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Chapter V

Pollenburn

Situated on a small hill in the richer suburbs of Pollenburn, the Boswin Estate was a display of excess and luxury. High Seal-infused brick walls surrounded the entire one and a half acres of land. To complete the extravagance, jet-black metal wall spikes designed to look like a boar's head were planted at the top of the wall, their tusks as the actual spikes. Lush green gardens meticulously maintained by servants and Seals covered the majority of the land including the large hedge maze. A tennis court, an outdoor swimming pool and even a VBSim arena was within the property. The two storey mansion looked so small in comparison to the rest of the estate.

"I'll be honest," Jacob said as Marcus drove his Road Bull through the big, metal gates. "It's a little hard to swallow your father's message of equality when he's got a place like this."

Caroline made a noise akin to a soft hum. "All he wants is the loyalty of the people. So long as he gets people within arm's reach, he can execute _Dietrich_and make them his slaves. He's just using 'equality' as a means to trick people to that end." Jacob glanced over his shoulder at her and she caught his gaze. "What?" she asked.

He gave her a very slight smile. "You said that your father took away your regret over Reggie's death and your dreams. I guess it's not like he took away your capacity to feel, huh?"

A bitter laugh left her lips. "My father always values my intellect over all else. He needed something to control me, that's all. The pact effectively prevents me from feeling anything for what he's taken away from me and the only thing I can truly get emotional over is his treatment of Dorothy."

"And since Dorothy is under his complete and utter control, he can order her to inflict damage upon herself and you will be forced to comply," Joanna finished grimly. She shook her head and placed her paws gently on Caroline's hands. The sow gently pushed her paws away, kindly and almost apologetically. "But that doesn't stop you from developing new emotions does it?"

Caroline's smile became a twisted visage of hatred. "No it does not. I have grown to despise my father. I've plotted and schemed to bring him down. I once thought I could enlist the help of Ms. Sherry Stormrock but I'm afraid that my calls have gone unheard."

Marcus' big, long ears flicked back briefly. "You asked Sherry for help? She probably does have a plan. She's the fucking Scalpel." He nodded firmly, pursing his lips slightly. "Just you wait and see. Sherry probably has a plan for this."

That softened Caroline's smile. "I do hope so."

"Something that's bene bothering me," Jacob said over his shoulder. "Where the hell did you and your family get three Seals from? I can guess yours is from Reggie but what about Dorothy and your old man? You seriously couldn't have gone around murdering people close to you to get that kind of power... could you?"

"One Seal, the Deadwind Seal, actually comes from my ancestors," Caroline answered. "One of the men who initially helped rebuild Pollenburn was a Boswin and that was his Seal. My father's Seal is from my mother."

Jacob frowned as he ran through the dossiers he read in the library. "Hang on, but in the official records it says that your father's seal is the one that's been handed down from generation to generation."

Marcus lifted a paw off the steering wheel. "MODD doesn't exactly keep a perfect record of what Seals people have, at least public versions. I mean, where Seals come from is a pretty big secret and MODD is a corporation. People come and go. Leaving that kind of information just lying about is pretty damning."

A snarky laugh left Joanna's lips. She leaned forward from the backseats and poked Marcus' big shoulders. "Another example of MODD's deception."

"Hey, I know some people interpret the volunteering of themselves as Seals to others as a sacrifice but others like you don't. Also, some like me or Sherry don't want people to know where our Seals come from. So MODD just keeps it private. Records are maintained on who has a Seal and where they come from but it's barred from public knowledge. The data we put to the public on the Boswins was at their behest because her daddy -" he hiked a thumb over his shoulder at Caroline "- didn't want everyone to know that his wife died to give him his Seal. MODD respects that."

With a shake of her head, Joanna sat back into the back seats as Marcus rolled up to front of the mansion. "Sounds like MODD is just picking and choosing which morals they adhere to."

Sensing yet another war of words between the two, Jacob said, "It's like having a private funeral. Only the people close to you know about it and those organising it. People have their reasons. Not everyone has to know."

He pushed open the Road Bull's door and stepped outside into the cold night. The estate was dark without a single light on. Just like the rest of the Pollenburnian architecture, foliage grew all over the painted white walls; climbing roses winding their way around the tall columns, vines cascading down from balconies and tall, thin trees flanking every window meticulously trimmed to ensure they did not block any line of sight. A cool breeze blew, ruffling every piece of greenery across the house to give it the illusion of movement. It almost looked alive.

Caroline led the way up the short flight of stairs to the main door with Cal flanking her. Snakebite hovered right beside Jacob like an ominous bodyguard, waiting for him to move. Joanna followed Caroline, her tail wagging like a red banner.

Marcus came up beside Jacob, handing a pair of sunglasses to him.

Realising that they were his, Jacob smiled and took the pair from the roo. "You're taking all of this rather well," he commented.

The kangaroo let out a soft laugh and crossed his arms. "You mean the uprising instigated by the family who led my former crush to suicide, the release of some of the most dangerous criminals in Taranebran history and the discovery of a technique that could bypass the normal laws of Seals?" Marcus blew out his cheeks, held it for a good long, three seconds, before letting it back out. "Honestly? I wish I was born a lion or a dragon. At least then I'd have the ability to roar naturally." He glanced at Jacob with one eyebrow lifted. "You seem to be handling this fine."

He shrugged absently. Far ahead of them, Caroline opened the big, wooden doors and allowed Cal and Joanna to step through. "I just roll with the punches. Go with what I got and try to find my way back safety." His eyes turned to the right, past the walls of the Boswin estate and to the lights of the vast Pollenburn city a few miles away. He could see the faint outline of the Tower and the spotlights spraying into the air for the gala were still on. A thin plume of smoke was still visible but quickly fading.

"The world keeps on turning with or without us," he murmured softly. "We can't all be the heroes that save the day."

With those words, he started heading into the mansion, Marcus' heavy footballs right beside him accompanied by Snakebite's thunderous ones mixed with the soft buzz of his mechanical limbs. The moment he mounted the steps, he caught the scent of lemon and detergent in the air. His ears swivelled forward. Apart from Cal, Joann and Caroline, he couldn't hear another person within the house. The doors had opened rather loudly so he would've guessed someone should've woken up at least. Caroline wasn't calling for any servants either.

"Is anyone else living here?" Cal asked.

Caroline shook her head sadly from where stood at the base of a grand staircase. "My father moved all of his operations away from the city to the countryside when mother died. He maintains this place only because it was mother's favourite place."

"So he kept this house as her tombstone," Joanna said gruffly. "Did he murder her too as he murdered your fiancé just to get a Seal?"

Caroline's eyes dipped forward. "My father didn't kill Reggie. He died in an accident after he and I had a fight. He offered himself up to be my Seal when my father told him about the process." A soft, bitter laugh escaped her. "I suppose that's one thing I should be thanking my father for." Without missing a step she glanced to her right. "I'm curious to see what the media is saying about these events. I'm heading to the entertainment room. There's several bedrooms upstairs that your welcome to use for the night and the food fabricators should be on. Make yourselves at home."

Marcus announced that he was starved and started to head upstairs. Snakebite, Alicia and Joanna accompanied him but Jacob and Cal followed Caroline to the right, through a set of wooden sliding doors and into a broad media room. A television the size of a wall and slightly curved to allow for better viewing at various angles took up the entire western side of the wall. The windows were angled away from the television to minimise glare. Several couches were arrayed in front of the cinema-sized TV and even a few beanbag chairs near the front where Jacob imagined some children would lounge about within the adult's sight.

Caroline switched on the TV from a remote. Seals immediately danced across the screen before light splayed across the black surface, immediately showing the latest news feed.

"... reports from the Tower are scarce but eyewitnesses claim that just as the true festivities were to start, Gale's troops began to immediately evacuate the people not within the Tower itself. Shortly after, gunfire erupted above them as several of the Hive Queens_came under fire. No official statement has been released from MODD."_

"It's been hours," Cal exclaimed, gesturing at the screen. "Something should've come out by now! Where's Gale or anyone else!?"

"Better to have nothing than Boswin shouting his propaganda everywhere," Jacob answered. "Though I am worried... the rest of MODD should've been made aware now." He glanced towards Cal. "You think they'll send one of the other Elemental Lords to come rescue Gale and Rex?"

"Maybe," answered the younger wolf with a shrug. "I mean anyone powerful enough to subdue two Elemental Lords has got to warrant bigger firepower. But Gale did surrender..."

Jacob let out a soft grunt. "MODD doesn't control Rillotia like it does in Minteroca where it's not only the biggest company there but also the ruling government. If they were to stage some sort of military operation, they'd have to go through the President, I'm assuming. That'd be more red tape to cut through."

"Makes you wonder how fast they could make that decision..." muttered Cal as they both turned their attention to the big screen.

"In sports news..."

The image suddenly cut out with a loud fizzle and the newscasters were instantly replaced by the grinning visage of Winston Boswin. Despite the bright, orange banners marked with his emblem hanging behind him and the presence of the Cannibal of Highway 45 behind him along with a bovine guard, it was clear the ambitious would be usurper was sitting in Gale's office, hands folded neatly in front of him where his Seal Weapon, a double barrelled shotgun, sat.

"People of Pollenburn," Boswin announced. "I interrupt your regular broadcasting for two reasons. The first is to give you grave news. You have been betrayed."

"Damn straight!" Cal barked, slamming his fist into the back of a nearby chair.

Jacob let the man vent for a little and turned his head towards door. "Marcus! Guys! You might want to see this!"

Caroline chuckled softly and guided him towards an intercom on the side of the door. "You likely won't get them like that. Here..." She pressed a button with the word 'All' drawn on it. "Everyone. You should come to the media room. My father is making an announcement."

Behind them, Boswin continued. "MODD has betrayed you. Long have they monopolised on your dependence on Seals; worming their way into your hearts and wresting control over your life from your very fingers. They police us like we're cattle or children too stupid to take care of ourselves. We are fed, watered, housed and nurtured all under their care. We live on their whims and desires and are judged by some arbitrary number that we can't even see for ourselves."

"Synch rates," Jacob murmured softly. "What is he leading up to...?"

"MODD spills propaganda from their foul lips about doing what is best for all of us but they are a heartless corporation that is all too willing to crush dreams and shatter hopes for their own profit. Where is the justice when people who have worked tirelessly all their lives to embody a Seal is dismissed in favour of someone who just has the raw talent for it? Where is the equality and freedom that every Mortaelian deservers."

Caroline huffed darkly. "He's one to speak of equality."

Marcus came running into the media room. It looked like he was in the process of getting undressed when the call came. He was just wearing his white singlet, dress pants and hand a beer in one paw. He offered the beer to Jacob who refused. Snakebite followed shortly after and he was cleaning what looked like raw meat from the jaws of his mechanical snakes. When given a quizzical look, the Clan leader just shrugged absently.

"You have been betrayed, Pollenburn," Winston concluded. "But I am here to tell you that MODD has been ousted from their own seat of power. The people now control the Tower that looms over our fair city! These representatives of the people have done what is best for our city and taken control." To emphasise his point, the camera zoomed out. Apart from his bodyguards, five other men and women sat on tables on either side of Boswin. There was something strange in the way that they were sitting, their eyes glaring blankly at them.

"He's taken their will too, hasn't he?" Jacob asked to Caroline.

"I'm not sure on the details of their deal. Maybe he has but they are loyal to him. They do whatever he wants."

_ "And with this development,"continued Boswin, _"I offer you the freedom of Seals. Regardless of your station, your background, your status, I will give you a Seal. Not a single person will go without a Seal. You may ask about Feedback but let me assure you that MODD, with all their resources and knowledge of Seals, have not even come close to learning their true nature. I have discovered a way to give everyone a Seal. Anyone can possess one and they will have a stable synchronisation rate. If you do not believe me, I will be hosting a demonstration at the courtyard of the MODD Tower tomorrow at -"

The transmission suddenly became filled with static. A soft roar filled the air. The ground shook in faint pulses. Beyond the windows, what appeared like meteorites came shooting down from the skies, crashing into the ground as bright, red streaks. Each pulse coincided with one such projectile striking the ground.

Jacob wandered towards the windows, his jaw open slightly in awe and puzzlement.

"The Arc Field..." Cal exclaimed, his eyes wide. "Oh shit... They're locking us in!"

He spun towards the lupine. "What?"

Beams of light taller than even the Seal Generators sprang up from where the meteorites crashed. Each one illuminated the night sky, bathing it in an almost blinding light to rival the sun. The moons of Mortaelis vanished against their brilliance. Those remained erect until the last one had been erected. Then, they curved towards one another, forming the skeletal structure of a dome that encased all of Pollenburn and much of the surrounding farmlands, the Boswin estate included. Jacob felt a strange static charge in the air even as he stood indoors. The beams dispersed, spreading their mass to their neighbours, forming the dome. As they spread, their intensity faded until no trace of them remained save for a faint, bluish film across the sky soon to disappear again in the embrace of the night.

A scream suddenly cut from behind them and they all spun back towards the screen.

"Holy motherfuckin' God-shittin' fuck!" Marcus exclaimed, one arm raised in defence.

On the screen, what looked like an armadillo fused with a plant rushed towards a whoever was holding the camera. The cameraman was screaming, constantly shouting 'Oh god' over and over again, his panic showing through the shaking of the video. The armadillo pounced on the man and an ungodly scream erupted from the screen. The image suddenly cut to what appeared like security footage, complete with time and date. More of those plant-fused furs pounded at a huge, metal door, flowers jutting from their eye sockets while thorny vines grew from their very flesh. Again, the scene changed to a show a group of MODD ANVIL soldiers desperately fighting back more of those creatures behind a makeshift barricade of barrels and crates. One of the creatures jumped over the barricade and pounced on a man, a scream ripping from his lips. The barricade was quickly overcome.

Then the screen went black.

The MODD insignia appeared against the field of black before the darkness faded. Beyond the logo, dozens of MODD officials were scrambling in what looked like some sort of operations room with screens and papers everywhere. As the logo faded as well, Rex's grim features were revealed.

"Pollenburn, Mortaelis," Rex began grimly. "The images you have seen are not fabricated." Framing him were more images of horror from these bizarre creatures. "They are footage recovered from the Rattlesnake Stronghold and in some cases, the surrounding area. A sort of parasitic agent has been discovered within the Stronghold that has spilled forth from the facility. This parasite takes the form of pollen that enters its victims lungs and after just mere hours, grows into a plant that invades the nervous system, cutting through the victim's lungs and eventually spreading into the rest of their body until it blooms into a fully fledges flower that spreads the parasite further. At the same time, the victim, now clinically dead, has their bodies taken over by the flower, their motor controls hijacked by the plant and driving them to attack their fellow citizens often to fatal consequences."

Rex ran a paw down his face, revealing his weariness. "We have learned that even those killed by these 'flower zombies' are still prey to the flower. Those ripped to shreds by former family and friends have the spores enter their bodies and soon rise once again with the flowers controlling their bodies."

He straightened and the image around him switched to what appeared to be footage from the Black Ring Space Station. One of the bays from the enormous space station showed it shooting rockets from onto the surface of Mortaelis.

"To this end, with the express blessing of the President of Rillotia, MODD has enacted a quarantine around Pollenburn and the Rattlesnake Stronghold. The Arc Field..." The image switched to schematics of enormous towers with what appeared to be a diamond-shaped tip. "... has been deployed both around the Stronghold and Pollenburn. The Arc Field is a device infused with the Seal of Finality that is being used to generate an impenetrable barrier around both locations. This is to prevent the plague from spreading further and endangering both the city and its people."

The image switched back to Rex as he rested his paws in front of him. "MODD and especially myself apologise for this situation but we are working day and night to find a cure for the victims. Families are being notified as we speak of the victims. Please stay calm. MODD and the Rillotian military is going to make drops of provisions across the city. Those wishing to leave the city for safer locations will find that there will be several transport stations that both MODD and the military will be setting up around the city. We will process each and every one of your cases and immediately bring you out of the city to wherever you desire.

"Please do not panic. Stay calm. We will all make it through this. As one."

The image died out... flicking straight back to Boswin who was standing over his desk, eyes wide and mouth agape.

"Shut it off! Shut it off now!" Winston barked.

And suddenly they were back to the original two newscasters who just stared agape.

Caroline switched off the TV and immediately spun towards Snakebite. "Was this your trump card? A plague beneath your stronghold!?"

Snakebite hissed at her. "I didn't know of any plague. Yes. This comes as news to me! Yes! Yes!"

Marcus suddenly slammed into him, pinning the bigger cobra into the ground, the two falling to the ground with a deafening crash. Marcus' huge fist slammed into the snake's face, sending blood across the polished, tiled floors. "Ya son-of-a-bitch! Ya had me goin' there! I almost thaught ya were trustworthy!"

"Hold him down!" shouted Cal, immediately drawing his Seal Blade. Caroline drew her own parasol and they both slammed their weapons against Snakebite's extra serpentine bodies to keep them from striking Marcus.

Jacob ran up and shouted. "Stop it! All of you!"

Marcus, a paw lifted, glanced at him over his shoulder. "Why!? He unleashed a fuckin' plague!"

"No," Jacob answered shortly. "I don't think he did."

"You think Rex would lie just to save MODD's face?" Cal growled, eyeing him almost like he was challenging him.

For a moment Jacob considered what he knew about his brother and this new development. Rex wouldn't risk jeopardising his standing in MODD or MODD itself just to save face after Winston's announcement. MODD had made its move and it seemed that the Rillotian government was behind them. Throwing in the name of the President was a risky move if it was a lie and he doubted Rex would just do that on a whim.

"No, I don't. But!" He emphasised the 'but' before the trio could get back to beating Snakebite. "You remember all those times I kept saying bullshit about a plague based on flowers based on flowers?"

Marcus looked like he had just been punched in the gut. That moment of surprise was enough for Snakebite to actually punch his abdomen and throw the burly roo into Cal. Shocked at the sudden movement, Caroline backed away as Snakebite scrambled to his feet. He immediately bounded over to Jacob, positioning himself behind the smaller wolf.

"You foresaw this, yes?" asked the Clan leader.

"I wouldn't say 'foresaw'," Jacob rumbled slowly. "But I saw it happening once before... through Realmbreaker. I suppose it just wouldn't be 'Pollenburn' without it..." He shook his head while Cal and Marcus untangled themselves from one another. "I believe Rex. Roping in the government into this and MODD launching the Arc Field like that is too much of a risk. If the government didn't sanction the move, it could've been interpreted as an act of war. I don't think Rex wants that."

"Are you fucking kidding me!?" Cal shouted, waving his paw and sword through the air. He levelled his blade straight at Snakebite. "Why are you protecting this asshole!? He's a fucking Clan leader! I could tolerate you giving him his arms and weapons back because he helped us escape but now you're defending him even after he unleashed his plague upon us!"

"He didn't unleash the plague!" Jacob snapped back. "Last time, MODD_purposefully created the plague so that they could sacrifice _thousands to make Gale's Seal. It's what drove him to madness and he had to be killed! There was even a touching moment where Gale's brother was one of those trapped within the Seal and when he died, they finally got to finish that game of tag that was tragically cut short when his brother caught the disease!"

Cal faltered and Jacob felt the strange looks he was getting from the others. From the doorway, he saw Alicia and Joanna had joined them, both women watching the tense standoff.

"The plague has always been a consistent theme in Pollenburn's history, in every iteration," Jacob said slowly, one arm raised to cross Snakebite's chest. "And it is my firm belief that an insane, mutant cobra who giggled_at the fact that he created mutant rats and his Clan's was called '_Rat_tlesnakes' is not behind this plague. Besides, do you _really think he has the resources to genetically engineer a flower plague? The Rattlesnakes were formed, what, three years ago? Naughty Dog took at least four years to come up with their version of the plague and it was with fungi."

He frowned and glanced to the side. "Shit... we are so getting sued..."

"You're not making sense!" Cal shouted, stepping forward. "We don't need him anymore! We should just kill him now before he stabs us in the back!"

"You're welcome to try, little pup. Yes," hissed Snakebite.

"No one is killing anyone!" shouted Jacob, stepping in between them both and lifting his paws. "Rex was right. We've got to stick together! Right now, we've only got each other in this whole mess. If we start tearing at one another we're going to turn this from a science-fiction-fantasy hybrid to a fucking afternoon drama and I fucking hate afternoon dramas!"

Cal knocked his paw aside. "Screw you! I'm going to kill him for what he did to my family!"

A gird of Realmbreaker energies sprang up between both Snakebite and the young SWORD wolf.

"You get a time out!" Jacob snapped. "Go on. Out!" Slowly, the grid began pushing towards Cal, forcing him to back away. It began to accelerate, pushing Cal towards the doors where Joanna and Alicia immediately gave him way. Some sense began filling the Cal's eyes but that didn't ease the anger. He huffed loudly, spun on his heels and stormed out of the estate. The sound of the doors slamming behind him heralded his departure.

"He'll be back," Jacob said. "Boswin's men are out on the streets and I don't think many people will be happy about what Rex has done. He's a smart kid. He won't venture out far."

Snakebite grunted, his metallic tail twitching. "Yes. I would have liked to see him bleed a little. Yes."

Jacob ignored him. "We need to come up with a plan." He caught Joanna's gaze and gave the vixen a nod. "Joanna, any luck with your Unsealed buddies?"

The vixen stepped forward, one paw on her hip. "I was actually in the middle of a conversation with my contact when we were interrupted by Rex's transmission. My contact couldn't focus with the plague going on. She's within the dome of the Arc Field as well and I've arranged a meeting with her tomorrow."

"No sooner?"

She shook her head. "With this development, all Unsealed agents are going to stay low for a little bit. MODD is clearly on high alert and we don't want to exposed. I'm going to meet her alone. Hopefully I'll return with a plan." She folded her arms. "The question is, what do we want to do? Stop Boswin? Meet up with the rest of MODD? The Unsealed? Escape or destroy the plague?"

"My vote is to escape this place and let the big guys deal with it," Jacob said. "I've got this terrible feeling that the Arc Field isn't going to last and somehow, this whole city is going to be the epicentre of a plague."

"Jake!" Marcus protested. "We've got a responsibility to bring order and peace back to Pollenburn. We have the power to do so! And if you feel that's what's going to happen, we should do something to stop it, not run away from it."

Jacob shrugged. "I know but I that's the direction my gut is telling us to go." He too crossed his arms so that he could secretly look at the dog tags wrapped around his wrist. "I know we won't choose to go that way but it's what I personally want."

An awkward silence followed.

"I know it sounds selfish of me," Caroline began. "But I would personally like to stop my father. Unrest and his ambitions can only hider MODD's attempt to cure this plague."

"I'm inclined to agree with her," Marcus added. "So I'm going to cast my vote with her. Rex clearly has the resources to deal with the plague. We don't. We can stop Winston though."

"The pig must die," rumbled Snakebite.

Joanna nodded. "Very well then. That is the topic I will bring up with my contact. In the meantime, you should all get some rest. It has been a hectic night." She brushed a strand of hair from her features. "I'll hunt down the SWORD cry baby."

Guilt stung Jacob. He was the one that drove Cal away and in the back of his mind, he felt that his actions could drive the young SWORD member away from them and open up avenues for betrayal. "I'll find him," he said. "He probably doesn't want to see me right now but I think that's more of a reason for me to find and reconcile with him."

"Alright. But if he is outside of the estate grounds, don't follow. There's no telling where Winston's troops are and I'm sure he would have noticed Caroline's absence by now."

With those words, Jacob headed out of the media room while the rest of the group began to disperse. He vaguely heard Marcus ask Caroline if there were some spare bits of clothes around that he could wear and Caroline promising to lead them to the auto-tailor. He left the estate building and sniffed the air. Cal's scent lingered in the air and he followed it around the back of the grounds.

He was surprised to find Cal resting on one of the gentle slopes of the hill. The wolf was looking out into the distance, towards the west where the farmlands rested. Jacob approached cautiously, looking for any hostility in the fellow lupine's movements but when Cal didn't draw his blade, he sat down next to the wolf. The cool breeze felt good on his fur and there was an odd sense of serenity in the city though he guessed it was because since they were in the rich suburbs, no one was up to have heard Boswin's announcement and they were far enough from the city proper to hear any rioting. The deployment of the Arc Field had also been very faint. Most of those asleep likely wouldn't have noticed.

"It's so hard to believe this is all happening..." Cal murmured. "Everything looks so... peaceful..."

"Give it time. It won't take long before news travels. I imagine local authorities must be trying to keep the peace as much as they can." He glanced to his left and right, beyond the walls of the estate that looked so small given the size of the land. The next house over was about two acres away and it didn't look like anyone was living in there. "You think anyone actually lives in the houses here?"

"Doubtful. We're in Windwood. It's where all the richer families build their summer homes. We're just entering winter so won't expect people here." Cal rested his head on his knees. "God... There were days that I used to look at places like this and hate the people living here for all their luxury. None of them have any idea what it's like to really work." A bitter laugh left his muzzle. "And then I end up allying myself with Caroline fucking Boswin... At least I had my freedom even if I was poor. She... Coerced by her own father..."

"It's messed up alright."

Cal let out a soft whimper. "I'm just finding it hard to believe. I know what the right thing is but... it's just hard..."

"When you grow up with a certain degree of anger, it's hard to let it go," Jacob agreed. "I used to hate my brother for everything he did or didn't do. But I let that all go a long time ago."

He got a small smile from Cal for that. "Didn't you punch him out?"

"That was because of how he was talking about Marcus, Gale and Sherry. Not the past."

Cal's eyes dropped. "How'd you let it all go? It can't be easy."

Jacob took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "It really isn't. But it's all a matter of perspective." He let out a light chuckle. "There's actually a game my dad and I used to play to help put things in perspective. The idea of the game is that I say 'I am' followed by an object. The other player then countered that by saying that they are something that can 'defeat' that object, something superior. The idea is that you are constantly compelled to beat your opponent but only the person that has the least number of turns is the winner. We stop only when neither player can come up with something that can beat what was said."

"How does that teach perspective?" Cal asked.

Jacob gave Cal a lopsided smile. "Why don't we play? I'll start." He cleared his throat theatrically. "I am a worm."

Cal rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'm a nuclear explosion. Beat that."

"I am the sun." He tapped his nose. "Might of billions of nuclear explosions in there."

The young SWORD member shook his head. "This is stupid."

Jacob nudged him with an elbow. "Come on. There's lots that can beat the sun. Keep going."

"Fine." Cal gazed off into the distance. "I'm a black hole."

"I am a galaxy."

Cal gave him a sidewards stare, a competitive edge in his eyes. "I'm the universe."

"I am destruction. The end of time."

He got a snort from that. "I'm God."

Jacob shrugged. "And I win."

Cal's lips parted... then slammed shut. He then turned away and snorted. "I don't like playing this game. It's stupid."

A smile on his lips, Jacob said, "I am a snake." Then he waited, the soft chirping of crickets in the air followed by the gentle rustle of grass.

He heard Cal's fists tighten... before loosening.

"I'm a gun wielding hunter."

"I am a deadly disease," Jacob countered.

"I'm a cure to your disease."

A smile crawled onto Jacob's lips. "I'm a mutation, rendering your cure useless."

"Then I'm a quarantine, keeping your mutated disease locked until it dies out." Cal was looking directly at him now, challenging him.

"I'm a natural disaster, an earthquake, a tornado, a hurricane or a volcanic eruption."

Cal huffed loudly. "I am the planet, every quake, every breeze or erupting just a part of my existence."

"I am the sun, the force that gives you life and can burn you to cinders at a moment's notice."

Straightening, Cal wagged a finger at him. "Ah! I know where you're going with this. Well I won't fall for it!" He folded his arms derisively. "You're the sun, huh? Well, then I'll counter with I am the galaxy."

"Then I guess that leaves me with being the universe... and you...?"

"As destruction and the end of time!" Cal exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air. "So that makes you God and I win!"

Jacob lifted a finger. "Actually. I just thought of something that can trump God."

"Nothing can trump God."

He lifted his head and smiled broadly. "Why don't we see? Go on. Why don't you say 'I am God'."

"Fine. I am God." Cal's tail was wagging confidently. "What are you?"

"I am hope."

That wagging stopped and Cal stared at him in shock for a long moment. Then his ears folded back and he growled. "That's a dirty trick. You could've said that before!"

Jacob's smile became distant and reminiscent. He gazed back out into the distance, smiling at the memory. "Because that's exactly how my dad, in the few moments of lucidity, got me to realise that no matter how bad it gets, there will always be hope but only if you let it grow. Some people say that hope is the cruellest curse of them all because hope makes you believe and keep fighting even when you should logically stop. It prolongs suffering. But like my dad told me, that's just a sign that you don't have enough of it. You've got to make room for it. Get rid of the things you don't need like the anger that's holding you back, the frustration over things you can't change and the sorrow that keeps making you cry.

"Get rid of it and move on."

Cal was silent and he too looked out into the distance.

Jacob remembered his father's words well. Hope. Such a powerful and at the same time, wretched thing. He always kept hope burning within him; the hope that one day things will get better. He threw aside his anger at Rex, his sorrow at his mother's death and the frustration over his unchanging lifestyle. But he failed to do anything with that hope. He fell into the trap of holding hope in his heart but never doing anything with it.

And yet... knowing that fault, he wasn't sure if he wanted to change that.

Why change what was not broken?

Then he thought about Marcus and something changed in the spark of hope within him. It jostled in his heart, making it skip a beat.

"So you think there's hope for everyone?" Cal asked.

Jacob let out a soft laugh. "No. There are people out there that I think are just beyond hope." He gave Cal a sly smirk, a warning about what he was about to say. Cal rolled his eyes. "And I know Caroline and Snakebite are not beyond hope."

The young wolf laughed softly. "What makes you so sure?"

Just for one minute, Jacob closed his eyes. Through Realmbreaker, he saw both Snakebite and Caroline. In the jumbled mess of images, he saw bright, smiling faces and happiness, joy and even children. There were moments of sadness as well. Pain, suffering and pointless deaths. His heart practically leapt to his throat as he saw Snakebites final moments. He shook his head, aware of the faint tears on his cheeks.

"It's possible that in the infinite number of universes, countless possibilities and endless realities out there, our one could be the one that they're jerks." He looked at his paws. "But if they were good in those other worlds, why can't they be good in this one too?"

"Are you willing to risk lives betting on that?" Cal asked.

Jacob mulled over that before giving Cal a nod. "I am. But I'll be the first one to stop them."

"I'll hold you to that." Cal gave him a faint nudge. "And if you believe that Snakebite didn't cause the plague... then I guess that's fine with me. I don't believe it but if you're willing to take responsibility, I'll play nice."

"Good to hear." He nudged Cal back. "There's hope for you yet."

"Maybe..." Cal gave him a concerned look. "But will there be any left for you?"

"I think there is." He laughed softly, remembering how just the thought of Marcus made him feel. "I'm sure there is."

******

SLAM!

The desk crashed to the ground. A strange black energy encased it, crushing its entire frame into a tiny, metal ball that slammed into the ground, creating a dent on the floor. Rex growled and released the remnants from his grip.

"Fuck!"

Catching sight of someone, he didn't care who, he immediately shouted, "You! Get me a fucking coffee! Double shot!" He took a second to reconsider. "Actually, you know what? Screw it! I want a hot chocolate with some whipped cream sprinkled with cinnamon, some brown sugar stirred in and a shot of whiskey. And if I so much as _taste_any of that whiskey, I'll rip your tail off!"

The otter let out a loud 'eep' and bolted out of the room which Rex had commandeered for his broadcast. It was the bridge of the Brood Mother, the most impressive place he could find on such short notice. All of his 'actors' who were trying to look busy in the background shrunk away from him while he fumed.

Gale stepped into the room, looking displeased. "I know none of us liked what we had to do but -"

"But nothing!" Rex roared. "My brother is trapped in that goddamn city with Boswin and his men! It's going to take a whole fucking day to get some transports set up and there's no guarantee he won't be torn up by Boswin or, God forbid, Khan Sho! Fuck!" He kicked the clump of metal and let out another shout as his toe slammed into it. "Fuck!"

He began bouncing comically on one foot.

"You've had hours to vent on this," Gale said. "Why are you throwing your frustration now of all times?"

"Because I thought I'd have time to at least give Jake some warning!" Rex roared. He pointed an accusing finger at Gale. "But you stopped me from talking to him! I don't even know where the fuck he is now!" He jerked his head to the right. "And where the fuck is my hot chocolate!?"

Gale let out his own sign of frustration with a shake of his head. "Rex, you need to learn patience. You trusted your brother to be strong enough to survive on his own. Why can't -"

"That was before I learned that there were flower zombies popping up everywhere! If you remember, he came from the Rattlesnake Stronghold_and he's wheeling around the _Clan leader_of the _Rattlesakes!"

"If they were already infected -"

"I know they're not infected!" Rex spat, his fists shaking. With every shake, the area around him quaked as well like someone had taken the Brood Mother and was wiggling it from side to side. "They'd have shown signs by now! But what if they're carriers! What if wherever they go, the plague spreads!? Did you think of that!?"

The look on Gale's face and his lack of response was answer enough.

"Didn't think so." Rex gripped the sides of his head and let out a frustrated growl. "This is so messed up!" He jabbed a finger at Gale's chest. "I just want those transport stations up and running as soon as possible. Get whoever you can out of the city to work on the fucking cure. And I want Jake out of there ASAP!"

He stormed away before Gale could counter, every step he took shaking the entire ship. Though it felt really good to vent, he felt increasingly childish with each step and a pit formed in his stomach. No doubt he had just proved to Gale that he was still an immature child. But he felt that he was justified this time. He didn't know how else to react. He was sure Gale would've felt the same if someone he cared about was thrown into such a dangerous situation. Perhaps he wouldn't have been so dramatic about it.

Each step grew lighter and he started to pull away from using his Seal to shake the ship, reasoning that if the Brood Mother was destroyed, he'd have a lot of answer for. Not to mention they'd have to find some other way to combat the Pollenburn armada if it fell into Boswin's control. He stepped out of the ship, fists still firmly clenched to find Silas standing at the base of the ramp, looking up at him expectantly like a patient parent waiting for their child to stop throwing a temper tantrum.

"Not now," he growled.

"I just thought you'd enjoy some more bourbon after what just happened," Silas offered. "But if you want your space..."

Just an hour earlier, he had been sitting in the SWORD lounge of the facility, a broad, luxurious resting area for the few SWORD members stationed in the bunker. He and Silas lounged in the big, leather couches with a bottle of Daniel Jackson's between them and glasses in their paws. They talked about the most inane things. Sports, celebrities, a barbeque that Silas was planning next week that he absently invited Rex to and a professional VBSim game that Rex had complimentary tickets to. A screen was showing the latest news feed but they both ignored it, just enjoying one another's company.

Then Boswin's transmission came in. It was being broadcasted on the emergency frequency meaning that everyone else had a bit of a delay before receiving it but MODD had immediate access. Rex watched it, fascinated before Sherry came in and announced the deployment of the Arc Field. He then got ready for their on broadcast but had asked Gale if he could contact Jacob beforehand to at least give him some warning.

But when Gale refused... Needless to say, he had been keeping in his frustration for the entire broadcast.

"Can we drink ourselves stupid?" Rex muttered.

"Plenty of bourbon to go around," answered Silas with a smile.

"Lead the way," he grunted.

Moments later, they were in Silas' quarters; a small militaristic space that really only had a bed, a food fabricator and a night stand. At least the bed was big enough to fit two people and as Silas conjured up some alcohol and glasses from the fabricator, Rex kicked off his shoes and rested on the bed, his back against the headrest.

"Hell of a day, huh?" Silas began.

"You don't know the half of it." Rex took the glass filled with ice and amber liquid with thanks. "Boswin, the plague, the Arc Field and Jake... It's just hard to believe things could go to shit so quickly!"

"Really?" Silas sat down beside Rex, an arm behind his head to act as a pillow of sorts. "Remember how the war in Welensha broke out?"

"Of course I do."

Welensha, renowned for its deserts, lush rainforests and strong beliefs had been a prime resource of crude oil before the Seal Revolution. Enormous oil rigs rested in the Carasorm Plains, rusting and unused now that a more sustainable source of energy had been found. Welensha had yet to fully embrace Seal technology but most of the rigs had been decommissioned. A group of insurgents who followed the religion of the Silent Lady originating in Oxis attacked a large majority of the oil rigs, setting them ablaze. Hundreds of workers that still manned some of the rigs died in the flames. They followed up the attack by sending fanatical bombers at the Rillotian and MODD embassies with claims that it was the Silent Lady's will, the God on Mortaelis, that Seals serve not mortals not rule them. The bombers devastated the embassies with zeal, literally going down guns blazing with nothing to lose. One analyst called them 'a step above suicide bombers'. They had nothing to lose but would take down as many people as possible before they went down. Having bombs that were designed to go off the moment they died also made them extremely dangerous. A failed attempt at the Black Ring also put MODD on high alert and generally put anyone from Welensha on the suspect list for a few years, giving way to some rampant paranoia and racism.

"That started all in a few days," Silas said. "The bombing of the oil rigs. The attacks on the embassies. Just a few days and the world went to shit."

"Great..." Rex muttered, sipping his bourbon. "So this is the Rillotian version of that. Though instead of nut jobs totally against Seals, it's a hypocritical asshole who wants to replace MODD and give everyone Seals."

"Pretty much." Silas swirled the glass thoughtfully. "But I don't think this is as organised as the one in Welensha. Boswin is clearly twisted and evil. He let out Khan Sho for fuck's sake. He might get a few converts but we won't be getting cells of resistance here and there. We've contained them."

"And this plague?" Rex countered. "What about that?"

"Something else to spice up the experience," Silas laughed softly, draining his glass. He winced as the amber liquid flew down his throat, leaving a gentle burning sensation on the way down. "Get you another?"

"Shouldn't you be on duty?" Even though he said that, Rex drained his own glass and handed it back to Silas who got up and refilled their drinks.

"We all need to a break every now and then. It's not always go-go-go, you know."

Rex laughed softly as he was offered the glass. "I guess I've never had that luxury. For me, it's always bolting from one project to another. Even my little breaks with Dev are short lived."

"Your football player boyfriend," Silas stated.

"He's not my boyfriend," Rex said longingly.

"You wish he was though."

He took a moment to think and pause. "Yeah."

Silas sat back down beside him. "What makes him so special?"

A light blush touched Rex's cheeks and he couldn't help but grin a little sheepishly. "Well... he looks grouchy all the time but when he smiles, it's like that first beam of light after a heavy storm, the first break of dawn. He's also sweet. He's a hell of a cook and this one time, he cooked me this awesome salmon, chive and cheese omelettes. He got drunk at a party we both attended and I carried him home. I couldn't be bothered going back to my place so I crashed on his couch." Rex laughed softly. "He promised to make me an omelette every time I spent the night and that was incentive enough for me to stay."

He gave Silas a grin. "And did I mention he's sexy as hell?"

"I think that went without saying."

"Well he is," laughed Rex. "He has an indoor gym in his place and when I get time and he's free, we work out together. I love watching his huge muscles move like that, pumped with blood and strength..." Rex subconsciously hugged himself as a shiver ran down his spine. "Fuck... just thinking about him is getting me hard..."

Then he realised what he had just said and let out a nervous cough, absently covering his crotch with a paw. "Erm... sorry. That was... inappropriate."

Silas nudged him and drained his glass. "Don't worry about it. If it makes you feel any better, I'll tell you about my love life. Here's a hint, it doesn't exist."

"That doesn't really make me feel any better."

The older wolf took his half-empty glass and drank it all himself. "That's because I'm not drunk enough yet." He blinked a couple of times and then shook his head. "Okay, there we go. Another?"

"Yes please."

Silas got up to get them both more drinks, a slight stagger in his step. "It started with this girl at a bar. Let me guess. She was a bitch and turned you to try men once? Or maybe she was adventurous and got you in a three way?"

"Oh really?" Rex taunted.

"Let me finish," Silas chastised. Another glass was offered to Rex who took it with thanks. "This girl was an otter. Slim thing. Cutest smile I had ever seen and had short, blonde hair. One would think she was a tomboy but when she was at the bar, she wore this cute summer dress, aqua blue. It just popped in the place. Caught my attention right away."

Silas made to drain his glass again but Rex seized his arm. "Whoa there man, I want you coherent so I can hear this story."

"Well you aren't drunk enough if you're using words like 'coherent'," countered Silas. "Drink up or I'll drink up for both of us."

Rex rolled his eyes and took a delicate sip from his glass.

Silas chuckled softly. "She drank her water just like you did. Tiny, delicate sips like she was telling everyone she was too good for beer. I got to talking to her. I was horny as fuck just listening to her voice. It was bright but had a gruff edge to it. Not super-high or energetic. Told me she was a woman of the world, knew what she wanted. I didn't think she'd be interested in a SWORD grunt like me but I like a challenge."

A grin crossed his features and he shook his head. "Fuck, I should've known... Looking back now, I should've seen the signs."

"She was a lesbian?"

"No." Silas drained his glass and Rex quickly drank all of his bourbon before Silas could steal it again. "She led me to her place. It was neat, clean and well kempt. Thought it was a total chick place. I saw a few VBSim posters of some guys and I thought she must be one of those fans. I was horny and she pulled off my clothes. Went down on me for a bit and then got me into bed. She was still clothed but then she crawled over me and guided my paw to her crotch."

"Aaaaand?" Rex began, a little wary of how detailed Silas was getting into.

The older wolf snorted. "She was bigger than me."

...

It took Rex a second to process that. "Holy shit!"

Silas threw his head back, banging the back of his head against the headrest. He let out a soft 'ow' and rubbed the spot. "That's what I said!"

"She had both!?"

"Nope. Cross dresser. He whispered in my ear that no one ever had to know. Needless to say, I fucked him that night and fell asleep with him in my arms. Next day, I learned that he took pictures of it and sent it all around the local campus. Turns out, he had something against MODD and just wanted to embarrass the closest MODD grunt he could get his paws on. But you know what?"

He gave Rex a cocky grin. "Never felt so good as I did back then. Made me curious. I was scared at first but then I learned some of the other guys are into that sort of thing. Been fooling around since then. Don't think I could ever settle down. I love sex too much."

Given Silas' honesty, he was clearly very drunk. His eyelids were half-closed and there was a slight redness to his cheeks. It was very amusing to Rex who couldn't help but giggle softly.

"Though it got me to thinking," Silas said with a nod. "No one cares if you're gay or straight. Still people hide it because of one reason or another. So I decided not to care who I slept with. Girls have things that guys don't have and guys can't fill you like girls can. Both genders are mortals, one of us. I don't see what's wrong with having fun with either one. Hell, I once had a four way."

"Guy-guy-girl-girl?"

"All girl."

Rex shook his head and stuck his tongue out. "Sorry. But I'm all guy here."

Silas laughed softly. "Grow up."

"Grow up?" he repeated. "How old are you? Fifty? Should you really be sleeping around like you are?"

"I'm forty-six!"

Rex shook his head. "My point still stands. You're old enough to be my dad."

Silas suddenly let out a soft, thoughtful noise. "And that's the issue, isn't it? You're doing this to also impress your dad. The popularity. The arrogance. The riches and fame. You secretly want your old man to put a paw on your shoulder..." He rested a big paw on Rex's right shoulder. "... and say... I'm proud of you, Rex."

Rex's heart leapt up to his throat. Memories of his father's anger at him becoming an Elemental Lord, how all his achievements were always dulled because he had used Seals and that spark of anger he always felt every time his father didn't give him a reason for his abstinence from Seals. He never got that warm hug of pride, that comforting paw shake or that proud look that he had seen Isaac give Jacob.

He looked into Silas' eyes... and...

Before he knew what was happening, his lips had met Silas' and his arms were wrapped around the big, older man's shoulders, pulling them both together in a tight embrace. He wasn't drunk. Maybe a little tipsy but he knew what this kind of interaction could do for Silas' career. Just one word from Rex and he could have Silas' tail out of MODD for unprofessional conduct.

But then again, why would he want to?

He dove into the kiss, savouring the taste of the older wolf while their tongues danced against one another. Years of sexual deprivation, fake kisses and furious masturbating sessions all alone when he was sure no one was looking all came rushing out. The voracious sex predator that he had been keeping caged into the deepest recesses of his psyche suddenly bursting out through the bars, throwing him straight at Silas and pushing the older lupine onto the bed, his lips eagerly drawing kiss after hungry kiss.

Rex was suddenly pushed back a moment, Silas' big, strong paws prising him back. "Whoa there... I'm drunk. You're drunk. This isn't a good idea."

"Best things in life never are," growled Rex, his pants starting to grow tight with his mounting arousal. He leaned forward, his paws sliding over Silas' big pectoral muscles. Awe filled him at how well defined they were beneath the standard SWORD uniform and how firm they felt against his paws.

"Sir... this is bad..." Silas murmured. Suddenly, he let out a soft whimper, biting down on his lower lip. Rex smirked as he felt something... metallic beneath the layers of clothing.

"Take off your shirt."

"Sir..."

"That's an order."

Silas whimpered softly, his ears folded back. Slowly, he began to unbutton his SWORD coat. Rex's eyes hungrily took in every inch of the wolf's muscular form as it was beautifully outlined by the black shirt beneath. The scant light in the small room ensured that every curve and mound was pronounced. The moment the last button was undone and Silas shrugged off the coat, Rex could confirm what his fingers had already told him.

"Is that a nipple ring under there?" he teased, brushing up a finger against the ring pressed up against the dark fabric. The gentle whimper from Silas was confirmation enough and as Rex leaned down and pushed his nose against the metal, the wolf's pectoral instantly tightened. His fingers began teasing Silas' shirt from where it was tucked into his pants. The gesture brought his fingers brushing up against the throbbing piece of meat that betrayed Silas' own desires.

Rex had become a predator, toying with his trapped prey. He had found Silas' weakness and was going to exploit it. A long breath on the mount moistened the fabric around Silas' pierced nipple. It dampened the area, something the older wolf would've sensed. Silas suddenly lifted his arm and Rex momentarily tensed, fearing some sort of physical retaliation. Instead, Silas gripped his forehead like he was struggling against himself. The other paw was digging into the sheets and soft growls mixed with whimpers were escaping from his lips.

Grinning deviously, Rex wrapped his lips around Silas' nipple, just a light kiss through the fabric. Silas bucked his hips almost instantaneously, brushing his throbbing cock up against Rex' abdomen. He had Silas in his power now. That feeling of control over the much bigger, older and supposedly wiser male was exhilarating.

But some sensible part of Rex began reeling in the predator. Both entities had some base desires that needed to be fulfilled and a compromise had to be made. Higher cognitive functions knew this moment of drunken sex would be far from fulfilling but his body was in such desperate need of release and contact with another fur that he could barely finish peeling Silas' shirt off him.

Seeing that nipple ring for the first time made his cock spasm painfully in his pants. It was a simple, silver ring embedded into Silas' big, swollen, pink nipple. The older wolf's nipples were hard and erect. Rex found his throat drying when his eyes travelled from the peaks of the glorious mounds to near the base where Silas' big chest met his shoulder. Dark swirls rolled across the thick muscles across Silas' shoulder, biceps and forearms. The tattoos triggered the primal beast in Rex, making him quiver in delight, tail slowly rising. The beast somehow associated the tattoos as a sign of sexual experience and by the look of the delicately drawn artwork on the other arm depicting several interlocking moons, Rex was inclined to agree.

"Oh fuck you're sexy..." grunted Rex.

Silas was unable to respond, just constantly panting and lightly bucking his hips.

Like a game of word association, his cognitive mind put together the image of this tough, gruff, worldly wolf with the sexy, inked and pierced wild animal hiding beneath the folds of his clothes. The fact that his was forty-six did nothing to deter his desire for the male. If anything, it only made him even more desirable.

"You're such a daddy..." he rumbled.

Silas suddenly flinched and stared straight at Rex. "Don't say that."

"Why not?" Rex taunted. He reached down, squeezing on Silas' throbbing cock. "Is that your trigger word?"

Silas could only groan, his body shaking, barely able to hold back his own desires. "Sir... Rex... we... We c-c-can't..."

"Yes we can, dad."

Silas let out a loud rumble. He tried to turn away, tried to roll off the bed but Rex pounced on him. Placing their bodies right on top of one another. Though he was smaller, Silas was too shocked by the movement to throw Rex off before the younger and smaller wolf, pressed his lips up against Silas' ear and whispered, "Fuck me, daddy."

Something just snapped in Silas. The older wolf let out a ferocious, primal roar and wrapped his big, strong arms around Rex. He rolled them both across the bed so that he was on top of the Elemental Lord, his muzzle all but engulfing Rex's in a ferocious kiss. His paws desperately tried to undo the buttons on Rex's jacket but he quickly grew frustrated and just tore through the fabric of his coat and shirt.

Rex did not mind at all and to please his 'daddy', his seized the big, erect nipples in front of him, giving them a powerful twist. Silas pulled away from the kiss, letting out a loud, long 'Yes' while sucking air through his clenched fangs. Their cocks were pressing up against one another through the fabric of their pants and they both became aware of the hindrance to their bliss. Silas sat up, cradling Rex's ripped abdomen in his big, powerful thighs. He began undoing his pants while Rex took in all of the beauty that was this refined specimen of a wolf.

The greying edges to his fur was just so infinitely arousing that Rex just had to reach out and feel their soft, silky touch beneath his fingers. The chiselled abdominals were perfectly shown through his thin fur, each mound completely squeezable. If he could look so good when he was forty-six, he would count himself blessed.

Silas peeled open his pants and his musk instantly washed over Rex. The scent of desire, precum mixed with Silas' own personal scent akin to a fine beef roast doused in whiskey. Maybe it was just the bourbon they had drunk that added that slight alcoholic, aromatic smell but it was alluring to Rex. More so as it seemed to radiate from the pulsating bright red rocket that sprang from a bush of brown.

"Suck it, kid," growled Silas, fangs bare and completely dominating.

Something about that phrase just kicked off several processes within his higher mental functions. Various fantasies were instantly triggered and he immediately moved to obey. He lunged for Silas' thick cock. At seven inches, it was certainly impressive but its true value was in its girth. Rex could barely wrap his fingers around its pulsating mass. He doubted he could take it all in his muzzle but he would be damned if he didn't try!

He leaned forward, tentatively licking the tip just to get a taste of his first man. Countless hours of porn, wet dreams and idle fantasies flew through his mind. His mind raced on the various techniques he should use; he had to make sure he kept his jaw wide open so that his teeth didn't scrape against the sensitive flesh but wouldn't that conflict with the sucking motion he wanted? What should he do with his tongue? Or his paws for that matter?

His primal self just kicked in and told him to get on with it.

Dove straight for that delectable cock, burying nose-deep into the thick, musky pubic fur. He practically melted with Silas' member in his muzzle as that heavenly scent wafted into his nostrils. His body went into autopilot and he tried to bury as much of that member into his throat. His first instinct was to suck on the salty piece of meat that throbbed with Silas' heartbeat. As he did so, a wash of precum washed down his throat. He was unprepared for the blast and he instantly gagged. He tried to pull away but Silas' firm paw seized the back of his head and pushed him back down the member.

A flash of panic blasted through his mind, bringing the intelligent part of him back in control as he suddenly found himself struggling to breathe. Silas groaned and gave a powerful thrust, the tip of his cock brushing against the back of Rex's throat, further blocking his airways. Rex let out a panicked mumble but Silas began stroking his hair gentle.

"Breathe through your nose, kiddo. Through your nose."

Something about the gentle, fatherly way Silas spoke cut through the warring primal sex beast and overanalysing conservative in him, calming both. Rex took a deep breath through his nose and as he did so, gently pulled away from Silas' cock. As he exhaled, he slowly drove back in, burying his nose for more of that scent. For his efforts, Silas rewarded him with a squirt of delicious, salty precum that he had the time to savour across his tongue and lather it all over Silas' cock once more.

With oxygen no longer being an issue, Rex became aware of his own aching erection. He squeezed Silas' balls, telling the older wolf that he hadn't forgotten about him. His paws roved over the big wolf's thick things. He ran his thumb over the hard division between Silas' quads, enjoying how they bulged. He took in the thick, bubble rump, giving it a firm squeeze. Then, he moved towards his own crotch and began unbuckling his own belt. Without being able to completely see what he was doing, he fumbled but then one big paw began assisting while the other continued to guide his head along the thick, meaty wolf dick.

Suddenly, his cock was free of the confines of a belt and pants. He kicked both pieces of clothing off while Silas' paw rubbed his cock through the fabric of his briefs. A smile touched his lips and a moan left his throat. The touch of another man's paw on his member felt so good but the barrier of underwear was still there. As if reading his mind, Silas hooked the rim of his briefs and began pushing them down. Rex took over and removed them completely. He didn't even have them completely off when Silas seized his twelve-inch dick.

"Damn, son. That's one fine-ass prick you go there. Your daddy must be proud."

Rex murmured something into Silas' cock, unwilling to stop sucking that glorious piece of meat. He was practically drooling all over his chest, simply hungry for more. Silas' paw rubbed his length in tandem with every bob of his head, each gesture bringing forth a burst of precum from both wolves.

The older wolf grinned down at him.

"Oh you want me to be your daddy huh?"

Both Primal Rex and Conservative Rex agreed on the same point, making Rex pull his ears back submissively, look up at Silas like a wide-eyed pup and let out a whimper of submission. Something triggered in Silas as well and the older wolf gently pulled his cock out of Rex's muzzle, using the back of his paw to brush gently against the younger wolf's cheeks. Rex lapped up the precum from Silas' cock, making sure it was nice and clean but still dripping wet.

Neither of them spoke as they quickly repositioned themselves.

Rex rolled onto his belly, eyes closed and a lusty smile on his features. He lifted his hips up into the air with the aid of Silas, supporting his weight on his knees. As his tail lifted, he brushed his scent straight into Silas' nose. The older wolf shuddered in delight at the rosy but still manly musk that entered his nostrils. Both of their scents were filled with pheromones and neither male could resist their allure. Though his cock had just been cleaned moments before, Silas was already dripping precum all over his sheets and it was coating his dick, preparing for where it was going next.

For him, Silas had always been adventurous even in his advanced age. There was something deliciously forbidden about fucking an Elemental Lord that just drove the carefree, impulsive, permanently twenty-something wolf in him to go on. Some doubts had remained, harboured by the adult in him, but when Rex looked up at him like a puppy begging for his father, those doubts vanished. There were feelings bubbling up inside of him that he didn't dare think about just yet. He instead massaged Rex's glutes, working them to reveal his pink, virgin ass.

A moan from Rex told him the pup was ready for him. Silas advanced, his paw sliding away from Rex's ass and over to that throbbing twelve inch tool. Silas' own muzzle watered at the touch of that dick. When he seized it and began stroking its length, it just seemed to go on forever. His fingers brushed up against Rex's perfectly chiselled abdominal muscles and in the dim light, he could make out the younger wolf's well-maintained back. The pup really did take care of himself and for some reason that made Silas feel proud.

The moment the tip of his cock entered Rex's virgin ass, a bolt of electric pleasure shot through them both. Silas bit his lower lip, the pain the only thing that was preventing him from shoving the entire width and impressive girth into Rex's ass and ploughing him until they were both sore. The effort was making him sweat, infusing the scent he emitted with its manly musk.

For Rex, his two halves were once again warring, the Primal side demanding to ride that cock until he was filled with Silas' seed and his Conservative half cautioning him to savour the moment of bliss; he was only ever going to get his cherry popped once. That made him wonder for a brief moment if he wanted the pleasure to go to Silas but he was too far gone both physically and mentally to retreat now.

"You like that... son?" Silas ventured.

Rex's cock sent out a jet of precum as dozens of fantasies came closer to reality.

"Ooooh... yeah dad..." he rumbled. "Fuck me. Fuck your boy..."

Nothing in could've prepared Rex for what came next.

Silas shoved his dick into Rex's hole. The sheer girth of the member stretched Rex tight and there was a blast of pain from the intrusion. But there was also unimaginable pleasure from finally being penetrated. Rex arched his back, tipping his head back and letting out a soft howl. Silas' paw navigated from his cock, rolling over his chiselled abs and his firm pecs. They gently cupped Rex's cheeks and the sex addled Elemental Lord tipped his head towards the older wolf's fingers. He wrapped his lips around them, lapping up the traces of his own precum on the fur, all the while moaning for more.

Silas pulled back for the briefest moments before pushing himself back in again.

"Yes!" Rex growled. "Fuck yes!"

With the most of his thick cock already through, Silas was able to push the rest of his length through. A lusty moan left them both as both experienced an internal warmth the Silas had missed and Rex had never felt before. Each twitch of the older wolf's cock left Rex panting for more and he could barely catch his own weight on his paws. Silas had to rest a paw on Rex's shoulders for support while the other firmly gripped Rex's ass. He pulled back once more, the passage smoother than last time before shoving himself back in. Rex instinctively clenched his ass around the invading cock.

"Urgh..." Silas grunted. "Fuck kiddo... you're fucking tight."

Rex could only let out a soft whimper. He knew he couldn't keep himself upright with the intense pleasure exploding from his ass but his own dick went unattended. It was killing him to leave it hanging beneath him, hard as a steel pylon and dripping with so much need it might as well have been a faucet for precum. But with every thrust from Silas, he was driven further and further to a sexual stupor. His eyes were already glazed over, his tongue rolling off the side of his muzzle and deep, heavy pants leaving him.

Silas' thick, manly grunts coupled with his cock shooting in and out of Rex filled the younger wolf with a strange new sensation that he was too horny to resist. All those fantasies of Dev ploughing him just as hard, his huge, muscular, sculpted body built from years of football were replaced by another. He was brought away from those images into the present. Something told him to retreat, reminding him this was likely just a one-time fling between friends after being extremely drunk and stressed. He immediately jumped into another fantasy, escaping into the seldom but extremely arousing imagery of his father, so proud of him that he would have sex with his son just as he ploughed Jacob every so often. All those clips of 'daddies' fucking their 'son' replayed over and over in his head. But with every quickening thrust of Silas' dick in him, those images were pushed away and again, Rex brought into the present; the undeniable, orgasmic present that so blindingly amazing that he could barely stand.

It was the perfect mix of both fantasies. The rippling, muscular form of Silas with the refined edges brought on by his age. He brought his own taste to the fantasy become reality, though; that hidden wild, sexually experienced side brought on by those tantalising tattoos and that treasure of a nipple ring.

With another thrust, Rex was sold and he collapsed onto the bed, letting out a loud moan. This was heaven and none of his fantasies would ever compare to this feeling. And he wanted more. As more and more of Silas' precum poured into him, making each thrust smoother than the last, his mind was slowly poisoned, implanting the desire to make this sensation last forever.

Silas' enormous body suddenly pressed up against his back and he felt that big arm wrap around his neck, not in a threatening, choking manner but as a tight, embrace. Their sweaty bodies were pressed against one another, their fur matted and mingling. Silas kept thrusting, deep rumbling growls emerging from his throat, his lips just hovering over Rex's ears. Rex brought himself just a little out of his sexual haze to gaze upon the older wolf's thick bicep wrapped around his neck. Pumped with exertion, they were huge slabs of meat contained beneath brown and white fur that couldn't contain the rivers of veins that filled such delicious muscles with fuel. Rex had to run his tongue along them, tasting the salty sweat of the older wolf and savouring the touch of those veins.

Silas suddenly let out a grunt and Rex could feel the wolf's knot just at the limits of his ass. The older wolf was growing desperate to shove it deep into Rex and more than anything, Rex wanted to be tied. He whimpered, begged for it and even pushed himself down onto the knot, trying to squeeze it into his ass. Loud yelps left him every time his ass met Silas' knot as the experience became a little painful. To comfort him, Silas wrapped his thick paw around Rex's cock, doubling the pleasure and overwriting the discomfort.

Another grunt from Silas came as a warning. "Fuck son... I'm gonna cum..."

Rex whimpered, more than anything desiring for that knot to be inside him just as he'd seen in all those movies.

"I know, son," rumbled Silas. "I know... but..." He buried his nose deep into Rex's neck, taking a good long whiff of his scent. "... daddy's gonna cum!" His entire body began to shake. "Oh fuck! Shiiiiiiiiiiit!"

Silas suddenly gave one last powerful thrust. The blast of semen triggered Rex's own orgasm, like he was just waiting for the bigger, dominant wolf to have the pleasure first before he had he own. His own cock rocketed into action, spraying his seed all over his chest and the bed. Both men were thrown back into mindlessness, their eyes rolling into the backs of their heads. Silas' body heaved as another blast of cum erupted from his thick dick and straight into Rex. The younger wolf was filled to the brim and the excess semen dripped out of his ass onto the bed. Rex's own cock erupted for a second time, quickly followed by a third, fourth and fifth, each with surprisingly increasing ferocity. The last blast shot cum past his shoulder and straight onto the pillows in front of him.

Spent from the orgasm, Rex tipped his head back and let out a soft howl. Silas, perhaps on some feral instinct, joined in, their voices harmonising perfectly. Both males collapsed against the bed, Rex's seed meshing with the fur on his chest.

"Fuck..." Rex breathed. "That was awesome... Urgh..." He grimaced as Silas began to pull out of him. The moment that thick cock was out, he closed his eyes and let out a hum of contentment. He fully expected Silas to wrap his arms around him and cuddle but then he felt the bigger wolf slide off the bed.

"Huh?" he asked, watching Silas scramble for his belongings. "What're you doing?"

Silas regarded him, looking conflicted. "Sir... I..."

"No," Rex said firmly. He pointed at the bed. "I order you to get into this bed right now, wrap your sexy, ripped arms around me and press that fine sculpted body of yours against mine."

The older wolf swallowed loudly. "With all due respect, sir... I just can't."

"Why not?" Rex demanded, hurt, confused and a little aggravated that he was forced to relinquish the bliss of afterglow so soon.

Silas glanced at the door briefly, contemplating escape, before glancing back at Rex. "You're... Well... You're an Elemental Lord... and... this isn't professional. We... um..."

Rex thought quickly. "Alright then. You're fired."

The wolf's ears perked up. "What?"

"You're fired. You're no longer part of SWORD or MODD. Now get in here."

Silas's ears folded back. "Are... are you serious...?"

Rex considered the question very seriously. He wasn't sure how he felt about Dev; the guy was sweet, a superstar and very good looking. He was sure that his repressed sexual needs mixed with his desire for his father's pride mutated into something... strange but he wasn't sure what to do with that either. What he was sure, of however, was that Silas was both sweet, very, _very_sexy, a good listener, intelligent and strangely more of a father figure to him in the past few days than his real father had ever been.

Hell, they had even drank some bourbon together and talked about sports!

"There's a shit tonne of paperwork," he answered. "But if that's what it takes, then I'll do it."

"That's the sex talking."

"No it isn't," Rex responded, straightening in the bed. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life." He lifted his paw, interrupting whatever Silas was going to say. "I know we haven't know each other a long time but in that moment when you were in me, when we kissed and when you jizzed in me, I felt something special. And I want more of that. Don't you?"

Silas grimaced and turned back towards the door. Slowly, he crumpled the shirt in his paws. "Fuck it, I do..." He threw aside the shirt and dived into the bed, pressing his lips against Rex's and the two falling into the cum-soaked bed in a tangle of sweaty limbs. Their cocks were once again hard and as they pressed against one another, Rex felt the stirrings of another session with his 'daddy'.

He pulled away from the kiss for a moment. "Shit... We should really take a break first. I'm still a little sore."

Silas gently stroked his cheeks with the back of his paw. "If you say so, son."

All weariness suddenly vanished and Rex let out a loud woof.

"Fuck it. I want you in me. Right. Now."

******

It was just a few minutes to midnight and Jacob had just finished taking a quick shower to rid himself of the scent of fear, sweat and sex that had built up in his fur. Unlike his room in the Tower, he was not granted a personal ensuite and had to use one of the many bathrooms on the floor. Everyone else was mostly too tired to bathe so he was a little surprise when he emerged from the bathroom to find Caroline walking down the hallway. He was dried and with his fur clumped in places where it wasn't covered by a plain, white night shirt that was too tight for his frame.

She stopped when she saw him, a box in her hands.

"Oh, Jacob," she said. "I thought you would be asleep now."

"Just thought I'd take a quick bath before bed," he replied, hiking a thumb over his shoulder. "That and after that last scene, I felt I needed to clean myself thoroughly. Like... to the bone." He nodded towards the box in her hands. "What's that if you don't mind me asking?"

Caroline regarded it with a look akin to confusion but there was a hint of sadness on her lips. "A package. A courier from the Worldriders was meant to take it from me to deliver to Bloomcrest Memorial but I suppose with all the commotion, I doubt he'd be able to make it."

In all the chaos, he had entirely forgotten about his job and where he had heard of Caroline Boswin in the first place. "You're going to laugh about this but I'm Revenant."

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You?"

"I'm the Worldrider," he confirmed with a lopsided grin. "I'm sorry I didn't get in contact sooner but Marcus stole my glasses yesterday and I didn't feel comfortable using any general forms of communication since you stressed discretion. Plus Rex was riding my ass about making a signature move and all this bullshit about the gala..." He shook his head, throwing aside his ramblings. "Did you want me to...?"

Caroline looked down on the package one more time before approaching him and handing it over. "I'm not sure if you'd be able to give it to my contact there anyway. With the chaos in the city, I doubt most people will be returning to their jobs..."

Jacob tucked the package under his arm. "I know this isn't exactly professional as a Worldrider but if you don't mind me asking, why did you choose the Bloomcrest Memorial of all places to meet? I imagine that would be a rather public place."

She gave him a soft chuckle. "Don't get me wrong, it is. The Memorial is one of Tanarebra's most public sites. It isn't a theme park or anything and though most people don't like learning about history, so many people died when Bloomcrest was attacked that their familial ties stretch across the world. Almost every day of the year, there's a group of people there paying their respects."

She brushed aside a lock of hair from her face. "Besides, the Memorial has a public graveyard within its grounds. People have funerals there. It's also protected by its own rudimentary particle shield. Nothing as strong as the Arc Fields but strong enough to hold off the elements."

"No rainy funerals, huh?"

"No," she chuckled softly with a giggle. "I'm hesitant to head out into the city but if you have time tomorrow, it would mean the world to me if you could drop that off at the Memorial." Her eyes were cast down. "It's something... that I would've just thrown out the window but... I feel it should be better in a grave."

Suddenly a little cautious, Jacob nevertheless said, "Sure. I'll get it done."

She gave him a smile and brushed a hand against his arm as she passed. "Thank you."

He headed into his own room, puzzling over the package. He shrugged away his curiosity as it was unbecoming of him as a Worldrider to ask questions of his clients. So he just carried it into his room, closed the door behind him and set it on the bedside table afforded to him. After sleeping in a fluffy, four-poster bed, the luxurious king sized bed almost felt like a rock as he sat down on its edge. He also felt the absence of Marcus but when they had gone into different rooms out of pure instinct, neither of them corrected the mistake.

He lay down on the bed, arms crossed behind his head while he let his mind wander. The past few days had been maddening. For a brief moment, he let himself drift with the power of Realmbreaker, posing the question of what other versions of him would've done in his situation. What if he wasn't a Worldrider? What if he were a prepubescent pup? What if he was a criminal or someone just as famous as Rex but for different reasons?

A soft smile touched his lips as he ventured into the different realities, escaping his own for the briefest of moments. He felt like slapping the graduate-level graphic designer that kept whining about his job and failing to adapt to the power he was given. The pup needed hugs for the torment he was going through but also a stern talking to so that he would grow a pair. The criminal was admittedly badass but Jacob had to roll his eyes at every attempt the guy made at being cool, his villainy clearly a front. The famous author version of him cracked jokes and was laughably awkward and horny. There was a version of him that was a deserter for the army that hoped to use Realmbreaker to redeem himself and a dreamer that hoped to use Realmbreaker to be just like his older brother, all the while oblivious to Rex's jealousy of him.

But something about all of them just felt... wrong. None of them felt real.

They were possibilities. Not realities.

Something about that just didn't sit right with him.

He directed his gaze to others, particularly Caroline. He saw a cold-hearted, sadistic bitch that was consumed in a fiery tornado, the smell of burnt pork in the air. There was a sadomasochistic sow that treated all of her servants as sex slaves that she could abuse. Another version had her position swapped for Dorothy's as the obedient mindless child while Dorothy ran away and joined the Unsealed to free her sister. They felt real. It was like he was peering through a window but when he looked at himself, turned to see what other possibilities he could've taken... they just felt like fantasies. Not real.

"Why...?" he murmured.

"Are you asking why you haven't noticed me up until now?"

Jacob jerked to his left, finding a pair of bright green eyes and a very smug, vulpine smile looking straight back at him.

"Holy shit!" he cried, backpedalling off the bed. He crashed to the ground with a loud whump to Joanna's laughter. His rump hurt from the fall but it was more the rapid beating of his heart and her mocking giggles that stung the most.

"How the hell did you do that!?" he snapped at her.

She leapt nimbly off the bed in a single, smooth gesture. A flick of her tail and she said, "It's a gift." With a smug smile on her features, she leaned back down on the bed, folding her arms in front of her and resting her chin on it. She bent both her legs and idly swung them above her in a very feminine gesture. "So, why aren't you in bed with your manly MODD mounter?"

As he rose from the ground, he gave her an exasperated stare. "Clever. And we're not one of those kinds of couples that have creepy mind links and finish each other's sentences. We don't need to spend every waking hour with one another to survive." Jacob folded his arms tightly. "At least... That's what I think."

"Your grasp of relationships is simply astounding." The sarcasm dripping from her lips could've burnt a hole through the floor. "Marcus is a hurt puppy that you've just recently adopted. You've brought him home and instead of taking a month or two off work to raise your new bundle of joy, you're leaving him in the house, alone and occasionally poking your head in just to make sure he's okay."

He gave her a sour look. "Marcus is a grown man. Not a puppy."

"Of course. But the principle is the same."

"Why do you even care about my relationship anyway?" He narrowed his gaze at her. "You actually don't do you? You just want me out of this room. Did you already call dibs or something?" Then his eyes flicked towards the package he had just received from Caroline. He snapped his gaze back towards her, ears folded back and a snarl on his muzzle. "You want to see what's in the package!"

He immediately snapped it up, holding the parcel protectively against his chest.

"You're completely wrong," she responded, waving a paw absently through the air. "I am a girl, after all. Can't I indulge in some gossip or salacious rumour mongering?"

"You're the least girly girl I've ever known. That includes Sherry." He pointed an accusing finger at her. "You're either here to try and convince me that you're my friend so I'd favour your opinion over that of MODD or steal a peek at this thing." He gently shook the parcel. A soft rattling met his ears and by the way Joanna's ears perked, he _knew_he was right. "Ah-ha! You conniving bitch!"

Joanna dropped the façade, pushing off the bed and crossing her arms sternly. "Whatever you may say, Jacob, you are no longer just a mere Worldrider. You wield Realmbreaker now. Granted that it is neither a Brand nor a Seal and perhaps something that can elevate the Worldriders' position in the world even more. But you have the capacity to change the world now. Returning to your roots and once again being a mere courier is foolishly optimistic."

He angled his body away from her, keeping the package as far away from her as possible without turning his gaze from her. "I already told you that I'd take the time to dick around and not just barrel towards the end goal. But I still_have a goal. I'm _still a Worldrider and my job is to deliver this package. If you even want to twist it another way, Realmbreaker can be my priority and getting this to its destination -" He lifted the box. "- is my side quest. So whatever you say, it's going to get done and no one is going to look at it."

Joanna let out an exasperated sigh. "Has it occurred to you that perhaps Caroline still holds some affection for her father and what rests within that package could very well damn Winston even more? It could possibly help our cause."

The thought had briefly crossed Jacob's mind. "What could be more damning that exposing that his technique for granting people Seals requires a steep price and that he's robbed his daughters for their freedom and free will? Hell, he's let out a notorious criminal. Whatever is in here, we don't need to bring him down."

She huffed loudly, her tail swinging back and for in agitation. "If it could help bring him down and anyone associated with him, I say we take it."

A flash of inspiration sprang into mind as she uttered those words. "You're hoping that whatever is in here will implicate MODD too, don't you?" Just the way her tail stopped briefly from swinging and the slight tightening in her paws told him all he needed to know. "Seriously, what the hell happened to you that has you hating MODD so much that you'll look for every available opportunity to bring them down? I know it's got to do with your fiancé. Why don't you just come clean with it?"

The steely exterior of Joanna Swan faded, her eyes averting and the frown on her features deepening. As she lifted her gaze, he saw a faint spark of sorrow in their emerald orbs. "My fiancé, Shane, was an Unsealed operative, a Branded. We were to be married. At the time, I had no idea he was involved with the Unsealed and I was just a simple college professor."

Glad to finally see her opening up a little, Jacob set the package on his bedside table once more and sat down on the edge of the bed. "What were you teaching?"

"Anthropology," she responded. A distant smile crossed her muzzle. "I was always fascinated by the interactions of furs to one another. Despite such varied species, we somehow still identify as a single race. Yes we have national divisions, different religions and varying societal values but we are still one people. Mortaelians. Furs." She shook her head sadly. "Shane was a post-graduate student that was failing my class. He was brash and didn't like being forced to study. Never the bookish type. I learned later that he was being forced to take Anthropology by the Unsealed so that he could understand the finer, subtler nuances of society and find it easier to blend in." She chuckled softly. "He was an avid anti-MODD activist."

"Like yourself."

"Yes..." she murmured softly. "We fell in love and then he told me who he really was. I seriously considered turning him in to MODD but I loved him too much and accepted his proposal." He fingered the ring around her neck. "Then, he was caught. MODD had him executed."

"Executed?" Jacob exclaimed. "MODD doesn't -"

"They do," she answered, cutting him off angrily. "He was a Branded. He had participated in a few attacks but never led to any deaths. Unsealed value life. That is why we are opposed to the Seals. Shane never hurt anyone. But for his 'crimes', they threw him into a Tor, making the Elemental Lord more powerful for his death."

A pit started to form in Jacob's stomach. "It wasn't Gale... was it...?"

Joanna shook her head. "No. Valentine Burns, Elemental Lord of Fire." Her paws tightened into fists. "I still remember the smug look on his face as they threw Shane through those doors..." Her eyes darted back towards Jacob. "I lost my fiancé because of MODD. I'll never forgive them for what they did and I certainly can't forgive them for their practices either."

Jacob held up his paw. "I'm not going to argue with you on our beliefs. I'll admit finding about how Seals are made... it's... horrifying. Would I like to change it? Yes. But I'm not going to force that change on people." Before she could protest, he finished with, "Yours isn't the only story being told here, Joanna. So stop acting like yours is the only opinion that matters or that you're right all the time."

She shook her head sadly at him. "You are still young. Tragedy may have befallen you but all that's done is made you scared of change." She moved around the bed, heading for the door. "You'll learn one day that change is inevitable. You'll have to decide whether or not you'll be the one instigate it. There is no avoiding it. Just like there's no avoiding the fact that you now have a relationship with Marcus and there is no such thing as a perfect fit. You're both two pieces of a puzzle that may fit perfectly now but you will grow, he will grow. If you supress your growth, he will change and you'll remain the same."

She reached for the door, her paw wrapping around the doorknob. "Before you know it, you two won't fit and your relationship will dissolve."

He snarled at the tired mantra that had been repeated to him for the past few days. She left, quietly shutting the door. It took an incredible amount of will on his part to unclench his fists and let out a long sigh.

"What does she know?" he muttered. "I changed and it was because I wanted to. On my terms. No one else's."

He threw himself onto his bed and shut his eyes.

Jacob didn't realise just how tired he was until, one moment later, he opened his eyes and found himself standing in an icy wasteland, two familiar statues jutting form the surface of the frozen lake around him. He glanced left and right, searching for that aspect of Caroline Boswin that had haunted him in this world previously. With no sight of her, he cupped his paws over his muzzle and shouted, "Hello? Is anyone here!?"

He never asked if Caroline had drawn anyone into her Tor though he liked to believe given her repulsion towards the idea, she hadn't. Though how anyone could survive in this hellish landscape was beyond him especially if that part of Caroline was quite homicidal. There was also the lingering question of the Puritan... Did a Puritan exist beyond every Tor or was it just in those twisted by Winston's Dietrich technique?

Shrugging off the questions, he turned and began heading towards the last place he had seen the Tor. It was with much relief when he rounded one of the statues and found it sitting exactly where it had been previously. That cemented his hopes to save those people trapped within Dorothy's own Tor. He was surprised, however, to find that the Caroline that worse the torn wedding dress stood in front of the door.

He couldn't help but feel pity for her. To have all emotions tied to the past must really have been frustrating. The memory of those events persisted but the emotion was not there. To remember that she was angry or sad but not to lose the passion behind those feelings. Perhaps it was appropriate then that her Seal was bound to a realm of ice.

"Erm... Caroline?" he ventured.

Caroline spun around, eyes wide in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"I was here before, remember? I -"

"You shouldn't be here." She immediately swung her right hand back, summoning another spike of ice. "Be gone!"

Jacob immediately swung his paw forward, a bolt of Realmbreaker_shooting from his fingertips and slamming into the icy spike Caroline had summoned. _Realmbreaker shattered the spike easily, flying past Caroline and slamming into the Tor. Caroline looked shocked as sharp shards of ice slashes her cheeks and tumbled to the lake's surface beneath her high heels. Light spilled out from behind her.

Just past her stunned features, the titanic three storey door shuddered. A hole the size of a fist sprayed out blistering white light just where Jacob's bolt had shot through. White lightning crackled from the source, bathing Caroline's stunned features enough to force tears in her eyes.

"Reggie..." she whispered, her voice hoarse. Her lips quivered and that forlorn look on her face was replaced with warmth.

The ice beneath Jacob's feet suddenly cracked, enormous fissures appearing across its surface. A sound like a fog horn erupted from deep beneath the surface. Something moved beneath the surface of the lake. That noise echoed once more in the vast emptiness of the icy wasteland.

"Reggie! No!" begged Caroline. Her hands suddenly seized Jacob's wrists and pulled him towards the Tor. "You must leave! You don't belong here! Be gone!"

"What?" he demanded. "What are you -?"

The foghorn-like noise boomed once more in the distance, louder this time.

"He's coming!" Caroline screamed. She shoved him at the Tor, seemingly trying to squeeze him through the hole. "You must go!"

The land suddenly seemed to darken, all light being sapped from their surroundings and focusing on a single point. The fur on Jacob's arms stood on end and his hackles rose instinctively. History class lessons flooded his mind. The darkening of the sky, the sound that drowned out all others and the overwhelming fear that froze even the bravest man's limbs where they stood.

All that was missing... was a single blast of pure energy.

The icy surface suddenly shattered. A beam of energy erupted from deep beneath the lake's surface, coloured icy blue but with strangely darkening edges. Despite its searing light, everything else around it was doused in darkness, making the Puritan Beam the only source of illumination. The beam shot high into the sky, the sound of its booming emergence shaking Jacob to his very core.

Even as the beam faded into a faint trickle, he could still feel its effects robbing his mind of control over his body. He could barely pull himself off the Tor and stand in front of a cowering Caroline. As light returned to the world, a huge, tusked head erupted from the lake's icy surface. The Puritan that emerged had an undercoat of icy blue but a thicker coat of white that covered its quadruped body. Its huge boar's head was terribly mutated, possessing a total of six tusks forcing its features into a permanent snarl. Its blank, icy blue eyes sat beneath brows that were made completely of spiky, bony plates. Its hunched stance was broken by a pair of thick, muscular arms that jutted out of its spine about halfway down its body, clawing and scraping at the air. Just behind these arms was a single, stylised wing appearing like energy made into a tattoo-shaped appendage.

A realisation suddenly hit Jacob and he turned to Caroline. "You were keeping me from the Puritan, weren't you?" He remembered how Dorothy was fighting so hard to keep the victims she had swallowed from being devoured by the Puritan; how she kept them all protected by wall of light. "You kept it frozen beneath the lake."

Caroline could only sob, tears falling from her eyes. She crouched on the ground, holding her head in both hands. "Please... Reggie, no..."

The skies began to darken again and Jacob felt that paralysing sense of dread creep throughout his system, freezing the very blood in his veins. It became difficult just to turn his head towards the Puritan. The boar's lips were peeled open. Concentric rings of runes appeared within its gaping maw capable of devouring Marcus' Road Bull in one gulp. The rings spun wildly before suddenly locking in place.

The Puritan Beam, one of the three abilities all Puritans shared along with their aptly named Puritan Blast and Puritan Wave. Millions had died under the stream of energy that had the unrivalled power to freeze foes in place through fear alone. Puritans were known to cause entire cities to become utterly defenceless as they charged up their Beams. Many were known to follow up a Beam with their Blast; the colossal burst of energy originating from their bodies that always remained spherical and disintegrated anything within its blast radius.

Somehow, thinking of all those videos taken during the Great Seal War, seeing Puritans cleave their own horizon with their Beams and levelling entire cities compelled Jacob's limbs to move. He turned around, snatched Caroline off the ground and immediately ducked behind the Tor.

The foghorn-like sound blasted behind them just as he dove behind the door. He covered his head with a paw, using the other to push Caroline's head down into the ice, keeping her down. He felt the energies of the Puritan Beam washing around the corners of the Tor and even shooting through the tiny hole he had created. But the door itself remained standing. It didn't even shudder.

The beam faded.

"Be gone..." Caroline constantly whispered. "You don't belong here."

Looking up at the Tor and then down at Caroline, he said, "Come with me." Her eyes lifted and she gave him a stunned expression. "Your other half is waiting for you on the other side of this door. She misses Reggie. She wants to feel for him again. Come with me."

Caroline shook her head sadly. "I can't..."

"Why -?" He cut himself off. Dietrich created an item that became a symbol of the pact formed between a Seal and its Wielder. If the Crux were ever destroyed, the pact would be broken but the part of Wielder sacrificed to the Seal would be gone forever.

"The Crux..." he murmured softly. His eyes darted to meet her gaze and he seized both of her hands. "I'll find a way to free you. I swear. Just keep on fighting, okay? Can you do that for me? Keep fighting."

Caroline nodded shakily. "I'll keep him contained. I'll keep him under."

"Good. Good girl."

Jacob then turned towards the Tor and pressed his paw against it. White lightning erupted from his fingertips, cascading across the ice-covered surface.

Light spilled from the door as it slowly began to open.

******

Years of sexual repression and furious masturbation in private had turned Rex into, what Silas called him during their moment of toe-curling passion, a horn dog. Neither of them had gotten much sleep the previous night purely on the fact that after every hour or so, Rex would start idly playing with Silas' nipple right and the older lupine would proceed to wrestle him to the bed and then they'd be creaming one another a short while later. Not that Silas really minded. The bigger wolf loved every moment of it especially the brief respite between sessions when he held Rex to his chest and they drifted off into the slumber brought on by afterglow.

They lost track of time and it was only when their stomachs grumbled that they decided it was time to get some food in them to replenish their exhausted bodies. Unfortunately, with the food fabricator right in Silas' room, they didn't have to go out and after a hearty breakfast in bed, they were suitably full but still horny enough to wrap their paws around one another's dicks and cum.

It was past noon, however, when Silas got a call from Sherry asking if he had seen Rex. Apparently, some additional troops from both the Rillotian Army and MODD had arrived to supplement their efforts in building those evacuation ports in Pollenburn. It was with great reluctance that Rex prised himself from the cum-soaked bed and idly began combing his silvery hair into the semblance of something presentable.

A soft rattle brought his attention to Silas who had a spray can in his paws. The older wolf gave himself a healthy dose of the contents of the spray before he threw it to Rex.

"Anti-odour spray," Silas explained. "Helps get rid of the smell of sex especially if you don't have time to shower and need to go to work in a few hours."

Rex regarded the can and smirked. "How often has that happened?"

"More times than I can count," snickered Silas, shoving on his pants. "Sometimes, if I'm somewhere like Atlas City or down south in Lar Naevias and on duty, I can usually sneak in a quickie at a bar or something."

At the mention of the capital city of Rillotia, Rex lifted his eyebrows. "You can get laid easily in Atlas City?"

"No place better," answered Silas, putting on his short. Rex almost whimpered when those sexy tattoos and nipple ring vanished beneath the black fabric. "It's full of politicians and stuck up business people but that only means they need the sex more. There's a saying up there. 'People in Atlas City are real tight asses but that just makes the sex better'."

"Yikes..." Rex murmured, spraying the anti-odour all over him. "And here I thought everyone up there was against that sort of thing."

As Silas began buttoning up his coat, he said, "You've got a lot to learn about the dregs, kid. The world is a different place when you're down in the trenches as opposed to up on your pedestal."

Rex's tail flicked slightly in agitation, making putting on his underwear a little difficult. "I'm relatable! I like to think I know what it's like to be 'down in the trenches'."

"Right." Silas' voice was dripping with sarcasm but his lips were twisted in a patronising smile. "High-end night clubs, rock concerts and making public appearance for charity don't count. And if you still think you're on our level, try going commando." He nodded towards Rex's underwear.

"What!?" Rex exclaimed, halfway to putting up his pants. "How is wearing underwear making me less like one of you?"

Silas' eyes flashed mischievously. "More layers to go through to get to that fine ass."

Rex paused, seriously contemplating leaving his underwear on the floor. "Oh..." Then again, if someone were to find his belongings in Silas' room, trouble would arise. Though neither of them dared to broach on the subject, they both knew that this sort of dalliance between them would be severely frowned upon. He could just imagine the rumours circulating around MODD and how it would damage his image.

His 'daddy issues' would become public knowledge.

He felt terrible that he absolutely loved having those very same issues especially since he had the very sexy, very mature Silas as his 'daddy'. Just thinking about them made him grin and he was getting hard at the thought of getting Silas's thick cock in his ass while he kissed and slurped every hard muscle on the wolf's strong, sculpted body.

Regrettably, he had to shake the thoughts from his mind, bringing his attention back to the present and the dangers that waited for them outside the door. His brother was still trapped under the Arc Field with a bunch of psychos. He was still quarantined in the bunker because of a mysterious plague. No on in MODD really didn't respect him all that much.

Well... except maybe Silas.

Putting on the rest of his clothes took almost twice as long as he after each article, he was tempted to just tear it straight off and drag Silas back into bed. Like the child everyone accused him of, he felt like hiding from the troubles of the world in the arms of the one person that seemed to understand him. But he resisted that urge. People were relying on him. People he loved.

Once he had his coat on, Silas gave him a glass of a nutrient slushy akin to the drinks doctors gave just before injecting their patient with the metabolic serum. He explained that it was like both formulas combined but worked a lot slower. Rex thanked Silas and took a sip from the iced mush. At least it had a nice citrusy taste to it instead of the bland, medicine-like sting of the nutrient serums; like someone tried to mirror the taste of grapes but failed miserably.

He felt more energized just from that one sip and took it with him as both he and Silas emerged from the room and back into the open. Both of them were surprised when found the runway of the bunker had been opened and was coming back down from the surface. There were six high-tech _Oblivion-class_transports there and MODD troops as well as soldiers bearing the marks of the Rillotian army were marching out of each of the long atmospheric VTOL craft. There were already a large group of people waiting with heavy machinery to take the supplies they carried with them.

"I thought we were still under quarantine," Rex murmured.

"Maybe it was temporarily lifted," Silas responded. "I imagine that with the Arc Field down, Dorothy's Black Mist can't extend past the city. Come on. Let's go to the command centre. Maybe Gale and Sherry will know more."

Rex nodded and followed Silas through the wending walkways. If he had to guess, those transports would be responsible for setting up the evacuation ports in Pollenburn but were also providing supplies to the bunker. He wondered who was in charge of the entire operation. Rillotian officers were barking orders at their own men but didn't touch the ANVIL soldiers who had their own commanding officers. The elite SWORD members willed about in their white coats, just doing their own thing without minding anyone else.

He hoped that there wouldn't be a SWORD officer to start bossing them around. Technically, though he was in ExIT and a different division, SWORD was still superior to him. It went unsaid that SWORD was the elite of MODD's divisions, combining the extensive Seal use of ExIT and the militaristic discipline of ANVIL. Though they had no famous officers like ExIT, the highest ranking SWORD officers were rumoured to be on par with an officer of ExIT such as Sherry or Marcus. Some even rivalled Elemental Lords apparently but SWORD saw so few deployments that it was hard to tell.

They were quite secretive.

Silas stepped aside to let Rex enter the command centre first. Apart from the usual staff, Gale and Sherry there was only one other person there; a bronze dragon wearing the SWORD coat. To Rex, he didn't look all that imposing. Admittedly, he had a very strong upper body but the belly took away from the image he had in his mind that every SWORD member was a sculpted god. Or perhaps that was just because he had the chance to examine a specimen of SWORD so closely.

Gale was the first to catch sight of him. "Ah, Rex. This is -"

"Maximillian Lionhart," Rex finished, holding out his paw towards the taller dragon. "A pleasure to meet you. You're my brother's best friend since middle school."

There was a spark of hostility in the dragon's amber eyes as he shook Rex's paw. His grip was like a vice and Rex tried not to let it affect him. "Yes. Jake and I are very close. He had a lot to say about you."

"I bet he did."

Rex decided not to mention that he had been spying on his brother for years and was fully aware of Jake's close friendship with Max. He had long suspected that since Jake was gay, the friendship between him and Max would evolve into something more than just merely camaraderie. Max certainly did things above and beyond mere friendship.

Setting aside the thoughts, he said, "You're here to reinforce us then?"

"Indeed," Max answered, letting go of Rex's paw and crossing his arms. "I rushed here the moment I heard about what was happening. Brought my entire platoon as well as some marines we were asked to pick up to help with the relief efforts."

A platoon. Max held the rank of lieutenant-commander within SWORD but he knew that the ranking system within the division was always blurred. A sergeant could hold more command than a captain. It was long believed that the true measure of a man's worth within SWORD was how many troops they commanded. That Max could command an entire platoon meant he in the upper echelons of the Division while still being in active duty.

Rex remembered briefly glossing over his dossier. Several successful campaigns against the violent Tribals of Oxis since he was sixteen when he joined SWORD, dozens of peacekeeping skirmishes and relief efforts across Justiland and long tours of duty on the Black Ring Space Station. That he was just twenty-three meant that he had accomplished a lot in his seven years of service. Rex glanced over Max's shoulder at the dragon's pseudo Seal Weapon just like Silas' Seal Shield and Cal's Seal Sword, the enormous cannon Eden. He remembered reading somewhere that Max was so incredibly adaptive that he was able to use six elemental Seals, each of which was infused into Eden. Only a single Seal was infused into his body, though: the ominous Death Seal.

"Glad to have you on board," Rex said with a nod. "I was going to accompany the teams setting up the evacuation stations in the city today. I'm sure the sight of the Face of MODD will be of comfort to them."

Sherry rolled her eyes. Gale gave her a light nudge and a shake of his head for that and Rex gave her a piercing stare for the briefest of moments.

"I don't think so."

Stunned, Rex turned back towards Max who had spoken those damning words. "I beg your pardon?"

"Your actions are what caused this catastrophe in the city," Max said grimly. "Your reckless need for vengeance is what led to Winston Boswin effectively causing a rebellion in Pollenburn. Our task of setting up these stations and evacuating people will be made all the more difficult by the fact that we will now have to contend with Boswin preaching his stance of uniting Pollenburn as one and condemning MODD." He nodded towards Gale who instantly brought up a newscast. From all appearances, it was Boswin sitting with a local newscaster. "Instead of condemning MODD and calling the plague a lie, he has switched his campaign to one of unification. He is claiming that if Pollenburn is to survive, it needs to stand as one and not rely on MODD."

Rex's jaw dropped as Boswin began touting propaganda against MODD, claiming that the corporation would not be able to save them from the plague and that only under his rule, where Seals were free, would Pollenburn, indeed all of Tanarebra survive.

"If you hadn't made Boswin an enemy, we wouldn't have to contend with this," Max said firmly. "If you show up on the field, no doubt Boswin will pounce and try to take you in. He'll attack, kill hundreds of people just to get to you. This is for your own safety."

Rex could see right through the façade. Max may have had some points but beneath it all, the dragon blamed Rex not only for the events in Pollenburn but also the state of Jake's life. Maybe he wanted to be the hero to got Jacob out of Pollenburn safely or he just didn't trust Rex as a whole but the 'for your own safety' line was a dead giveaway.

"My brother is out there." Rex jabbed a finger in the direction of the news feed.

"I would scarcely call him your brother."

And that was all the proof he needed. Growling and with his hackled raised, Max said, "Listen here you scaly piece of shit. I don't know who you think you are but Jacob is still my brother. You have no idea what I've been doing for him! For us!"

"Oh yeah?" snapped Max, his true colours showing. "Like what? Were you the one that kicked Malcolm Irons' ass when he tried to shave of Jacob's chest fur at camp? Were you there when Jake graduated from Worldrider boot camp? Did you go with him on his first mission? Did you help support him after Isaac went insane? Did you comfort him when he nearly committed suicide!?"

Gale and Sherry both jumped at the last question.

"Jacob almost killed himself?" Sherry whispered softly.

"About a few months after Isaac went bonkers," Max growled. "Putting aside his dreams of being a Worldrider and having to constantly take care of his father was not an easy transition. He travelled all the way to Atlas City and took the elevator up to the top of the Atlas Sky Deck. He almost threw himself off the edge."

Rex remembered that and it was with much guilt that he didn't find himself at his brother's side at the time. He had only learned of it from his sources after Max had rushed to the Sky Deck and convinced Jacob not to jump off by instead making a hasty reservation at the Deck's restaurant. It was an expensive one too.

"No," Rex answered sternly. "I wasn't. I wish I was. But I wasn't."

"Wishing something won't make it come true," growled Max. "While you were out making movies, banging chicks and sleeping with football stars, I was the one who helped Jake through all the bullshit you left life to throw at him! You're his brother for fuck's sake! I can understand if he was some junky that was only trying to mooch off your money but he isn't! He's a kind, noble, courageous soul! An you -" He jabbed a finger at Rex. "- left that to wither! You're his older brother. He would've had no one else to turn to after his mother died and Isaac became dependant on him to survive! But you turned your back on him!"

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" Rex roared, the entire room shaking. Small items like lamps, papers, staplers and even some chairs were already starting to lift off the ground. "I've been using my funds to keep an eye on Jake and find our mother's killer! I've been searching for the Butcher of Ullen!"

"And what the hell will finding the Butcher do for you both, huh?" demanded Max. "Will it bring your mother back? You think if you march up to Jake with the Butcher's head, he'll forgive you for all the time you've lost and you'll be a family again? Grow up!"

Rex snapped at Max, fangs flashing. "I am sick and tired of everyone telling me to grow up! I've made mistake in my life, yes. I have a lot_of regrets but no matter what you say or what you think of me, I _love my brother." He began to calm, his voice lowering and gravity returning to normal. "Everything I've done, I've done it for him. It may not seem like it but it's always been for him."

Max snorted loudly. "Really? Well then have the balls to see that staying out of Pollenburn is probably the best thing for him right now. Winston is after your guts. If he hears you're out in public, he'll send everything he has after you. Jake will likely make his way there as well and if you say is true, then if his life is put at risk, so will yours." He leaned down towards Rex, fangs bared. "So stay put."

Though he hated to admit it, now that he thought more closely about the situation, Max was right. Winston would indeed throw everything he to capture an Elemental Lord. With his Dietrich technique, he could make a slave of Rex or Gale with a flick of his wrist. And if Rex made an appearance, it would be a magnet for trouble. It wouldn't matter what Winston's standing was with the people after such an attack. If Rex became his slave, the Face of MODD could start backing him up and turn the world against MODD.

It hurt to think about it... but he would be damned if he was going to let Max get in the last word.

"You love him, don't you?"

Max straightened and snorted. "Damn straight I do. Like my own brother."

That did not go as planned and he was forced into silence as Max turned his back and began discussing plans with Gale. They huddled over a three-dimensional map of Pollenburn, marking sites where they would construct the evacuation stations.

Rex didn't feel like staying and turned around, leaving the command centre. He stormed over to the exact same railings he had unloaded on Silas the previous night just after they arrived and slumped against the bars. Silas, was thankfully right there to comfort him, standing well within hugging reach but remaining professional. He almost wished the older wolf would hold him and stroke his hair like he did every time after they orgasmed.

"I'd like to say that blood is thicker than water," began Silas, "but he does have a point. He's been there for your brother. You... not so much."

"You're supposed to be on my side!" Rex exclaimed.

Silas gave him a sly smirk and jabbed his chest. In the softest whisper, he said, "I'm your daddy, Rex. So that means I get to tell you off when you're clearly wrong."

Fighting hormones and anger at the same time was confusing so Rex just slumped back against the railings and decided that Silas was right. "Fine... Max wins this round."

"I honestly think you two are failing to see that Jacob is fully capable of taking care of himself." Silas stretched and rolled his shoulders, a soft popping sound emerging from the sound. "He did take down Snakebite all by himself. Hell, he rescued Marcus and that Unsealed vixen without either of your help. He's learning how to control his powers on his own without taken either of your advice and he's managed to escape Boswin's grasp without you two coming to his rescue."

"He's still my kid brother..."

"Your kid brother that has two hundred pounds of pure muscle on top of you, a whole foot taller, trained to be a kickass courier and is equipped with a weapon of unimaginable power."

Rex grumbled, conceding to Silas' point. "Still..."

"I know, I know. It's hard to let old habits die. Actually... I'm wrong. This isn't a habit. It's love. You shouldn't let that die but at the same time, you need to remember that you're not holding onto a teddy bear here. Jacob needs to breathe."

Coming to a conclusion, Rex slapped the railings and straightened. "Fine. But I'll be damned if I'm just going to sit here and do nothing."

A concerned look crossed Silas' features. "What do you mean?"

"This is my fault right?" Rex responded with a firm look. "So It's my responsibility to do something to fix it. I won't let some fat ass from SWORD tell me I can't be a hero."

******

The Boswin's VBSim arena was much smaller than the one in the Tower but still had the most high end simulations available. Jacob was enjoying throwing fireballs at a few gremlins when a voice echoed in the vast forest that somehow didn't catch on fire despite the fact he was hurling balls of flame everywhere.

"Um... excuse me, Mr. Reaper...?"

Jacob straightened and immediately killed the simulation. The forest, the gremlins and his armour all vanished in a flurry of semi-translucent, blue cubes. Once again, he was standing in a broad, white chamber but Alicia stood a short distance away, now dressed in a sensible pair of jeans and a simple white shirt.

"Alicia," he greeted. "What can I do for you?"

She mole maid stepped into the vast chamber cautiously, taking in the vast simulation room with awe. "I... I was wondering... Well..." Her voice grew softer and softer the closer she drew. "Mr. Marcus is lifting weights... Sir Callum does not wish to be disturbed... Miss Caroline is making plans and Miss Joanna -"

It was sort of sweet how she was edging towards a point. "Come on, Alicia. Just spit it out. Whatever you need. Except sex. I don't think you or I or the Beasts of Many Eyes wants that."

She flinched. "The Beasts...?"

"They know who they are," Jacob answered with a sly smile.

Alicia lifted a paw towards her lips and coughed softly. "Well... I was just wondering..." She lifted her gaze. Though there was a deep blush on her cheeks, her eyes were filled with pain and anger, not truly looking at him. "Will you teach me how to fight?"

He almost questioned why she would want to get her paws dirty but then he recalled her encounter with that criminal, the 'Cunt Killer' and how close she came to violent mutilation. "Why me though?" he asked. "Worldriders, me included, aren't trained to fight as such..."

"But you are so skilled at combat!" she protested, desperation in her voice. "I saw the videos of how you fought Snakebite! I heard Worldriders are some of the best in hand-to-hand combat in the world!"

"That's a common misconception," Jacob responded grimly. "Worldriders are trained to get their packages to their destination in the quickest and safest way possible. If we have the option to go around a person instead of going through them, we'll take it if it's tactically sound. In the times where we have no choice because we'll be left vulnerable or there just is no way through, we never kill unless it's absolutely necessary."

Alicia lowered her gaze. "I see..."

"I can't teach you how to kill someone especially out of vengeance." He clasped a paw on her shoulder. "But I can certainly teach you how to defend yourself."

A soft smile touched her features. "Thank you. That would be great."

He took up position beside her and brought up the simulation console. Bringing up a few training dummies, he took up position. "Okay, Worldriders use a form of combat which emphasises ingenuity. 'Everything is a weapon' as my trainers used to say. That doesn't just mean your environment or whatever is lying around. It means your entire body. You know your tail?"

Alicia regarded the nub of her tail. "Ummm... Yes?"

"Well, for guys like me a flick of a tail in someone's face is a second's worth of distraction. Enough to turn the tide of a battle." He nodded at her long claws, typical of a mole. "Those right there can be deadly weapons when you need them to be."

He pointed two fingers at his eyes and then towards the training dummies. "We also teach spatial awareness. You can't just focus on your one opponent." He flicked his ears. "You've got to be aware of everything around you. And remember, Worldriders are couriers. It's our job to move. Staying in one place especially during battle is a bad idea."

Starting off with a calm, straight back, he began to circle the three training dummies that he had programmed to keep their bodies angled towards him but not to move. His movements were calm, smooth and controlled.

"You look so confident..." Alicia murmured softly.

Jacob gave her a small laugh as he continued to circle. "It's actually a criticism from my trainers back in the day. See this?" He gestured at how he stood, legs barely apart and arms by his side. "Not exactly perfect fighting form. It takes longer for my arms to rise up for a punch or defend myself. But it also exudes confidence and confidence is enough to give people pause. You'd be inclined to watch someone carefully if they're confident, right?"

She nodded numbly. "Yes."

"And as you're watching, look where I am now."

She blinked and realised that during their conversation, he had positioned himself across the room from her. The training dummies stood between them but there was now a good distance between them.

"If my goal were over there," he said, hiking his thumb over his shoulder, "I'd no longer have these guys between me and it. Remember, it's about getting to the goal in the quickest, fastest and safest way possible."

Saying those words made him wonder of his own life philosophy. Maybe being a Worldrider had ingrained itself into his life more than he had wanted. Or perhaps he just took his training far too seriously.

"Okay, let's ramp up the difficulty a bit," he announced, bringing up the menu. He also brought up a blindfold and as he programmed the dummies to start moving, he wrapped it around Alicia's eyes. A long wooden pole appeared in front them, a training staff, and he handed that to Alicia. "The dummies are going to start advancing upon you from different directions. You've got to use that pole to knock them back. Keep aware of where they are."

"How when I can't see?"

"That's the point. You have more senses than your eyes, you know."

He stepped back and began the simulation. As he had expected, Alicia was calm for the first few moments then she panicked and began swinging the staff around wildly. Given the short time they had, he doubted he could train her to become a Worldrider. There was a reason he wasn't chosen to be a trainer. He was a terrible teacher.

When one of the dummies bumped into Alicia, she let out a gasp and stumbled forward. He quickly advanced on her and then using a thumb and forefinger, gripped the base of her skull, pressing down tightly. She let out a cry of pain and fell to her knees. He held the grip for about five seconds before releasing her.

"Feel that?" he asked. She nodded through a sea of tears. "That grip will bring most people to their knees. Another way is to kick their shins. You know how much that hurts, right?"

Alicia winced and nodded.

"Good. So here are a few more tricks that you can use..."

He spent a good portion of the morning teaching her a few more trademark Worldrider moves including the 'Four N'.

"If anyone ever has you pinned down, especially if it's a man," Jacob said, gently holding her shoulders. "Remember the Four N." He made the motion of punching her face. "Nose." Then his paws drifted to her breasts, making a twisting motion. "Nipples." Lastly, he threw a pretend punch at her groin. "Nuts. And then..." With his paws on her shoulders again, he brought his knee up back towards her groin. "Nuts again."

"That sounds a little... underhanded," she murmured.

"It works," Jacob responded. He gently gripped the side of her head, his thumbs hovering over her eyes. "Worldriders need to keep moving especially in battle. Getting pinned down is like a death sentence so all rules go out the window at that point. Do anything to get out of it. Bite. Scratch. Gouge out eyes. Only kill if it's necessary."

He stepped back away from her. "And, only in the direst of circumstances are you allowed to use the Worldrider Death Grip."

She winced and placed a paw against her neck. "Was that when you gripped my neck?"

"Oh no," he answered gravely. "You've heard the stories of people who have gone up Worldriders right? The ones how ended up dead with great cavities in their chests where their hearts should be?"

Alicia's eyes went wide and both her paws went directly over her heart. "You're going to teach me that!?"

"Worldrider secret," he answered, making a claw with his fingers. "Our deadliest technique. With the right amount of focus and a balance of strength and agility, you can reach..." He thrust his paw forward. Though there was a good six feet between them, Alicia still jumped back in shock. "... into a man's chest and tear..." He twisted his paw and yanked it back towards himself. "... his heart out while it's still beating. If you're feeling flashy, you can even show it to him as he dies."

Her eyes boggled and she looked sick.

He let her keep that imagery for ten more seconds before he burst out laughing. "Naw, I'm just messing with you. There's no such thing as a 'Worldrider Death Grip'. It's just a rumour HQ lets run rampant because one team had to deal with these cannibalistic Tribals down in Oxis who liked to carve out people's hearts and eat them. The Worldriders were long gone by the time the Tribals tore out those poor guys' hearts."

Relief crossed her features. "Oh... Oh good." She wiped her brow. "Thank you very much for teaching me all this."

"Don't worry about it," he responded with a smile. "Come on. What do you say we grab some lunch? I'm hoping Joanna is back by now."

He led the way back to the estate, striding down the well-maintained gardens to the broad castle-like home. He briefly wondered if this was what it was like to have luxury and what Rex enjoyed almost every day. A brief bout of jealousy hit him but he brushed it aside. Luxury came at a price and from the story of Caroline, it was steep indeed.

Once in the estate, they went to the broad kitchen where Marcus and Cal were already bringing up some food for them. From the smell of it, it was a simple dish of chicken seasoned with lemon and paprika and some steamed vegetables. Compared to the gruel that the MODD Tower provided, Jacob found the simple fare incredibly alluring.

"Got room for two more?" he asked.

"Sure," Marcus said, tapping a few keys on the food fabricator. "This place has a wide selection but half of these I don't even know. Most of it sounds Justilander. I mean, what the hell is 'ess-car-got'?"

"Snails. And it's pronounced 'ess-car-goh'."

Marcus stuck out his tongue and shook his head in disgust. "That's disgusting. What about 'Coquilles'?"

"Scallops," Jacob responded, seating himself on the kitchen bench beside Cal. "Must be nice to have real food for once, huh?" He nudged Cal playfully and the wolf gave him a bashful smile before exchanging glances with Marcus. Jacob caught the knowing stare. "What?"

"You weren't around the Tower long enough to know but..." Cal began. "... We know the food is crap. And there's nothing but our jobs really keeping us on the premise. There's no such thing as contraband either. So if you don't like the food they feed you..."

"You eat out?"

Marcus set down plated of the vegetables and chicken in front of each of them. "I know this awesome strip steak place not too far the CBD. Best ribs this side of Axtrem."

Jacob lifted an eyebrow. "You've been to the wild west?"

"Once when Gale was touring the area. Really spicy food down there." He brought another set of plates for himself and Alice, seating himself opposite to Jacob.

Ordinarily, Jacob wouldn't have minded that the roo sat opposite to him. Some part of him justified that the fact that they could sit with a clear view of one another was good thing. But what Joanna said the previous day planted the seeds of doubt. Back in the Tower, Marcus had sat beside him during a meal and now he was sitting opposite with the entire length of the kitchen bench between them. Given the size of the bench was about two metres long to compliment the full staff needed to man the kitchen, it was a vast distance.

He dismissed the thoughts, filing them in the 'Joanna's bullshit' pile of his mind.

"Have you ever been there?" Marcus asked.

"Twice when I had to deliver some packages down there," Jacob said. "Never really tried the food there though. I can't stand the heat."

"Right. Thick fur." Marcus began absently munching at the steamed vegetables. "Ever thought of trimming it down?"

Jacob shuddered and shook his head. "No way. Bad memories. Back in middle school, when my chest fur started growing in and puberty started kicking in, all my classmates gave me a hard time because of the fur. I hated when we hit that section of PE when we had learn how to swim. Pulling myself out of the pool was like trying to haul a sack of rocks up a steep hill." He took a bite out of his chicken. It was good. Nice and moist in the centre but a crisp outer layer.

"This one bully, Malcolm Irons," he continued, "decided to pick on me because of my chest fur. He once cornered me with his cronies and tried to shave off my fur."

"That's terrible!" Alicia exclaimed.

Jacob snorted at her reaction. "Yeah. It was pretty bad. For them. My buddy, Max, practically mauled them. He came barrelling out of nowhere and took three of the biggest, toughest kids in school down. Max was already pretty beefy then so he could handle himself. He got a nasty black eye for it though. Oh and a week suspension from school. But he's the one that got me to working out." He flexed his right arm for emphasis. "If it weren't for him, I don't think I'd be this big."

He saw Marcus' gentle smile.

"Sounds like this Max fellow really had an impact on you. Where is he now?"

"With SWORD. He's Lieutenant-Commander Maximillian Lionhart."

Cal coughed and almost choked on a piece of broccoli. Jacob was about to get up and assist him when he spat it out. "Holy shit! You mean the Edenguard!?"

Jacob rolled his eyes at Max's nickname amongst SWORD. His friend was so glad when he gotten that name. Recalling Max, he reached into pants and retrieved his wallet. He had slipped Max's trading card in there whilst at the Tower. _'Edenguard'_was written beneath Max's name as flavour text.

"That's the one."

Cal took the card from him, eyes wide. "Wow... You're the _Edenguard's_best friend? That's amazing! I heard that he had his first deployment when he was eighteen!"

"Sixteen, actually," Jacob corrected. "Just after he graduated from middle school he went to Oxis and studied in a MODD facility while also fighting the hostile Tribals there. He got friendly with the Howling Moon Tribe and even learned their language. He and I hang out whenever he and I are both in the same town and we call each other when we get a chance."

"Is that who you were calling when I was in the shower?" Marcus asked.

"Yeah. He's my best friend and he's always looked out for me." Jacob grinned broadly. "And though he doesn't want to admit it, I did save his life more than once."

That piqued everyone's interest.

"You did?" Cal asked.

He held up his paw. "Sorry. Worldrider confidentiality. Can't disclose the details of those missions. But suffice to say that Max is like a walking artillery gun. But he's not a very good swimmer. Or flyer for that matter."

"You can fly!?"

Everyone gave Cal a confused stare.

"No..." Jacob said slowly. "I was talking about things like hang gliding or flying a plane. Despite having wings, Max hates heights." He tried to keep the smile from his muzzle as he remembered that one time he and Max tried to go hang gliding together. The dragon wouldn't take the first step off the cliff. Even skiing was too much for him.

"We all have our weaknesses," Marcus admitted. He had finished his meal and pushed the empty dish across the table. "Anyway. You done with the VBSim, Jake? I was hoping you and I could get a session in. I found this neat simulation that I thought we'd try."

Whatever doubts he had over his relationship with Marcus were instantly banished. Jacob grinned, mentally telling Joanna to suck it. "Yeah, sounds like a plan."

He left Cal and Alicia to finish their meals while he followed Marcus back into the arena. Perhaps it was the romantic in him but he walked beside the roo and let his paw hover right next to Marcus', teasing at the idea of holding it tightly. The gesture was not reciprocated, however, and Marcus didn't even seem to notice him as they entered the arena.

"Maybe she was right..." he murmured softly.

"What was that?" Marcus asked over his shoulder as he brought up the simulator console.

"Nothing." He brought up his own console. "So what's this sim's game type?"

The devious look on the roo's features gave him a second to pause. "Campaign," answered the roo coyly. He pressed a button on the holographic display. Blue cubes of light danced all around them, covering the polished, white tiled floors with a thick layer of hard packed soil. Several steel girders lay stacked to his right and the skeletal frame of a partially constructed house popped up in front of him. The smell of the construction yard filled the air coupled with the scents of manly sweat in the air.

Red lights flashed in front of his eyes and he glanced down at the holographic console which was telling him in big, bright, red letters that, 'Clothing Detected' and asking him kindly to 'Strip Down'.

"Marcus...?" he began cautiously, slowly turning his eyes back to the roo. "What kind of campaign is this?" His throat almost closed up as Marcus stripped down entirely, tossing his clothes in a box that seemed a little out of place in the construction yard bathed in the scorching heat of the sun. It was with some relief that he saw Marcus' body become encased in blue light, putting heavy workman's boots around his big feet, sturdy cargo pants around his broad thighs and a tight singlet over his thick upper body.

"Construction," said the roo. "I figured you tricked me to do farm work so now I get to trap you in construction work." He was already starting to sweat and moved to a cooler where he pulled a soda from the box. "Strip down so that you get to immerse yourself in the simulation."

Jacob thought he should be suspicious especially since Marcus' tone changed with the last sentence but he shrugged it off. "Oh good. I thought this was one of this porn sims," he laughed softly, taking off his clothes. "You know they have _really_weird ones in Valence, right? I heard there are sims where you get tentacles trying to rape you. Tentacles shaped like dicks."

"No kidding," Marcus answered mildly, taking a drink from the energy drink. Watching the roo reminded Jacob that he hadn't had a drink during lunch.

"Can I grab one of those?"

"Sure," answered Marcus, seizing another drink bottle and tossing it to him. "The Boswins must be pretty rich to have a food fabricator inbuilt into their VBSim arenas. I mean I know the Tower has it too but that's the Tower." He absently began to use the cooling touch of the bottle to cool off his neck.

Jacob had to pry his eyes away from Marcus' corded neck muscles dripping with sweat and moisture. "Yeah. The public ones need you to stop your simulation for a drink and sometimes, you leave the arena for a second and someone else snatches it up even if you've gotten it booked. Wish I had one of these back home."

Marcus set his bottle down and lifted a bag of cement over his shoulder. "Who knows. Maybe after this whole mess, you'll be as rich as Rex and you'll get to build your own house with enough land to get one of these babies."

Jacob picked up his own bag and carried it into the building which looked to be a parking structure. It was mostly finished save for the upper levels. He mounted the lift beside Marcus and let it carry them both up to the next level to be constructed. "I dunno. My tastes are simple. Given the choice, I'd much prefer to the public arenas for the interaction with real people. Plus, part of the excitement is getting paired up with someone you don't know and adapting your strategy to fit their play styles."

"That's one of the things I like about you," Marcus laughed softly. "You're adaptive. You still steer things back to how you want things to turn out but it's not like you use the same tricks over and over again."

A groan left his lips. "I'm fairly sure everyone gets that I don't like change by now. Can we just get through one chapter without mention of my aversion to change?"

Marcus just smiled and got to work.

Jacob didn't realise just how slow progress was without the use of Seals. They had to stir their own cement and crafting it perfectly was both painful and torture. Being on his knees against the beating hot sun and in his thick fur felt like he was being cooked. In the end, he had to take off his singlet for what little relief it brought. He would've taken off his pants if he didn't think that it would be in bad taste. That and he was constantly popping an erection every time Marcus strode into his view, muscles gleaming with sweat and pumped from the exertion of hard work.

The heat was getting to him and he was panting heavily just to try and keep cool like the ferals. After what felt like an eternity, he finally had enough.

"Hey, can we take a break?" he asked, sitting back on his haunches. "I am dying out here."

"Too hot fer ya?" Marcus asked in his sexy cowboy drawl.

"Shut up," he grumbled. "You know I can't stand the heat. I'm being cooked in my own fur!"

The big roo let out a hearty, triumphant laugh, one paw on his hip while the other was hefting another bag of cement over his shoulder. "There's a trailer down on the ground. Ah'll finish up so we can end this campaign with a vict'ry."

With a burst of relief, he cried, "Thank you!" If his tail wasn't so soaked with sweat and the simulated sun hadn't drained all the strength from him, he would've been wagging his tail joyfully. Using the last ounces of his strength, he headed back down the lift to the mentioned trailer.

The moment he stepped inside, he was hit by a powerful blast of air conditioned goodness and he let out a sigh. He didn't even question the fact that there was a big king sized bed in the trailer, chalking it up to a design error. While his upper body was feeling sufficiently cooled, his lower was feeling the temperature difference. He kicked off his boots and peeled off his sweaty socks. The touch of the cool, metal floor against his bare paws was amazing. The only problem was that his pants still trapped much of the heat and it was growing increasingly uncomfortable.

The door was still firmly shut. Marcus was not likely to burst in on him with his pants down so he eagerly dropped them even going so far as to toss his underwear aside. The touch of the cool air all over his body was sheer bliss and he let out another sigh of contentment.

Then two big paws wrapped around his waist and a sexy muzzle pressed up against his neck.

"That wus too easy," rumbled Marcus.

Jacob's left eye twitched. "Holy crap this is a porn sim..."

"Are ya complainin'?"

Just with the slightest turn of his head, Jacob's lips met Marcus. The cooling effect of the air conditioner began diminishing. Marcus' paws found his swelling cock and a moan left his muzzle. He pulled away for the briefest of moments, "Fuck no."

With every breath, he took a lungful of Marcus' manly scent. Some part of him registered that this was likely the purpose of the simulation; get the manly man all worked up, developing a healthy musk and sweat. He couldn't believe how he couldn't have noticed Marcus' scent while they were working. That earthy musky stirred his cock as did Marcus' fingers rolling his balls and sheath, coaxing his cock out from its hiding spot.

Marcus kissed Jacob's cheek, the tough of his lips electric against the black and gold wolf's sweaty flesh. Upon contact, a ripple of pleasure rolled out across his body, making him shiver all over. The touch of Marcus' heavily callused pawpads on his cock ignited its own flames and colliding with the ripples from Marcus' kiss. Marcus' other paw rubbed into Jacob's thick chest fur, squeezing his strong, firm pectorals and rolling over the mounds of his abdomen.

A long moan left Jacob's lips and he literally went weak to the knees. Marcus' strong arms caught him, prompting him to turn around and meet the partially dressed roo's strong, firm body. Hungry to explore his partner's body all the more, he pressed his lips against Marcus', shoving his tongue deep into the muzzle while using his paws to commit the mounds of the hunky bodyguard's shoulders. He had seen Marcus' muscles, he could smell the sweat rolling off them and he could practically hear the roo's chorded arms tightening around him like thick lengths of rope twisting together. With his fingers tracing the lines of muscle, he had almost every one of his primary senses sated with the roo's glorious muscles.

Taste was all that remained.

He pulled to the right away from Marcus' lips, using his long canine tongue to lap at the kangaroo's neck, enjoying the thick sinews that brushed up against his tastebuds. Inch by inch, he advanced upon Marcus' broad shoulders, lapping up the salty sweat that soaked the roo's fur. Those glorious, rounded deltoids was his mountain and as he reached its peak, he pressed his fangs against it lightly, claiming it as he own. That prompted Marcus to lift his connecting arm, flexing the gargantuan limb and offering Jacob another mountain to climb. His other paw seized Jacob's firm ass, avoiding the wagging tail and pushing the wolf closer to him.

Jacob let out a soft grunt as he moved from Marcus' deltoid and ran his tongue along the tight valley where shoulder met bicep. The division between the two muscle groups was so ridiculously defined that he was sure they had to have been sculpted by the gods. He founds a thick vein that travelled up from the base of Marcus' bicep and let him all the way towards the peak which he kissed and worshiped with both his paws, amazing at how when flexed, his paws couldn't engulf the group of muscles.

A big paw seized the back of his head and suddenly dragged him deep into the lifted armpit. A feral snarl ripped from Marcus' thick throat as he clamped his arm over Jacob's muzzle, rubbing his sweat and scent all over the lusty wolf's muzzle. For his part, Jacob took a long, deep breath from Marcus' thick underarm fur. There was barely a difference in colouration to the rest of his fur, perhaps a little darker but it was certainly thicker to carry his scent better. Marcus' earthy scent mixed with the musk of hard labour was intoxicating. He was pulled away from the strong source of the smell only to have his muzzle filled with Marcus' thick tongue.

His paws roved away from Marcus' arm over to the roo's thick pectorals. The broad muscles tightened for him, every chord of muscle clearly defined against the short fur and flesh. They all led him to the erect, fleshy nubs of Marcus' nipples. He seized them both and gave them a firm twist.

Marcus broke their kiss, throwing his head back and letting out a loud, "Fuuuuuck..." He seized Jacob's bare rump, pushing their erect cocks against one another even though his was still barely obstructed by his work pants.

The spell of the kiss broken, Jacob nuzzled Marcus' neck, tracing the lines of his muscles to his collar bone which eventually led him straight to the very same pectorals he was squeezing and pleasuring. Droplets of sweat formed across the glorious mountains, soaking into Marcus' thin fur. Jacob eagerly lapped up at the excess, running his tongue over the firm cleft the mountains made. As his knees continued to weaken, he dropped a little lower, his fingers still firmly on Marcus' nipples. His anticipation continued to grow as his lips found Marcus' abdominal muscles. Even though slightly rounded, his abs were still firm and he enjoyed nuzzling them, feeling their soft touch before they tightened with every exhale from the sexy roo.

With each breath, he descended on set of abdominals lower until his path was blocked by a thick belt and a set of dirty worker's pants. His fingers abandoned Marcus' nipples as they immediately went to work unbuckling the belt before him. Marcus was too eager to get them off and the moment the leather strap was undone, he threw off his pants. They got caught on his thick boots but he didn't get a moment to kick them off as Jacob pounced on the thick package dripping precum into the slate grey underwear he wore.

Jacob wrapped his lips around the tip of the throbbing cock, making sure to suck all the precum that had seeped into the grey fabric. All the while, his paws fondled the panting roo's balls, churning the cum stored within them for release. He felt Marcus' paws pull off the underwear and he pulled back for just one second, licking his lips in anticipation. The moment that glorious cock was revealed to him, he pounced back at it. His muzzle immediately wrapped around its entire length, seizing Marcus' rump so that he could push it as far as it would go down his throat. Marcus' thick pubic fur wafted the roo's scent into his nostrils, complementing the salty taste of precum that shot into his muzzle.

"Shiiiiit..." Marcus groaned, having to set his paws on Jacob's shoulders for support.

Jacob curled his lips around his fangs to prevent any biting. Adequately prepared, he drew one long, suck on the throbbing member in front of him. A drop of precum shot into the back of his throat, prompting him to pull back, squeezing and sucking the rest of the load along Marcus' cock and into his waiting muzzle. The salty liquids pooled in his cheeks. He swirled it around his muzzle, enjoying the taste and at the same time tantalizing Marcus' cock with his tongue. He swallowed a moment later just in time for Marcus' second blast of precum and he immediately dove back into position to squeeze the most out of his boyfriend.

A rhythm quickly formed itself. Marcus thrust and Jacob sucked. A grunt escaped Marcus every time he blasted some of his quickly thickening precum into Jacob's throat and Jacob let out a gurgling moan in response. Jacob's own cock was dripping madly like a faucet, clear fluids pooling beneath him. He ran his paws over Marcus' tree trunk thighs, almost getting lost amongst the hills and valleys of the thick, cut muscles before making the jump towards his own cock, rubbing it in tandem with Marcus' thrusts.

Marcus suddenly pulled back away from Jacob's muzzle, panting heavily. A squirt of his precum shot from his cock, thick and opaque in colour. He was getting close.

"I need to fuck..." he grunted. Without waiting for Jacob's response, he bent down and seized Jacob's shoulders. His monumental strength brought the wolf off the ground and pulling them both close into a passionate kiss. Jacob instinctively wrapped his legs around Marcus' waist, his cock slapping against the sexy roo's pectorals. He could feel the heat of Marcus' cock teasing his ass, making him yearn for it inside of him.

Marcus carried them both towards the bed, gently resting Jacob down on the soft mattress. His legs already lifted, it took little for Marcus to guide his cock into the very same hole he had entered just the night before.

That throbbing piece of meat inside of Jacob felt so right and he moaned as inch by inch, Marcus pushed into him with lively thrusts. When the tip rubbed against his prostate, he all but lost, his cock squirming where it was compressed between his and Marcus' abdominals. He clung onto Marcus for dear life as the roo ploughed into him with increasing ferocity, wild animalistic grunts escaping from his lips.

With each subsequent thrust, Jacob lost more and more of his senses and became submerged in a sea of euphoria the likes of which he had only ever experienced once before - when he and Marcus first had coupled together. Before he lost himself entirely to the moment, he made a mental note to tell Joanna that if this was a 'bad relationship', he didn't want a good one.

He tilted his head back and let out a soft, lusty howl, accentuated by each of Marcus' heavy grunts. The roo's grunts grew more and more desperate, his tone rising by an octave. Jacob could feel his boyfriend's cock getting ready to spill his seed into him and he braced himself for the explosion that was to come.

"Oh fuuuuck..." Marcus grimaced, ducking his head briefly, his claws digging into the mattress beneath them. "FUCK!" He suddenly arched his back and with one more powerful thrust, sent a sea of cum cascaded into Jacob's ass.

Jacob let out a shuddering howl as liquid warmth filled him, the hot seed seeping all throughout his body. Every vein, artery, muscle and bone felt complete, seeping into their very fibres and binding them to the muscle kangaroo clinging desperately to him for support as he unleashed a second wave. Perhaps it was the sensation of getting fucked or maybe the primal side of him just remembered their deal from earlier but Jacob suddenly realised that Marcus was weakened now and easy prey.

He seized the roo's big shoulders and suddenly spun them both around so that he was immediately on top. There was a look of shock on the roo's features, one that quickly faded when Jacob squeezed his ass down on Marcus' cock, another blast shooting into him. Jacob liked to think there was probably some dominant testosterone being transferred to him from the hunky roo as he pulled free of Marcus, angling his dripping his cock directly at the drowsy roo's ass. When he started lifting Marcus' legs up, his boyfriend came partially to his senses.

"My turn," Jacob growled, a lusty grin on his features. He was still sensible enough not to turn this session into rape and waited for Marcus' response even as his cock throbbed with need.

"B - B - Be gentle..." Marcus murmured. "It's... It's mah firs' time..."

That was true and taking all of Jacob's cock at once without preparation was likely painful. "Let me ease you up first." Jacob licked one finger, making sure it was fully soaked. Then, as he watched Marcus' cock shoot a fourth load onto his chest, a devious idea sprang to mind. He squeezed down on the roo's cock, bringing a moan and a fifth load which he proceeded to collect. He then rubbed the sticky, white fluids all over his paw.

His fingers sufficiently lubricated, he lowered it towards Marcus' cock and gently began pushing it into the exposed hole. Marcus was incredibly tight, perhaps because he was clenching. It just made Jacob quiver with anticipation. The roo arched his back and let out a long lusty moan. The moment Jacob's finger went entirely inside of him, the wolf pulled it back out. He teased a second finger around the rim of Marcus' ass. The resulting whimper from Marcus told him the roo was ready for more. The second finger went in but he stopped for a brief moment when Marcus took a long breath between clenched teeth.

"Dun' stop..." grimaced the roo. "Please..."

He was ready.

Jacob gave his boyfriend a few more gentle thrusts with his fingers before pulling them out entirely. He gripped his cock and pressed it against the rim of Marcus' hole.

"Fuck me..." moaned Marcus. "God Jake, Ah need ya in me!"

The alpha wolf in Jacob kicked in. A growled rose from his throat as he leaned in close. He ran his long tongue over Marcus' still erect cock, causing the roo to quiver. He lapped up the pools of cum in the short brown fur savouring their taste and using it as fuel to gently start thrusting into Marcus. Inch by inch, he advanced and with each inch of ground he gained, he came closer and closer to Marcus' lips. His knot swelled when he was six inches in and where he felt some resistance. It didn't feel like he could advance anymore. He wrapped his lips around Marcus' right nipple, causing as gasp from the roo and focus to shift towards the suddenly burst of pleasure. That gave him two more inches to advance. He nuzzled Marcus' neck, nipping at the taut muscles there.

Taking from the cue, Marcus twisted his head towards Jacob and their lips met. Both of them took a long, deep breath in tandem. Marcus' paw seized the back of Jacob's head, pulling them as close as possible while their tongues danced in the bridge formed between their muzzles. Jacob's thrusts grew stronger and faster. A bond of trust and affection formed between them, insurmountable and indescribable by words. This bond opened the last few inches for Jacob to push the entirety of his foot long cock deep into Marcus.

Only his knot remained and just from the amounts of precum Jacob felt Marcus' own member was pooling between them and Marcus' desperate whines, he wanted it.

They both did.

Jacob pulled almost half way out and thrust back inside. Each blow was stronger than the last and with each one, he felt his knot pushing deeper and deeper into Marcus. He was gaining ground but he couldn't quite get inside. His grunts grew desperate, almost pleading for Marcus to let him in. His roo's own moans translated to 'I'm trying' in his sexy cowboy accent.

Then, the roo suddenly spread his legs wider, almost performing a split.

Jacob gave one last thrust and with a loud, wet, pop, he pushed completely into Marcus, knot and all. The sensation of hilting into someone - not just anyone but Marcus Willows - was unlike anything he had ever felt before. Jacob broke their kiss, letting out a pleasured whine and with fangs bared, barely able to keep himself from exploding there and then.

"Yer in..." Marcus whispered, panting heavily. "Fuck... This feels _sooooo_good..." He squeezed down on Jacob's cock, making the wolf growl.

"Yeah..." Jacob rumbled. Lupine instincts were telling him to say the magic three word sentence of true affection before biting down on Marcus' scruff, giving him a mating bite but he restrained himself. "You ready stud?"

"Fuck yeah."

Though he had little room to move, Jacob began to thrust and pull into Marcus, the restriction of his knot making every movement a blast of bliss that brought him closer and closer to orgasm. Marcus had to curl his legs back around Jacob's strong back for support and the entire bed squeaked and quaked as their huge, muscled bodied slammed against one another in passionate lovemaking.

Marcus' eyes rolled into the back of his head, his paws seized Jacob's shoulders as he clung on to dear life.

Jacob's thrust grew at a crescendo, accompanied by their grunts and moans, the squeaks of the bed and soon even the rattling of the entire trailer.

"Oh fuck!" Marcus cried. Suddenly, his cock erupted for a second time in the past ten minutes, thick wads of cum shooting all over his chest and gluing the two together.

"Fuuuuck!" Jacob moaned, his voice rising. "Oh shit... I'm gonna... FUCK!"

His entire body locked up, his back arching and his tail stiff. He tilted his head back, his last words turning into a wild, feral howl of lust that shook the windows of the trailer. His seed shot into Marcus, floods of cum rushing forwards with enough force that the roo was visibly shaken by each blast.

After the first blast, Jacob felt himself start to weaken but he still coupled the second burst with a thrust. The third caused him to topple over, collapsing into Marcus' sweaty body. His body continued to quake for an entire five minutes, smaller orgasms shooting his seed into the roo. Only when Marcus' strong arms wrapped around him did he stop shaking.

When their lips met, a gentle yet still passionate kiss, he smiled.

"Shit..." Marcus murmured after they broke their kiss. "We gotta to do this more often..."

Jacob took a second to collect his thoughts as most of his brains was doused in hormones and stunned by the explosive orgasm. "The porn sim thing or... erm... uh... stuff...?" He still couldn't quite fully articulate his thoughts.

Marcus chuckled softly and kissed one more time. "Jus' this. Bein' together. I ain't ever been happier than when I wus with Eric."

Mentioning his former crush was a little worrying to Jacob but he decided to dismiss it as a compliment.

He nuzzled Marcus' neck lovingly. "Someday, I'll help you forget about him."

He felt Marcus smile and the roo's arms around him tighten. "An' fer that... I'm grateful." Marcus kissed his forehead lovingly.

"Thanks, Jake."

******

The city was understandably in panic. Now that the news had spread, people were scrambling through the streets desperately trying to scrounge up supplies where they could. Rioting hadn't broken out... yet but shopping centres were crowded, markets were quickly running out of stock and local police were strained to maintain order. To their credit, the MODD soldiers that had survived the night had split off into the city. Many of them guarded the Seal Generators to keep power flowing into the city. Boswin had seized a few of those that had been unguarded and there had been a firefight at one Generator that leaded in Boswin's troops taking it but all focus seemed to have fallen on the plague.

That meant alleyways and side streets were a little more dangerous than usual. Rumour on the streets were that some criminals that had been captured long ago were seen lurking in the streets wearing the orange overalls of Boswin's rebels in an attempt to blend in. But nothing was ever confirmed as MODD troops, thin as they were, weaved in and out of the city's buildings purportedly rescuing anyone in need before vanishing into the shadows like a superhero in a comic book.

Joanna waited patiently in one such alleyway between two office buildings. Traffic was terrible despite being a little past midday. There was something to be said about the diligence of some companies and their workers that they would come in to crunch numbers or make sure systems were up and running even in the middle of a crisis.

The fire exit door beside her suddenly sprang open. A 5'9'' doe dressed in a respectable short dress and unassuming blouse stepped out. Her soft, brown eyes took notice of Joanna for the briefest of moments before she shut the door behind her. In one, smooth gesture, the doe reached into her purse hanging on a shoestring strap to retrieve a single cigarette. She pressed it to her muzzle while reaching for a lighter in the other. It took three tries for the lighter to catch a spark and flare up. The doe took a deep breath with the cigarette in her muzzle before pulling it away from her delicate lips and letting out a stream of acrid smoke.

"Those things will kill you," Joanna murmured.

"They would for normal people," answered the doe with a smile. She turned towards Joanna. "It's good to see you Jo."

"What are you doing here?" she snapped. "You're the official aide of Sierra Seasinger! What are you doing masquerading as a... a...?"

"Systems Developer and third level IT support," finished the doe with a smile. "And what's the matter, Jo? I can't have more than one undercover role?"

"It's a risk!"

Kerry Rawson threw back her head and laughed, the shoulder-length brown hair straightened to perfection quivering like an auburn waterfall. "I'm on leave from Sierra for six months. She insisted I take a break. I'm not sure if it's because she suspects my true purpose to spy on her or not but I figured I couldn't refuse. So I came here to act as the regional head for a while." She plucked the cigarette from her lips and blew out another puff of smoke from the corner of her muzzle. "Things were rather quiet before you showed up, you know."

Joanna huffed and pushed away from the wall. "Events... spiralled out of my control."

"I'll say. Boswin's rebellion. Rex Reaper in the same area as Gale Winthrop. The kid with Realmbreaker. To your credit, you were right. Realmbreaker was on that train." Kerry tapped her cigarette lightly, sending ash to the ground. "What's he like by the way?"

"Jacob? He's brave. Smart. Highly observant and quick on his feet."

"Is he willing to fight against MODD?"

"He despises his brother but is adverse to change. He's a Worldrider so he prefers to remain neutral. More than anything, he wants to get rid of _Realmbreaker_and go back to his old life. A foolish notion. He has an opportunity in his paws and he refuses to take it!" Joanna made a grasping motion with her paw.

Kerry let out a thoughtful noise. "And he's taken a lover in Marcus Willows, hasn't he?"

"Yes."

"Well good."

Joanna's ears snapped up towards Kerry and her superior. "Good? How is that good? From where I stand, it sounds like he's leaning more and more towards MODD!"

"Or..." Kerry said calmly, a gentle smile on her features. "It sounds like he is dragging others into neutrality. If we can't convince him to fight for the Unsealed then we can at least ensure that he doesn't fight for MODD. If he just so happens to convince others towards his way of thinking, I am not opposed to that."

"But this is an opportunity to change the world for the better!" Joanna cried, waving her paws wildly. "What sane person wouldn't take that!?"

"Everyone has their motivations, Jo," answered Kerry calmly, taking another puff from her cigarette. "As far as I'm concerned, this kid is still young and he has been thrown into a war that's decades old. He doesn't want to be involved. What does that say of us if we try to drag him into it? We don't want innocent people's paws bloodied because of our beliefs no matter how influential they are." She gave Joanna a pointed stare. "Once you lose your innocence, you'll never get it back."

Memories flooded into Joanna's mind, pushing their way out from the recesses of her repressed thoughts into the forefront. She grimaced and broke eye contact with Kerry. "So I should give up on him?"

"Of course not. Still try to convince him to see things our way but if he isn't receptive, I don't want you forcing him to do something he wouldn't normally do. We're here to educate and protect people, Jo. Not shatter the very foundations of their lives and leave them bloodied and near death."

Joanna grumbled softly in acknowledgement. She had no desire to continue to speak about the bull-headed Jacob Reaper. "What about Boswin? What's to be done about him?"

Again, Kerry took another long puff from her cigarette, finishing it off. She tossed the butt aside and blew out the smoke. "That... is difficult. I've asked command about it and they're just as baffled. Tiamat herself -"

"Tiamat?" Joanna repeated, utterly stunned to hear the name dropped.

"This is a new technique that revolutionises Seal usage after all," Kerry responded calmly. "Our leader is naturally interested." She tapped her chin lightly with a finger. "It's been decided to keep this knowledge within Pollenburn as much as possible. MODD is already blocking all transmissions in and out of Pollenburn thanks to their Arc Field and the Rillotian government is spouting propaganda, turning all attention to the plague.

"But we need to eliminate Boswin and his technique. It's heinous especially in the wrong paws. Someone could raise an army of overpowered Seal Wielders with it. When one person does it, another will do the same and eventually, every country will have a totally obedient army of men and women capable of opening Tors. Before you know it, someone will light the powder keg and suddenly..."

"... we'll have another Great Seal War," whispered Joanna darkly. "I don't think Mortaelis could take another one..."

"Everyone on our side agrees." Kerry plucked another cigarette from her purse and stuffed it into her muzzle. "Do whatever it takes to kill Boswin and make sure his technique dies with him. I've got a cache of weapons and equipment in the city that you can use in case of an emergency complete with a _Stinger_if you need it. I'll send you the coordinates a little later today."

She opened the fire exit door. "Take care of yourself, Joanna."

"You too," she responded. A soft smile touched her features. "Are you allowed to smoke indoors?"

Kerry returned her smile. "Of course not. But no one else is in the building. I've just been running around from floor to floor, smoking and messing with people's computers. You know. Stupid things like swapping the wireless transmitters on mouses and keyboards on computers, disconnecting monitors and messing with people's calendar invites."

Joanna's brow furrowed and she shook her head. "Why?"

"The people in this building are complete and utter asses. They've got to return to work sometime, right? I figure I'd leave them a little present before I officially resigned."

She waved over her shoulder.

"Ciao."

******

Thankfully there were showers in the VBSim Arena and the Arena itself was self-cleaning. Jacob didn't want to have to explain to Caroline while his and Marcus' spunk was all over the white tiles. Though he did wonder if anyone would even notice considering the colouration. He insisted that he and Marcus take different showers for the pure reason that if they didn't, he'd likely pounce on the roo. Marcus respected his wishes though they did share a steamy kiss before they went into their own cubicles.

As they bathed, in stalls right beside one another, Jacob couldn't help but feel smug. He positively couldn't wait to rub it in Joanna's face that Marcus had just fucked him wildly while playing a pornographic VBSim. Admittedly it was a pretty tame one but just thinking about all the other virtual worlds they could make love in... It was making him hard all over again.

"Do ya think we'll get plenty o' time together after this?" Marcus asked over the noise of the shower.

"Of course! What makes you think we won't?"

Marcus was silent for a few moments, just the sound of running water echoing in the showers. "Jus' yer brother. I dun think he likes me that much. Plus he's set up that date with ya an' Chadstone West."

Thinking of the hunky husky who was his movie star crush and the possibility of going on a date with the guy only further hardened his already aching cock. But he was with Marcus and such thoughts were proper. Though thoughts of the two pounding him at the same time...

"We could work around that," he answered. "You open to a three way?" he joked.

Marcus was suddenly silent again and Jacob wondered if he had stepped too far.

"Ya ever had one?"

"Well... Sort of. My dad has these toys that... well... I'll leave it to your imagination." Marcus grunted and Jacob heard a soft bang against the wall. When he strained his ears, he thought he could hear some wet slapping amidst the downpour. "Marcus... are you pawing off to the image of you and Chad West pounding my ass together."

"No..." A grunt was his answer to the contrary. "Me and Chad West spitroastin' ya."

Jacob grinned and jumped up, catching the edge of the stall wall. He lifted himself up to peer over into the adjacent stall. Marcus was directly below him, grunting softly with a fully erect cock in his paws. "You're really taking this openly gay thing really well."

Marcus, between grunts, muttered, "Whut can Ah say... urf... Yer a good influence."

"Well finish up, stud. There's still plenty to do in the day and I feel like doing you somewhere that isn't virtual."

He dropped back down and proceeded to finish washing up. While he was loathed to let his erection go unattended, he had enough sense not to paw off so soon after having a flip-flop session with his boyfriend but still horny enough to know that building up anticipation towards the inevitable coupling would make the experience all the sweeter. Having to go through the routine of ensuring that his extra thick layers of fur were sufficiently rinsed and dried was enough to ease his cock back into his sheath. He heard Marcus finish showering a full ten minutes before him and it took another five before he was sufficiently dried and could step out of the stall.

Marcus grinned at him as he strode out. The roo was already partially dressed, his beefy chest exposed.

"What?" Jacob asked, a towel around his waist.

"Ya look so cute all fluffed up like that."

He rolled his eyes and made a vain attempt to smoothen out his fur. "Yeah well, come winter you'll be freezing your junk off while I'm nice and toasty."

"Nah Ah won't," Marcus responded cockily.

"And why not?"

"Cuz mah dick will be buried in yer ass all winter."

Jacob smirked and gave the roo a light punch on the shoulder. "Is this blatant homosexuality something I'll have to deal with in public or will you be retreating back to grouchy Marcus when we have polite company."

Marcus' eyed fell and so did his grin. A sigh escaped him and as his tail droop.

"Sorry," Jacob murmured. "You don't have to answer that."

"It's nothin'," Marcus rumbled, tying the last of his shoelaces. "Ah jus' spent so long regrettin' wha' happened to Eric. Dun get me wrong. I love this thing between us." He made a gesture, pointing back and forth between himself and Jacob. "But ya can't jus' let go of years of regret and pain like that, ya know? It takes time."

Jacob sat beside the roo and began slipping on his underwear. "I understand." He slipped on his singlet before reaching for the shirt that Gale had given him. "Can I at least call you my boyfriend?"

Marcus smiled at him. "'Course ya can." He leaned in and kissed Jacob's cheek gently. "So long as ah dun have ta compete with Chadstone West."

He chuckled in response and nudged Marcus back so that he had some room to slip on his shirt. When they were fully dressed, they both headed up towards the mansion, paw in paw and just basking in the moment. As they headed up the path from the Arena, however, they both paused at the sight of the black limousine parked right in front of the mansion beside Marcus' Road Bull.

Jacob didn't get a moment to utter a word of confusion.

BOOM!

The doors to the estate were suddenly blown open and the figure of Cal was sent soaring through them, crashing to the ground with a heavy whump.

"Cal!" Jacob exclaimed, immediately bolting towards the injured wolf. Cal was completely unconscious and there were some severe burns all over his right arm. The scent of burning flesh and fur hung in the air around them.

Gunfire exploded from within the estate, prompting Jacob to immediately seize Cal by the shoulders and drag him behind Marcus' Road Bull while Marcus looked at the burned wolf's legs.

"Fuck!" Marcus growled. "Dun tell me that's Snakebite finally goin' insane!"

Jacob sincerely hoped not.

Suddenly, the gunfire was cut short and he heard Snakebite let out a blood curdling roar. That same roar was abruptly cut off.

"I don't think that's Snakebite," Jacob murmured softly. "Stay here and look after Cal. I'm going in."

"Not alone yer not."

Marcus flicked his paws and in a dazzling dance of light, his twin, curved blades appeared. The air sizzled as twin bolts from Realmbreaker sprang from Jacob's paws while another four appeared over his shoulder, hovering there ominously. They both bolted towards the estate doors, the bolts following Jacob wherever he went.

The grand staircase of the estate came into view, riddled with bullets. Lying on some of the lower steps was Snakebite, clutching his throat and coughing. The cobra was desperately trying to reach for someone just out of view with his free hand, anger flashing in his eyes. An icy spear shot across the room, bringing Jacob's gaze to the left where it was originated.

Caroline pushed Alicia behind her, her features twisted into a snarl.

In front of her stood a tall weasel dressed in the typical black and white attire of a butler. The man seemed to possess unnaturally longer arms that he folded behind his back, clasping his gloved paws together. There was a patronising smile on his features, glimmering beneath a monocle.

"Come now, Madame Boswin," the weasel said, every syllable perfectly accentuated, his voice clear and eerily mirthful. "Please come quietly. You do not want to see anyone else injured, do you?"

"Caroline!" Jacob shouted, hurling a Realmbreaker bolt through the air at the weasel. He had aimed wide, just enough to warn the butler.

The man spun calmly as the bolt flew past his muzzle. The eerie smile on his muzzle sent chills down Jacob's spine. "Ah. The esteemed Wielder of Realmbreaker. MODD's latest and greatest lapdog. I would be most interested to test your mettle but sadly, I have an appointment to keep. So if you wouldn't mind..." He tilted his head to the side, smiling wanly at Jacob and Marcus. "Kindly step aside or I shall be forced to kill you."

"Just who are you?" Jacob snarled.

The weasel unclasped his paws from behind his back, lifting one in front of his face. The glow of a Seal shone on the back of his glove.

"My name is Langley Archambeau. I am the butler to the Boswin Family."

He opened his eyes, malice shining in his deep, black eyes.

"I cook the family's diner de fantaisie. I clean the all of Monsieur Boswin's maison. And on the rare occasion that Monsieur Boswin is feeling homicide..."

He snapped his fingers ominously, a tongue of flame springing from his fingertips.

"...I kill."