FSE

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“Everyone has a weakness, all you need to do is figure out how to exploit that weakness."

• Reaper aka; Conner Stephens

You Merely Delayed the Inevitable!

Chapter 37

Conner let out a sigh as he leaned back in his chair. “Part eight is done. I need to go to bed now!" Conner chuckled before he pushed away from his desk and picked up his phone before standing up.

Conner turned away from his desk and almost instantly fell to his knees as he was slammed by a random pounding headache.

He got back up once the pain subsided and he barely noticed that everything appeared to be smaller.

Conner left his room and creeped over to the washroom and turned on the light before closing the door.

Conner turned to the mirror and froze.

Instead of a nineteen year old with two barely noticeable scars on his face with a full beard, he saw a man in his mid twenties with a beard and two very noticeable large scars alongside the two small barely noticeable scars and a very distinct bite scar across his shoulder.

Conner moved around and saw the gunshot, shrapnel and knife wound scars on his body.

“Why the fuck do I look like the character based off of me from my story…?" Conner said in confusion before he noticed his voice sounded a little deeper.

The music playing from his earbud and the feeling of an earbud in his ear slowly faded before everything went black.

Conner awoke with a groan in complete darkness, he heard the muffled sounds of an alarm and a robotic voice but he couldn't make out what it was saying.

Conner managed to move and swung his right fist up in front of him.

Whatever he hit shattered and he heard the alarm fade out.

“What the fuck?" Conner asked in confusion before sitting up and pushing whatever he broke off of him.

Conner sat up and looked around the room.

His eyes focused quickly to the darkness and he gathered that this was some sort of cryogenics lab. 'How the fuck do I know what that is?' Conner thought to himself in confusion before climbing out of the cryo sleeping pod.

Conner looked down at his black combat clothes and his mind went blank before being pounded by memories.

“Oh my God! That whole thing was just a dream!" Conner exclaimed before tapping at the screen on his wrist.

“System rebooting, Powercore restabilizing."

“All systems; Ready. Tek suit; Coming online."

Conner's entire body became covered in a suit of matte black armour. Once the armour finished constructing, red lights across its surface blinked to life.

“Welcome back sir!" The AI said into Conner's ear. “You were in cryostasis for seven hundred fifty two years…"

Conner froze, he couldn't even move. “no…" He muttered softly after three minutes of silence.

“It turns out that Ivan Gusev was being stored in this facility. They had been taking shifts to monitor this facility to make sure you never woke up and the last shift never woke up the next shift."

Conner stared at the dark hallway before two swords appeared in his hands. A blade covered in draconic runes and text appeared in his right and a sword that was identical in shape besides the runes and text appeared in his left.

Ivan awoke from cryosleep with a groan, he looked around the pitch black room and heard some of his men talking amongst each other.

“Are you awake sir?" A young sounding Russian asked.

“Yes…" Ivan responded.

“The last team on facility maintenance never came back. The entire facility has lost power." Another man said from across the room in Russian.

“Wait…" Ivan said as the realization dawned on him. “He's-" Ivan shut his mouth when he heard distant clanging footfalls and the sound of razor sharp metal being dragged across concrete.

The metal scraping and footfalls kept getting closer before those sounds became joined by menacing humming and whirring sounds.

The dragging sounds stopped as a black shape with red lights blinking across it stopped in the doorway.

“What did I say Ivan?" Conner chuckled menacingly as he walked into the room. “You merely delayed the inevitable!" Conner barked as he put away his swords and drew his Scar-17.

The entire room became filled with gunfire and muzzle flashes.

Ivan looked around and saw all of his men lying dead around him.

Conner put away his Scar before walking over to Ivan with clanging footfalls. “I'm going to make you suffer." Conner whispered before he grabbed Ivan by the throat and grabbed his right hand with his left.

Conner squeezed Ivan's hand until he heard every bone in his hand break. Conner shattered Ivan's other hand before breaking both his arms and legs.

Conner picked Ivan up by the throat and walked up to a wall before slamming him into the wall until he stopped moving.

Conner let go of Ivan and let him crumple to the floor in a heap before pulling out his .500 Magnum and shooting Ivan in the head

“I still got the last laugh." Conner chuckled as he walked out of the room.

“Exiting cryosleep… Stabilizing vitals. Unable to reestablish connection with Master AI."

Daniella groaned as she came out of cryosleep. “You better have a good reason to pull me out this time!" Daniella growled as she rolled over.

“I'm sorry ma'am but this definitely counts." A Shadow Company operative said as he pointed to a screen on the far wall.

“Tek suit zero, zero, zero has come back online." The AI voice that Daniella heard when she woke up chimed.

“We have no idea if it is him because we can't get anymore information, we just know that the Tek suit has just reactivated." The soldier sighed as Daniella dropped her head.

“We need to locate that Tek suit, if it is him he will likely come here because of the King Titan." Daniella said as she got out of the cryo sleeping pod. “Although it has been long enough and I wouldn't have put it past the Russian Federation to have stuck him on a ship and sent him as deep into space as possible." Daniella said softly in defeat.

“This is fucking ridiculous!" Conner exclaimed as he trudged away from the facility in the snow.

He tapped something on his wrist and the facility exploded in a massive fireball behind him. Conner didn't flinch as a metal door barely missed him and skipped across the snow for a few more meters before stopping.

“Almost FPSRussia'd myself!" Conner chuckled. “Although the door also missed him and he shot a truck full of tannerite."

Conner looked up into the night sky. “The stars don't seem to have changed much." Conner let out a sigh. “Although it does seem as though the Arks have been launched."

Conner checked the corner of his heads up display and saw the time for this region. “It's ten in the morning! Why the fuck is it so dark?" Conner stopped walking and looked around himself in confusion.

He noticed that the season was apparently supposed to be summer according to his heads up display but snow was everywhere.

Conner kept getting more confused as he also noticed that he couldn't see a single plant or animal anywhere. He almost fell over when he saw the temperature on his heads up display.

“Negative sixty four degrees celsius!!" Conner exclaimed in shock. “I'm going to lose my shit! Computer… can you access my spotify playlist?"

“Yes sir, playing your main playlist."

Conner sighed as hot girl bummer by blackbear began playing through his Tek helmet.

“Thrusters are back online, sir. The armour can fly again." The AI said over the music blasting in Conner's helmet.

Conner let out a frustrated snort as he looked around the landscape surrounding him.

“Zero life signs detected."

Conner crouched slightly and braced his legs before jumping into the air.

“General Shade…" Daniella sighed as she heard someone call her by her callsign from across the satellite observation room.

“Yes?" Daniella asked as she walked over to the gryphon who had called her.

“The satellites just picked up a massive Elemental energy surge in the northernmost part of Siberia. Something went supersonic in that region before vanishing after reaching mach fifty."

“It just disappeared?" Daniella raised an eyeridge at the larger brown and grey gryphon.

“No… the way it disappeared off of radar suggests that it was some sort of stealth aircraft. The satellites tried tracking it but it flickered out of existence."

Daniella stared at the gryphon for a second before using her natural cloaking abilities. “Like this?" She asked as her scales flickered and her entire body became completely transparent to the point that if she stood still enough you wouldn't have been able to see her.

“Yes, exactly like that!" The gryphon said in surprise as Daniella reappeared.

“What colour was it?"

“Black with what seemed to be red lights across its surface." The gryphon responded.

Conner smashed into the ground. He looked around before freezing at what he saw.

The sun was appearing more white as if the atmosphere was thinner but that wasn't what concerned him.

A quarter of the moon had been shattered.

“Oh you are fucking kidding me!" Conner exclaimed, he had a feeling that the Russian Federation had nuked the NASA lunar base.

“Sir, I'm unable to reestablish connection with your army. I can't tell if any NATO forces are even left after the Corruption took over before the Tek suit was knocked offline and you were captured." The AI chimed into the armour's speakers.

Conner was about to respond when a massive creature roared from behind him, Conner whipped around and froze, the only way Conner could describe it as was an abomination, a monster that appeared to be covered in purple glowing gashes. Conner couldn't shake the fact that it reminded him of a creature from Ark, a Corrupted Reaper King.

Conner braced himself and pulled out his magical sword before charging the creature. He swung at the creature's left foot and cut it clean off.

The Reaper King howled in pain before Conner silenced it by jumping on top of it and driving his sword into it's eye.

Conner cleaned off his sword before putting it away and looking around at the wasteland around him.

He was somewhere in Indonesia or what had once been Indonesia, his map was telling him he was in The Meratus Mountains but it was hard to tell by the landscape alone because it had changed so much.

Conner crested a hill and saw a massive crater in front of him with some kind of structure at the very bottom.

The crater was absolutely massive and Conner knew exactly what it was for.

“Reseed Protocol; Awaiting activation."

“Fuck!" Conner exclaimed before launching into the sky.

“Searching Arks… The Island detected."

“There you are." Conner said with a smile.

Conner approached the Ark and chuckled at a very familiar landscape. “Spent many hours in my early years on that island." He said with a smile before approaching the dome of the artificial biosphere.

Conner entered one of the maintenance entrances on the exterior of the Ark before navigating to the entrance of the habitat inside.

Conner crashed onto a very familiar beach causing many animals to scatter. A pack of compsognathus leapt into the bushes at the edge of the forest.

Conner looked around and saw a utahraptor frozen stiff less than ten meters away from him.

“Master Overseer detected. Welcome to The Island, Reaper." An AI voice announced across the entire Ark and the utahraptor flinched.

“You recognise your creator… don't you." Conner chuckled.

The raptor bolted after that.

Conner barely paid any mind to the fact that that female raptor was an Apex, imprinted to a Survivor and had a fairly decent quality saddle on.

The creatures on every Ark had self preservation instincts unlike the creatures in the videogame Ark, because of who Conner was, the Arks recognised him as the Master Overseer so he technically had apex status, although it was more Boss class status if anything. Most creatures would flee besides a select few. Gigas, rexes, acros, spinos, and other apex predators would try and challenge him. Most of the time he would ignore a challenge but sometimes he would put those creatures in their place if they did attack him.

Conner chuckled as he looked at the map. “This is going to take a bit of time." He sighed before flying away.

“Stupid fucking arthros!" Conner exclaimed as he looked at the venom dripping off of his armour. “Thank fuck their venom can't damage my armour." Conner chuckled as he ducked into a very familiar pathway inside the cave he was in.

He stared at the humming and pulsing bright green artifact hovering in the centre of the cavern room. Conner walked up to the artifact and grabbed it before making it disappear into his Tek suit's storage system.

“Damn! Someone's already been through here." Conner heard the voice of a male echo from the entry path of the Lower South Cave.

Conner ducked behind a wall but his Tek suit gave him away as it made an electronic pulse like sound as the Powercore directed more energy to power assistance.

Conner jerked his right arm up and down and the armour let out a very electronic shotgun cocking sounding noise. The arm mounted railgun formed on his right arm and the armour made a lot of electronic humming and pulsing noises.

“Who's there?" The voice asked hesitantly and Conner heard the sound of an actual shotgun being cocked.

“Someone who that shotgun will have little effect on." Conner said calmly.

“Survivor ID number; one two five four six three seven, level fifty one, gender: male." The AI said audibly from the Tek suit. “Apex raptor female, Creature ID number; eight seven five zero six two eight, level one thousand five hundred seventy, imprinted to Survivor one two five four six three seven, wild born." The AI added.

“How do you know all of that?" The Survivor asked in fear.

“The Master Overseer can find out anything on his Arks." Conner chuckled and his voice thundered through the cave.

“Go retrieve the Artifact of the Hunter before the cave creatures respawn." Conner said in a calm tone but made his voice thunder.

Conner walked around the corner and his Tek suit sung its eerie song as he walked past the trembling survivor in flak armour, holding a shotgun while riding on the back of a familiar utahraptor.

“You should recognise your General as you were a Shadow Company soldier before your death in 2048." Conner said over his shoulder.

“You were The Angel of Death after all." The survivor said in disbelief.

“Yes, yes I was… the entire time." Conner chuckled as he disappeared from the survivors line of sight.

“That raptor is in heat." The AI stated matter of factly as Conner exited the cave.

“If I were him, I'd either get that raptor breeding so I can preserve those stats or make a permanent implant so that raptor can respawn at his base.

“That survivor actually had a permanent implant on that raptor, he must be in a tribe with a fairly high level survivor." The AI said as Conner pulled out his water canteen. “Although he'd have one hell of a time trying to breed that raptor." The AI added matter of factly.

“And why is that?" Conner asked with a slight chuckle and opened his canteen.

“That raptor fancies that human." The AI said in a flat and emotionless tone and Conner spat the mouth full of water out in surprise. The AI was sentient so it could feel emotion and it had used a flat tone on purpose because it knew that would set Conner off.

“You're fuckin' joking!?" Conner exclaimed with a laugh of disbelief.

“What would I gain by lying, I am lines of code." The AI chuckled. “I did a scan of its brain and implant, it's fairly easy to tell just by looking at how the brain's neurons fire."

“That is fucking wild!" Conner sighed as he took a swig from his water canteen and put it away. “Alright!" Conner said loudly and clapped his gauntlet clad hands together causing them to clang loudly. “Artifact of the Massive and Clever, then I can go collect apex drops… ten argy talons, ten sarco skins, ten sauropod vertebrae and ten titanoboa teeth." Conner said as he looked at his digital map display.

Conner quickly made his way to the Lava Cave before navigating through the cave and getting very annoyed with the onychonycteris that resided in most caves on every Ark.

Once the large bats realized what Conner was, they left him alone and gave him a wide berth.

He jumped over the two gaps with lava at the bottom and grabbed the Artifact of the Massive before exiting the cave and making his way to the Central Cave.

The Central Cave was a chore in its own right because the meganeura that resided in the cave like most insects species that existed in the twenty first century, 'where very fucking stupid!' as Conner would so elegantly put it.

Conner let out a snarl of frustration as he grabbed one of the large prehistoric dragonflies that was buzzing around his head and crushed it in his gauntlet clad hand causing the insect to pop like a grape.

He managed to kill the rest of the large dragonflies before retrieving the Artifact of the Clever.

“So let me get this straight… You decided to have the Reseed Protocol initiation process be started by defeating three different Ark guardians on three different Arks?" The AI asked as Conner flew past the Green Obelisk.

“Yes, this was under the pretense that a survivor would be doing this so it was absolutely necessary that the individual who would bring the Arks home would be capable. I still need to activate the Reseed Protocol at Shadow Base Kilo once I'm done on the Arks… if Base Kilo is still standing" Conner said the last part quietly.

Rest Doesn't Always Provide an Escape

Chapter 38

Conner had managed to spend the next few hours collecting apex drops. By the time he had finished, he was quite tired and it was well after the artificial sun had set.

Conner had flown up to the very top of the volcano at a flat spot, it was the highest point on the Ark. He leaned against a rock and activated his armour's cloaking system so nobody could see him and fell asleep after about an hour because of what had happened to him over the past few hundred years.

“Conner! Can you take it easy for fuck sakes!" Daniella snapped from behind Conner as he dropped two fourteen foot six by sixes.

“Make me!" Conner shot back playfully as he picked up easily over five hundred pounds in lumber.

Daniella let out a sigh of defeat as he walked past her.

“Jason, can you tell your son to slow down please?" Daniella pleaded as Conner's father was walking past.

Jason turned and looked at the dragon before giving her a shrug. “I can't make him stop, I still have a broken collar bone and three broken ribs." Jason said as he made the empty sleeve of his winter coat flop around before poking the inside of his coat with that missing hand. “He's much more likely to listen to you anyway, you are his girlfriend." Jason chuckled before grabbing a battery powered nail gun and walking away.

“I really appreciate you guys coming out to help, it definitely means my guys have less work to do tomorrow." Jason's friend said to Conner, Daniella and Jason.

“It was nothing." Conner said with a wave of his hand.

“Well enough of that, I'll let you guys be on your way." Jason's friend said before handing them each a few hundred dollars in cash.

The trio waved to Jason's friend before getting into Conner's truck. “Hey dad?" Conner said as he buckled up and turned around in his Raptor R.

“Yes Conner?" Jason sighed.

“Next time you go four wheeling, make sure not to go flying off of the damn thing and break yourself again." Conner chuckled, causing Jason to roll his eyes and let out a tired grunt. “I know it was a week ago now but if you are unable to slow down after an injury then you need to stop doing stupid shit." Conner chuckled before putting his truck in gear.

“Look who's talkin'." Daniella said with a laugh. “You are the king of doing stupid shit!" Daniella added as she punched Conner in the shoulder.

“And I haven't ever broken a single bone in my life!" Conner said pridefully. “I have found the perfect balance between safety and stupidity." Conner added with a grin as he rolled over a curb that was supposed to be a blocked exit from the subdivision they were in but because of the truck Conner had, the rocks that had been used to block the dip in the curb did nothing to stop Conner's truck from just going over the curb instead.

Conner let out a groan as he walked into his house from his garage.

“I told you to slow! Down!" Daniella exclaimed in frustration.

“And I didn't listen." Conner said with a smirk.

Daniella punched Conner in the arm with her wing before trotting to the basement to shower.

Conner came back upstairs after his shower and he was visibly flustered. “I can never shower in peace with her around." Conner chuckled.

Conner let out a yelp of surprise as he felt scaly forepaws wrap around his chest and he was lifted onto the bed. Conner ended up on his back and Daniella tossed the towel that had been around his waist to the edge of the bed before sitting in his lap.

“So… how did you like your birthday gift?" Daniella said sweetly as she ground her hips over his crotch.

“Well… my birthday was almost a month ago and I'm still able to enjoy that gift to its fullest." Conner chuckled. “So in the moment I sure didn't feel that way but yes, I'm very glad you knocked some sense into me by scaring the shit out of me in the shower." Conner said with a smile as he placed his hands on Daniella's hips.

Daniella let out a thrumming trill before adjusting herself and grasping Conner's now hard member before guiding it home,

Daniella let out a gasp as Conner's thick, perfectly sized cock penetrated her depths. Conner grit his teeth and squirmed as his cock was engulfed by a hot, tight and wet embrace.

There was a quiet squelching noise as Conner's dick displaced some of the copious fluids of Daniella's arousal.

Both parties sat still, joined at the hips, trying to adjust to the overstimulation. Daniella never understood why Conner felt so good. By her species standard, he was only just above average but he was very well endowed for a human. His size of course did scale to the rest of his body. He was six foot five so it would only make sense for him to have a ten inch penis.

Daniella mused that it probably had something to do with them being soulbonded and the fact that her body had most likely been made to feel the best with a human partner but she didn't care too much. She only cared about the fact that Conner was made for her and she was made for him.

Daniella lifted her hips up slowly before dropping down into Conner's lap with a wet slap and a grunt from the human.

“G-god, do you ever love teasing me!" Conner gasped as Daniella shifted her hips around in his lap.

Daniella smirked down at Conner before placing her forepaws on either side of his head and pressing her lips to his own and pushing her tongue into his mouth.

She broke the kiss after a few seconds and lifted off of Conner before dropping down again.

The dragon got herself into a moderately paced rhythm, riding her human into the bed like nothing else in the world mattered.

Daniella let out a loud moan as Conner's member poked her g-spot and he squirmed as she tensed her egg laying muscles.

Conner let out a stifled murmur as he felt Daniella's passage tighten, signifying her impending climax. He grabbed handfuls of the bedsheets as the dragoness cried out in pleasure as she came around the human cock buried inside her passage.

Daniella came down from her euphoric heights and kissed her human deeply before starting to ride him again.

“Always a loud and fast cummer!" Conner chuckled as he grabbed her rump and squeezed.

“Fuck off!" Daniella said with a smile before speeding up her pace to try and make Conner cum before she hit her second climax.

Daniella planted her paws on Conner's chest and sped up her pace even more. Draconic moans and the sounds of sex had filled the entire house, Daniella had not closed the bedroom door before dragging Conner into bed.

“A-are y-you close yet?!" Daniella panted.

“M-maybe." Conner responded breathlessly.

“Good." Daniella growled as she grabbed Conner's shoulders tightly and began riding him harder.

Conner felt the tightness building in his loins and he tried desperately to hold off as long as possible.

Daniella smirked, she could tell Conner was holding back. “Let go." She whispered seductively in his ear.

“Nope." Conner grunted in defiance. He let out a gasp when Daniella dropped her hips down hard and clenched her muscles as hard as she could while grinding her hips against his crotch.

Conner's eyes rolled into the back of his head as the tightness from her clenching as hard as she could became almost painful and he fell over the edge just as Daniella reached her own climax with a loud moan.

Daniella collapsed on top of Conner as she rode out her climax, her climax intensified as she felt Conner's seed coat her insides.

Daniella wrapped her limbs around Conner before rolling over onto her side and clutched him tightly to her chest.

Conner awoke from his dream with a start.

The armour was extremely unyielding and an erection was never pleasant. The armour shifted around his crotch area before changing back when his erection faded.

“Fucking bullshit!" Conner exclaimed as he deactivated his armour's camouflage and twisted around before punching the rock he had been resting against, the rock exploded into small chunks. “Why must my mind taunt me with memories of a time long since passed!" Conner exclaimed as he picked up a chunk of the rock and threw it as hard as he could.

With the combination of the strength of the Tek suit and his own strength, the rock ended up breaking the sound barrier as it was launched from his hand and over the side of the volcano peak.

Conner got up and walked towards the edge of the peak of the volcano and looked down across the Ark. He gazed at the Red Obelisk before stepping off the edge into the clouds and flew over to the Green Obelisk.

Conner touched down under the Green Obelisk and walked over to the terminal. He accessed the terminal and transferred the artifacts and apex drops before pressing his right gauntleted palm to the red gem shaped object at the top of the four foot tall terminal and activated the teleporter.

Conner stared above his head and waited for the portal bubble to close before pulling out his magic sword and looking straight ahead as he got into a battle stance with his sword held out in front of him in his right and his left hand clenched into a fist in front of his stomach slightly raised.

Conner stared at the Broodmother as the teleport finished and the massive spider turned and roared. The sword in his right hand began glowing purple and the red lights across his armour began blinking faster.

“Back in this arena once again." Conner chuckled. “This time in person instead of behind a screen." Conner added as he walked towards the Broodmother.

The spider made a swipe at Conner with its leg. Conner dodged and slashed at the same limb and green blood sprayed across the ground and the spider roared in pain. He lept beneath the spider and slashed across its underbelly causing it to let out another cry of pain. The scabbard appeared on Conner's left hip before he stowed his sword and pulled out his Scar-17. He turned around and clicked his rifle into full auto before unloading thirty 7.62x51mm rounds into the spider's backside.

Conner dodged the spider's next attack before grabbing the dry magazine and pulling it out causing it to be de-atomized, a fresh mag materialized in his hand before he slammed it home and chambered a round. He looked down the red dot sight at the massive spider's side and pulled the trigger.

The rifle spat out another thirty rounds causing the spider to screech in pain. He reloaded his battle rifle before putting it away and pulling out his Benelli M4. Conner smirked as he aimed at the spider and the barrel spat molten hot metal sparks.

The shells that the shotgun was loaded with were special exotic rounds, he couldn't remember where he had gotten the idea from but he made all of his ammo himself rather than purchasing it. The shells were a specialized dragon's breath buckshot shell. The shells had the typical burn of a dragon's breath shell with the punch of a ten gauge buckshot.

Conner squeezed the trigger quickly eight more times.

He watched flames crawl across the huge spider's body before it collapsed after a few seconds from the fire.

“Broodmother Lysrix Alpha; Defeated." The message at the top of Conner's heads up display said as he loaded the final fresh dragon's breath buckshot shell.

Conner swapped the shotgun over to his other hand and held just behind the angled foregrip with his left hand as he grabbed the trophy from the Broodmother.

Conner let out a sigh as the teleporter activated and he readjusted his left side ejecting shotgun.

Conner looked around him as the white flash faded and he chuckled as he held the shotgun left handed. “I will never understand why I'm right handed but left eye dominant. Got so many weird looks from people who had never seen me shoot before." Conner shook his head as he smiled.

Conner spent the next few hours collecting the artifacts and apex drops for the Alpha Megapithecus boss fight before making his way to the Blue Obelisk.

The Megapithecus fight was fairly uneventful as the giant monkey was the weakest of the three bosses.

Conner collected the artifacts and apex drops before going over to the Red Obelisk and fought the Alpha Dragon.

“Alright! Tek cave." Conner said as he flew over to the volcano.

Daniella stared at the monitor of the security system in shock as the F-22 Raptor started and launched out of the hangar before ripping across the sky at a blinding speed.

Daniella walked out into the hangar as the F-22 disappeared into the sky.

“Master AI partial systems; reestablished." Her personal Tek suit AI chimed in her ear. “Unable to locate Shadow one-one, Reaper."

Daniella came back into the security building and slammed her forepaws on the desk out of frustration because the fighter jet's stealth tech made it impossible to track.

“Fuck!" Daniella exclaimed as she realized that she had managed to crack the reinforced steel desk. “I need to cool it, I can't be short tempered like Conner. He had me to calm him down so that he could sort things out civilly but I don't have that luxury." Daniella sighed as she used her Tek suit to fix the desk.

Conner let out an annoyed grunt before sighing in relief as The Island Overseer exploded in front of him. “Took fucking long enough!" Conner exclaimed as he stepped up to the teleporter platform.

The fight had only taken a few minutes but it still had been tedious and felt like it had taken longer than ten minutes even though it hadn't.

Conner watched the hologram of the solar system appear above him as it zoomed into Earth and a specific Ark in orbit began blinking.

“Ascension Teleporter activating, Ark selected."

The teleporter activated and Conner was pulled into orbit and watched himself be thrown into a desert landscape.

It took a few days but Conner finally found himself staring at the corpse of the Alpha Manticore as the Ascension teleporter activated.

“I'm so glad I made sure these teleporters could teleport someone even if they aren't a survivor." Conner chuckled.

“No Survivor Implant detected… Shadow Company Tek suit detected."

“Identity Confirmed, safe travels, Reaper."

“I've been able to reestablish some minor connections to Shadow Company Servers." The AI spoke through Conner's helmet as the teleporter activated.

The teleporter activated and he was pulled towards another Ark before the teleportation began malfunctioning. Conner cocked an eyebrow as a damaged Ark came into view.

“Ark 614, Aberration Protocol initiated at 0400, 9/09/2789. Current date and time: 0600, 04/24/2805."

Conner groaned as he read the message displayed on his heads up display. His eyes widened when he heard a maniacal chuckling of a voice he recognised from the explorer notes he had obtained across the first two Arks and from when he was younger. When he had found the first Rockwell note he didn't know what to think and the fact that each note was eerily familiar to what he remembered from his favourite video game was beyond unnerving.

Of course there were distinct differences between his reality and the real story of the Ark video game, he couldn't help but shudder at the similarities.

As he plummeted into the depths of the malfunctioning Ark 614, he threw out his left arm and a very aggressive looking ice climbing pick blade protruded from his gauntlet followed by a modern polymer and metal handle.

He grasped the very durable tungsten titanium metal and polymer climbing pick and slammed it into the rock face he was plummeting past to slow his descent.

His boots collided with the ground and a very audible clang echoed across the landscape around him. He yanked the matte black handled and polished silver headed climbing pickaxe from the rock.

The pick's blade folded into the handle before it deconstructed back into the underside of the Tek gauntlet.

“What the fuck happened?" Conner asked in confusion as he looked around at a landscape he started to recognise.

“A few survivors decided to bring a damn bomb into the final boss arena and nuked the entire Ark."

“Oh for fuck sakes!" Conner exclaimed as he looked around him.

Conner heard the geiger counter in his Tek suit go off briefly before quieting down as some stray radioactive particles passed by him.

Conner's eyes widened as his Tek suits advanced heads up display actually detected a few stray ions floating by. “This Ark is clearly VERY irradiated!" Conner said in shock.

“Most creatures here have mutated due to the radiation. The Ark system was able to control it slightly but most of this is all coincidence that it looks exactly like Aberration."

“Fuck me." Conner muttered as he began walking away from the rock wall behind him.

“Ma'am, you might want to hear about this." A Shadow Company soldier said as he opened the door to Daniella's office.

Daniella was just barely illuminated by her computer monitor, a pair of slightly slitted bright red eyes stared back at the soldier in the doorway. Her black scales and dark maroon underbelly made her nearly invisible in the dark, she looked menacing when hiding among the shadows of darkness…

The Queen of Shadows…

That is what she had been called by many from her two most recent past lives, the name still stuck to this day for obvious reasons.

Crimson Darkness had been called The King of Shadows and that name had followed him but when he became the founder, CEO and of course the owner of Shadow Company as Conner, people had begun using it again as it fit very well.

“Yes?" Daniella growled in a low and menacing voice.

“We have seen a lot of activity on the Arks; the Ark system has detected the presence of the Master Overseer on three different Arks so far."

“What!?" Daniella said in a tone filled with a mix of relief, pain and shock. “I apologize for that, I'm glad you told me this." Daniella said quickly as she jumped up from her desk and darted past the elf.

The elf peaked his head into the office and his dark vision allowed him to see the tens of empty hard liquor bottles and tens of half empty hard liquor bottles scattered across the desk.

“Oh that's fucking depressing." The elf muttered to himself as he turned around and closed the office door behind him before walking down the hall away from the office.

This Mess is Worse than I Suspected

Chapter 39

The constant clicking of the geiger counter had been toned out as Conner pressed his gauntleted hand to the terminal and activated the final boss arena teleporter. He knew what he was getting into after having listened to each Rockwell and Helena note and he wasn't sure how to feel.

The lights across his armour blinked red slowly as he waited for the teleporter to activate. The ambient glow around him was absorbed by the matte black colour of his armour..

The eerie and menacing song the powercore thrummed, hummed and whirred was doing a good job of keeping Conner sane through this so far over a week long experience. It definitely was strange that such an eerie mix of noises would keep Conner grounded in reality but he did not dare question it.

Even though he was immune to radiation after his accident, he would still get slightly dizzy if he took his Tek suit off in the presence of a source of high levels of radiation.

After the bright white flash faded, Conner looked around the arena. “What a fucking mess these idiots made!" Conner exclaimed as he looked around.

He turned to the large pit in the centre of the arena that was filled with liquid Element and waited.

After about twenty seconds nothing happened and he grew frustrated. “Ark System Override Code: one six five two fo-" Conner stopped speaking as tentacles erupted from the pool of liquid Element.

“Hello, Survivor!" The massive humanoid monstrosity that emerged chuckled menacingly.

Conner could tell that this had once been a human. Instead of hair, the creature possessed many tendrils and larger tendrils possessing wicked spikes presumably made of bone on its body. Its face was equally as hideous as the rest of its body with one half still resembling a human face whilst the other half was covered in element filled veins topped off with overgrown fang like teeth. Its torso was basically a half open cage to protect its only surviving organ, its heart, that acted as a pump for its Element filled veins that were present all over its body.

A wicked smile grew on Conner's face as his Tek helmet deconstructed. “Sir Edmund Rockwell…" Conner's voice boomed louder than Rockwell's, this caused him to hesitate for a second before quickly composing himself.

The geiger counter in Conner's Tek suit was going wild.

“I can give you a deal, survivor. You kneel before me and I may grant you mercy and allow you to join me… or I smother you into the very ground you stand upon." Rockwell boomed as he stared at the human before him.

“I am no Survivor!" Conner's voice echoed across the Ark, his voice didn't just come from him but the Ark itself.

The veins in Conner's face, his many visible scars and eyes began glowing purple with black blotches running along them.

His helmet quickly closed with a clang and the armour released a volley of missiles.

“Who the hell are YOU!" Rockwell boomed.

“I go by many names… The King of Shadows, Crimson Darkness, Reaper, Shadow, The Angel of Death, but my most recent title is Master Overseer." Conner chuckled as his Tek suit began hovering thirty meters off the ground and just out of reach of the tentacles. “That would obviously make me the creator of the Ark System and the very person who made these Arks happen. I designed the Arks themselves and AI designed the environment inside each Ark." Conner added with a deep thunderous chuckle as Rockwell became winded once more and exposed his heart.

It took a few more minutes before Rockwell sank into the pit filled with liquid Element and the teleporter activated as the holograms of the Ark star map appeared.

Conner was sent zipping across the Ark once the teleporter activated. The teleporter threw him towards what looked like a massive engine turbine before it spooled up and he was teleported outside the Ark.

Conner let out a grunt of annoyance as he saw the extent of the damage to the Ark. One of the external Obelisks had been broken in half and large chunks of the Ark were scattered about as the teleporter zipped him by before releasing him above a location in Indonesia, the exact location he had left from to go to The Island.

Conner quickly took control of his trajectory as the Ark System released him because it couldn't download him into the system and he had a Tek suit.

He smashed into the ground about forty kilometers from Base Kilo, the F-22 Raptor flew overhead as the dust around him settled.

Conner turned towards Base Kilo and jumped into the sky. He flew over the F-22 as its canopy opened and he dropped into the pilot seat.

“HMDS System; Online. Welcome back."

“Personal Vehicle Network Connection; Reestablished."

Conner smirked before punching it.

As he began approaching the area around the base, he spotted a large Tek city. “Sanctuary." Conner muttered as he flew over hundreds of Corrupted creatures, most of which ended up dying because he was flying so low and fast.

“Sir, I'm picking up two large Corrupted signatures in the area." The AI said into his helmet.

Conner's music playlist just cycled as he spotted two Corrupted Titans.

They were both hideous and grotesque. The taller one stood at around ninety meters and seemed to vaguely resemble a human although it possessed many animalistic features like massive overgrown teeth, scaly skin, and wicked fixed claws.

The second one stood at around seventy meters and was around one hundred meters long. It vaguely resembled a theropod carnivore, the creature seemed to be a mix of a rex and a giga but stood in a more upright position and its features were twisted and gnarled by Element Corruption.

As Conner approached he noticed the song that was playing, DIE FOR YOU by STARSET.

“Oh mother fucker." Conner mumbled.

“Hey now, I had nothing to do with that, the playlist is on shuffle." The AI said quickly to avoid being blamed for a fairly ironic song to be playing given the recent circumstances and who the song reminded him of.

As Conner began rapidly approaching the humanoid titan, he heard the lyrics of the song start.

'I will run alone tonight'

'Without you by my side'

'I guess you had a place you had to get to'

'I know your eyes'

'I know inside'

'The walls you hide behind'

'And I saw the truth inside the real you'

'Because I know you're lost when you run away'

'Into the same black holes and black mistakes'

'Taking all my will just to run alone'

'When are you coming home?'

'Even if the sky does fall'. Conner pulled the trigger for the 20mm cannons as the music picked up, peppering the front of the humanoid titan before tilting the jet and using the jet's sonic booms as a weapon.

'Even if they take it all'

'There's no pain that I won't go through'

'Even if I have to die for you'

'And when all the fires burn'

'When everything is overturning'

'There's no thing that I won't go through'

'Even if I have to die for you'

“How fucking ironic for this to be playing!" Conner exclaimed as he yanked the control stick back after zipping by the one titan causing the jet to go completely vertical. He jerked the control stick right, bringing the jet into almost a drift and he shot around the titan and he fired a burst of 20mm cannon fire at the dinosaur looking titan.

Conner did a roll and pointed the control stick down, causing him to start climbing because he was upside down.

He chuckled as he saw trails of dust moving towards the two titans and hundreds of Corrupted creatures. The black shape at the very front made him smile as he heard the distinct roar of a supercharged, quad turbo V8 muscle car.

There were just under one hundred dust trails coming towards the corrupted creatures and they were all moving fast.

“God damn she's loud when I don't have the muffler active." Conner remarked with a laugh.

As Conner streaked back down he actually saw Corrupteds wincing and or holding their ears because of how loud all of his cars and his jet was collectively.

“Computer, make sure each vehicle has its muffler set to straight piped mode. Use the noise as a weapon." Conner said as he launched two AI guided air to ground Elemental nuclear missiles.

His Dodge Charger when the muffler was set to straight piped mode was easily over two hundred decibels. His Raptor R was louder as it had more horsepower. The Dodge Charger had over one hundred fifty thousand horsepower and the Raptor R had over one hundred eighty thousand horsepower.

'And if the Sun grows cold for you along the way'

'And if the stars don't line to light the way'

'And when you fall away and crash back down below'

'I'll search the skies for you and I'll follow'

'I'll be in your afterglow'

'And I'll bring you home'

'Even if the sky does fall'. Conner turned back around and the front of the wings of the jet changed, the matte colour pulled away from the edges of the wings and caught the light of the sun.

'Even if they take it all'

'I can't see, but I'll follow you'

'Even if I die'

'And when all the fires burn'

'When everything is overturning'

'There's no thing that I won't go through'

'Even if I have to die for you'

Conner punched the afterburner as the canopy opened, it didn't in the way it usually would. The canopy pulled back into the body of the fighter jet as Conner got himself out of the seat harness and pulled out his sword.

The jet ripped through the humanoid titan's shoulder, ripping it's left arm clean off as something slammed into the top of its head and it went down hard.

Conner yanked his sword out of the top of the titan's head and began laughing maniacally as Corrupted blood dripped from his armour. “I may be small but I have brains and I can use technology to gain enough momentum to KNOCK YOU LUMBERING BEASTS OFF YOUR FUCKING FEET!" Conner snarled as his sword and clothing vanished while his armour began shifting with his body.

The humanoid titan tried to get up but black scaled forepaws with fixed claws gouged its eyes out and a jet of superheated chemicals was spat into an empty eye socket.

Conner rose up on his hindlegs and flared out his wings as he stood over the dead titan and roared out a challenge to the other titan.

Conner's around one hundred foot wingspan and seventy foot length was intimidating to most besides large titans who dwarfed his size and were too stupid to realize that size doesn't always matter.

The F-22 launched a volley of missiles and fired its cannons as it flew past. Every car in Conner's collection began firing missiles at the titan as Conner lunged and latched onto its throat and tore a massive chunk out of its neck.

Conner grabbed the creature's top jaw and bottom jaw with his paws and pulled as hard as he could.

He tossed the titan's lower jaw away in disgust before standing over the dead titan and roaring…

A challenge to all titans and to the Element itself.

The REAL King of Shadows was back and ready to reclaim his throne.

His roar echoed across the sky… it was loud enough that the ground around Conner shook like a magnitude five earthquake had hit.

Conner let out a sigh as water trickled along his scales.

He had made his way into the city of Sanctuary and found a massive damaged water pipe that had clean fresh water flowing from it.

He hadn't taken his Tek suit off in weeks because he hadn't needed to. The armour was climate controlled to never exceed eighteen degrees celsius(64.4F) and stayed at around fifteen celsius(59F), the nanites also kept him clean. The only time any part of him had been exposed was obvious places when nature called or his helmet when he would eat or drink but he had never taken the entire thing off until now.

Conner stared off into space as the water cascaded down his body while he sat on his haunches. He zoned back in and started thinking again when he heard the rumble and faint whine from his Dodge Charger as it creeped towards him.

Conner stepped out from under the water before shaking himself off and flapping his wings before settling them on his back. The Tek collar and headgear fell off of and destroyed all of the Elemental gore that had fallen off of him and seeped into the water around him.

He stepped away from the water and transformed back into his true form and put his Tek suit back on.

“May as well poke around the city… Base Kilo seems to be overrun by Corruption." Conner grunted as he walked away and the Charger rumbled after him. “Computer, set climate control to ten celsius."(50F) Conner added as he stepped out of the water.

“I want everyone searching every corner of this goddamn city!" Daniella exclaimed as she put her Tek helmet on and dashed out the door of the briefing room.

The entire room exploded with activity after the General gave her orders and dashed out of the room. Most knew that if the Tek suit hadn't been hijacked, it would be near impossible to find a living shadow if he didn't want to be found and with this living shadow, if he didn't want to be found…

He won't be found.

'It definitely seems that part of the city is still being maintained.' Conner thought to himself using his internal monologue as he snuck into one of the fairly intact buildings.

As Conner entered the building, the lights across his Tek suit turned off and his footfalls became silent.

“Stealth mode; Active, Cloaking System on standby." The message at the top of his heads up display said.

Conner pulled out his Scar-17 and activated Enhanced Display mode for his helmet. He could see perfectly in the dark and would allow him to see outlines of living creatures, it also gave him information about whatever he looked at for longer than three seconds.

“Warning! Heartbeat detected nearby."

“Combat Stealth mode; Active." Displayed across the top of his vision.

Conner entered what looked like a server room and he cleared it.

“Main Shadow Company Servers; Located."

“Oh…" Conner lowered his arms as he stared at the terminal in front of him.

He pressed his gauntleted right hand to the terminal and the entire server room lit up.

“Scanning… Verification Code required."

“Shadow Overlord Verification Code; two seven one five four eight two one nine three." Conner said in a firm tone as he slung his rifle over his back and pulled out his sword.

“Access; Granted… Master AI Connection; Reestablished."

“Rune required to finalize Verification."

Conner turned his sword over and held one of the many runes across the blade close to a scanner on the terminal.

“Scan; Complete… Welcome back, Reaper."

Conner dropped his shoulders and sighed in relief. “I have most of my shit back but it doesn't seem like anyone is left." Conner was about to check something on the terminal when he heard a deep menacing growl behind him.

He pulled his rifle off his back and held it up as the lights across his armour blinked to life.

A fairly large dragon was in the doorway, a bit over twice his size. Judging by the dragon's size, Conner mused that it's wingspan was probably around twenty feet.

He couldn't tell what colour it was or if it was male or female because it had Tek armour on. The Tek armour was gloss black with red lights across it.

“What the fuck do you think you are doing!" The dragon snarled in a feminine but no less menacing voice.

Conner chuckled as he reslung his rifle over his back and pulled his sword out from behind him.

The sword began glowing purple and he saw the dragon flinch before it spoke again.

“Only he who I shall become may wield this blade and only he who I shall become may grant permission to wield this blade." The dragon whispered in disbelief.

“Yes… good, so you understand what that says. You know who I am then?" Conner said in a menacing tone.

The dragon tried to speak but instead she just deactivated her Tek helmet.

*CLANG*

Conner lost grip of his sword and it hit the ground as he stepped away from the terminal.

His Tek helmet pulled away as he opened his mouth to speak. “I… whaaa… OOF!" Conner grunted in surprise as he was tackled to the ground by the dragon who began sobbing.

Conner pulled the rest of his Tek suit away and the dragon did the same.

He reached up and began stroking the back of the dragon's neck as she curled around him.

“Daniella…" Conner whispered as he felt himself get teary eyed.

Two Souls Reunited

Chapter 40

“Shadow one-two, Shade. Do you copy?" The radio went off causing Conner to be startled awake.

Conner tried to get up but he felt something squeeze him and a whine of annoyance was heard.

“Shadow one-two, Shade. Do you Copy!?" Conner recognised the voice on the other end and he chuckled.

Daniella groaned and unwound herself from around Conner and tapped her radio.

“I copy, go ahead Shadow one-three." Daniella responded as she got up.

“Where are you, Conner's entire car collection is patrolling the city of Sanctuary and his F-22 is strafing Corrupted creatures that get too close to the borders of the city." Adalinda said over the radio.

“I'm in the main server room…" Daniella responded as Conner got up and walked over to the terminal and began doing something. “I'm very well aware of what is going on."

“Oh… well I-"

“Sir, your entire Starship fleet had been destroyed while you were out."

“Fuck!" Conner exclaimed as he stepped away from the terminal and punched a wall next to him so he wouldn't break anything important.

“Wait…" Adalinda said in disbelief.

“Computer, open a broadcast." Conner said as he walked back to the terminal.

“Broadcast opened to all Shadow Company channels."

“All Shadow Company Operatives be advised, I need all units to prepare for Corruption extermination. The King Titan needs to be removed so the Reseed Protocol can be activated, Shadow one-one out." Conner said sternly before closing the broadcast channel.

“Master AI connection; Reestablished. All AI Systems; Rebooting." The AI said over the pa system of the building Conner and Daniella were in.

“Conner…" Adalinda said in disbelief.

“Yep." Conner responded over the radio. “I'll explain everything in a bit." Conner said as he looked back down at the terminal in front of him.

“Sir, Starship zero seems to be missing rather than destroyed… I will try to connect to it and see if it is still operational."

“How about that weapon I had been working on after I realized how bad the Corruption was getting." Conner said as he tapped away at the advanced Tek terminal's keyboard. The keyboard keys were basically raised holographic projections on a flat surface of smooth metal in the shape of a keyboard.

“I've managed to reconnect to the satellite grid… The Orbital Cannon Protocol is still nonexistent but everything else still works… Scanning King Titan… I think some adjustments might need to be made."

“Alright… let me take a look." Conner said as he pulled up a set of blueprints.

“Conner…" Daniella said softly as she bumped her nose into his back.

“Yes hun?" Conner responded softly as he lifted his hands away from the advanced keyboard and turned around.

“Am I dreaming?" She asked with a slightly pained undertone.

Conner kneeled to be eye level with Daniella while she stood on all fours as her back only reached up to just above his waist and he stroked her cheek with his hand. “My precious dragon… No you are not dreaming." Conner said in a soothing tone as he picked up her paw in his hand and squeezed.

Daniella sat back on her haunches, Conner stood up and wrapped his arms around her as she wrapped her forelegs around his neck and her wings around his entire body. “This feels like a dream to finally be able to hold you while you hold me after all this damn time." Daniella choked slightly on her words.

Conner merely held her tighter in response before trying to pull away but the dragon held firm. “Daniella… may I at least turn around so I can do some work?" Conner asked softly as he tried to twist around in her grasp.

Daniella loosened her grip slightly so Conner could reach the terminal and continue what he had been doing. Her forepaws were wrapped around his neck, she hung her neck over his shoulder and pressed the side of her head against his chest.

Conner stroked the side of her head with his hand before messing around with a blueprint of something…

Conner stepped out into a room with his Tek suit on… the entire room went silent as they spotted the Tek suit.

“What is the Angel of Death doing here?" Someone asked in confusion causing Conner to chuckle.

His Tek suit changed colour to black and cyan with cyan lights. “The Russians failed to get rid of me…" Conner said and by his tone, it was obvious he was smirking.

The Tek suit changed back to matte black with the red lights as he turned around and a holographic projection appeared behind him.

Conner pointed to an area on the map displayed on the screen. “Base Kilo is seven kilometers from here and THAT!" Conner exclaimed as the satellite map zoomed in on a huge titan. “Fucker is in the way… The survivors that are running around here from the active Ark System in the area and the survivors who have managed to get away from here have been calling that thing the King Titan." Conner grumbled as he saw the massive five hundred foot tall scaled monstrosity move. “I've been able to piece together plenty of what happened while I was forced to have a god damn beauty sleep!" Conner barked as he resisted the urge to break something. “We also have these three dickheads to worry about too." Conner sighed as the satellite map split into three screens and zoomed into three other much smaller titans. “I've heard that this one is called the Forest Titan… How fitting." Conner said sarcastically as he pointed at the section of screen that showed a giant bipedal tree with two arms that almost dragged the ground as it walked.

Daniella walked up to Conner and took over with the briefing as Conner leaned against her side to try and cool off.

“We have the two other problem Titans, the Desert Titan is not straying far from the Desert Proto Ark while the Ice Titan is lumbering around the Arctic Proto Ark." Daniella said as she curled a wing around Conner. “I want everyone to prepare. We wipe these three off the map before advancing through the Forbidden Zone… You will know when we move to take out these Corrupted monstrosities." Daniella said sternly before joining Conner in silence.

Conner and Daniella watched silently as the rest of Shadow One went over the details of the upcoming mission.

The mess hall was alive with conversation as other people added ideas to the plan and slight tweaks were made if someone had a good idea.

“Sir, I have located your personal Starship as well as the Mothership. These massive aircraft carrier shaped ships of the sky held up well but most of them ended up getting hijacked causing the Self-Destruct Protocol to initiate."

Conner let out a sigh. “Can you get them to start?" Conner asked quietly as he walked over to a side private room in the mess hall.

“Yep! Got them both started!" The AI said enthusiastically.

“Good. Can you get the Mothership's fabricator to finish it?" Conner asked as he sat down at a mess table inside the private mess room and took his Tek suit off before adjusting his hat on his head as it finished constructing.

“Yes, would you like to see what it should look like and how big it will be?"

“Show me." Conner said in a flat tone.

The Tek wrist screen projected a hologram and a twisted smile spread across Conner's face as he saw it.

“That will be perfect to deal with him…" Conner chuckled. “I'll show you the real King of Shadows." Conner said with a twisted smile as his eyes slitted and turned bright red.

“Yo Conner! Been awhile!" Cameron said from across the large underground garage complex as he approached the shape in a dark section of the garage sitting against a black car shape.

“That's an understatement." Conner mumbled as the lights above him turned on.

“What is with you and always sitting in the dark?" Cameron remarked as Conner opened the hood of his Dodge Charger.

Conner just chuckled as the garage lights dimmed and turned red. “When you spend so much time around something… It becomes a part of you." Conner said as he stared at the monstrous eight cylinder engine with two full size twin turbo kits and a monstrous 3.0L custom built supercharger.

“What did you build that supercharger from?" Cameron asked as Conner inspected each intake.

“I took a Dodge Demon 170 Whipple supercharger and just improved it." Conner said as he cleaned out the car's intake. “The biggest problem I ran into when modifying the Mazda." Conner said as he pointed at the black Mazda3 parked a few meters away. “Was the fucking intake collapsing in on itself and getting spat out the exhaust." Conner chuckled as he removed one of the turbocharger intakes to inspect it.

“Didn't this one and the Raptor R give you the most trouble?" Cameron asked as he leaned over the spotless Hemi engine in front of him.

“Yeah… I thought I managed to make a good intake. I had used the AI to rev the engine so I could watch the engine bay as the car didn't have a cable throttle and she still doesn't." Conner chuckled before continuing. “I watched as the turbocharger intakes and supercharger intake got sucked into the fucking system and got spat out the exhaust. I literally watched intake confetti shoot out of the exhaust pipes across the fucking garage! I was so mad." Conner laughed as he looked at the multi century old engine.

Conner looked over to his right and saw Daniella poking around in the engine bay of her Mustang GT500. Her tail was swaying to and fro as she hummed to herself.

Conner smiled as he put the air filter back in and closed the hood.

Cameron was talking about something but Conner wasn't paying attention as Daniella had looked over her shoulder and raised her tail, she was swaying her hips side to side.

“Sorry Cam, what were you saying, my wife seems to be in the mood." Conner chuckled.

Daniella rolled her eyes and ruffled her wings before trotting over and sitting next to Conner as Cameron opened the passenger door and fell down as he went to sit in the passenger seat.

Conner and Daniella both started laughing as Cameron got his rear wedged into the spot ment for a dragon's tail to fit through.

“I guess I never made the seat change back to a human bucket race seat." Conner chuckled as he walked over and leaned against the passenger door.

Cameron finally got himself unstuck and grumbled as the two continued to chuckle at his expense. Daniella sat into the seat after Cameron moved away and smiled.

“You got your ass stuck in the hole for my tail." Daniella said with a smile as she tucked her wings tightly against her back and sat back into the seat.

“It's a specialized seat so that she can actually handle the insane g-forces of this car without passing out." Conner explained as he leaned against the car.

“Definitely cool. I'll catch you two later." Cameron said before walking away from the couple.

“Yeah, see you around, Cam." Conner said before looking at Daniella.

“I still can't even put into words how happy I am that I finally found you." Daniella said with a loving smile.

“You don't need to say anything about it my love." Conner responded with an equally loving smile.

Daniella pulled Conner into a passionate kiss and Conner gladly accepted.

Conner smiled as they pulled away and Daniella got out of the Charger before Conner closed the door.

Daniella followed after Conner as he walked over to his Ninja H2R.

“I remember the first time I took you with me on that bike… Was also the first time you had reduced your size in front of me." Conner chuckled as he looked at the gloss black sport bike with a black paint splash pattern.

“Making myself smaller was a little strange." Daniella chuckled. “Being seven feet standing on my hind legs rather than around ten feet was weird." Daniella added with a smile as she sat back on her haunches and looked slightly down at Conner.

“Welp, I think I should catch up with our friends properly, been a hectic week of prepping after you found me." Conner chuckled as the two began walking towards the garage exit.

Daniella turned around and rolled her eyes as she looked at his three stealth fighters and one spy plane at the back of the garage before shaking her head when she turned it to look at an American M1 Abrams that was repainted black, a German Leopard 2A7 that was also matte black and a British FV4034 Challenger 2 that was painted matte black.

“Always was such a military nut." Daniella chuckled softly.

“Man, I could go for a tea." Conner said aloud to himself.

“It really shows that your father is eighty percent British." Daniella chuckled. “And you even like beans on toast!" Daniella scoffed.

“Oi! You leave me alone about beans on toast!" Conner exclaimed with a laugh over his shoulder.

Daniella rolled her eyes as she followed after him.

“Should I call upon Thor and request that you have safe travels to Valhalla?" Conner teased the half Norwegian, half Icelandic dragon.

Daniella scoffed. “That is not how that works at all."

“I'm well aware… Just teasing you about your heritage." Conner chuckled.

“Oh and your last name comes from Vikings so don't try and tease me about that when your own family tree is rooted in Nordic soil!" Daniella said with a wide grin.

“Ah, you got me!" Conner chuckled as he raised his hands.

The two exited the garage after they stopped their back and forth teasing.

“I could go for a tea, some pepperoni pizza and some spicy hot wings." Conner said to himself as he and Daniella made their way to the mess hall.

“Seasoning on the wings or no?" Daniella cocked an eyeridge and smiled broadly.

“Oh don't even! As if imma eat some dry ass unseasoned chicken. Ack! Just because I am white and like beans on toast doesn't mean I don't know what seasoning is." Conner shook his head as he tried not to imagine some white people food he had seen when he was a teen.

“I'm fucking with you." Daniella chuckled. “Unlike some white folks, you actually know how to cook properly and your taste buds aren't broken." Daniella said as she pushed Conner with her wing arm and poked him with her wing claw.

“You remember that video of that southern woman slathering a turkey in mayonnaise and throwing it in the oven?" Conner chuckled.

“Oh my God!" Daniella gagged. “Yep I do!" Daniella laughed.

“Fucking nasty." Conner chuckled as he sat down at a table in a private room in the mess hall so he could eat without people he didn't want to be able to see his face. Daniella sat to Conner's right and leaned against him.

“Ah Conner! Finally not busy after a week." Adalinda exclaimed as Conner and Daniella's friend group walked in after her.

“Yeah… finally have enough time to sit down properly." Conner chuckled dryly.

“Pah! You have always been busy!" Karyna exclaimed with a laugh as she walked into the room with a white drake following behind her.

Conner rolled his eyes at the forest green 'ness before selecting the food he wanted on the hologram in front of him.

“So what's the plan to deal with ugly?" Shane asked as he sat across the table from Conner.

“You'll see…" Conner smiled a twisted smile when he imagined what he would do to the King Titan when it was ready.

“Oh? What do you have in mind?" Adalinda said with a cheeky smirk as she sat behind Shane and crossed her forelegs over him.

“Oh, ha ha." Conner chuckled light heartedly. “I've got a lot in mind but I think it's best if I save that for later…" Conner said with a smirk.

“Oh? Wha-" Adalinda said with a smirk but Conner cut her off.

“Yeah, nice try." Conner shook his head and tried to hide his amused look. “This guy has only one bed buddy." Conner gave the large black 'ness a firm stare, his lip quivered as he tried to suppress a growing smile.

Daniella rolled her eyes before grasping Conner's left shoulder and pulling him into her side. She unfurled her left wing and wrapped it around Conner.

“What did we miss?" Treena asked as she sat next to Daniella and Kyle sat down next to her.

“Eh, not much… Just Adalin slinging sexual jokes around as usual." Shane chuckled.

“Sexual jokes here but sexual acts when I have you alone in bed." Adalinda gazed down at Shane with a predatory glint in her eyes.

Conner rolled his eyes before looking down at his food when it was placed on the table in front of him by a robot.

“Been awhile since I've had this stuff." Conner chuckled as he looked at the pizza and wings in front of him.

“Hurry up and eat the meat on the wings so I can eat the bones." Daniella said impatiently.

Conner gave her a look. “You can eat the bones when I finish what I want to eat off the bones." Conner said playfully.

“So…" Kyle said as he looked at his Tek wrist screen. “Titan problem…"

“Soon… Very soon." Conner said in a dead tone.

To Be Continued…