Morana growled. "and shove a hand grenade up it's ass, for Orcus."

"I don't wanna get that close again." Thanatos started to laugh, then winced because laughing hurt. He had no serious injuries, but did get pretty badly bruised.

".. It's not a routine easy mission." Steele said with a sigh. "He's fast, he's mean, he's smart and he's practically immune to pain."

"Not to mention," Murphy added "he's tangled with CLAWS before, not to mention possibly other agencies."

"Alright then.." Reaper turned to Steele. "How do we beat him?"

".. I wish I knew." Steel replied. "The main thing is.. never try to take him on solo, and try to keep him from splitting us up."

"What else is there, any weaknesses?"

"Not that I know of.." Steele considered. "He does seem to enjoy 'playing' with his opponents though, messing with their heads."

"Is that why he saved Thanatos?"

"Quite possibly." Steele nodded. He had another theory, but he didn't want to bring that one up to Reaper, yet.

"Here that, kid?" Morana laughed. "You're alive because the Wolf is a twisted fucker."

".. you should like him then." Thanatos replied.

"Fuck you."

".. thought you preferred girls." Thanatos started laughing, but stopped quickly.. ".. ow. Laughing hurts."

"Serves ya right, you little shit." Morana smirked.

"If you two are done acting like school children.." Reaper snapped. "We're trying to focus on avenging Orcus."

".. sorry boss." Thanatos replied.

"Morana, what about the girl?" Reaper asked.

"I'm not sure. I think she's not entirely sure herself on her feelings. More than likely she liked him, prior to learning the truth about him from Steele."

"Steele, how do you think the Wolf feels about her?"

"She was probably a plaything until he got bored of her."

"So.." Reaper paced the floor shaking his head. "she won't make good bait, and she won't know where he's going?"

".. that's about the size of it."

"Murphy, do we still have his phone being tracked?" Reaper asked.

"We do, I can send LEOs to investigate, if you want?"

"No." Reaper and Steele replied in unison.

"We don't want to send a group of cops to their death." Steele finished.

"Thanatos," Reaper turned to the kid. "Can you shoot?"

"Sure boss," Thanatos nodded, "more than a few shots'll hurt like hell, but I can shoot."

"All right.." Reaper nodded. "What we're going to do is investigate the phone signal. We'll take Sleipnir out until we find it. Anubis, you and I will be on the ground. Morana will take the controls, Thanatos, you will be on the gun port with your rifle. Steele, Murphy, you two are welcome to come along for the ride."

"It's likely a decoy," Steele replied. "Besides, I hate flying. I'll stay behind."

"I'm down," Murphy replied. "I want to be there to see that bastards head explode."

"All right then, let's roll." Reaper nodded, the team and Murphy leaving the BlackHawk and Steele in peace.

"You are one perplexing beast, Adolph." Steele muttered once he was alone. "You only killed Orcus because he started lobbing grenades, didn't you? They're blaming you for the six casualties on the freeway, but the only one you caused was Orcus."

He called up the Syracuse case and began going through the file again, first place he looked was the photos of the victim, on a whim he brought up the photo of the Tampa rape victim. The more he thought about it, and now looking at them side by side, it was starting to make sense that Adolph wasn't responsible for those nineteen women. The woman in Tampa, he body was pristine, barely even bruised, other than the damage done to her anus, vagina and throat.

The Syracuse woman had firstly not been orally raped, as well he body was covered in claw and bite marks. She was killed by way of a modified shock collar that had been made to run extremely high power, yet all the other victims were either killed by the rape itself, or by having their neck broken. He cast the Tampa case aside, and made a note to check in to that further when he got back to Wolf Point, it probably was not Adolph.

Returning to the Syracuse case file, he spread the pictures out on the desk, looking at them, looking at the collars. He began discarding any photos without collars in them. Then he saw it, the thing that had nagged him about the case the first time. All of the Beasts were still wearing their collars, except one. All of the Beasts had to be physically drug away from their owners corpse, except one.

One of only two females, a German shepherd bitch, was found hiding in a corner, curled up in the fetal position, her collar several feet away, discarded. Everyone assumed she was curled up because she was scared of Adolph. She never said anything though, and she violently fought them trying to put a collar on her, until one of the local uniforms walker her without one.

He had never bothered to read much further about the Syracuse case, because he didn't need to concern himself with the civilian Beasts. His concern had been catching the Beast that did it, not figuring out 'why' he did it.

Examinations on each of the Beasts showed the same things, shock burns on the neck, evidence of repeated sexual abuse. All of them would ask after 'mistress', except the one female. Most also offered themselves, directly or indirectly, to be 'used' by those examining them. It was starting to make a lot more sense, and he hated to admit it but if his theory was right.. he would almost feel bad for having to kill Adolph.

"Well shit." Reaper's voice came over the com. "We've got his phone in the back of a pickup. See if you can figure out where he might have run off to, Steele. We're on our way back."

"That's what I expected," Steele nodded, closing the Syracuse case file, he would look further in to that another time, and bringing up a multilevel layout of Lancaster. "On it. The last place any cameras caught him was where the fourteen passes under L. I suspect that's where he discarded his phone. Unfortunately, I'm not seeing anyplace to go from there. There's a utility access hatch, the utility tunnels are full of sensors though, and have already been checked over."

"Try looking for the Lancaster Subway plans." Thanatos replied.

"Lancaster doesn't have a subway?"

"They were building on in the 20s. Unfortunately there were some shady backroom dealings, the company that was building it went under, and the city decided that it was too expensive. There's a lot of partial tunnels."

"How do you know this, Thanatos?" Reaper asked, laughing.

"My grandad worked on it."

"He's right." Steele replied, calling up a map. ".. and looks like one of the tunnels is very close to the utility hatch. It's possible they're connected?"

"We'll meet you there." Reaper replied.

"Roger." Steele took a moment to send off an inquiry as to the current status and location of the Beasts from the Syracuse case before getting his bike and heading across town. Traffic was still a mess on the freeway, both directions now, but he was still able to beat the Alphas to the underpass.

He didn't have to wait long though, Sleipnir hovered down just beside the over pass, the rear hatch opening to let Anubis, Reaper and Morana jump out.

"Thanatos won't be joining us?" Steele asked.

"No," Reaper shook his head, "he's still feeling the clocking Adolph gave him, and he's not the most useful in the tighter confines of tunnels."

"True." Steele pulled the access hatch open.

"I will take point." Anubis said, dropping down the hatch, ignoring the ladder.

"If Adolph is down here," Steele said, climbing down the ladder, "and ends up on the offensive, he will strike from the sides and rear. He'll use hit and run tactics to try to get us shaken and possibly split up."

"Noted." Reaper nodded, following Steele down. "How are his senses?"

"Keen." Steele clicked his flashlight on. "He'll see us whether we have lights or not, he'll hear us coming, and depending on airflow, smell us."

"I'll bring up the rear," Morana announced, closing the hatch before dropping down the ladder, "see if I can stalk the stalker."

"Just be careful, Morana." Reaper said, turning a head lamp on, to keep both hands for his scythe. "I've already lost one Alpha today."

"I'll be fine."

"I have found the access to the tunnels." Anubis called from a tunnel."His scent will be easy to follow."

"Good to know." Steele headed down the tunnel, followed by Reaper, he had already lost sight of Morana, but that didn't surprise him. "It is nice being on a slightly more even playing field with the enemy."

"Even nothin'." Reaper laughed. "Anubis is superior to a Beast."

"Behold." Anubis stood by what looked to be an old rusted out piece of equipment, before pushing it aside to reveal a narrow stairwell going down. "A concealed access.. to what though?"

"We'll find out." Steele laughed.

The stairwell was fairly short, but steep, ending in a short hallway with a door at the end. The air was beginning to smell odd, as well as noises that seemed strange for underground could be heard through the door.

Anubis pushed the door open, and the narrow tunnel was filled with the smell of unwashed people, fires, unknown meats cooking, drugs, etc. all mingled together, and the general din of a large group of people.

Stepping through the door, they found themselves in what would have been a station on the plans, but was now an underground shantytown. It didn't look like movies like to portray them, there were very few structures, a few dotted the scape, but it was mostly fences where individuals had claimed their territory, or just beds and random furniture. The area was lit mostly by small electric lights, and occasional fires.

"Well done, ya found the underground." An old man with only one eye laughed as he walked up to them. "Now, ya look way too pretty to belong down here.. and not spiffed enough to be coppers.. so I really suggest ya just turn around and go back to the surface where you belong, 'cause .. really, you don't wanna be down here with us.."

"We're looking for someone." Steele replied. "He would have come through this passage about two hours ago."

".. big fella?" The old man asked. "Dark, swift and silent as death?"

"That would be the one."

"That way.." he pointed. "don't know him, don't care to know him, don't care to know why you want him.. just leave us in peace."

"We have no intention of bringing trouble on your home, sir."

"Good." The old man nodded, and wandered away, coughing.

".. did you notice his tattoo?" Reaper asked as they headed the direction he had pointed.

"No?" Steele replied.

"That man was a Marine."

"A long time ago."

"Once a Marine, always a Marine." Reaper snapped. ".. I just wonder why he's down here..?"

".. yeah, you're young and have a military background." Steele nodded and sighed. "In the late 20s, despite everything president Mareno did to help this country, the homeless population kept rising."

"There's practically no homeless now?"

".. just none visible." Steele replied. "When she turned down the nomination for a fifth term in '32 and was replaced by JTR, it didn't take long for certain measures getting passed. No one really noticed or cared at the time.. but they paved the way to work on systematically clearing the homeless and shuffling them off to private prisons.

"Then in '51, there were the 'hobo riots', nasty affair those. Made a royal mess of this country for almost a year, finally certain laws got repealed.. but, especially after the riots the homeless were less welcome than they had been before, by law enforcement and civilians a like.

"Pretty much every city has something like this now. The homeless hide underground, living off what they steal or get from various aid services. As long as they behave fairly well, the cops don't bother with trying to find them- and they like to keep it that way. They police themselves very well, and won't harbor fugitives if they can help it."

"Still.. a Marine down here?"

"More common than you would think, kiddo." Steele shook his head. "It's been a problem for a hundred years or more... our boys come back from battle with wounds no one can see... they can't quite fit in to normal society, and we don't do enough to help them. Instead they end up unemployed and eventually without a home. And with this war with Mexico, we're going to see an insurgence."

"It makes me sick." Reaper sighed. ".. and kind glad I switched over to CLAWS."

"The pay increase is nice, too." Anubis laughed.

"Yeah, definitely."

"Are we still on Adolph's train, Anubis?" Steele asked.

"Yes." Anubis replied. "It is likely he is moving much faster than we are, the trail is fading."

"Not surprised there." Steele nodded. "I'm not sure where, if anyplace, these tunnels come out."

"It has to open somewhere." Reaper said. "Note the slightly moving air. As well, the shantytown back there would have suffocated long ago if there were none."

"True. Doesn't mean they actually let out anywhere, and don't just have air vents."

"Yeah." Reaper checked his com. "No signal down here so we can't call up to Thanatos to find out, either."

"I believe," Anubis said, "that means we continue to walk until we find our prey, a wall, or the exit."

"I suppose so." Steele nodded.

After nearly an hour of walking and idle chatter, mostly speculating about the upcoming elections, the group hit the end of the tunnel, just a dirt wall where diffing had stopped probably sixty years ago.

"Well, shit." Reaper muttered. "Did we pass him, or did learn to teleport?"

"We might have passed him." Steele replied. "When I was chasing him in an old building, more than once he found a way to hang from the ceiling..."

"Fuckin' spiderwolf."

"Oi, idiots." Morana snapped, "Feel the fuckin' air. It's moving and it's kinda warm. There's a vent in here somewhere. Fucker probably climbed out."

"She is correct." Anubis said, now clinging to the dirt wall. "I have found his trail, unfortunately, I do not believe an unmodified human can make this climb."

"Go ahead Anubis." Reaper replied. "Find out where it comes out, and have Thanatos pick us up from the entrance."

"Affirmative."

"And don't do anything stupid. Don't try to catch up with and engage the target on your own."

"Affirmative." Anubis replied, pulling himself in to a hole in the ceiling and quickly vanishing from sight.

"All right." Reaper said, turning to the others. "Let's double time it back, think you can keep up, old man?"

"Real question is, can you keep up?"

The run back to the surface took just shy of twenty minutes, as much as Steele hated to admit it, the young 'former' Marine was faster.

".. Not bad for an old man." Reaper laughed as they walked back up the stairs.

"Next time," Steele replied. "we go for endurance."

"Oh for fucks sake!" Morana snapped, "Just whip them out and compare already!"

"Why?" Reaper smirked at her. "We already know yours is bigger."

"Fuck you."

"You keep using that phrase," Reaper said, "I do not think it means what you think it means."

"About time you showed back up, Alex." Murphy's voice came over the com when they reached the utility access. "I got good news, great news, and bad news."

"Give me the bad, first." Steele replied.

"HQ needs me and the BlackHawk back, so I gotta fly."

"Roger. Good news?"

"The information you requested on the Syracuse Case came in, I synched the case file to your phone for you."

"Thanks." Steele pulled out his phone to check. "And the great news?"

"Well, once Anubis popped up and gave us a location, we were able to pick Adolph up on a security camera from a couple hours ago and determined the direction he went."

"Nice work, which way?" Steele climbed up the ladder and pushed the hatch open.

"Oh, it gets better." Murphy laughed. "Thanatos and I had been trying to figure out how we would skip town off the radar if we needed to. Decided that hitching a ride on a semi, with or without the driver's knowledge, would be the best bet. So, I searched truck stops in range from where he was spotted, and.. check your phone."

"Alright..?" Steele brought the phone out and held it for Reaper and Morana to see as well, a video popped up, it was rather poor quality security camera footage, but it was pretty clearly a black wolf stowing in to a large sewer pipe on a semi trailer. "Good work, Murph."

"I just got done figuring out the trucking company that belongs to, and I put in a request for the tracking information for that truck." Murphy replied. "As well, Thanatos has the feeds incoming from a series of traffic cameras, with software searching for that truck."

"Excellent work, guys."

"Speaking of Thanatos..." Reaper indicated to Sleipnir hovering beside the over pass with the back open and ropes hanging down. "Looks like our ride is here."

"All aboard!" Thanatos called. "I've got us a hit on our truck, shouldn't take us long to catch up."

* * *

I10E near Palm Springs, CA

Adolph stretched inside the concrete pipe he'd stowed away in, it was mid afternoon by the look of it, so he gathered he had only dozed for a couple hours. The events of the last twenty four hours were wearing on him, between being shot, the stunt with the bus, and the motorcycle.. he hurt. He only hoped that he had enough of a lead on CLAWS, and that Rain was well on her way to being away from the whole mess.

He sighed, staring at the hair tie on his wrist. It all felt so familiar. His mind wandered back to Lorelei..

That morning, the mistress had beaten them both for no other reason than Lorelei had snuggled up to him to sleep. He took the brunt of the beating, intentionally diverting the mistress' rage to himself. Not that it did much to him, the crop left welts and drew blood a time or two, but pain only served to strengthen his resolve. Unlike Lorelei, he could tell every day she was getting closer to breaking.

Throughout the day, the mistress continued in rare form. It seemed something had upset her, and she was taking it out on her 'pets', all of them. The abused carried over in to her standard 'use' of Adolph, repeated beatings with the crop or shocks from his collar for no real reason.

Finally he snapped. The events that transpired blurred in his mind, he tried to forget them. He remembered the feeling of the mistress pinned beneath him, the shock collar going off against his neck.. Lorelei whimpering in the other room as her collar was linked to his. He remembered the feeling of the mistress breaking, the look of sheer terror in her eyes when she realized she was no longer in control and was to be his play thing. He dreaded the memory of how incredible the power felt, and how good her blood tasted.

When he finally finished with her, she lay broken beneath him, dead inside.. the same way she had broken so many before him. Her face was blank and emotionless, but her eyes had the look of someone awaiting the sweet release of death.

He had wrapped his collar around her neck, and tucked the remote back in to her hand, giving her a dark smile, before finding Lorelei and removing her collar.

"I'm sorry." He whispered to her and turned away. As he heard the mistress activate the shock collar, he smiled and took off at a run, his only goal getting as far from the mansion as possible before authorities caught wind of what had happened.

Here he was again, giving up everything to protect the one he cared about. For a moment he wondered what had happened to Lorelei. He would probably never know, but he liked to hope she had been taken in by someone who actually cared about her and treated her well.

He perked an ear, catching the sound of CLAWS aircraft over the roar of the wind through the tube. He hoped they were just passing over head, but he knew it to be unlikely. This was not an ideal location to fight, but that might give him an advantage.

A moment later, a large figure swung in to the pipe with him. For a moment he stared at the newcomer, a cyborg.. apparently created to be able to compete with Beasts. This would be fun.

"You would be Adolph." The Cyborg said, making it more a statement than a question. "I am Anubis, I am here to send you on to the afterlife. I do not suppose you would be interested in a peaceful execution?"

"Hmph." Adolph smirked. "How about you just throw yourself out of the tube and we tell your bosses I kicked your ass?"

"They would find that doubtful."

"Then.." Adolph sighed. "I guess we fight."

"We do." Anubis smiled, leaping at Adolph with a growl, long metal claws extending from his fingertips.

Adolph calmly spun around in a kick, his foot colliding with the cyborg's torso and sending him staggering back. Pounces only work on an unaware or startled foe, Adolph was neither. He pushes the offensive with a growl.

The two traded strikes for what felt like an eternity, nearly evenly matched. Anubis was slightly faster, but Adolph was tougher and a more intelligent fighter, both covered in superficial wounds.. minor bleeding, but nothing that would even require stitches.

".. You are fun!" Anubis growled, briefly pinning Adolph to the side of the pipe and trying to headbutt him, only managing the put a crack in the pipe as Adolph ducked beneath it and kicked him away. "I have not been so challenged in years!"

Adolph shook his head, trying to find an opening for dealing with this hybrid. A soft 'twang' interrupted his thoughts, and a small dart went narrowly by his head and punching in to Anubis' shoulder. He turned briefly, seeing a plain looking woman with a small crossbow at the other end of the pipe.

".. Morana." Anubis, pulling the dark out. "You missed him."

"Sorr-" The woman began to reply but was cut short by Adolph charging her, grabbing a hold of the top edge of the pipe and kicking her out of the pipe while flipping himself to the top of the pipe.

Adolph looked up, the CLAWS craft was just above him, before he could take an action though a blur of black came flying out, landing on another pipe on the truck. A tall, thin man in a black cloak stood before him, spinning a scythe out from under his cloak.

"You will pay for what you did to Orcus, and Morana." The cloaked man said, calm as death itself.

"Get in line." Adolph sighed. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Anubis climbing out of the pipe. He moved in to get inside the range of the scythe, forcing the tall man backwards. The scythe moved like lightning though, several times coming close enough to nick Adolph, while he couldn't get a solid strike on him.

Adolph ducked aside, making the risky move of swinging back in to the final pipe on the truck, the man with the scythe following him down, but finding the quarters too close to use the scythe, forcing him to engage Adolph unarmed and quickly finding himself outmatched.

Adolph caught the man with a solid punch to the chest, followed by slamming his head in to the side of the pipe, before flipping back to the outside of the pipe just as Anubis climbed in to it. Atop the pipe, Adolph noticed the aircraft pulling away as he tore through the lashings holding the pipes in place.

As Adolph jumped back on to a pipe still in place, Anubis leaped from the falling pipe to tackle Adolph, pinning him to the pipes.. until the truck driver realize he lost part of his load and slammed on the breaks, causing Adolph and Anubis to tumble forward.

The two wrestled for control for a moment, which ended with Anubis holding Adolph in a choke hold. Adolph could see the aircraft swing around and a sniper scope poking out the side.

"I have a shot." A voice came over Anubis' com.

"Take it." Anubis growled.

"Thanatos, do not take that shot!" Steele's voice came over the com.

"Kill the fucker!" Morana came over, sounding in great pain.

Adolph smirked. He knew the same scene would be playing in Steele's head as they argued whether or not to take the shot.

"It's not clear!" A female voice came over Tomahawk's com while Tomahawk held Adolph in a partial lock.

"Jezibel, take the shot!" Steele's voice ordered.

Adolph heard the minute sound of the rifle mechanism over Tomahawk's com, and twisted, pulling Tomahawk around even as the bullet fired. He could feel the force of the bullet hitting Tomahawk, as the scent of blood filled the air. The woman's voice screamed over the com...

"Take the shot!" Anubis ordered.

Adolph smirked as he heard the rifle mechanism over Anubis' com, deja-vu. He pulled forward, flipping Anubis in front of him to block the bullet, there was a dull 'thump' as the bullet burst apart on impact with Anubis' body, blood filled the air.

".. well played.." Anubis coughed, losing his hold on Adolph. He looked almost pleased with this outcome.

Adolph grabbed Anubis' com, before dropping off the stopped truck to get out of the snipers line of sight.

"Two down," He growled in to the com. "Four to go. Should have listened to Steele, Thanatos."

"Burn in hell!" The man with the scythe screamed at him, flipping the scythe around to point the end at him, there was the sound of a gunshot and a bullet tore past Adolph, grazing his shoulder.

It took Adolph a moment to realize the scythe was the gun, and that it's wielder was still off balance from his little ride. He charged the scythe wielding man, just body slamming him to the pavement.

"I warned you.." Adolph growled. "How many more do I have to kill before you people leave me alone?"

"You're a monster." The man spat at him. "The more you kill, the more of us will come, and we will kill-"

Adolph cut him short by slamming his head in to the pavement to knock him out, he could see the sniper lining up another shot, and opted against finishing the job. He ducked under the stopped truck, and took off at a run, really hoping they would stop to regroup before coming at him again.

He realized a moment later that he'd had to abandon his bag at the truck, leaving him with just the cash he had in his pocket and no supplies at all, not even a first aid kit, which he would need next time he stopped. He would have to solve that issue later.

Chapter 8

Banning, CA

"What's our status?" Reaper asked, sitting in a hospital bed. Next to Anubis he'd taken the worst of it from the fight, nurses said he was lucky to have survived at all.

"HQ has offered to send in backup." Steele replied. "They're saying it will be about a week though, all teams are currently deployed."

"Not acceptable." Reaper nodded. "We already lost a day because of that clusterfuck yesterday. How are Thanatos and Morana?"

"Thanatos is fine, still a little sore.. and a bit shaken from shooting Anubis, but he's handling it better than I expected. Morana is on some good anti-inflammatory painkillers, beaten to hell but in damn good shape considering she got kicked out of a truck going about sixty."

"Doctors said they want to keep me for observation until tomorrow" Reaper said. "But they understand the circumstances so we can gather here to plan our next move."

"Back at HQ I have Murph trying to track Adolph down for us."

"Good." Reaper nodded again. "Hey Steele.. got a favor to ask you?"

"Yeah?"

"Back home, I've got a girl.. if I don't make it through this mission, can you make that call for me? Anubis was going to...."

"Some Marine, get a concussion and you start thinking you're going to die.." Steele laughed. ".. seriously though, I can do that.. I've made that call a few too many times."

"Thank you. Now, let's get the team together and figure out our plan of action."

"Sounds good." Steele hit his com, calling Thanatos and Morana in.

"We need a plan." Reaper said once the other two were present. "We can't keep chasing him, that puts the fight on his terms and his terrain. We need to make the fight on our terms.. how do we do that?"

"Can we anticipate where he's going to go?" Morana asked.

"Not really." Steele replied. "We have been trying to do that for two years, and the closest we came I now think is bullshit. The nineteen rape/murder cases we thought were him, I no longer believe they were his work. Even if they were, the pattern I had worked out is broken by him coming to Lancaster. I've got Murphy trying to locate him now, but that's a hard task."

"What about weaknesses?" Reaper asked.

"None that I know of." Steele replied.

".. I may have one." Thanatos said. "Anyone besides me notice the yellow hair tie on his wrist?"

"Not really.." Reaper shook his head.

"Well, being observant is why you have me around." Thanatos chuckled. "Both on the freeway, and on the truck, he had a yellow hair tie wrapped around his wrist. I had been trying to figure out why, since he doesn't have hair to pull back.

"Then it struck me.. I have a picture of my girlfriend in my wallet, Reaper has his locket with his fiancee's picture, Orcus always had a picture of his son.."

"Yeah," Reaper nodded. "We all have pictures of those we love, what's your point?"

"Wolves are a heavily scent focused creature." Thanatos said. "That hair tie would smell like it's owner, most likely Rain.. it's basically his 'picture' of her. He likely grabbed it on his way out the door."

"So Rain probably knows more than she told Anubis." Morana said.

"Most likely." Thanatos nodded.

"Raise the heat a little." Reaper replied. "Pick her up, we'll put some pressure on her to tell us where Adolph was going to meet her. Do we know where she is?"

"No, but we can find her." Morana replied.

"Do it." Reaper nodded. "Morana, you and Thanatos pick her up when you figure out where she is. Steele, can you find us a good base of operations, since the BlackHawk had to go back to HQ?"

"Sure." Steele nodded. He hated getting Rain further involved, but he knew Adolph cared for her. Of course, he has to wonder if invoking the beasts direct ire by messing with his 'pack' was a good move or not.

* * *

Quartzsite, AZ

Adolph awoke in an old abandoned hotel room, a glance at the boarded up windows showed no light coming through. He wondered how long he had slept, probably at least eight hours considering the last couple days- he needed it, and no telling when he would have the good fortune of finding an abandoned hotel to sleep in.

He wondered if he wanted to risk a truck stop again. He'd taken enough of a risk stealing a medical bag from an ambulance in Blythe. On the other hand though, trekking across that desert on foot was hell.

Slipping out of his temporary lodgings in to the darkness, he glanced around the ghost town of a 'city', if not for the freeway running through it, it wouldn't be around anymore. As it was, most of the businesses were barely hanging on, and many had gone under. Increased speed limits and hydrogen cell cars had taken their toll on towns like this. That worked for Adolph though, the town was dark and quiet, a glow came from the businesses by the freeway, but very little else.

"Stay here a while." He muttered to himself, stalking the streets looking for a viable source of food, preferably with minimal human interaction. "Minimal chance for collateral damage if they catch up to me, I'll have time to get a feel for the terrain.. other than there's minimal cover from air the air.. will have to see."

He found what he was hoping for, the grocery store that served the residents of Quartzsite, and more importantly, it's dumpster. He quickly recovered an assortment of food that while having past what humans called 'bad', was still more than acceptable.

If he was going to stick around Quartzsite, he would need to get a stock of food and supplies. He figured he would work on trying to rebuild his 'bug out' bag, to an extent at least, before he moved on.

* * *

Red Bluff, CA

Rain sat in a quiet coffee shop, drinking a strong espresso. She hadn't slept other than briefly on the bus ride up. She looked down again at the paper, a strange accident on the I10 had killed four people, she couldn't help but wonder if Adolph was in some way responsible for a semi truck losing a huge chunk of sewer pipe.

She sighed, rising to leave the coffee shop, she just wished this hell to be over. Part of her wished she had never even run in to Adolph, then her life would just be miserable, not a miserable unpredictable chaos.

Looking about, she saw the lights of a truck stop and headed for it, hoping to hitch a ride .. anywhere but here. After a moment of waiting around, she saw a trucker that looked promising, a middle aged woman, southern girl by the look of her, driving alone.

"Excuse me.." She approached the woman, taking advantage of her disheveled appearance from lack of sleep. "I hate to be a bother.. but I .. I just need to get out of this town. You think I could hitch a ride.. however far you're willing to take me? I have money, I can pay if you need it."

"You look like you have troubles, hun." The woman replied, she had a slight southern accent, looking her over. "Needing to get out of town in a hurry an' not caring where to.. what's got ya on the run?"

"I.. uh.." Rain hesitated a little, looking at the ground, "It's my 'boyfriend'... I had to get out, and he'll come looking for me.. I can't take it anymore."

"Oh! You poor dear!" The lie worked like a charm. "I've been there before, only I married the bastard. He'd get to drinking an' he'd get mean.. thought I could change him, hah! Took me a while to get out of that one.. part of why I drive a truck now, makes it harder for him to track me down.. So I got this load going to Spokane, you're welcome at least that far hun."

"Thank you, ma'am." Rain smiled, she hated lying, but the truth would just sound crazy.

"It's Reba, got a name?"

"Rain."

"Well Rain," Reba said, detaching the hydrogen line and climbing in to the cab, "hop in. We got a long stretch of dark road to put between you an' that abuse."

"Thank you." Rain climbed in to the cab of the truck and settled in. The long drive was initially filled with idle small talk that she barely noticed, until she finally drifted to sleep somewhere near Redding.

Some time later she awoke to the truck stopping. At first she figured Reba was just stopping for food or sleep, until she realized the cab was flooded with white light, like a floodlight.

"Sorry for the trouble," A young man said, standing by Reba's door, "I am Agent Jason Reed of the FBI. I need you and your passenger to step out of the vehicle, please."

"What seems to be the issue, sir?" Reba asked, not opening her door just yet.

"Your passenger, ma'am," Reed replied, "she's wanted for assaulting an officer, and armed robbery."

"Bullshit!" Rain snapped. "You're not even FBI, are you?"

"This trouble maker with your ex, hun?" Reba asked, revving the trucks engine.

"I wouldn't advise doing anything stupid," Reed snapped, "I don't know what lies this little she-devil has told you, but I assure you she is dangerous. I've already lost two team trying to catch her, and we're authorized to use lethal force on her and anyone aiding her, so think good and hard before you give me cause to shoot you."

"Go to he-" Reba started.

"You've done enough Reba." Rain cut her off with a sigh, opening her door. "I don't want you, or anyone else, getting hurt because of me. He's half right, I did lie to you.. it's not a boyfriend I'm running from, it's .. life, I haven't done anything, but I got caught in the middle of some chaos.. too many have already been hurt because of it, even innocent bystanders.. Most of them by this very organization."

"What?" Reba stared at her for a moment. ".. the heck is going on here?"

"The less you know, the better." Reed replied. "Just carry on, and forget about this whole thing."

"He's right." Rain nodded, stepping out of the truck. "I'm sorry for getting you involved at all."

"Alright. Not the weirdest thing I've ever run in to on the road. Good luck hun."

"Thank you for everything, Reba." Rain replied.

"Thank you for your cooperation." Reed stepped back from the truck, waving her on.

".. So," Rain said after Reba pulled away, "who the fuck are you, really, and what do you want with me?"

"I am Agent Thanatos of CLAWS." Reed replied.

"Th' fuck are 'claws'?"

"We are the people hunting that god forsaken wolf friend of yours."

"Friend? I was just tryi-"

"Save it!" Thanatos snapped. "We've figured out your little ruse. He's going to evade or kill us, and circle around to meet up with you somewhere, isn't he?"

"No."

"No? How am I supposed to believe that?"

"Why would he?" Rain snapped. "Isn't he supposed to be some kind of serial rapist and mass murderer? Th' hell would he want with me, aside from rape and or murder?"

".. I don't know lady." Thanatos growled. "How do you explain him having one of your hair ties around his wrist?"

"I don't know."

"Look, you can argue all you want.. but you are coming with me. You're going to answer to Reaper, and your Wolf has killed two of his team, and given the other three a bit of a beating.. so he's not happy."

"Yeah, sure. You're not getting me anywhere, asshole."

".. Morana?"

"Wha-" Rain started, slightly confused, before an arm wrapped around her neck, and a hand came up holding a rag with a slightly sweet chemical odor and pressed it to her face. Logic quickly told her it was Chloroform, she tried to pull away from her silent assailant without breathing.

"Quit fighting it." Morana said behind her, a cold edge to her voice. "It will go so much easier if you just relax and take a couple deep breathes."

Rain's only response was struggling, and flipping Morana off before elbowing her. Her efforts only earned her a solid punch to the stomach from Thanatos, knocking the wind out of her and forcing her to take a breath across the rag. She fought it a moment longer, her senses blurring and mind fogging until Thanatos took another swing, causing her to black out.

* * *

Banning, CA

Rain slowly drifted to consciousness, for a moment wondering why she had such a headache. As her mind recalled the events on the highway, she realized she was handcuffed to a pole, in the middle of what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse, and apparently alone at the moment.

Pushing herself to her feet, she looked around, taking stock of her situation. Her right hand was cuffed to the pole, otherwise she was free to move about as she pleased. Her captors had ensured that nothing was in arm, or leg, reach of her. Checking over her pockets she found them empty, so unless she chewed her own hand off she was probably stuck here for a while.

"You're finally awake." Agent Steele said, walking in to the room. "Good, I was concerned that they'd drugged you a little too heavily."

".. Th' fuck do you want?" She snapped.

"What do I want?" He laughed. "I want to go home to Montana, report this case finally fucking closed, tell my friends that I've put the monster who ruined or ended their lives to rest, take Murphy to a bar to celebrate, and find a couple of cute girls to take home..

"But instead, I'm stuck here in California, chasing a slippery bastard who has already killed two more of my friends.. and I find out that the woman who seemed so nice and helpful, and so scared of the monster her 'friend' really is, apparently still cares about him, and even could have informed me of his location before he caused eight civilian casualties."

"Of course I was scared, you painted him as far more a monster than he really is."

"I tell you he raped twenty women, and you think I'm lying. He tells you he didn't and you believe him. Would a rapist really admit it?"

"He admitted to one." Rain snapped. "Fully, openly admits to everything he did to her. Did you ever stop to ask yourself why he raped his owner?"

"He was created to cause death and destruction, Rain." Steele sighed. "That's what he was made for, and he's male, in the midst of his assault he realizes that she could provide him with a lot more fun than just the carnage."

"Then why didn't he kill the rest of her pets?"

"That's irrelevant." Steele growled. "What is relevant now, Rain, is that we know for a fact he's raped one woman and killed six people. Not to mention caused the death of an additional eight civilians.

"What is also relevant is that you somehow seem immune to his carnage. You seem to like him, and he seems to care about you." Steele paused for moment, pacing around her. "Now, Reaper and his men think you're actually an accomplice of some form in this, maybe that you're even the one in control. I personally don't think so, because I've been on this case a lot longer than them.

"I think you managed to trigger something in that beast to give him a soft spot for you. I think you're still scared and confused and don't know exactly what is going on. I also think that you probably don't even know where he's gone, he's smart enough to know we'd get you. He probably told you he would call you, or would find you, am I right?"

".. He said he'd find me, yeah."

"Hmm. How would he find you, I wonder?"

"I wondered the same thing."

"So we have an issue here, Rain..." Steele sighed. "I need you to tell me everything Adolph told you before he left. Maybe there is something that we can use, so I don't have to turn you over to Reaper . I should tell you something about Reaper, he was a Marine.. his interrogation techniques aren't polite conversations like mine."

"He said he was going east. That's it."

"All he said was east, really? That's the best you can give me?"

"He told me to head north, stay low for a while." Rain sighed. "Said he would head east and if he evaded capture he'd come for me."

"Where were you headed, anyways?"

".. the driver I hitched a ride with was headed to Spokane. I probably would have stayed there for a little while."

"Why Spokane?"

"Because that's where her load was headed."

"Why her?"

"Lone middle age woman trucker." Rain laughed. "First, being a woman she's less likely to demand .. unreasonable payment for hitching a ride. Second, she looked like a good target for the 'abusive boyfriend' story to cover up my need to get out of town quickly and quietly, with no specific destination."

"You're good, I'll give you that." Steele chuckled.

"Yeah. Look, if you're satisfied with my story, can I leave now?"

"No can do, sorry. Reaper still wants to have a talk with you. I think he's got plans for you even if you don't know anything."

".. just fucking great." Rain snapped. "So not only does your little organization hunts and kills Beasts just because they happen to be Beasts, but you also kidnap innocent bystanders when you can't do your own fuckin' job?"

"Have it your way.." Steele shrugged, walking off.

"So you're our trouble maker's queen, eh?" A tall thin man stalked in to the room, looking pretty beaten up and leaning on a scythe. Rain guessed this would be 'Reaper'. "I really expected more trouble catching you."

"Queen? Th' hell are you on about?"

"Mistress, owner, whatever." He shrugged.

"No, I don't own him." Rain snapped.

"That's not what the police report says."

"I told the cops that so they wouldn't chase Adolph."

"Sure, sure." He smiled and nodded. "Do you want to know what I think?"

"No, but you're going to tell me anyways."

"Perceptive, I like that. Anyways, I think you've owned Adolph since he vanished from the breeding facility three years ago. You take some kind of perverse pleasure in watching the beast rape and murder women, so you find him the targets.. then sit there and watch, masturbating while he has his way with helpless women."

".. Where the hell do you get that?"

"It fits."

"Fits what?"

"Enough facts that I can convince a judge to throw you in prison for the rest of your life." Reaper gave her a wicked grin. "If that's not enough, I can also make you the mastermind behind his other killings, too. If you were to tell me where to find him, we might be more prone to believe that you're just an innocent bystander..."

"I just told Steele, I don't know where he is."

"Sure, sure. Look, just make this easier on all of us. I don't want to have to get Morana involved in the questioning."

"He's in Istanbul!" Rain snapped. "How the fuck am I supposed to know where he went?"

"Here I was trying to be polite." He moved in, backhanding her hard enough to send her sprawling. "Last chance, bitch.. just tell us where he is or how to get in touch with him, and your life will be a hell of a lot easier."

"If I knew, I'd tell you." Rain growled, pushing back to her feet. "Just so I could watch him kill every last one of your fucking assholes."

".. Morana, see if you can get anything more out of her." Reaper turned to walk away.

"Gladly." Morana's voice came from behind Rain just before she felt a fine cut across her back, slicing through her shit and barely in to her skin.

* * *

"Steele," Reaper said, walking back in to the front room, leaving Morana with Rain in the warehouse. "any thoughts on how we find Adolph? She's being very uncooperative."

"I've got Murph trying to track him down," Steele replied, trying to ignore the sounds from the warehouse. He was not a fan of torture as a means of getting information, especially when they probably didn't have any, anyways. "There's a lot of places he could have gone though."

"What do we know so far?"

"In Blythe an ambulance reported it's medical bag stolen, timing was right it could have been him. The tracking device was found in the Colorado river. Could have been him, because he was pretty beaten after the fight outside Banning and we forced him to abandon his bag."

"If we assume it was him, how far could he have gotten?"

".. It's been about a day and a half." Steele paused, thinking. "We know he hadn't slept much in a few days. We assume he's on foot. He probably stopped in Blythe to patch up, get some sleep and some new supplies. Presuming he didn't backtrack, he could be in the Phoenix metro, almost up to Flagstaff, even possibly in Las Vegas. Plus anywhere in between. That's assuming he didn't hitch a ride on a semi again."

"Shit," Reaper muttered. "That's a lot of assumptions, and a lot of ground to cover even then."

"Yeah. What's your plan, anyways?"

"We use the girl as bait, get him on our terms and take him out."

".. Trick is letting him know we have her."

"Yeah."

"What about her?"

"She's been helping him, she'll be tried as an accomplice and probably spend a few years in prison."

"That's a little harsh, don't you think?"

"A little harsh?" Reaper growled. "After her friend killed two of my men?!"

".. point taken." Steele sighed, he'd try to talk some sense in to Reaper once Adolph had been dealt with. "Let me take Sleipnir out, I can see if I can help Murph in the search, and when I find him I can try to get him to come back peacefully. If he believes we have Rain, he will probably want to do as little as possible to endanger her."

"What's to say he won't kill you?"

"If he cares about her, he won't risk it."

"Will he believe we have her?"

"He should," Steele eyed the pile of Rain's belongings on the table, and picked up her ring, "I'll take this though, for proof. She wouldn't let this go easily."

"Alright. Good luck."

"Thanks." Steele rose, sparing a glance in to the warehouse he saw Rain now naked and covered in small cuts, being pinned to the pole by Morana who was almost sensually running the tip of her dagger over Rain's breast. ".. I'm gonna need it."

Heading out, he called up the information on the Syracuse case again. There was one thing he had to look in to before he could go forward, before he could decide which was the lesser evil. He found the new information he'd requested, and with it he could hopefully find the answers to a very unpleasant question. The screen switched over to an incoming call.

"Yeah Murph, did you find him?"

"Not unless he could be in Michigan?" Murphy replied.

"Not bloody likely, why?"

"You know that serial rapist we assumed was Adolph?" Murphy asked, but didn't wait for an answer. "Well, he struck again, in Battle Creek, Michigan. Report came in about an hour ago, victim has been dead about twelve hours."

"So it's not Adolph." Steele sighed. "He was southern California forty eight hours ago. Unless he flew, there's no way."

"Yeah."

"Do me a favor, search through the security cameras at Blythe truckstops, see if he got caught on one. I don't think it's him, but we need to find him."

"Roger."

"Thank Murph."

"Any time." Murpy replied before hanging up.

Climbing in to the cockpit, Steele called up the navigation system and looking at overhead maps and trying to figure out where Adolph would be. He would probably be hiding out a couple days to recover and resupply.

"He probably wouldn't stay in Blythe, too obvious if he stole the medical bag." He fired the engines up, recalling the times he'd flown through Arizona on the bike. "Phoenix and Vegas are a little far to go, especially on foot through that desert. There's that little shit-hole town though, just inside Arizona. Place is barely hanging on, has a lot of abandoned buildings, and mostly shuts down at night.. Good place to lay low, come out at night to resupply."

Setting the autopilot for Quartzsite, he called back up the Syracuse case information, and looked over the list of where the victim's Beasts had gone. Finding the one he needed, he hit the listed phone number to call.

"This is Martinez." The man on the other end answered on the second ring.

"Officer David Martinez?"

"This is he," Martinez replied. "and you are?"

"My name is Alexander Steele, I am with CLAWS. I don't know if you remember me from the nasty business in Syracuse two years ago?"

"Steele? Naw, don't think I met you. I remember that case, all too well though. How can I help you?"

"Hard case to forget." Steele replied. "I'm doing some follow up fact checking on it. According to records, you took custody of one of the victim's Beasts? A female canine modeled after German Shepherds?"

"Lorelei, yeah.. why?"

"If you still have her, I would actually like to speak to her."

"She lives here still yeah." He sound slightly offended. "Let me see if she wants to speak with you."

"Thank you." He could hear a muffled conversation on the other end.

"... Hi.." A distinctly female canine voice came on the line, she sounded rather uneasy about talking to him. "David said you wanted to talk to me about.. .."

"I had some questions about Adolph."

".. You.. what? Why?"

"There are some inconsistencies in our information, and clearing things up could greatly help with the case."

"You still haven't caught him?" She sounded relieved.

"No, we have not." Steele replied. "I was wondering what you can tell me about him."

"... uhm.." She tried to muffle the phone, but didn't do a very good job. "David.. he's asking about Adolph.. can I tell the truth, please?

"He's not a monster." She came back, sounding more confident than she had before. "He was kind to me, to all of us. He suffered her wrath quietly, he would even divert it away from the others, especially me, because she hadn't broken me yet. She tried everything to break him, to the point of punishing others for his actions.

"And she would.." She paused for a moment. ".. make us do things to entertain and pleasure her. Adolph was her favorite..."

"Just to be clear," Steele interrupted, he was disturbed by what he heard, and wanted to make absolutely certain it wasn't just his dirty mind, "she would routinely use her Beasts as sex toys?"

"..yeah.." She sounded uneasy again. "It wasn't just her. She purchased me for .. the 'boys', her three normal dogs."

"That's just.. sick." He shook his head, sickened that he thought that such a cruel person was the victim. "I realize it may be unpleasant, but.. what happened the day Adolph killed her?"

"She.. killed herself. After Adolph was done with her..." She trailed off.

"Look, Steele, you're a guy." Martinez came back on the phone. "Imagine yourself held captive by a woman who rides your cock several times a day, but never lets you cum. That's what she put Adolph through, on top of the abuse and trying to break his will.

"The day she died, she had been worse than normal. 'Punishing' them all for any little thing that she imagined, and Adolph was no exception. Finally, she was in the middle of going for her daily ride, and he just.. took over.

"I'm not saying it was right, but I can understand how it would happen. When he was done, he put his shock collar on her, and left her to decide what to do with herself."

".. I see, thank you." Steele replied.

"I know you have a job to do.. but.. unless he's committed some other heinous crimes, can't you let this one go?"

"He's killed four CLAWS agents, and caused the deaths of several civilians."

"Probably because you were chasing him."

"Because he raped and killed a woman."

".. We've been over that."

"We have." Steele replied. "I have a job to do though. Thank you for your time."

He hung up before Martinez could reply. He couldn't give law enforcement any indication of a

CLAWS agent wavering. People needed to trust CLAWS to keep them safe, which was why he now had to do something that went against the very fiber of his being.

Chapter 9

Quartzsite, AZ

The sound of footsteps roused Adolph from his dozing. He sniffed the air, catching Steele's scent. It seemed he had come alone, that didn't make sense. He grabbed his bag and readied himself. The one weakness to motel rooms is they seldom had another way out. He assumed Steele would have a sniper covering him.

"Adolph," Steele rapped on the door. "I came to talk. The Alphas have taken Rain, and they're torturing her for information she doesn't have."

"Think you can lure me out in to a trap that way, Steele?"

"It's not a trap. They want me to tell you that it's a trade, you come in and they'll release her."

"If it's not a trap, go ahead and come in." Adolph growled, readying himself.

"Alright." He sounded scared, hesitating a moment before he open the door slowly and walked through, hands held where visible. Sidearm still holstered, though something in his hand caught Adolph's attention. "I'm alone. If you want to kill me, go ahead.. but it will probably just make things worse for Rain."

"Why did you come?" He growled, stalking towards Steele, recognizing Rain's ring in his hand. "That's low even for you, kidnapping an innocent woman."

"I had no part in it."

"Then why are you here, why do you have her ring?"

"I'm here because I don't want them to hurt her anymore than you do, and I have her ring to make you realize they do have her."

"I can tell it's a trap, but I'll play your game for the moment." Adolph growled, snatching the ring from Steele. "You have her, and if I kill you it reduces my chance of saving her. What do you want?"

"Adolph, you challenged me to look back at your first murder." Steele sighed. "I did. I rechecked facts, I realized we were wrong about you and the serial rapist we've been dealing with.. I discovered why you killed your owner."

"Oh, really now?"

"You were protecting Lorelei."

"You.." Adolph paused. ".. is she safe?"

"She is. One of the cops who was assigned that crime scene took her in.. seems to treat her well."

"Good." He wished he could have run away with her, but at least she was safe now. "So what now?"

"That's up to you. The Alpha's have Rain in a warehouse in Banning. I can take you to them.. but they're expecting you."

"What will they do to her if I don't show up?"

"Hold her accountable for your actions, and either kill her or have her charged as an accomplice to what you've done."

"So, my options are let Rain suffer, or walk in to a deathtrap." Adolph sighed and shook his head. "I'll go with you Steele, on one condition."

"What?"

"I need you to give me your word, that no matter what happens, you do whatever it takes to keep Rain safe."

"Just keep them occupied long enough."

".. Why are you doing this, really?"

"Twenty years ago, I became a cop to protect people. Five years ago when I got recruited by CLAWS, I joined because I was told I would be protecting the world from cold blooded monsters. Over the last week, I have seen that my own organization is the cold blooded monsters, and that the Wolf I've been hunting for two years is only really guilty of trying to protect others.

"Besides. I still owe you for Murphy."

"We're not so different, you and I." Adolph chuckled, then handed Steele back the ring. "Make sure Rain gets this back, too. It was her engagement ring."

"I will." He pocketed the ring. "I've got their aircraft, it's not too long back to banning. Let's go."

"If we go like this they will suspect something is wrong. We can't tip them off, you're going to need me bound."

"Are you sure?" Steel asked. "That's just going to make it easier on them."

"Let me worry about that." He nodded. "Just worry about Rain."

"All right.. Cuffs and muzzle?"

"Works."

"I've been trying to figure out one thing though." Steele said as he got the restraints and cuffed Adolf's hands behind his back. "Why did you save Murphy?"

"Dying helplessly in a fire is no way for a warrior to go." Adolph replied, bending down to allow the muzzle to be fitted. "The explosions rattled the building and greatly weakened it's already unstable structure, but your man was bold. He kept pursuing, even as the fire began to rise around us. I made for a hasty exit, I simply didn't want to fight in that building figuring we would both end up dead.

"He missed a step, the floor gave beneath him which cause a beam to become unstable and fall after him. I saw him pinned there, trying to claw his way out.. I couldn't leave him to die that way.. when he dies, he deserves to die in battle."

".. You long for the fields of Valhalla, don't you?"

"Of all the religious mythologies I have read," He chuckled, climbing in to the passenger compartment of the aircraft, "yes, I identify most with the Norse."

"I'm not surprised." Steele nodded, swinging in to the cockpit and hitting the radio. "Reaper, I'm inbound with the cargo."

"Glad you found him, and he didn't kill you." Reapers voice came over the com.

Steele chuckled and fired the engines up, setting the autopilot for Banning.

* * *

Banning, CA

Rain sat against the pillar, arms across her bare chest, doing her best not to move. The cuts didn't hurt too bad, as long as she didn't move. The woman, Morana, seemed to take pride in her work with blades.. and also seemed to take a rather perverse pleasure from inflicting pain. At least she had finally stopped tormenting her. Now she was all alone and left to wonder what exactly they were going to do to her.

"Guess what, bitch." Reaper stalked in to the room. "Your friend took the bait. Steele is on his way back with him now, which means you're going to get to watch us kill him, before we trow you in to a cage to rot for the rest of your life."

"Wrong." Rain glared at him. "I'm going to get to watch him kill you, and it will be mar-"

"Shut up, bitch!" Reaper back handed her, sending her sprawling to the side and breaking open several of the shallow cuts on her body. "We'll be ready for him.."

"Burn in hell, asshole."

".. hmm, you know I've been bouncing from job to job for a while." Reaper leered down at her naked body a moment before reaching down to grab her by the hair and pull her up. "On your knees, bitch."

"Nngh." Rain struggled to get to her knees, more cuts opening as she did so. She almost missed the bulge forming in Reaper's pants. "What more do you expect to get out of me, asshole?"

"Nothing, other than the only thing you're good for." He undid his pants, pulling his stiffening manhood out. "Here's the deal, bitch, be a good little slut and suck it and we're good.. try to bite it, I'll break your jaw and my cock goes up your ass."

".. and you call Adolph the rap-" Rain found her words cut off by his cock being shoved in to her mouth, she growled and tried to pull away but found he had a hold of her hair. She resisted the temptation to bite it and just let herself relax, she wouldn't fight him but she also wouldn't help him.

".. I said suck it, whore!" He jerked her head forward, slamming his manhood in to the back of her throat. "Don't make this worse for yourself."

She closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face as she started to suck on the salty shaft in her mouth, working her tongue over the head as he thrust back and forth against her face. She knew there was very little chance that Adolph would best them all, and now resigned to her fate she decided it would be best to make this as easy on herself as possible.

"Mmm, that's a good girl." Reaper groaned, keeping his grip on her head, not letting her break away from his cock. "Maybe I'll keep you around for a while, make you work off your debts."

So many things to say burned in Rain's mind as she worked his shaft and found herself wondering which would be worse, prison or this asshole. She flicked her tongue across the tip, tasting the pre oozing forth, earning herself a groan of pleasure as he started to thrust harder.

"Heh, wondered how long that would take." Thanatos laughed, walking in to the warehouse and leaning against a crate, watching.

"Mm.. Pull up a hole, Thanatos." Reaper laughed, grinding his hips against Rain's face.

Rain shook her head and whimpered as she felt Thanatos' hand on her backside, then between her legs and pulling her rump up, causing her to lose balance and stagger forward, Reaper's cock slipping out of her mouth.

"I have a better idea." Reaper grinned, pulling Rain up by the hair until she was standing, then turning her to face Thanatos. ".. by the way, I lied, my cock was going to go in to your ass either way."

"Please.. don't.." Rain pleaded, barely able to stand, tears mixing with blood as they dripped from her face on to her chest.

".. Quit your whimpering!" Thanatos snapped, dropping his pants and wrapping his arms around her. "You're going to enjoy this, you little whore."

"Stop.." Rain whimpered, Reaper smacking her rump while Thanatos' hands moved to her thighs easily lifting her up and giving her no choice but to put her legs partway around him, her arms reflexively going around him to keep herself from falling.

"So eager." Thanatos chided her as he let her slide down, guiding her so his cock slid right in to her warm slit causing her to shudder and bite her lip. Her body reacting to the stimulus iin ways she didn't want.

Reaper pressed closer, breathing in her ear as he pressed the head of his cock against her back door, grunting as he thrust in to her without any lubricant aside from her saliva, eliciting a cry of pain, and renewed struggling.

".. Nng. Please.. stop." Rain cried, struggling against the unwanted penetration, face turning bright red as she grew wet from the stimulation of Thanatos rocking against her, obviously enjoying her humiliation almost as much as he enjoyed her tight hole.

"Heh. She's already dripping.." Thanatos laughed, thrusting harder against her, grinding her back against Reaper. "Mm.. I think she likes it, especially in the butt."

"Nn.." Reaper grunted, forcing his cock all the way in to her rear entrance, earning another cry of pain. "Don't know.. She's pretty fucking tight back here.. Bet it's virgin territory."

Rain did her best to ignore the two pricks, and their cocks inside her, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to put herself anyplace but there. The pain fading from her backside as her muscles started to relax, it wasn't quite 'virgin territory' but it had been a long time. The two men built up a rhythm, thrusting in unison. She bit back a moan, refusing to show any pleasure from this. Under other circumstances she would love it though.

Reaper's hands slide between Rain and Thanatos, finding her breasts and squeezing them roughly causing her to cry out, what would normally be unpleasant became excruciating due to all the fine cuts. His thrusting grew stronger, driving her against Thanatos' body.

Both men started thrusting faster, reaching the point where every thrust in she flet as if she would be crushed between their bodies, Reaper manhandling her tits while Thanatos' fingers tug in to her thighs. After a moment longer, their thrusting slowed slightly, she could feels their muscles tense as they pressed in to her. She only hoped they only had the stamina to go once.

"Mmm." Reaper chuckled as he pulled out with a slight 'pop'. "Not bad.. I think maybe we keep her for a while."

"Sounds fun." Thanatos nodded, lifting Rain off his manhood before dropping her to the ground with about as much thought as a used condom. "How do we explain that to the boss?"

Rain curled up on the ground where she lay, bleeding from more cuts than she could count and semen oozing from both holes. She just ignored the two as they pulled their pants back on and walked out of the warehouse, laughing about keeping her as a pet. All she could do was whimper and cry, and hope that death would find her before she could be forced in to such a life.

"Don't usually go for guy on girl.." Morana laughed, walking up to her. "But that was kinda hot. I wonder if I could sell the video online. What do you think, toy?"

"..." Rain barely even looked at Morana. "Die."

"Ooh, you're a feisty one." She gave a wicked grin, forcing Rain's legs apart. "Thing about those guys is they have no clue how to manipulate a woman's body.."

"Mmm.." Rain squirmed slightly, feeling the other woman's fingers slide between her lips, teasing the already aroused flesh.

".. Or maybe they just don't care. I like playing with it." Her fingers brushed delicately over Rain's clit. "I love making women scream..."

Rain couldn't help but grind her hips against Morana's hand, until her body just exploded with pain radiating from her crotch, causing her to scream, trying to pull away from Morana's hand.

".. Oh, I should have expressed, that was in pain.." Morana laughed, flicking one of Rain's nipples. ".. Stupid bitch. Shame the boys can't really keep you, you'd be fun to watch break.. Instead you're going to get to go to prison.. with a whole bunch of women like me.. "

* * *

"Sure you're ready for this?" Steele called back from the cockpit.

"Yes." Adolph nodded, he had worked the chain on the cuffs to the point he could snap it. He was done running and hiding, he was prepared to die a warriors death, and maybe if he was lucky Valkyries would carry him to Valhalla. "Just worry about your part."

"Got it." Steele nodded, setting the craft down in the parking lot outside a rundown warehouse. "Reaper will take you on front and center, Thanatos will be hiding in the rafters, so keep moving. Morana is a ghost, she's slippery and will vanish and appear as she pleases."

"Good to know." Adolph replied, letting Steele pull him out of the aircraft by the muzzle "For what it's worth Steele, I am sorry for your team."

".. They were doing their job, you were trying to live." Steele shrugged. "I do wish I had met you under other circumstances."

Once they got through the empty front office of the warehouse, the first thing to hit Adolph was the smell, the warehouse smelled like blood, sex and, Rain, he growled viciously, then he saw her, covered in blood and curled up naked on the floor. He could barely contain the urge to break the cuffs and run to her, instead he had to trust Steele to that. He saw Reaper standing front and center, and Thanatos in the rafters like Steele had said, rifle trained on him.

"I'm here." Adolph growled. "Now release the girl."

"How about.. no." Reaper laughed. "Steele, cover the girl, if the wolf does anything stupid shoot her."

".. alright." Steele nodded hesitantly, drawing his side arm and walking over to Rain.

"Let me just shoot the fucker now, boss." Thatatos' voice came over the com.

"No no no.. that's too easy." Reaper laughed. "He killed Orcus and Anubis, he has to pay.. slowly. Shoot his ear."

"Gladly."

The sound of a rifle shot echoed through the warehouse, pain radiated through Adolph's head, centered on his ear.. he would have a new piercing if he survived this. He snapped the cuffs and charged Reaper, driving his claws in to the man's chest, then bounding off him, slipping behind crates from Thanatos. He spared a glance, seeing Steele lifting Rain off the ground to carry her out of the warehouse.

"Steele! The fuck are you doing?!" Reaper shouted. "Thanatos, kill them both!"

Before Thanatos could get a bead on Steele, Adolph came out from behind the crate, hurling a rock (that had probably been chucked through a window some time ago) at Thanatos, clipping his scope with the satisfying sound of broken glass, and buying Steele the time to get out of the warehouse.

"We'll worry about them later." Reaper spun his scythe around, training the rifle barrel on Adolph. "In the mean time, kill him."

"You're welcome to try!" Adolph roared, tearing the muzzle off as he took off at a run through the warehouse, moving haphazardly, narrowly avoiding several shots from Reaper, and one from Thanatos, he leaped in to the rafters next to Thanatos. "Boo."

Before Thanatos could swing the rifle around, Adolph had snatched it from his hands and hurled it to the ground with a growl.

A scent caught Adolph off guard, a split second before a deep cut appeared in his side. He rounded, but his assailant was already gone. She was good. He dropped from the rafters before Reaper could line up another shot at him.

He could smell Morana again, and started moving, sweeping around the warehouse in an erratic arc at a full run, closing the distance on Reaper, forcing him to switch to the blade on his scythe. Strikes came quickly from the scythe, several catching Adolph with superficial cuts on the arms or legs, until he realized the pattern of strikes, catching the haft mid swing and punching Reaper in the gut.

Morana had caught up with him again, another deep cut, this time in his thigh. He released the scythe and swept his arm in a wide arc, colliding with Morana even as she was pulling away and sending her sprawling, she had to be dealt with first.

Disregarding Reaper for the moment, Adolph turned to chase after Morana. She had gotten to her feet, but didn't have time to vanish before he was on top of her, growling like a feral animal, claws swiping across her, tearing through clothes and flesh alike and setting her staggering back.

A gunshot rang out, immediately followed by a ricochet, Adolph turned to see Thanatos had recovered his rifle, but apparently the impact had messed with the sighs. The distraction earned him a knife in the stomach though, pulling his attention back to Morana.

"That.. was for Anubis, asshole." She had a slightly crazed grin, drawing a second knife. "This one is for Orcus."

Adolph caught her arm mid-stab with a growl and bent it the wrong direction, earning a very satisfying scream as broken bone tore through her skin. Picking her up by the neck, he threw her at Reaper, letting his claws tear through her throat as she left his hand, leaving a spray of blood through the air.

"Scheiße!" Adolph growled as another gunshot rang out, this one grazing his arm. He rounded on Thanatos, hurling a small crate at him which provided enough of a distraction to let him cover the distance, slamming in to Thanatos and bowling him to the ground. He could smell Rain on him. ".. you raped her..."

"Rape? She was beg-" His response was cut off by a scream as Adolph drive the knife he'd been stabbed with through Thanatos' wrist, severing the tendons that control the fingers.

"You're lucky Reaper is still alive." Adolph growled, picking up Thanatos' rifle and leveling it point blank to the sniper's crotch with a wicked grin. Ignoring his pleas for mercy, Adolph pulled the trigger, turning away. He knew the sniper would die of shock or blood loss soon enough.

"Just you and me.." He laughed, turning towards Reaper as he cast the rifle aside. "Don't suppose you want to call it a draw and hunt me for two years, eh?"

"Burn in hell." Reaper snapped, spinning the scythe, leveling the rifle barrel at Adolph, only to find himself out of ammo.

".. guess not." Adolph moved towards Reaper, he could feel himself slowing, he'd lost a lot of blood. Reaper was also moving slower though.

Reaper discarded the spare clip, and moved in to meet Adolph in melee, scythe spinning in a new strike pattern, it just never stopped moving, keeping Adolph on the defensive this time.

"Even if you beat me.." Adolph laughed, backing away from Reaper, able to keep back from the scythe, but unable to get an opening to strike. "You still lose. I destroyed your team. I destroyed your reputation.. and Steele knows what you did... heh.. if you hadn't brought Rain in.. you probably would have won.."

"I'll be satisfied with killing you, fucker." Reaper laughed. "Besides, then I track down Steele, put a bullet in the old man's head.. and while I'm at it, I'll fuck Rain a few more times, just for you. Her ass is just so fuckable and ti-"

"Enough!" Adolph snarled, disregarding the scythe and suddenly pressing the attack. He took a nasty gash to the leg in the process, but swept a clawed hand up across Reaper's face, leaving a trio of tears, one right across his eye.

"Fuck! My eye you son of a bitch!" He swing the scythe wildly.

The wild swing clipped Adolph harmlessly as he swept around behind Reaper growling as grabbed Reaper's right arm, tearing through skin and muscles with claws before kicking him forward to his hands and knees.

"Nng.. Go ahead... finish it.." Reaper coughed, reaching for his sidearm.

"Oh no, too easy." Adolph laughed, picking up the scythe. "You have to pay.. slowly."

"Suit yourself.." Reaper rolled to the side, bringing his sidearm up, only to find it, and his hand, removed by his own scythe, staring for a moment in shock.

".. On second thought, you're not worth the time." Adolph growled, sweeping the scythe like a golf club between Reaper's legs, slicing him open from crotch to sternum, spilling entrails to the floor and filling the air with a number of unpleasant odors. "Ekelhaft."

* * *

The sight of Rain's condition disgusted Steele, serving well to remove any doubt he had that he'd gone with the lesser evil. He'd barely had the time to un-cuff her before the chaos started, still he got her safely out of the warehouse.

"Let me go! Bastard!" Rain started thrashing half way to Sleipnir. "Please.. just.. let me go."

"I'm trying to help you, Rain." He replied, though she seemed to not hear and kept thrashing about and hitting him until he set her down on her feet.

"..." She was clearly thrown off by being let go, but didn't let it set long and tried to run from him. Making it all of five steps before she collapsed, weak from blood loss.

"I'm sorry Rain." He circled around to step in front of her, offering her his hand. "I had no idea what they would do to you. I thought they wanted information, not petty vengeance. They crossed a line Rain, it makes me sick that I considered them allies. I made a vow a long time ago to protect people from monsters like them."

".. what now, then?" She eyed him warily, shifting to try and cover herself as best she could.

"Now?" He shook his head with a sigh, unbuttoning his shirt to hand it to her. ".. Now Rain, I made a deal with the very beast I have been hunting for two years, that I watched destroy my team, to protect an innocent civilian. Adolph came willingly, and walked right in to the warehouse where they were waiting for him.. on the condition that I get you to safety."

"But.. he's .. he's going to die in there." She pulled the shirt on awkwardly, before accepting his help getting to her feet.

"Probably." Steele nodded, wrapping and arm around her to help support her and get her over to Sleipnir. "He walked in knowing that, and accepting that. He's a protector, it's what he does."

"You have to help him."

"He was clear on one thing Rain. I am to keep you safe." He looked to the warehouse with a sigh. "Also.. I really don't know if I could help him. I sided with him to protect you, but.. he's still the one I've been hunting for two years. He's still the monster that destroyed my team."

"What happens if he walks out of there?"

".. I really don't know."

"What about if one of them does?"

"That's easy." He gave her a grin and patted the machine gun mounted on Sleipnir. "No one walked out."

"And.. what about me? .. what about you?"

"You, I'll take to the hospital to get you cleaned up and patched up." He replied. "Give them the CLAWS insurance policy, so everything is paid in full, no questions asked.. if I can, get you some cash to help get you somewhere to start anew. As for me? I'll make up something on my report and retire. Maybe open up a private investigator firm."

"Just like that.. it all goes away?"

"Those responsible are dead. My report covers what happened. CLAWS sends out a memo that 'civilians are not to be involved in our pursuit in any way'. If I mention your name, someone will approach you and offer you a decent sized payoff and thinly veiled threats to keep you from going public, since CLAWS officially 'just tracks' renegade Beasts."

"What happens if I go to the media?"

"If you go publicly? CLAWS people pull a cover up that makes you look like an unreliable source seeking money or attention. If you go privately they brush it under the rug as 'insubstantial accusations without evidence'. Best case scenario, they tell the world that the 'CLAWS team' was 'not actually affiliated with CLAWS, since CLAWS does not act to apprehend Beasts'.

"They strive to keep themselves secret Rain. It's only been recently that they allowed cops to know that CLAWS has field agents, and even they only ever see one of us and don't know the extent we go to."

".. I guess I should be grateful that the bastards are dead at least."

"I'm sorry Rain." Steele sighed, "I wish there was more we could do."

"Gunshots stopped.." Rain turned to the warehouse, looking on the verge of crying. "You think.. ."

"Sure." Steele smiled, pivoting the machine gun towards the warehouse, there would be no survivors from the Alphas. "He probably won."

".. yeah.. he'll be out any moment." Rain smiled sadly, it was obvious she didn't believe it any more than he did.

A moment later the warehouse door swung open, a dark form staggered out leaning on a scythe. Steele trained the machine gun on it, almost pulling the trigger before he realized it was far too large to be Reaper. Vengeance and ending it all crossed his mind briefly before he pulled his finger off the trigger.

".. is that..? He's alive!" Rain looked out, smiling for a moment before turning to Steele, his hands still on the machine gun. "What now, Steele? Vengeance? No survivors?"

".. No." He shook his head. "He deserves better than that. When he dies, he deserves a warriors death."

"I see..?"

"Best.. of the best.. Scheiße.. I've fought meaner.. dustbunnies!" Adolph staggered close, leaning heavily on Reaper's scythe. He was covered in wounds, leaving a train of bloody footprints from the warehouse. He flashed a bloody grin, before promptly falling over.

"Adolph!" Rain cried running over to him, barely making it before collapsing next to him. ".. It's over.. you won.. ..say something damnit."

"Damnit.." Steele muttered looking at the two, it would be so easy to get on his bike and vanish, let them deal with whatever happened. Seeing her kneel over Adolph like that though, he knew he couldn't. He pulled the medical bag from Sleipnir, and checked briefly for any other useful supplies before firing it's engines up and aiming it unpiloted at the warehouse. He calmly took his phone out, watching Sleipnir crash, and the resulting explosion. "Yes, there has been an explosion at my coordinates. There are at least three casualties and two injured, we need medical assistance, and it would be beneficial to send the fire department."

"Wha?!" Rain looked up startled at the explosion. "Th' hell did you do?"

"I made things a lot easier to explain." He replied, kneeling next to Adolph, checking for a pulse, then looking him over. ".. He's alive, not in great shape, as good as can be expected for fighting those three. Emergency crews are on their way, I'll make sure he gets taken care of."

".. you make no sense."

"I've seen too many crying over lovers." He sighed. "Way too many. I don't want to see it happen here.. You deserve better... he deserves better."

"Thank you...."

"Mm." He looked up, hearing the sound of an ambulance approaching, thankful for the distraction. He waived the ambulance over to meet the EMTs. He would have to brief them, and the fire department to make sure records matched.

* * *

Pain was the first thing Adolph noticed as he regained consciousness. That meant he was alive at least, he tried to decide if that was a good thing. The air smelled like a hospital, he hated that scent.. it always overpowered everything else. There was something else though.

Rain? He opened his eyes and looked around, Rain was asleep in the chair next to him, he could see a lot of dressings for her cuts, and knew there would be a lot more.. though he worried more about the mental damage, the body heals. Glancing around he didn't see any security, no bars, he wasn't even cuffed to the bed.

".. Rain..?" He reached a hand over to rest on her thigh.

"Mmm?" She shifted slightly, half opening her eyes. ".. Adolph? You're awake!"

"Yeah.." He chuckled. ".. didn't think I was going to.. figured I'd die of blood loss or Steele."

".. He saved you." She smiled, kissing his hand. "Said to tell you that you two are even now."

"Even? Hah. We were even when he saved you.."

"Even for.. what? He wouldn't tell me."

".. I pulled one of his men from a burning building last time he saw me." He shrugged. "Couldn't let a warrior die that way. More important question though, are we prisoners here?"

"No." She shook her head. "I think.. I think you're free, for now."

"Odd." He stretched. ".. I should clear out before Steele changes his mind."

"You're.. going to leave me again?"

"After what I put you through.." He started.

"You took a bullet for me, risking your cover in doing so." She held his hand, looking down. "You came for me, you came ready to die to save me.. damn near did in the process. None of that would have happened if not for me."

"They would have caught up with me eventually." He shook his head. "Not your fault at all. They'll catch up again, that's why it's safer for you if..."

"Fuck that!" She snapped. "I feel safer with you than I do alone. If you want me to leave, say it, but don't tell me it's for my safety."

".. Rain.." He stared at her for a moment. He liked her, maybe he even loved her, he wanted her company.. and she had the fiery temper and strong will to make it in his world. "We'll have to stay low, we'll have to be able to vanish on a moment's notice. You have to be ready to do whatever it takes to survive, even if it means killing. Can you do that?"

"I can." She nodded.

"Then.." He pushed himself out of the bed, ignoring the pain from his various wounds, all well dressed though. "Let's get out of here."

"Adolph.." She wrapped her arms around him, standing on her toes to kiss his muzzle. "I love you."

Epilogue

Wolf Point, MT

"So you're telling me..." The Chief muttered, looking over Steele's report. "The Alphas caught Adolph, and were flying him back here, instead of killing him?, and you were taking your bike back here.. and something went horribly wrong on Sleipnir, causing it to crash in to a conveniently abandoned warehouse, killing all three remaining members, and Adolph.. yet there are no reports to confirm that."

"That's my story and I'm sticking to it." Steele nodded.

"And now you're retiring?"

"Yeah," He nodded again, "I'm getting too old for this shit."

"And all this happens.." He tapped his desk, bringing up a video feed. "A week after multiple news stations receive an anonymous tip about a group of CLAWS agents kidnapping and raping a woman?"

"Coincidence."

"Bullshit! You don't believe in coincidence!"

"It's what you've got Mike."

".. Alright Alex, it's the official story." He nodded. "Level with me though, something went down, didn't it? Something bad. That report..?"

"I can't do it anymore, Mike." Steele sighed. "I became a cop to protect and serve. I joined here to protect innocent civilians from monsters. That's not the first time I've heard of our agents overstepping their bounds.. I can't work for this agency anymore. I can't hunt monsters, when the agency that hunts them employs monsters!"

"I understand Alex." Mike nodded slowly. "Can I ask you a favor though?"

".. What?"

"One more case." He tossed Steele a tablet. "Just one..."

".. This case?" He glanced at it. "I thought we couldn't take this one because we couldn't tie it to a military grade?"

".. I know, I know!" Mike shook his head. "It's just.. it's my home town Alex, my best friend's daughter is a cop there, whatever is doing that has killed several cops already..."

"I'll take it, on one condition.." Steele said after a moment of looking over the case.

"Yeah?"

"I choose my team, no questions asked."

".. Deal." He handed Steele his badge and sidearm back. ".. just.. stop them, Alex."

"I will, Mike, I will."

Steele shook his head as he left Mike's office. He couldn't let murders like this go. Now though, he had a team to assemble.

---

Feedback is always appreciated.

There may eventually be a sequel, but.. well we know my writing track record. >.>