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Two hours later, Zerrex was standing on the rooftop of the facility in the cold air, one hand resting on his cane and still wearing only his plain clothes, flakes of fallen snow melting in his hair as he looked out over the snowy plains, watching as tigers in mechanic's uniforms and heavy jackets worked to clean up the wreckage.

They were working quickly, piling most of the junk and wrecked metal under one tarp, while putting the usable parts under another: not a lot of the latter could be extracted, however, from the wrecked hull of the helicopter or the ruins of the other vehicles. It didn't surprise him: new-age rockets never left much behind, and Marina's powers tended to crush whatever her mind locked onto.

He shook his head a bit, sighing softly, his breath clouding in front of him before he glanced to the side at the sound of the metal door from the small room of the shed creaking open, and his eyes settled on Killer. He nodded to him slightly, before looking back out towards the hills and the grey clouds that made up the sky of this harsh, unforgiving environment.

"I didn't think you reptiles did so well in the cold, Zerrex. You should put a jacket on: this weather would kill a normal person in about ten minutes."

"Whenever I get cold, I just think of the time I got locked in a freezer with an... old friend during the war." Zerrex nodded a bit, looking off into the distance with a faint smile and tilting his head upwards towards the clouded sky. "Then I don't feel so cold anymore, even standing out here."

"Yeah..." Killer nodded and gave a quiet laugh himself as he strode over, then he simply stood by the Drakkaren, leaning on the rail that circled the rooftops: low for him, high for the reptile that he was beside. For a little while they stood in silence, the tiger's cloak blowing in the chilling wind.

Finally, Zerrex shook his head slowly, then he murmured: "I'm too old for this, Killer. I don't know about you, but the years have worn on me. It's been a long time since we've seen each other last, and too much has happened. My family, the Great War and the nightmares that brought with it, and the reformation of the world... all that madness. I've changed a lot, and my body's worn out. This is the last mission I have to do before I can retire to a nice, quiet life..." A pause and a slight smile as he glanced over the liger's impressive body, and then up at features that looked as youthful as the day they'd met, even if now they were more worn. "We don't all have the vitality that you and Alexis do, after all."

"And here I thought that you'd go on fighting forever, just like me." The liger laughed quietly, shaking his head a bit as his sharp blue eyes roved over the Drakkaren. "With my own hodgepodge mix of genes and the way the world works up here, I sometimes forget that not everyone lives as long as I'm going to."

"I think I've just gone and used myself up with all the stupid stunts and crap I've done in my lifetime." Zerrex replied meditatively, then he offered a bit of a smile in return to the liger. "Why is it, every time we meet, we end up mixed up in some conflict?"

Killer shrugged at this, turning a bit more serious as he glanced out over the snowy plains that lay before him. "I honestly don't know, Zerrex..." A hesitation, then he reached out and gently squeezed the lizard's shoulder, glancing down at him and asking quietly: "I don't mean to be rude but... those scars. Did you get them... I heard a rumor that the fact your name and that of the Patriarch we fought during the Great War wasn't a coincidence."

Zerrex nodded a bit at this, glancing down at the wreckage again and remembering those times, remembering the war for a moment and all the fighting he'd done: the RED, the monsters, the experimentation, and Drake â€" the strange, symbiotic being of darkness that had inhabited his body for a while before finally betraying him in that last great confrontation inside Paradise. And he remembered the red, burning eyes of his father in the living darkness... "Yeah. Ifret Narrius, my... father. One of the Kings of Hez'Ranna revived him, and he proceeded to destroy the entire world. He and his experimentations gave me most of these scars."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Killer squeezed the Drakkaren's shoulder gently, then he glanced out over the snowy hills for a few moments before adding quietly: "I've been thinking about what happened... and I guess you and Hez'Ranna do have a bigger stake in this than I do. I won't interfere with your operations up here any longer, but I do want to keep in touch on things... at least, as much as you're willing to say."

"After all of this is over, you can hear the whole thing if you're interested." Zerrex nodded a bit, giving a faint smile and glancing up at the brawny tiger. "Thank you, Killer... it'll be nice to maybe sit back after all this is done with and have a decent conversation for once."

The liger nodded agreeably at this, then he set his hands on the railing and leaned forwards a bit, before he looked over at the Drakkaren with quiet amusement. "So you've got quite a family now, Zerrex... although I couldn't help but notice that Marina called Cherry her big sister. Is she..." He broke off, tilting his head curiously.

"Sorta." Zerrex shrugged a bit, smiling a bit more now as he turned around and rested back against the barrier, looking up at him amusedly. "We call Cherry my daughter now... it's a bit complicated. If you end up in bed with her, you'll find out how." A slight grin at this, and then the Drakkaren shook his head slowly. "But yeah. The girls and the little gay wolf... it makes for a pretty complicated little household."

Killer nodded again, then the two stood for a few moments before the liger patted the reptile gently on the back, laughing quietly. "I was glad I caught you up here, Zerrex, and you and your family should come down to dinner. I've got some work to do around the facility before then, though, so I'll leave you be until then. It shouldn't be too hard for you to find the mess hall... come down around seven, Alexis and I will be happy to see you."

"Alright, thanks." Zerrex nodded back to the liger, smiling slightly, and Killer gave him a smile in return before turning and heading back to the door he'd entered onto the rooftop from. The lizard watched him for a few moments, then he sighed and turned back towards the hills, staring out over them once more and rubbing a hand over his own chest, shivering a bit at the cold: most of his body was numb by now, though, and it took away the rest of the pain that went through his form.

He sighed a bit, then rubbed a hand through his stiff hair slowly as he paced quietly along the rooftop, flakes of water and snow clinging to his hand. He paused, then looked down at this, feeling it turning to ice on his fingers already in the terrible cold... then he shook his head and finally made his way towards the same door Killer had left through. He'd probably stayed out in the cold for too long and he knew that his leg was going to hurt like hell once he started to warm up... but finding a bit of relief was nice, even if just for a little while.

The Drakkaren strode through the door and into the hallway, shaking himself off and brushing a hand over his body briskly to knock the snow that had landed on him, making a bit of a face. He could already feel the warmth working its way into his body as he rolled his shoulders slowly, before he smiled slightly as his eyes landed on the figure of his daughter, leaning in the corner of the hallway and looking at him with that quiet smile she always wore around him.

She fell in pace with him without a word, and they strode down the hall together as he turned the bend, heading towards the elevator for a few moments in quiet. Then, Marina quietly stepped against him and wrapped an arm around his waist, saying gently: "I could tell you everything in the minds of those two, if you wanted me to, Zerrex."

"That'd be cheating. Besides, I trust Killer and Alexis." The male nodded slowly, lacing his own arm gently around her body. "Besides. We need to be focused on the mission, and everything we have to do."

"Okay, Daddy." Marina smiled up at him, then she glanced at the call button for the elevator and it lit up, dinging gently as she added softly: "But you know... these people think interesting things. Their society is completely different from ours... yet you seem to fit in and get along here quite well. It's almost like Hez'Ranna, in its own way... but more militant and focused on technological growth."

"Whereas Hez'Ranna's always been all about traditional life..." Zerrex shook his head a bit, laughing softly as the elevator doors slid open and waiting as a few soldiers stepped out before he limped forwards, wincing a bit and trying to shake Marina off him as she supported him against her lithe body. "Marina, I'm fine..."

"Stop being a douche." The female scolded him in return, making a face as he pushed against her muzzle, shouldering him in return and then jerking him forwards, making him yelp as too much weight went on his bad leg, pain shooting through his body. It was enough to calm him down, however, and instead he turned to sulking as he leaned heavily against his daughter as they moved into the elevator, before she glanced over at the buttons on the control panel and the ground floor button lit up. "I'm a big girl, and you're an old gimpy ass. You shouldn't be so embarrassed about needing someone to take care of you now and then."

Zerrex made a face at this and rolled his eyes, then he winced when Marina shouldered him lightly again. The two glared at each other for a moment... and then Marina stuck her tongue out and the male snorted and did his best to repress a smile. "You're a real piece of work, you know that?"

"And I know you wouldn't have me any other way." She winked and squeezed him gently around the waist, then both glanced up as the elevator doors opened and they found themselves face-to-face with Cherry. Zerrex had just enough time to register that her expression was a bit more grim than usual before Marina said softly: "No shit. Looks like we better get our asses in gear, Daddy... a few soldiers just made it back from a routine patrol and reported being attacked by heavily-armed unknowns."

"I fuckin' hate it when you steal my news on me, baby girl." Cherry said disgustedly, then she glanced over Zerrex's body before leering at him. "Hey, you're all wet! Were you doing the dirty with someone?"

"I was standing outside in the snow for the last hour or so." Zerrex responded dryly, and Cherry coughed, rubbing the back of her head and looking lame as he finally managed to shake off Marina and stepped forwards, starting down the hall as his daughters automatically fell in on either side of him, looking back and forth grimly. "But let's get serious here. It sounds we may have underestimated Toxin or gotten wrong information... after all, this was supposed to be our staging point, and the enemy base is supposed to be in the arctic regions, roughly eighty miles to the north of here."

"Shit, I'd forgotten it was that far." Cherry shook her head, making a disgusted face. "How is that even possible, though? I mean, fuck, there must be nothing but frozen ice and rock up north of here."

Zerrex nodded a bit at this, brushing back his hair and then making a bit of a face as a group of soldiers charged by and shoved their way through the three Drakkaren â€" It's so damn weird to go from being gigantic compared to everyone to tiny in one easy move â€" and then he winced and grabbed Marina's shoulder as she snarled and turned to glare after them â€" and likely also blast them with some kind of terrible psychic force. "Don't, Marina. It's okay."

"I hate people." The Drakkaren muttered, reaching up and rubbing at her face, and Zerrex couldn't repress a smile at the reflection of him he saw in not just the comment but the motion. Then he quickly shook his head, returning to business as Marina added in a grumble: "They're only serving as a support group for the snipers and REMFs, as Killer calls them, anyway... you know, Rear Echelon MotherFuckers. I think you've probably heard the term...

"But out here, it sounds like the network doesn't work as well â€" too far away from the main military and bordering on a wasteland where there's only a few ancient villages, ruins, and some research outposts." A pause as Marina glanced ahead and the double doors to the barracks snapped open, and then she continued in an easy voice as they made their way into the nearly-empty soldier's quarters. "The snow and metallic ore in the ground interferes with the wireless reception, see... so they want to set up receivers outside to boost the strength of the connection."

Cherry shook her head slowly with a slight grin as they made their way between the bunks and towards the officer's quarters, where they had dropped off their luggage and taken up residence. "You have so got to stop snooping in people's heads. A, you learn too much, B, it's rude, and C, this shit sounds like it's coming out of a textbook or some really boring science fiction shit."

Marina tossed her a glare, but Zerrex interrupted before the two could get to arguing. "In any case, that works to our advantage. If they're expanding the network outside, then we won't have to worry as much about being ambushed again, like we were outside. I know that Killer has a special unit, but I don't know if any of those soldiers are at this base... I mean, come on." Zerrex motioned around as they stepped over the border between soldier's and officer's quarters, glancing back and forth. "Ninety nine percent of Killer's bases are outfitted with technology and equipment that was powerful enough to stand against Narrius's army for seven years. This one, on the other hand, is little more than a far-flung research base."

"And let's not forget that we're at the border of the arctic wastelands. This was supposed to be our staging point, not our first battleground." A gentle voice added, and Zerrex glanced over to the beds they'd taken over to see Cindy sitting on the bottom bunk, just putting the finishing touches on putting together a large-size rifle. Across from her, Mahihko had already cleaned and reassembled several handguns, and was now sitting with his hands in his lap, looking at Zerrex adoringly. "We were only supposed to set up here and get ready for the mission... but that's all you ever told us, Daddy, before we left."

The Drakkaren nodded a bit, then he glanced back and forth before murmuring quietly to his youngest daughter: "Is anyone around or listening?"

Marina closed her eyes and dropped her head forwards, crossing her arms, and a look of concentration based over her features before giving a quick shake of her head. "No one within a hundred feet has any thoughts about us in their head right now... I flickered over Killer a few floors up, but he and Alexis are with the tacticians, going over what they should do in case of attack; they seem to be expecting more guerilla attacks. I can delve for more if you want, since it may be relevant to our own mission."

"No need..." A pause, and a glance over to Cherry now, a smile twitching at Zerrex's muzzle. "And I take it that, paranoid as you are, you've already gone around and found or disabled all the security systems in the area."

Cherry coughed a bit at this, looking away and crossing her arms. "You can go fuck yourself for that tone, butthead. I think I deserve a thank-you instead, since some of those alarms were fucking hard to avoid setting off." A pause, then a grin and a leer as she leaned against Zerrex's side for a moment, winking. "Or fellatio and oral sex on my guy parts."

"Those are the same things." Zerrex said dryly, and Cherry looked stupefied for a few moments before making a face childishly and huffing as she sat down on one of the bunks with a grumble. "I wanted to be in a safer area, but with the base on alert and Killer's soldiers currently deployed..." He broke off for a moment to glance over at Marina, who nodded slowly. "Then I don't see that we have a choice in the matter, and I'd better fill you in on what I know about Toxin and the mission."

There was a silence for a few moments as the others looked up at him, and Zerrex's eyes traced over them all and the solemnity that fell on their faces... and more importantly, the respect he saw in their eyes. Even Cherry had put aside her attitude for the moment, and she nodded a bit to him as his gaze lingered on her for a few moments, before he nodded back and cleared his throat. "This is not a standard mission.

"The idea here is total destruction of an enemy facility... we've all participated in a Hez'Ranna mission similar to this before, but the reason this one is different is because we have a much-more serious threat than has been recognized in any other ex-Narrius era facility: the Toxin team." A pause as he glanced around at them all again, tapping the butt of his cane gently against the ground in a nervous gesture. "I'm sure all of you remember the Royal Elite Division of Narrius's army, and the other genetically-enhanced soldiers we've encountered over the years â€" well, Toxin is a similar unit to this.

"The biggest problem is that we're walking towards a cloning facility designed to produce Enforcers or perhaps Super-Enforcers like..." The slightest of pauses, and Cindy looked down quietly, and Zerrex knew she was thinking of the same person he was: Requiem, the model for the soldiers that were so unlike the honorable warrior his uncle had been. "Like we encountered in the last major battles of the Great War."

"So basically a shitload of supersoldiers and then the elites, right?" Cherry asked, tilting her head, then she smiled slightly. "The only real difference from what you just mentioned then, is that they've had the time to train and battle experience going for them, knowing the way Narrius trained his troops. So why don't you tell them the real reason why this is going to be so scary, huh, since it still looks like just a standard blow-‘em-up mission."

Marina's face had already darkened a bit from her telepathic connection to her father at the words he was about to say next, but Cindy and Mahihko still looked confused and curious, and Zerrex made a face at Cherry before looking back to the two innocents of his group, saying softly: "They were apparently designed by Mengele Tstegi, and upgraded further with cybernetic enhancements."

"What?" Cindy looked shocked at this, and Mahihko looked horrified at the mention of the name of the mad genius who had spearheaded almost all of Narrius's research. "But... wait, everything we heard about him, that we saw, he never experimented with cybernetic enhancement... he was all about biological research, right?"

"Which is exactly why we're expecting a lot of trouble with this operation... we've all seen exactly what kind of things Mengele's created and experimented on..." A bit of a smile, his eyes roving over them all, speaking softly: "Us included."

Nods and glances down, Zerrex's eyes taking in all of it... from Cherry's poker face to Mahihko raising his hands and staring down at them. Mengele's experiments had mutilated his family, transformed his own body, and aided in the design of a biological agent that had almost wiped out the entire world... and yet, at the same time, he had slowed Narrius's plans, helped Zerrex out instead of giving him up, and brought his family back from the dead.

He let it sink in for a few moments before continuing to speak, falling into the calm, firm voice of command he'd forgotten he still possessed in this beaten-up body. "The situation gets worse. Intelligence provided to us by the Hez'Ranna Military's decoding department also lists that the base has not only a full production and training facility led by the Toxin team, it also has a full weapons laboratory, and several research and development projects were listed that included a new type of mobile armor. The facility seems highly-invested in mechanical research, as opposed to most of what we've seen in other facilities that Narrius has built.

"Not only will we have to worry about the gear and the soldiers, but we'll also have to keep in mind that the facility itself and all it encompasses â€" from the known garrison to the research labs and likely some sort of self-supplying generator system and underground farms for food production â€" will all be protected by heavy-duty security systems that are probably still state-of-the-art. I doubt they've had much time for maintenance and we know they likely have their resources stretched thin from all the years they've been operating as a secret base for Narrius's elite troops, but with or without supplies, we can still expect everything from automated turrets to laser walls and plain old-fashioned alarm systems."

"I can take care of most of that." Cherry said distastefully, crossing her arms and tilting her head. "What kind of intel do we have on the troop count and the design of the building?"

Zerrex smiled slightly at this, meeting Cherry's eyes for a moment before he said softly: "Don't get ahead of yourself here, Cherry. I'm not finished yet with the details of the security. I'll cover everything in due time." A pause as the hermaphroditic female grumbled and fidgeted a bit, then she finally sat back and looked at him with grouchy calmness again, and the Drakkaren continued. "Our good friend Albatross did send me a basic idea of the types of security they'll have implemented, and it seems they've anticipated abilities like Cherry's and even Marina's. Not only do they have infrared barriers and a laser-net failsafe, there's also a psionic sensor."

"Oh fuck me!" Cherry threw her arms out, looking disgusted at this, and Mahihko blinked and stared at her as she fumed and flailed for a few moments, trading a look of exasperation with Marina. "So what, Bebop and I are supposed to sit a mile away twiddling our thumbs while you guys go and get to have all the fun? When the fuck did Albatross tell you this shit!"

"It was faxed to us during the meeting." Zerrex said dryly, bringing up his cane and poking her squarely in the forehead eyes with it, causing her to blink and the cross her eyes stupidly to stare at the end of the metal shaft. "Maybe if you learned to read, we could've had this argument earlier." A pause, and then he pushed her over, causing her to squawk loudly. "But in any case, the operant distance is only a hundred or so feet in diameter around the facility, and the power of the sensor is supplemented by four special antennae at each compass corner of the facility..."

Now Cherry brightened as she sat up, rubbing her head. "So we take out the antennae and that'll fuck up the sensor?" A pause, then she glared at Mahihko as he rose a hand. "Spit it out, furball!"

The wolf blushed deeply even as Zerrex reprimanded the muscular herm with a strike of his cane to her leg, then the male Drakkaren turned to glance at the wolf as he asked meekly: "Won't that set off some sort of alarm system within the facility, if it's as well-defended as you're saying? And I mean, with the wind this bad outside and us not even in the real arctic regions yet..."

"Mahihko's got a point." Marina added, looking almost grudging, and the little wolf blushed deeper scarlet now, rubbing at his head slowly. "If we destroy one, they'll send someone up to find out what happened to it and repair it... and even if they didn't and we destroy them all, there's no guarantee it'll deactive the sensor..." A pause. "And you already know all of this."

"It's a bad idea, but it's the only one I've got." Zerrex admitted, shaking his head a bit before grunting and stepping over to another bed and sitting down on it, rubbing slowly at his sore leg as he continued mildly: "But, on the other hand, it'll take them a while to repair even one broken antenna... and it should distort the sensor's reading ability. What I really want to find out is how well the facility is being maintained, because a sensor that detects psychic force requires a lot of extra juice-"

"So if they have it up and running, we know that the rest of their security precautions probably are as well... whereas if we wait an hour at a distance and nothing happens, then the facility might be falling into disrepair." Cindy said softly, and Zerrex smiled at her perception. "Then we have Marina scan the facility with her abilities and see if it sets off any alarms or if they think the scanner's just gone wonky, if it's still even operational... and if it isn't, I take it that you want to bring her and Cherry inside."

The Drakkaren nodded slowly at this. "They obviously are expecting us... but they likely don't know the extent of our abilities. Unfortunately, they may have all been briefed on us at some point, since we were in the experiment logs too and Albatross aid the decoding teams still hadn't determined exactly when Toxin left Hez'Ranna: furthermore, I think that we may need Cherry and Marina's psychic powers to restrain at least one of the members of the team." A pause as Zerrex looked at Cherry solemnly, and her grin faded as anxious seriousness crept over her face instead... but there was excitement in her eyes too.

Zerrex opened his mouth to speak again, and then Marina's head snapped up, and she said in a cold voice: "Speak of the devil and he comes. Toxin is here. Killer is coming out to ask for your help, Zerrex. We need to gear up, Daddy."

The group looked at her with surprise... and then only moments later, the door slammed open at the end of the quarters and Killer walked in, his massive personal assault rifle in one hand and the gigantic crimson sword he used, Wyvern, in the other. He was panting, his cloak gone and his armored chest splattered with blood as he jerked his head towards the open door, his chest heaving: "Zerrex, I think I need your help. Enemy soldiers have entered the base, but the real problem is the group outside... they're ripping through people like butter, I haven't seen such savagery since the Great War-" A pause and snarl as an explosion sounded, and he quickly turned, shouting over his shoulder: "They're at the north hills, across from the heliport! Don't keep me waiting or I'll have cleaned up the whole mess before you even get a swing in!"

"Bastard." Zerrex couldn't help a grim smile, though, as he felt energy pumping through his body, his blood on fire as he glanced over to Mahihko and Cindy, who were both sitting attentively. "You two and Marina, I want you three to assist with the cleanup inside. Keep the damage to a minimum if you could, and try and take some alive if possible. I want more information on the facility."

"Got it." Marina said immediately, and she stood and stepped over to her father, giving him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek, murmuring to him quietly: "Don't hurt yourself, Daddy."

"I won't, Marina." Zerrex responded softly, and she looked into his eyes for a lingering moment before drawing away and ducking towards the largest duffel bag â€" a ridiculous, elongated thing that looked like it could easily carry a small tree inside it. She rummaged for a moment as Mahihko tucked a pistol in his pants, a revolver out in his hands as he looked up at Cindy, watching as she carefully checked over an assault rifle herself. Then the two nodded and left quickly, Marina following a moment later as she pulled a long, plain staff free of the confines of the huge bag: her abilities meant she didn't need to worry much about picking up a firearm.

Cherry grinned at Zerrex, then soured when he said mildly: "You get the fun of circling around the front of the facility and then setting up as a sniper on the roof. I want some cover and I need to make sure they aren't try to sneak in the back while we're out defending against the Toxin team."

"Fuck you, Boss." She made a disgusted face even as she snagged one of the bolt-action rifles sitting on the bed where Cindy had been cleaning it only a short time ago, and then she sighed as she dug a box of ammunition out of the bag, glancing over him for a few moments and then saying softly: "Don't push yourself to keep up with the youngsters, Captain Ravenlight. You've had your days of shining darkness."

Zerrex nodded a bit as Cherry stood, shoulder her rifle, and he reached up a hand to squeeze her other shoulder gently, meeting her eyes as he said softly: "After this, I get to retire, Cherry. We'll finish this mess and then enough will be enough, and the bloodshed for us will be over."

"Never entirely over though, right, Boss?" Cherry grinned a bit and winked, then she snapped a rigid salute before turning and trotting quickly off, her hips switching seductively. Zerrex couldn't help but let his eyes wander over those seductive curves even as she ran out the door, then he shook his head slowly once alone.

He looked down at himself for a few moments, then he tossed his cane onto the bed and closed his eyes, concentrating and blocking out the pain as he felt the thing caged inside him, the old darkness, rising up and begging for release, for the violence to begin anew. It fueled him, fed him, and made him stronger... and how he hated it. But at the same time... he couldn't resist it, and he couldn't help but use these ‘gifts' he'd been given... and he smiled grimly to himself as he kneeled and reached into the huge bag and grasped the handle of his seven foot sword: Blackheart.

He held it easily in one hand, raising it in front of himself and looking at his reflection in the silver blade... then he turned and strode out of the room, pain flickering through his body at every step â€" but even that gave him strength now, before he broke into a run, the six foot blade resting on his shoulder, his hand grasping the obsidian hilt, the grin that spread over his features reflected in the ruby pommel... and the first soldier that stepped in front of him, in the old black uniforms with the old Black Double Standard of Narrius's Hez'Ranna on his shoulder, was cleaved completely in half with a single hard swing of the sword, the Drakkaren spinning almost gracefully as he sidestepped at the same time, never losing momentum as he continued his run down the hall before leaping through a shattered window and out into the snowy fields.

He looked up, emerald eyes flashing, before charging through the snow and snarling as he glanced over his shoulder and then ahead to the lot ahead of him, smelling smoke and blood in the air: behind him, parts of the base were burning, and ahead he could see soldiers fighting with gun and with traditional blades, and Killer raging his way through an enemy unit, slashing here and there and roaring, the gigantic liger striding like a mighty golem through the enemy lines.

Zerrex ran to join him, and a truck equipped with tracks instead of wheels roared out in front of him, the Drakkaren's arms flailing almost comically as he staggered backwards and winced at the shock it sent through his bad leg â€" but on the other hand, the truck missed him, instead roaring through the parking lot and then crashing into the cement barrier at the bottom of the fence that separated parking lot from helipad... and the truck promptly exploded, Zerrex covering his eyes as debris flew over his head and bits of burning plastic and metal pattered off his body.

He snarled, then turned his attention back to the battle ahead of him, running past a few ligers engaging cloned Dragokkaren soldiers here and there before simply bodychecking what he recognized as an Enforcer-level soldier that was about to sink his sword into Killer's back, sending him sprawling before Zerrex sank his blade through his stomach. Killer turned in surprise at the howl of agony from the enemy, before snorting and grinning slightly at Zerrex, his eyes flashing as he watched the reptile easily rip his massive blade free of the Enforcer's stomach. "Now there's the old Zerrex I know!"

"Don't call me old, or I'll have to kick your ass." Zerrex responded with a slight grin, and Killer snorted before becoming serious again as the Drakkaren asked: "Have you seen any soldiers that look different from the Enforcers or the grunts? They'd stick out in this crowd pretty obviously."

"I'm not sure." Killer said meditatively, and Zerrex frowned a bit as the liger slowly stepped back, drawing his sword free from the body of a soldier he'd just killed... and Zerrex's eyes had enough time to register the trademark uniform of a Kestevan warrior and the terrified look on the face of a young tiger before his instincts screamed at him, and he leapt backwards with a snarl as he slashed his sword hard upwards at the same time.

Killer let out a snarl of fury as his own lightning-fast thrust was deflected, leaving him open for a moment... and Zerrex immediately cocked his blade back and swung hard, the flat of his sword colliding with the gigantic liger and sending him sprawling on his back as the lizard snorted in disgust. "You almost had me going there for a moment... but you obviously aren't Killer, are you?"

A snort and a grin, then the liger's fur turned steel gray and he underwent a terrible transformation, his body turning into what looked like a billion of little cubes that quickly folded themselves downwards and backwards into the metallic shell of a reptile, pulling away like sand until the true nature of the creature before him was revealed: a terrible floating beast, with thick black cables hanging out of the lower end of the creature as it hovered above the ground, a massive rotating cog made up of the thousands of forming and shifting cubes behind him. The robotic monstrosity's face was nothing more than twisting cables sticking up from the body as well, with two terrible glass eyes that burned with red incandescence, and the being's arms were composed completely of layered steel plates ending in a pair of carefully-crafted metal hands that moved and twitched like the fingers of a living being.

It laughed in a cruel, high voice, then said teasingly in a voice with that same terrible pitch: "Come now, Lord Zerrex! What's wrong, can't you take a joke?"

"I can, but I don't know if he can so well." Zerrex responded mildly, and the robotic thing tilted its head a moment before the true Killer's sword smashed down into its body, crushing it into the ground with a mechanical scream of dismay, followed by a set of angry clicks and beeps. A moment later, the Drakkaren looked up and grinned slightly at the liger, who gazed down in disgust at the broken wreckage of the shapeshifting machine.

"What a disgusting piece of shit." The liger said plaintively, then he pointed towards the hills in the distance with his assault rifle as an explosion rose up, saying quickly: "I can clean up the rest of the mess here, Zerrex, and Alexis has the eastern quadrant covered, but I'd like you to head north, if you're up to that. My troops are having trouble forcing the rest of the soldiers back."

"Always." Zerrex nodded, then he turned and quickly charged off towards the hills, Killer glancing up for a moment from the wreckage at his feet to look over the Drakkaren with quiet thought for a moment... and then he snarled as something grabbed at his legs, looking down in time to see what he thought was nothing more than a broken heap of parts scuttle quickly away, transforming into a crab even as it moved.

Killer steadied himself, raising his sword in one hand and the other holding his massive assault rifle at the ready, his eyes cold as the now-crab grew in size, cubes of metal flowing over it like sand and rapidly increasing its size as it slowly turned to face him, the massive pincers clanking together, and the liger set his eyes on one of these â€" not only did they look sharp, the robotic thing seemed terribly strong as well... and he didn't want to test his own great strength against the machine's.

"What the fuck are you?" He spat, then he rose the assault rifle and fired several rounds into the creature, but the thing didn't even twitch as the bullets ricocheted off it in all directions, Killer's features hardening. He shook his head in disgust, then snorted and grinned. "Well, what about this, then?"

A pull of another trigger, and the built-in grenade launcher fired an incendiary round into the face of the crab-machine, causing it to hiss and draw back... but a moment later, it simply shook off the flames before stepping quickly forwards and lashing out with a claw towards the huge tiger. Killer snarled and quickly batted it away... then his eyes widened as the other claw lashed towards him, quickly bringing up the assault rifle to block the huge crab's strike.

Immediately, the rifle was seized and dragged out of his grasp, and the tiger staggered forwards, both claws snapping down towards him again... and Killer ducked as he turned his stagger into a half-jump into the inside of the swing, snapping the sword down at the same time into the face of the crab machine. It immediately released a squeal and scuttled backwards, but one flailing claw caught the liger and knocked him to the snowy earth.

It wasn't even enough to stun him, as he quickly began to climb up to his feet... but before he could stand fully, a metal tentacle lashed out and wrapped around his ankle, dragging him down onto his back as the liger stared in horror at the crab thing... which was now nothing but shifting cubes from which several tentacles extended, another pushing out as a razor-sharp beak shoved its way out of the center with a loud squawk of fury... and Killer sat up, stabbing the sword forwards at the same time towards this outcropping in the center of the beast as he realized it was taking on the form of a massive sea squid.

The blade was halted by several tentacles, however, and Killer found himself fighting to shove the sword forwards as the thing shrieked in fury, before another tentacle extended from the body and wrapped around his other ankle. Killer felt his legs being jerked wide suddenly, and then he arched his back with a snarl of pain as the creature began to attempt to tear him in half, pain rushing up and down his spine.

He let out a roar, his muscles bulging... and then the sword tore through one of the long tentacles, and before another could take its place, Wyvern sank almost half its deadly length into the creature's maw, and the creature's tentacles immediately released the warrior tiger as it rolled backwards with a scream of agony. At the same time, its body underwent a transformation, pieces of metal flying off the creature as it shifted back into its first natural form.

It finally skidded to a halt on its stomach, and the machine coughed and clawed at the ground as Killer panted a bit, slowly standing up as his eyes caught sight of blood and some bubbling black ooze leaking out of the bottom of the creature's shell... and then it looked up at him and the wire-face of the creature seemed to snarl. "You scum... how dare you defy the Patriarch's plans, pelt..."

Killer snarled, opening his mouth to speak... and then the reptile-machine laughed as it slowly forced its hands beneath it... and a moment later, Killer was facing a black and grey version of himself that was bleeding from a deep wound to the chest, the red eyes of the doppelganger burning intensely as it gazed at him with nothing but disgust. It grasped its chest for a moment, then held out its bloody hand, and a plain black longsword formed out of black and grey squares as it looked across at him with a cruel grin. "I will prove to you how weak your species is, through the superiority of steel and raw power..."

"You talk too much." Killer responded coldly, grasping Wyvern tightly in both hands and lowering the tip slightly towards the terrible creature across from him, his eyes meeting his opponent's without a hint of fear.

They stood for a few moments, and then Killer stepped forwards, lashing out with several hard swings that forced the robotic creature backwards, the Black Killer's eyes widening with the force and strength of every blow before it deflected the last strike with a parry of its own blade, turning the twisting motion into a hard stab aimed at Killer's heart. The liger dodged easily, however, then he brought up one of his paws and slammed a foot into the chest of the machine, knocking it sprawling with a roar of fury. Immediately, it scrambled backwards to its feet as Killer grinned and set back in his stance, and the robot stepped forwards... before he suddenly went limp and looked upwards, a strange expression passing over the Black Killer's face before he looked across at the liger with a snarl, the sword vanishing as he leapt backwards and shouted: "We'll finish this later!"

"Don't run from me, coward!" Killer roared, but before he could give chase, the creature had already transformed into a massive bat of all things, and was flying high into the air. Shots rang out after it, but the creature was fast and moved in an awkward way that would be difficult for any sniper to hit... and then he shook his head and returned to the battle at hand, looking back and forth as he picked up his fallen assault rifle for other enemy soldiers that hadn't already been taken care of by his troops.

Zerrex, meanwhile, had found the hills littered with corpses from both sides... and now he was trading blows with someone he guessed was from Toxin â€" after all, the Drakkaren's forearms and shoulders were clad with steel, long, curving blades extending from the former, and half of his face had been replaced by a terrible metal mask: with much of his muzzle cut away, he eternally grinned, skull, jawbone and teeth all visible to the world.

The Toxin member stepped forwards with a double swing, laughing, his head twisting to reveal the black cables that extended from the back of his skull down into his neck, his single blue eye flashing and the other beneath the mask of steel just a burning red light that filtered out through a rectangular hole in the metal. Zerrex deflected the wide, hard blow easily, however, and then the soldier drew up a combat boot and kicked had outwards at him... and Zerrex caught the kick in one hand, looking at him with distaste as the soldier all but gaped before the Drakkaren twisted hard and sent the fellow Drakkai twisting through the air before he crashed to the ground.

"I could've easily cut you in half. You have potential, but you're too brute force." Zerrex said mildly, looking down at the Drakkaren as he sat up, staring up at him with something like horror as Zerrex leveled the sword under his neck, the Drakkai swallowing thickly. "I didn't mind our sparring match though. May we meet on better terms in the next life."

"Please don't!" The soldier screamed, holding up his hands and throwing himself backwards... and Zerrex made a face as he slid down the icy hill with a screech of surprise before crashing into the transport at the bottom â€" a military-modified snow truck with a huge, thankfully-unmanned gun on the top of the vehicle. Zerrex rolled his eyes at this... and then they widened in shock as the door of the truck opened and a large blade tore through the skull of the unfortunate.

The Drakkaren snarled as something ran through his body... and a moment later, an enormous Dragokkaren slowly stepped out of the vehicle, straightening and rolling his head on his shoulders before he tilted his head up towards Zerrex and he grinned cruelly... but what sent a chill of terror through the reptile was not his expression, or the fact that he was only wearing a pair of heavy military pants and boots in this cold weather, yet showed no signs of being cold: it was not his enormous musculature or the fact he was at least the same height as Killer, a giant even among the Dragokkaren. It was the fact that around his eyes was wrapped a red cloth with the Black Double Standard â€" the symbol of Narrius's Hez'Ranna â€" on the front of it. It was the fact that this was no mere soldier with the obvious enhancement of a robotic right arm: it was one of the Unseen.

These were soldiers who were blind in the sense that they could only see metals: but they could see people by the levels of iron in their bloodstream and what they wore, and easily detect what weapons they were using so long as they weren't simple things of wood only. They had been the first strike teams deployed by Narrius, and who had destroyed countless advanced technologies to weaken all enemy nations of Hez'Ranna with their ability to not only see metals but also see through them by focusing their eyesight... and this terrible ability came with the blessing of being able to predict and tell where and how any metal object was going to move. They could dodge bullets, blades, anything with a trace of metal in it, as easily as a normal person could dodge a rock thrown at them from a distance: and they possessed terrifying strength and were filled with feral fury, designed to obey only Narrius and create nothing but chaos and disorder in the enemy, while maintaining the ranks of Hez'Ranna soldiers with the very fear their presence created.

"You must be Lord Zerrex... we've heard a lot about you." The Unseen said softly, then he turned and pulled a massive rifle out of the truck: it was strangely-rectangular in design, with a massive stock that would almost engulf a normal person's shoulder and an extra grip: Zerrex's eyes caught sight of a bolt near the end of the machine, however, and he smiled coldly to himself. It's almost steampunk. Huge, sci-fi rifle with a bolt-action reload type when this dude could probably already throw a knife from a mile away and send it right down the barrel of a tank just before it fired or something crazy like that. "I assume you're the one who destroyed the RED unit back home? We also heard that you felled the Patriach and Paradise."

"You should be thanking me. Narrius was almost as cruel and worthless a leader as he was a father..." Zerrex paused, then he shouldered Blackheart, his eyes narrowing as the Unseen continued to approach casually, stepping back slightly and readying his body as he asked coldly: "But just who the hell are you?"

"Unseen No. 147620, codenamed Illumination, renamed when I assumed command of the Toxin Unit and was fitted with this special arm." The massive, crimson-scaled Dragokkaren smiled again as he flexed his mechanical arm, and it perfectly reproduced the movements of a natural arm down to the fingers, which otherwise ended in sharp, curved claws. "They call me Ill Weather or Evil Eye now. Would you like me to demonstrate why?"

"You're a sniper." Zerrex said quietly, and the Dragokkaren laughed coldly at this as he dropped the massive rifle down to a ready position, shouldering it and taking aim, the butt of the massive gun resting against his mechanical arm, and Zerrex's eyes widened as he saw the enormous rounds sitting in their small loops attached to the side of the gun for easy access. I don't know guns as well as I should, but I recognize those rounds... anyone would if they'd seen the war. "Those are-"

"Yes." And now Ill smiled coldly, seeming to glance over at Zerrex before he rose the rifle, the almost nine-foot weapon held almost casually, as if he was target-shooting as he said softly: "Plasma rounds."

A moment later, he fired, and Zerrex's head snapped to the side as he saw a blue flash strike into the building and blast a hole that burned with white fire around the edges in solid steel. The Unseen laughed darkly, and a moment later an explosion went up, knocking of the snipers off the roof with the force of the blast as Zerrex snarled: but the Dragokkaren had already reloaded and was aiming again, his finger applying pressure to the trigger...

And then the gun dropped, Blackheart biting into screaming metal as the Unseen easily blocked a hard swing of the sword with his rifle, grinning darkly as he slid backwards through the cold snow. "You can't beat me, old lizard! I'm different from the RED and the other Unseen... the war is over and we have one mission, and that is to destroy in the name of the Patriach!"

Ill leapt backwards, bringing up the plasma rifle at the same time and preparing a shot as Zerrex snarled, leaping forwards to try and close the gap... and then the Dragokkaren fired, and the scarred lizard was knocked flat on his ass by the force of the bullet leaving the barrel and the brilliant flash of light from the muzzle, Zerrex stupidly shaking his head as Ill slid easily down the hill and towards the complex with a laugh, easily avoiding bullets as Killer's troops charged forwards.

The Drakkaren tried to stand, breathing hard and his bad leg trembling beneath him, waving his arms as he shouted in a hoarse voice: "Stop! Get away from him, do not attempt to engage the enemy!" A grunt as he slipped, and then he shook his head, the last of the dizziness and stars fading from his eyes before he charged down the hill, ignoring the pain in his body as he headed for Ill, even though he already recognized that this was just all part of some sick game the Toxin Commander was playing. But I have no choice... I have to damage that rifle before he causes any more destruction...

"Daddy!" A glance to the side, and he saw Marina and Cindy running forwards as well, and now Zerrex grinned before leaping high into the air and coming down with a vicious slice towards Ill... but the Unseen easily slid backwards and away from the sword by a hair's breadth as he held the rifle wide outwards, before snapping it back into place as he backpedaled and Zerrex straightened from the kneel he'd landed in... and then Ill fired a round just as the Drakkaren stood fully, just as he was raising his sword.

The bullet tore through his right bicep, and Zerrex let out a yell of raw pain, his eyes bulging as he dropped Blackheart and grabbed at it instinctively before yanking his hand away as white hot pain spread over it as well, his fingers and arm smoking as plasma began to eat into his flesh. The lizard fell to the ground, rolling against the ground as the sheer heat turned into fire on his body, trying to smother the flames as agony tore through his mind. At the same time, Marina was screaming something, and Cindy was throwing snow on him and holding him steady as she shouted: "Concentrate! Concentrate, Zerrex, push through the pain!"

And above it all he could hear Ill's laughter... and then finally he was able to sit up, surrounded by his family and friends, half-covering the wound on his arm, a flush of pain and humiliation stinging his cheeks as he looked down at the feet of Killer, Cindy and his daughter, the last of whom was reaching into his mind now and using her abilities to try and block the agony and soothe his tortured mind, and he gladly let her manipulate his emotions for the moment as he stood slowly, raising his head to Ill and shouting in a ragged voice: "You can't kill me that easily, you bastard!"

"I wasn't trying to kill you, Lord Zerrex... no, we want you around to watch the end of the world." Ill replied in a factual, calm voice: it was somehow worse than the lunatic laugh the Drakkaren had expected, and it sent a chill down his spine as he glared up at the Dragokkaren, standing only a hundred feet away on the gentle slope of a snow dune... except now he had been joined by four others, including the floating metallic creature Zerrex had thought to be crushed out of existence by Killer.

Slowly, a transport rolled up behind them â€" a monstrous, armored vehicle on huge snow treads, with an extra-wide suspension and a short ladder leading up to the driver's cabin, and a long, tall steel box sitting on the back that was undoubtedly large enough to hold a full platoon of soldiers in the back â€" and then an Enforcer leapt out of the front with what looked like an RPG, dropping to one knee and taking aim at them as Ill reached a hand out to gently touch the black shoulder armor, adding in a cold voice: "But you know what? We want you to suffer. So we'll just kill your friends and leave you alive."

"You son of a bitch..." Zerrex breathed, then he gritted his teeth for a moment before squaring his shoulders and spreading his legs slightly, saying clearly over his shoulder. "This is my deal. Everyone, back off."

"Zerrex, that's not an RPG, that's a portable nuclear missile!" Killer responded in a sharp voice, reaching up to grasp Zerrex's shoulder and trying to pull him away, but the Drakkaren barely moved under his grip. "We have to get out of here-"

But he was halted by the cold smile on Zerrex's face, even as blood continued to flow from the enormous rip in his arm and his body shook, and he said softly: "Just make sure they're safe, Killer... everything's going to be fine."

"We'll see about that. Fire in thirty seconds." Ill said mildly, then he jumped into the open door of the heavy transport, before leaning out and seeming to look straight at Zerrex, speaking in a cold voice: "You are not as strong as you think you are, Lord Zerrex; don't go disappointing me with a stupid mistake now."

With that, he slammed the door, and the transport roared away as Killer winced and looked back and forth, then sighed as he felt Marina grab his wrist, pulling him away, and the slow group retreated a short distance before Killer jerked around at the distinctive sound of a missile firing.

It headed straight towards Zerrex as the Drakkaren held up his hand, palm flat out and a snarl etched on his muzzle, and the missile collided directly with him, and the explosion that filled the air was unlike any other Killer had experienced this close... but his eyes widened in shock as the white and red blast was met by sizzling blue energy, lightning seeming to burn over Zerrex's body as he roared and pushed forwards, his emerald eyes blazing with power as the nuclear blast turned into a blazing blue haze, and then it engulfed Zerrex entirely as it began to expand, turning into a terrible orb of brilliant light and energy, Killer's fur standing on end as he covered his eyes at the sight.

And a moment later, it was over, leaving Zerrex half-kneeling and panting, blue energy sizzling and twisting around him and a strange, transparent sphere barely visible to the eyes of even the sharp liger flickered in and then out of existence... but what caught his attention most was when Zerrex stood up, wincing and crackling his neck, rubbing at his head... as the wound on his arm filled with blue energy that slowly solidified into muscle, flesh and scale, and a pair of feathered angel wings slowly closed behind him to a half-furled position.

The Drakkaren glanced up at the group tiredly, then he strode forwards, making a face as he wiped at the remains of his shirt that were clinging to him and had survived the sheer force of the blast. Then he groaned in pain as Marina ran forwards and hugged him tightly around the waist, pressing her body close and pushing her head against his chest, before he closed his eyes and hugged her tightly back for a few long moments.

Killer and Cindy slowly approached, the latter smiling a bit and the former rubbing at his head slowly in amazement, then he looked respectfully across at the Drakkaren and said mildly: "Zerrex, I've never seen someone do anything like that... it seems like you've changed a little bit since the last time we met."

"A bit maybe, yeah... what can I say? It's been..." Zerrex glanced down, and then he rolled his shoulders slowly as he squeezed Marina gently around the waist, and his angel wings turned hazy before flicking out of existence with a strange forwards-twist motion, the lizard wincing slightly as if they'd been pulled into his body... And who knows, that's just where they might have gone. "It's been a strange journey."

"Too strange. Too long." Marina added softly, then she buried her head against her father's chest, clinging to him quietly as Zerrex bowed his head a bit, hugging her tightly against him.

A few moments passed in silence, and then Zerrex coughed and straightened, glancing around before striding over to his fallen sword and picking it up, then smiling a bit as he rested it on his shoulder, looking over at the others as he said mildly: "Well... I guess we should talk a bit about what happened here. Besides, any excuse to go inside... the wind's picking up, night's falling, I'm covered in gunk and I still need to get this looked at." A glance down at his arm, which had stopped repairing itself halfway through and now looked like an ugly, bloody mess just above the tattoo of the swastika.

"Good idea." Killer said quietly, glancing around the battlefield before he shook his head slowly, his eyes roving now to the rundown facility. "But we've captured a few Dragokkaren, and I'd like to interrogate them and find out what's going on..."

"I can do that for you, no problem at all." Marina replied softly, and Killer looked over at her for a few moments, biting his lip before nodding, and Marina smiled, sketching a curtsy. She waited a moment as Zerrex limped by with his sword, trying his best to shrug off Cindy's help, then she leaned forwards with her hands behind her back and said in a childish voice: "My Daddy's stronger than anyone!"

With that, she strode off behind the others, and Killer rolled his eyes as he followed suit, placing Wyvern on the magnetic lock on the back of his armor and wiping the snow and grit off his assault rifle, wondering idly to himself how Cherry and Marina managed to survive together without killing each other with their competitive natures.

"There's about one thousand, two hundred and... fifty seven, fifty eight soldiers." Marina reported, citing from memory as she closed her eyes and stood with her hands behind her back at the briefing room table, around which sat Killer, Alexis, Cherry, Zerrex, and Cindy â€" Mahihko had been invited too, but he had been much happier with tending to the wounded and helping out with food. "I don't know how many died in the attack, but we can assume most of the one hundred sent here.

"Their technology is limited at this point: the sheer coldness of the arctic regions breaks down any machinery that's left outside extremely quickly, and they didn't anticipate this or how long they'd be entrenched. They do still have scramblers and jamming systems intact, though, and the location of the base could be detected by old-fashioned satellite imagery, but not any more recent detection technology... and even then, it'd have to be a lucky shot, since most of the base is covered in snow and built into the side of a mountain, with a lot of it underground. Most of their heat comes from the volcanic activity in the area and deep beneath the earth, and that's how they grow crops... but they have no more room for underground farmland and the heat lamps and artificial sunlight they use have been dying out on the last few years. Plus, they've overproduced: there are simply far too many soldiers to feed, and they're taking up too much space in the already-cramped barracks."

Marina stopped for a moment, seemed to gather her thoughts, then continued: "The security systems are mostly intact, and worse, they have several fusion generators, giving them almost unlimited power... but on the bright side, they have no replacement parts for anything that does get damaged, and the psionic detector is routinely shut down and inspected because of this. Furthermore, one of the research labs was converted into another barracks, and they've only been working on one top-secret project lately. But I don't know anything else... the soldier was ‘born' two years ago, so he's a rookie. In fact, most of the soldiers they sent in were freshly-trained ones."

"That makes sense... it wasn't a real offensive, it was just a test of strength." Killer said meditatively, shaking his head a bit as he sat with his arm around Alexis, rubbing her shoulder gently. "But it's bad news for us, because they know how strong we are now... and rookies or not, those soldiers barely twitched in the face of any sort of death or danger. They seemed more like they were programmed than anything else."

"It must be the new breeding program they've been using." Cindy shook her head a bit, leaning forwards and looking over at Marina as she sat down, frowning slightly. "Did you notice the way they looked? They were based off a different clone prototype."

Zerrex nodded a bit, rubbing at his bandaged arm and looking thoughtful. "And, thanks to Marina and her wonderful art skills, we have a basic map of the facility... but the shape itself is confusing. A lot of it looks like it was hastily added or modified... whatever this base was originally tended to do, now they're doing something a whole hell of a lot different, especially with that expansion in the research wing when they apparently have no parts to spare for fixing stuff around base."

"That's why they've been scrounging so much and why we found them in the first place." Marina reminded her father, but a slight frown crested her muzzle as well. "They're building something, that's for sure, but only the elite are permitted to take part in the advanced operations. I don't like how deep I had to dig into the soldier's head to get all this information, either..."

"Could these soldiers be a trick or a lure?" Cherry asked curiously, glancing over towards Marina and frowning a bit. "I mean, you know, like... fuck... uh... say, they take a group of soldiers, feed ‘em lies and shit because they know we got a mind reader here, and toss ‘em to us so we capture ‘em, think it's all true and shit, and then walk into a fuckin' ambush?"

Marina shook her head slowly, saying softly: "No, there's no way. Every one of them I had to break open the minds of... I don't think they expected us to take prisoners. Remember, they're trained in Narrius's ways of war. Besides which, they also tried to kill themselves every time they were left alone... a few of them even managed to bite off their own tongues or snap their own necks."

"Right. Not the most friendly bunch of fuckers..." Cherry made a bit of a face and nodded slowly, then she glanced over thoughtfully before turning her eyes to Zerrex. "Remember back in the Legion, when we dealt with... shit... was it Northern Ire? I think it was Northern Ire. The fuckers with the bomb implants."

"Yeah, but half of them blowing themselves up was just a ruse: they wanted to get captured so the survivors who we ‘disarmed' could escape from the cells and get themselves killed in places like the barracks, where they'd do the most damage when the other implant on them exploded." Zerrex nodded, looking distasteful as he rubbed at his head slowly. "The hardcore of the hardcore brigade."

"Cowards." Killer muttered, shaking his head slowly. "But I see... it's still possible it's a trick, then, and certainly no one here wants to take a chance on that."

The youngest Drakkaren crossed her arms, shaking her head slowly. "That's why I delved so deep into some of their minds... why... some of them aren't entirely intact anymore." A bit of a cold smile that made Cindy shift uncomfortably and Alexis frown slightly. "It's no trick. They seem intelligent, but for the most part they're simply drones, doing the final bidding of their dead master... some great plan of the Patriarch in case he died, undoubtedly something that's supposed to end the world."

"Like we've never dealt with anything like that before." Alexis smiled amusedly at this, nudging Killer gently with her elbow before glancing over the group with entertainment. "We're used to war up here... not like some countries around the world, that get their long periods of resplendent peace that makes them lazy. Our soldiers are all in top condition since the Great War, where we learned quite a few tricks for dealing with the forces of Hez'Ranna and Patriarch Narrius, isn't that right, Lion?"

"I've already asked for a small regiment of soldiers for reinforcement and protection of the base, and a platoon of Predators I'll be leading personally... they should arrive in only two day's time from the nearest military base." Killer nodded, looking around at the others as the huge feline rubbed his hands together slowly. "It should be more than enough for us to make our own offensive push to the enemy base, once its position is determined." A pause as his eyes roved over to Zerrex. "Unless you already happen to know its location."

"It's north of here." Zerrex rubbed at his head slowly as Cherry shot him a glare, and then he smiled a bit. "Not that I'm supposed to tell you, but I'm sure you would've found it anyway, so I'll spare you the time and trouble. But we can't wait that long and I'm also sorry to say I can't allow this to become a full-scale military operation."

"Zerrex!" Killer threw his arms out to the side, looking exasperated as Alexis sighed a bit. "Look at how badly they injured you, and I saw you stop a nuclear missile by yourself! I don't want to see you or your family hurt, and this is my operation now too, it's my people they've attacked... what harm can it do, when half the people who live in Ire still don't even recognize the existence of my kind up here?"

The Drakkaren looked down quietly for a few moments as Killer lowered his arms, and Alexis added softly: "Come on now. The Predators are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment better than anything you've ever seen... no one will even see them coming until too late, especially being led by Killer." A pause and a glower at Cherry as she made a face. "What's your problem, bitch? You got something to say about me and my soldiers?"

Cherry leaned forwards, then she tented her fingers and said mildly: "You don't have any clue what you're dealing with here, that's the problem. You think it was bad here? You should've seen Hez'Ranna... the very Cradle of Life to the Drakkai, and the capital city was razed to the ground by Narrius's "Paradise" war island just coming out of the fucking ground. That Ill Weather guy, that Unseen? Not you, and not even I could put a bullet into him if our life depended on it." A flicker of her eyes to the side, and Alexis frowned, her eyes darkening at that. Is... Cherry saying she's weaker than someone else? "Even the Boss couldn't put a mark on him, just how Killer was barely able to hurt that morphing robot.

"Right now, they're probably still in the transport, heading for home base. But the moment they get back to home base, they'll not only have the security of a fully-protected military facility, they'll have the natural advantage of being on their own turf. If we take a full military unit with us, no matter how well trained or outfitted, they'll respond by unleashing their full army on us while the blind fucker picks us off one at a time from a mile away with his rifle, and even your big boy there won't be able to resist plasma rounds." A pause, and then a sheepish glance over at Zerrex as he gently touched her arm. "Sorry."

"It's alright." Zerrex nodded a bit, then he glanced over to the two tigers, Alexis making a face and Killer still looking stubbornly across at him. "Even if Cherry's wrong, this is still my mission, and Hez'Ranna's mission. The Great War is over: there's no reason for us to further endanger you. We'll be glad to leave as soon as we have to, by a vehicle if you'll lend it to us or by foot if we have to, but at the least, I can guarantee the safety of you soldiers." A bit of a smile as he rubbed the back of his head. "So long as we succeed, that is."

Killer paused for a few moments, then he nodded and gave the slightest of smiles, squeezing Alexis against him and saying in a gentle voice: "Well then, do what you think you must, Zerrex... but I'll have a vehicle waiting for you out in the parking lot in two hours. They destroyed a good few, but there's still one or two left that are capable of heading north."

Alexis looked up at him with surprise as Zerrex nodded a bit, the reptile standing and excusing himself quietly, his family following. He didn't even need to glance behind him to know that Marina was frowning, though, as they stepped through the doors into the hallway, but before either she or Cherry could start ranting, he held up a hand and said mildly: "I'm sure either of you would do the same thing."

That shut them up, at least for an hour... but as they began preparing the equipment they wanted to take with them, the two started sniping at each other â€" But at least it's with words this time, not with rifles like they did on that one ‘vacation' we tried to take... â€" until Zerrex finally distracted them by going over the basic mission plan he had in mind as they continued to ready their gear, ensuring that even Cherry couldn't manage to be too much of a bitch. After that, they were on their way out of the facility again, Cindy toting the single small bag on her shoulder and Mahihko toddling behind her, all of them in their full mission gear and Cherry somehow pacified by this as she walked on one side of Zerrex and Marina on the other, the Drakkaren looking both calm and a bit morbid as he headed up the line.

He rolled his shoulders slowly, his body covered not only by his standard black clothing but also a heavy black leather trenchcoat that rested tight against his sides, and a matching set of gloves. His steel cane in one hand, his sword attached to his back by means of a magnetic holster hidden beneath his trench, and at his sides a pair of .52 handguns made of purple steel; ironically, heirlooms of the Narrius family.

The others were dressed similarly â€" Cindy and Marina in almost-identical black uniforms and plain jackets, and Cherry wearing her usual too-tight, too-slutty clothes with her terrifying spiked motorcycle boots and a black motorcycle jacket that was too tight on her: the irony was in the fact that the jacket had originally been Zerrex's, and he was always afraid that she was going to roar, flex, and tear it to ribbons just so she could giggle stupidly over it later. Last in line, Mahihko was wearing not only a plain uniform, but a lot of fur overtop â€" another irony that Cherry wasn't exactly passing up the chance to make fun of, as she muttered lines under her breath and grinned stupidly to herself about her creativity.

But Zerrex could understand: Mahihko might be a descendant of the arctic wolves, but he certainly didn't possess the same tenacity as Mengele, a true Arctic Dire, had. So instead, he was keeping himself as warm as he could with the leggings, arm warmers, and heavy vest outer layers. His slender hands were covered only by the thinnest of cloth gloves, however, so he could better operate whatever he was required to with minimal interference.

As they strode out of the facility and into the parking lot, Cherry made a face at the sight of Alexis and Killer, both in full gear and wearing visors and headsets and sitting on top of a heavy-duty transport much like the one the Toxin team had retreated in, albeit smaller. Another waited nearby, and a few select soldiers were pacing around, obviously checking over the vehicles as the huge liger said mildly: "I figured we could at least offer you some additional firepower, if nothing else."

Zerrex nodded a bit, glancing over the huge figure of the liger and not about to argue, instead holding up a hand to silence Cherry or Marina before either could even start. "At least for part of the way." He paused, then looked over the snow-trucks, noting not only the spikes on the treads but what looked like grenade launchers on either side of the vehicles, as well as the automated gun atop it. "These look pretty heavy duty."

"And they've got scanning equipment inside, so when we need to stop and set up camp, we'll be able to actually relax a bit without worrying that we're going to be ambushed." Killer nodded, smiling now as he rubbed the massive assault rifle he always carried, Wyvern secure on his back before he glanced up and over the group. "What's your equipment? I can supply you any additional equipment you need, and I have enough of these visors hooked up to the Network to go around."

"I don't think we'll need any of that... as long as Marina stays close to me, I can pass along any kind of information to anyone at any time." Zerrex patted his youngest gently on the shoulder, and she brightened a bit, relaxing as she immediately took the opportunity to press against his side. "But Cherry's got her whip and a rifle, Cindy's carrying an old Hez'Ranna assault rifle and a handgun, Marina has her staff and some other odds and ends on her for support, and Mahihko's our backup sniper." Zerrex paused a bit, then he smiled slightly and rubbed the back of his head. "And I guess the three of us are carrying the same equipment as always."

"I never need anything else." Alexis said with a wide grin, reaching up a hand behind her to touch the handle of the curved blade sheathed on her back: the Blue Vixen was a gift from Killer, and combined both a sword and a submachine gun into one deadly package. "And my rifle is already packed away in the truck, but lately I'm in more of a mood to prove to bitch there that I can drop more in melee than she can."

Cherry snorted, then she pulled out her whip with a wide grin, snapping it once and seeming to cut the air itself with the way it screamed. "Babe, please. Even Captain Ravenlight there will tell you that I could perform surgery with this thing... and a whip always beats a sword in combat, no matter how pretty you dress it up."

Zerrex made a bit of a face at this, but he didn't bother disagreeing: he knew that his old nickname from the days of war would come out of her mouth eventually. But furthermore, he knew that Cherry was in a mood to show off, and he didn't want to match his blade against her deadly weapon â€" after all, fifteen feet of razor-sharp chain links usually did beat a plain blade, even if it wasn't tipped with a huge, scorpion-tail fang.

Alexis, however, was already glaring... so Killer quickly cleared his throat and interrupted, holding up his hands and saying plainly: "You know, there's seven of us here, and I've got four soldiers, since it takes two of them to operate the cars. Why don't we split into two groups, one of five and the other of six? I was thinking Zerrex and..." The liger faltered a bit here as he caught deathly looks from both Marina and Cherry, realizing he'd just backed himself into a corner, and he rubbed the back of his head, looking at the Drakkaren for help.

"He and his soldiers should form a backup unit." Marina muttered under her breath, and Zerrex made a bit of a face at this, nudging her lightly, and she quieted, but her voice spoke in his mind now instead, clear as a bell: This is our mission, Daddy... your mission. I don't like it when people interfere with you. With us.

"I'll bring Cindy with me, since she can provide cover fire in case we're attacked, while Cherry will be able to cover and protect the other vehicle." The Drakkaren said after a moment, and for a moment both of the females looked at him curiously before Cherry simply grunted and Mahihko nodded meekly, staying near the back and still looking anxiously around the area. He stuck close to the much-larger, much-more-muscular female as she stomped off towards the empty vehicle, and Marina followed after a moment as Zerrex added mentally, knowing she was browsing his thoughts: You can monitor me from a distance, tell the others what's important. And this is the one time I'm condoning you using your abilities to spy on people.

Thank you, Daddy. "Okay Zerrex." Her speech was noncommittal, but her mental tone was much more empathetic, as she leaned up to kiss his cheek before leaving. Zerrex nodded to her, watching her walk away, then he looked over to Killer and smiled a bit, shrugging his shoulder as he nodded and then motioned to the back of the snow-truck.

The Drakkaren strode over, Cindy following in his tracks and muttering to him: "You know, I'm the one who's going to have to listen to both of them bitching at me after this, Zerrex." A pause, and a glance at the ligers as Killer pulled open the back doors, then made a face when Alexis ignored his offer of help and instead leapt easily inside with a teasing grin. "Besides, I don't know them as well as Cherry does."

"Well, you get along with everyone, on the other hand." Zerrex responded mildly, shouldering her gently, and Cindy snorted and rolled her eyes, giving the slightest of smiles as they stepped up to the transport. She hopped up easily onto the high lip, then looked down at Zerrex grabbed his hand when he tried to snag the end of it, making him grumble as she half-pulled him up into the transport and then closed the doors as the snow-truck rumbled into life. "You didn't have to do that."

"And you don't have to pull the macho male routine every five seconds just because you're a cripple." Cindy responded mildly, then she sat down one of the benches, shrugging off her equipment and putting it down beside her, continuing to smile playfully. "Come on, old lizard. Rest your tired bones."

"I hate you." Zerrex said morbidly, striding over to the bench across from her, putting his own gear aside as he looked over from Killer to Alexis: he was sitting beside the latter, and Cindy the former, in the spacious cabin of the transport, a heater already starting up as he leaned against the cushioned back of the benches. "This is pretty nice in here."

Killer nodded, glancing up at the white paint on the rooftop and the plain light, then over at the flatscreen mounted on the front wall of the transport, which was currently displaying a satellite image of the area they were in. "I figured it was the most comfortable way we could travel in this terrain... besides, the heater system is necessary for the travels ahead. Thankfully, it all runs off a fuel cell, so we can leave the trucks on overnight. It might increase our thermal signal, but on the other hand, we won't all freeze to death in the arctic tundra."

Zerrex nodded at this, smiling slightly and rubbing idly at his bad leg, leaning back as he watched Alexis slowly run her hand over the flat of the sheathed Blue Vixen, gazing down at the floor with a strange look on her face, and then she glanced over at him and grinned slightly, saying softly: "You should show up around here more often, Zerrex. Every time you show up we run into an opponent who's actually worthwhile... it's been a long time since I've seen someone who was strong enough to resist Lion's punch, after all."

"Alexis, don't be too bloodthirsty now." Killer reminded her gently, and then he looked over at the Drakkaren, laughing softly. "Now that we're on the road... would you like to go over what we expect to see at the enemy base? I can link up the others through the shortwave radio too, if you like, and we can all discuss this together."

"I feel like things like that are better discussed face-to-face." Zerrex nodded a bit, glancing to the side as a vibration ran through the snow truck, and the Drakkaren glanced up with surprise to see they had already moved a fair distance, according to the map. He also noted a distance counter, and he tilted his head, asking curiously: "There's a number on the display that's ticking down... is that the distance to some target?"

Killer nodded again, becoming a bit more grim now as he looked at the monitor himself. "It's the enemy transport... we're using bioelectrical targeting." A slight smile crested his muzzle at this. "It was developed during the Great War, I believe... and using it, we can find anyone, anything, anywhere. There's no known defense, other than extremely thick layers of rock and concrete... and thankfully, one of the satellites in my network is outfitted with the necessary equipment to use such a method. They must be using a much-older vehicle themselves, because they're not moving very fast... or rather, maybe something that hasn't been maintained very well. We may even be able to catch up to them before they get too close to their base."

"That would be ideal." Zerrex murmured and nodded slowly, then he crossed his arms and rested back against the cushioned bench, closing his eyes and dropping his head against the hard steel wall. "If we do catch up to them, we'll have to go all out right away... and if they ever stop, we'll have to be extremely careful on the approach."

"Thankfully, we have the cover of the snow going for us." Killer nodded, smiling slightly as he reached across and pressed the button beneath the monitor, and a keyboard folded out of the wall as Cindy tilted her head curiously, looking impressed. A moment later, Killer tapped a few buttons easily from his position near the front of the transport, and the monitor flickered to a hidden camera on the outside of the truck, but the black and white footage showed only thick snowfall. "We're moving fast into the Arctic... and around this time of year, there's nothing but a constant storm before the lull of darkness sets in for about six months."

"Fun stuff." Zerrex murmured, making a bit of a face: it would make combat difficult, not to mention figuring out what time it was. This is why I need a watch. Or rather, why I need to stop breaking my watches. "Well, at least none of us need a lot of sleep."

The next few hours passed in idle conversation, as Zerrex did his best to ease around the subject of fighting and the base up ahead: after all, whether it was selfish or not, he still considered this entire business his mission, and he wanted to be as by the book about things as he could to avoid getting Albatross into any more trouble than necessary. Eventually, things drifted down into mostly-silence, with Cindy quietly meditating as her head swayed back and forwards a bit, jacket over her lap, and Zerrex polishing one of his massive handguns and checking that the spare clips in his jacket were easily accessible.

Killer glanced at the monitor, then he straightened a bit, looking over at Zerrex and saying clearly: "They've stopped about two miles north of our position..." A pause as he pressed a few buttons on the extended keyboard, turning a bit towards the monitor, then he frowned. "But I can't get any images of them due to the storm... I think I'll tell the soldier to-"

Before he could finish, there was a terrible crash and scream of metal, and Zerrex thought the worst thing was that the shot obviously hadn't been aimed at their driver: it had been aimed at the side of the snow truck, and a moment later they were tottering, Cindy flailing her arms and Killer scrabbling for balance to avoid falling on Alexis as he threw his back against the other side of the truck, Alexis lunging forwards at the same time as the floor tilted horribly and Zerrex flailed a bit before snarling as he felt a terrible heat against his back, leaping away from the wall as one of the cushions burst into flames and slapping it away to reveal a line of white hot, heated metal. Fuck, and who knows how far away he is-

Before that thought could finish, however, there was another sound of something colliding and bursting at an incredible speed, and then the floor was heating up as metal groaned beneath them and the entire transport listed even further to the side, Cindy leaping for the doors and shouldering them open as Zerrex followed quickly, snagging his massive sword at the same time as Killer and Alexis followed suit, both of them leaping out with blades free. They exchanged a look, then scattered as the other transport behind them halted and the rest of the reptile's family leapt free, Cherry snarling as she looked back and forth. "Where's the motherfucker? Where's that bastard Unseen, Marina?"

Marina shook her head quickly, looking disgusted herself as her eyes flickered back and forth. "He's too far away for me to tell clearly, but I think he's approaching... on the other hand, there's a bunch of others coming at us at the same time..." A pause and a glance over to Zerrex, a touch to his mind as her voice whispered, Can you sense them, Daddy?

Yeah... Zerrex thought quietly, more to himself than anyone else though, as his eyes slid closed. Originally, Requiem had taught him this old art, and at first he'd scoffed and found it ridiculous... but now, with his instincts honed by experience and his unnatural ability to control the very energies in the air around him, he had discovered a hidden, innate affinity with this strange ability buried deep inside himself. They're moving fast... no hesitation. They want to challenge us, only a small group, though... Only four, with one behind...

A terrible rumbling filled the air, and Zerrex opened his eyes, stepping forwards and straightening, holding his sword in both hands as he assumed a ready position, the blade held point-up and at his right. Marina grinned coldly at this, then she ran to the right with Cherry as Killer and Alexis took up the left, leaving Mahihko and Cindy to cover the center area as the snow whipped and danced around them to the howling of the wind.