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///

Lucian

Trojan Outpost, Unknown Location

November 2nd, 0030 hours

Murmurings.

It was as if he had earmuffs on, he couldn't understand a word they were saying, just that they were saying things.

Was this still a part of the dream?

That which he had been cast into for a thousand years, the promise that never came?

Those strange men who didn't exist, kind and evil, your fears and dreams personified, yourself dissected and split between them.

Was he still part of the grand mosaic-

Lucian screamed as hot fire ran through his veins, thrashed with tears brimming in his eyes, thousands of knives piercing every inch of his body.

He fell limp.

Slowly, he began to hear and understand.

And then, see...

The otter raised his head weakly, found that he was hanging by his wrists.

Labcoats, clipboards.

People hurrying around a hemicycle from which he was at the center of the flat edge... Then again he couldn't account for what was behind him.

Except a white glow.

Doors opened adjacent from him, he realized he was separated from the scientists by a plexiglass wall.

And the area around him appeared... Burnt.

Through those doors walked a man he knew well but had never met in person.

And he knew to fear.

Ramses Trojan was flanked by two juggernauts with railguns and several eager scientists, all holding clipboards their own.

Approaching Lucian, Trojan put a hand on his wrist, feeling the pulse.

Giving a nod, suddenly Lucian dropped to the floor and everyone- even the juggernauts- flinched and moved back slightly.

Except for the jackal.

Lucian weakly got to one knee, finding he could go no further in that state.

An appropriate image, taking a knee for someone like that.

"Can you stand?"

Lucian shook his head. Between Ramses' voice and the din of machinery his ears were being tortured.

Lucian found he was lifted into a wheelchair, vision fading black and then clear again.

"Sir, let us accompany you. This one's dangerous"-

"No. I made myself clear."

Hesitantly, the juggernauts backed off.

Lucian didn't look at them. Not that he could so much as move his head from staring at the floor but those bastards were less than monsters...

Next he found the doors reopening, wheelchair being pushed by one of the scientists he hadn't gotten a good look at, Trojan walking alongside him.

They left the hemicycle, and blinding white light of bleached hallways and daytime racked his vision.

A corridor, particularly a skybridge between two larger buildings.

They were in Egypt. That was never good, Trojan and Egypt.

The rest of the world couldn't see them, this whole facility was cloaked and off the books.

Not even DeSanta knew-

Lucian grit his teeth, stopping the excruciating burst of sudden knowledge.

It would always come in unexpected bursts, his abilities. And he could usually control them.

Here, he was having trouble.

"Lucian Krause."

The otter gave no response.

"That's your name, isn't it? Don't you remember?"

He gave a weak nod this time, Trojan's deep and strange voice practically forcing him to answer.

"And do you remember why you went comatose?"

Lucian hadn't even noticed they were moving across the skybridge, rolling sands out the window.

Far to the West.

"Lucian? I asked you a question."

"Y-yeah..."

Trojan's assistant, whoever she was pushing the wheelchair wrote something down quickly.

"You met with a... Mr. Choi, correct?"

Once more Lucian stared out the window.

Choi.

Panther.

Red eyes... He looked so strange.

His face- the flesh under the fur- was shiny almost. Metallic.

Wore gloves and long sleeves.

He looked young. Lucian remembered him well.

"The nature of this meeting was on your Janus disease. Choi was standing in for Reynolds, who you were supposed to meet with."

The otter gave a weak nod. He finally realized from his reflection he was only wearing shorts, and had strange cuts on his body, and...

Half his face was covered in scar tissue.

"After this meeting a bomb detonated in the office. Choi was working with Jinn. We found Reynolds' corpse dismembered several days later. From the way you're looking at your reflection... You can see what the detonation did."

His chest began to rise and fall, quicker.

Lucian's mouth on the left side of his face was contorted upwards in some sad, wicked grin, his eye bulging and pink, his ear was missing entirely.

"And you've been in a coma for about a month."

Trojan's assistant tightened her grip on Lucian's wheelchair, nervous.

Ramses himself was not moved in the slightest.

"I am told you are the... now, the second most powerful afflict known to the world. In your comatose state, your short lifespan, GRA has given me custody of you."

Ramses Trojan looked down at the otter, and somehow Lucian found the strength to lift his head.

Their eyes locked- green on green.

God, Trojan was terrifying... Lucian had looked into the eyes of DeSanta and seen only eyes.

Here, he saw the horrors of war, and the deeper horrors of those who would exploit it for their own.

"And Lucian, you and I... We're going to change the world. For the better. For Trojan."

///

Tai

GRA Settlement 14, Thailand

November 2nd, 0400 hours

"Someone wake him up. Can't believe he slept the whole 6 hours, damn."

"After yesterday and the day before, too. Bet he'll go back to sleep when we get to where we're staying..."

"I think he has problems, man. Serious ones."

I felt a nudge.

I really didn't want to get up.

Actually, I did, now that I thought about it.

It was terrifying me, like my brain was getting shut down or something.

Of course I knew the real reason but still...

If you just randomly started turning into-

You know what, if I start we're going to be here all day.

"Do I need to carry you, bratja?"

I gave a groan and began to sit up, but not before two powerful arms slid under me and lifted me.

"Wha..."

Falling limp, I opened my eyes to find I was in the air.

Thailand had a strange way of getting people off trains. Even more surprising they used Russian-

When I realized what was happening I squirmed out of Kyle's arms, and he nearly fell over himself.

Everyone turned around and I awkwardly stood up, brushing off Kyle's help.

Red came to my cheeks and I looked around, trying to ignore what had just happened.

It was drab. There weren't even any lights, Jake pulled out his phone and used a flashlight.

No one was here and as soon as we got off the magnatrain sped out extremely fast.

Like Vervous', it had the train and then a short set of stairs onto the block, but instead of having all the doors and long walkways, only one train ran through here. The whole station was a single room.

I'd find out later that everyone had gotten off at the West Europe stops, we were the only ones in the whole train by the Sea of Blood (remotely conducted).

We walked out, and Alvin began to say something when a blinding light erupted in our vision.

Everyone shielded their eyes and shrank back.

"If anyone fucking moves, I'm going to blow their head off, got me? One by one, I want to see your GSS badges."

"Chill, man. This is G201, I saw the pictures."

"And you don't think it's that Jinn bitch that can change herself up? After last month I'm not taking chances."

As the bright light turned off a more warm yellow one replaced it, Jake turning off his own.

None of us moved, and no one was really panicked, just agitated.

Except me, I was definitely panicked.

That bright light was off some sort of AR that was now being waved around in our faces.

He came to Rochelle first and asked her to produce the badge, which she grabbed from her back pocket.

It was kind of like a wallet, the badges had the GRA logo on front and then if you unfolded it there was a disc made of some bluish metal with the GSS logo in turn.

AR guy, a Great Dane for his height surely, walked around the frozen group with his gun in one hand and an odd scanner in the other, running it over the badges.

Back in the mouth of the station, another one stood with the flashlight. He was wearing a helmet so all I had to go off of was his white spotted tail.

I looked at the helmet, not even realizing I was much staring at another person.

It had a head shape appropriately fitted, not domed but feline shaped and allocating for the muzzle. Chrome almost, black. Some sort of design painted on the side, a skull with fire out of it. I heard fireteams painted their helmets alike.

His visor was light blue tinted, a thin line across where his eyes would be.

The BMF's wore the same helmet, albeit with no paint and a black visor.

I hated those things more than Jinn masks...

"Badge, kid."

AR guy had his gun on me now and I quickly produced my own badge.

Last off the train with Kyle closer to them, everyone was watching me.

Folding it out, I looked at the GSS logo- two lightning bolts crossed behind a feral lion.

Under it, I noticed a single black 'J' was monogrammed.

As he scanned, he tried to get the J in but it detected nothing.

"Eh. Just go along. Curfew for civs is in order so watch your backs, all the rulebreakers come out around this time. You all know where you're going?"

Isaac waved a small map I hadn't seen before at him and nodded.

"Alright, safe travels."

We walked out, on edge now.

I couldn't see anything but flashlight guy's light illuminated us for a short ways, showing me tall buildings just as drab as the station we'd just left, and a long dirt road.

If any 'rulebreakers' or whatever came out, we hadn't been able to bring any guns and Marshall advised us against any knives.

All we had was numbers.

And maybe not even that...

It didn't remind me of Gibraltar, strangely.

Maybe because I wasn't alone.

///

We weren't with Marshall because apparently he'd stopped off as soon as we got into Thailand and taken a separate route.

Of course, I was asleep for all that.

It didn't come to me until then that we had been going around Jinn territory.

There were 3 different magnatrain lines that ran across what little GRA had in Southeast Asia, one that did a circle around Thailand's center to the very northernmost point (where we were), and the rest were dedicated to the far north and far south Indonesian islands we claimed.

Jinn could have destroyed the lines at any point, sent us into the sea.

I realized why Americans used flight instead of magnatrains, but for them there wasn't a fragile reservation for civilian life.

Maybe Jinn just had good AA guns.

We had been walking for almost 30 minutes until we finally saw a light in the distance.

It was a tall, drab building (no surprise there) but this one had a few guards milling about around front and a few of the buildings around it were lit.

A certain wolf was waiting out front, having abandoned his usual tux for a button-up black trench coat.

Marshall was leaning against the open entrance to the large building, and I couldn't much get a glimpse inside.

Another guard raised his gun but Marshall calmly put a hand on the rail and eased it back down.

"G201. Glad to see you made it in one piece, I would have accompanied you but I had to exchange a few words with DeSanta. On me."

A few mutterings; naturally they never knew DeSanta was even there originally.

We walked in and looking around everything was actually fancy, but older.

Golden chandelier, forked and curved staircase with the meeting at the top like some sort of ballroom.

The carpet was all red and there were several paintings, worn and frayed.

"This is a hotel Jinn's officials stayed at before we captured the region 5 years ago. You and the other GSS squadrons are top floor, elevators are over there," he pointed down a hallway, "if you don't want to use the stairs."

Marshall looked around a bit.

The entire room was empty apart from us, deathly quiet.

Only the sounds of the guards outside permeated our hearing.

"And lock your doors no matter what, the locals around here don't like us. Last month, if you didn't hear, nearly half the men stationed here were killed. I'll assign rooms."

We all looked at each other wide-eyed, and I wasn't surprised Marshall had just glazed it all over from his track record.

He began to assign our roommates, and for the first time I was staying with someone else.

Obviously Reyna and Rochelle were bunked together and I figured Reyna's nerves were going to slowly fray until she beat the shit out of-

Reyna.

I still hadn't spoken to her at all in so long. Let alone trained with her, I was too busy in my fucking comas... I really wanted to know where we were.

At least this time I knew why she was avoiding me.

"...Jake and Isaac, and that leaves Tai and Kyle."

We were ushered towards the elevators and Riddick shot me a look. I didn't know what it meant but it wasn't a good one, for sure.

///

///

Ruined Hotel

0500 hours

My eyes fluttered open, I'd fallen asleep again.

The lights were still on, I'd insisted upon it so I wouldn't fall back asleep again.

It had to be around 5:00 and the sun woke early when it came to November, but as the walls were concrete and we had no windows...

"I am surprised, Tai. Almost impressed. I've never seen someone sleep so much in my life."

I gave a strange noise and rolled over to look at his side of the room.

He was hanging... Upside down.

Kyle tilted his head at me and then pulled himself back up again.

I could barely crunch 30 situps a day and here he was doing it upside down with gravity throwing everything it could at him.

Nonchalantly.

I watched him for a moment, he didn't look all that stressed so I could only wonder when he started...

Kyle was well built, that was for sure, but it didn't much show. Especially under that coat he always wore. Here, he looked like he could put Jake to shame.

Now that he was without his shirt his abs were practically carved into him, hands crossing his chest.

He gave me a rare smile as I stared, shocked.

"I've been on this routine for about 11 years. It doesn't bother as much after time."

"I thought you'd be sleeping is all..."

Kyle lowered himself from the bar gracefully, then undid some switches on the side and the suction cups on the sides came out of the wall.

"Sleep is a necessity. But a foolish one."

He collapsed the bar and walked over to his bag. The only things in the room were our bags, two creaky beds, and a naked lightbulb. Not even a window.

Of course, we had a door too.

Setting the bar in his bag, he pulled a stopwatch out. It was antique, gold plated. The face had strange shapes on it, a picture.

He looked at it for too long for it not to hold significance.

"5:00. After I get a shower I am going to get breakfast, want anything?"

"So you don't sleep?" I could be less interested in breakfast...

"Of course. I give myself six hours. The magnatrain took six hours to get here. Simple."

I watched him walk out.

...

Damn.

I could never figure him out. He never got pissed off but I knew it would be easy to snake around his temper and do so.

He was a mercenary. I still wasn't sure entirely what that stood for.

For whatever reason he wasn't close to anyone on the squad but me. Most likely he was just having a word with Riddick, I'm sure they weren't much.

His display, however unintentional, practically forced me out of bed and all of a sudden I wanted to throw Gibraltar back across the Mediterranean- well, I guess back West.

I'd probably never work myself to that level.

Pulling a black shirt out of my bag, I was pretty sure they'd assign us to some sort of guard rotation as extra hands. I'd be dressed for the job at least.

My bag was right next to Kyle's, and he'd only half put that stopwatch back in.

It had some sort of Russian text on the back, the chain as gold as the body.

Taking a look at the closed door, I figured he couldn't get a shower and breakfast in about a minute.

But fuck if I knew, everyone had just been doing more and more.

Out of curiosity and a strange feeling compelling me to the stopwatch, I picked it up.

Light... As stopwatches were known to be...

I cast another glance at the door. He wouldn't be too pissed if I went through his bag...

I-I mean, I wasn't about to rifle through his bag or anything, I just wanted to see the stopwatch.

Tracing my thumb across the text, I flipped it back over.

On the front, the hinges were worn and the plain metal bar running through them was rusted. It was old, and probably valuable, for those people that liked to buy old things.

There was a large Cyrillic letter as well, a vertical line with two spheres coming off at either side.

This time it wasn't bulging out but rather pressed into the watch's lid.

Flipping it back slowly, when it snapped open with little force I myself snapped back to the door.

Slowly looking back down at the watch, I took in the face.

A colorless photograph was inscribed on it, hands in intricate shapes.

The picture itself was of three individuals.

I could see Kyle's eyes, his height and face in the two behind him.

And it was obvious who the small child in between them was.

Kyle was just under the axis of the arms, his face young and unscarred and innocent.

He had a wide smile that I couldn't picture on him anywhere else.

It was beautiful.

And sad.

I wouldn't dare ask him about his parents. They appeared well off based on the picture and the room in the background, as well as their clothing.

And it took a well off family who loved their son a tragedy to turn him into a cold mercenary.

My eyes grazed the rest of his bag as if it would snap at me if I looked at it too long.

Knives.

Firearms.

Other things I decided I didn't need to know about...

Putting it back close to the original position as possible, I decided to go look around, forgetting Kyle was bringing me breakfast.

///

Ruined Hotel, Lobby

0530 hours

Coming down the stairs, the elevators shook when you took them and I didn't want to try them.

I was on the top floor- G201's station- which was 8. A workout to rival Kyle's.

No, it just felt like one. And I was going down.

A few stragglers in the lobby, mainly soldiers milling about in free time.

Looking around for someone familiar, a hand roughly came to my shoulder and gave it a short squeeze.

I turned to see Riddick.

"Marshall wanted us to go patrol a little, get a feel for the place. Care to come with?"

I gave a nod, nothing else to do but sit around in the hotel and do nothing.

Riddick led me towards a door off to the side- another ballroom.

This one had several guards outside it, the one person in it had just left out a backdoor.

Tables stacked with guns, body armor, all sorts of gadgetry...

Not even pistols, AR's, LMG's, I could have sworn I saw a fucking rocket launcher...

"Is that all... Necessary?"

"Well, you know how that guy was being a dick to us when we first got here? Waved his gun around?"

I nodded.

"I saw a guy get pulled in here with one of his legs blown off last night, some bastard threw a homemade bomb at him. So yeah, it's necessary."

He said it so nonchalantly.

For a moment I wondered just what he had seen that made him this way.

And why I, from Gibraltar, was the softest one on my team.

"Gear up. We probably won't need to use them, bad shit happens at night mostly."

I was silent as I picked up an AR, then moved over to the bulletproof vests.

"Nah, you gotta get all the way suited. Yours ought to be around here somewhere... Here, I'll help you."

I noticed Riddick had picked up some sort of jacket or something. It had all sorts of text stitched in, completely black.

Putting his on, he handed me my own. Looking on it, the left shoulder had three patches.

The first, topmost and almost near the top of my shoulder, was simply 'TAI' in all white, caps.

Second was the German flag, confusing until I forgot my ties to them.

New Morocco wasn't present.

Third, the GRA lion against the blue background, circular. GSS under that, and the GSS logo was on the other shoulder.

Plenty of other stitched in text as well. G201 and all that.

I put it on and Riddick handed me fatigues. I didn't particularly feel like getting in my boxers in front of the gay guy again, so I casually slipped them on over my jeans.

He griped something about me wearing tennis shoes before handing me over boots, and then a bulletproof vest.

The vest was already stocked with a radio, knife, and a flashlight, several unfilled compartments.

"How do we tell who's who if everyone wears black?"

I asked to the air more than anyone but he gave a shrug.

"Usually we're over here and they," he pointed to one of the walls, clearly specifying a literal direction, "usually are over there."

I stared at the wall as I put on my vest and boots.

"If you see any Jinn, by the way, don't fire on em'. A few of them might be pulling up for the talks, I doubt their officials come without an escort."

I gave a nod, bending down to tie my boots when I was suddenly jerked back up.

Riddick was behind, hands on the straps of my vest.

"Needs to be tighter."

I stood still and let him fasten me, getting pulled every once in a while.

His hands were quick and rough, capable.

Riddick didn't try and make it hurt...

But if it did, just get up and rub some dirt in it.

I tried my best not to jerk around with his pulls for fear of abrasion.

"Alright, go grab yourself something from the guns. And none of those pansy-ass carbines either."

Still picking about the lightest thing I could, I gave him a look to shut him up.

I then left my shoes in a nearby locker marked with my name at the top.

Actually, they were initialed, but...

Hey, three letters one way or another.

We walked back out, about ten pounds heavier than when we came in.

///

Streets

"So did you ever see the rock?"

"What?"

"The rock of Gibraltar?"

"...Well during the First War, Spain drilled into it and put a bunch of explosives for storage, made a base. When their enemies found out they just bombed the shit out of it. And a hellhole was made on the coasts."

The hyena gave a nod. It wasn't the most famous event, a lot of people thought the rock was still there.

Even nature goes away after a long enough time. Conquered by man.

Riddick and I had been walking for a good ten minutes or so, I was listening to what he said but more so taking in what was out there.

My old slum-sense came back, eyes narrowing and ears opening.

I quickly closed them as we entered a market street of sorts, too much to focus on.

Buildings with bars, vendors out lining the dusty, unpaved street. Most of the buildings here were two story, the first being shops or just hollowed out spaces with a staircase and a window.

It was crowded but there were people pressed to the stalls, a narrow one-lane where people walked back and forth ambiguously.

People gave us a wide berth as soldiers, but every once in a while there would be what was just under a shove. And it was clearly intentional.

"Was Gibraltar anything like this?"

He snapped me out of my odd trance, and I gulped and looked at the dust coating my boots.

"...Usually no one but gangs congregated. Best to be alone."

Riddick gave an uh-huh and looked up to the sun, already high.

Not Riddick, of course, the sun.

"Kinda like this video game I screwed around with a lot. Zombies, people, they'd KOS you so you didn't know who to trust."

"Video games?"

Riddick gave me a look. I still couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not then, but he was trying his best to lighten the mood.

"You mean you don't know about..."

I shook my head.

"It's a cruel, cruel world, Tai."

A shout.

Many shouts, but this one caught my attention, my ears were practically trained to recognize conflict and flee.

This time, I was a guard.

I caught a figure running off between people who moved like cattle, heads down and indifferent.

Weaving between them quickly, I saw the vendor, a giant of a bull, grab some sort of knife and take a few steps in pursuit.

Riddick caught him by the arm, saying a few words but got an angry response back in an Asian language.

He was busy now. Shaking my head, I took off after the reddish streak I saw get into an alleyway.

I let those slum-senses come back, looking high for climbers as I rounded the corner.

A shape.

I didn't think twice, darting to the end of the alley in a few quick steps and grabbing it by the middle, tossing it off the pipe it was climbing.

To my surprise in midair I was met with an elbow to the jaw and I threw them back into the wall, backing away and hefting my gun.

A wicked looking curved blade was drawn in response, the figure on the ground facing me in a crouched stance.

It was hooded in a cloak that was not unlike Lynx's, except the raccoon-like tail was puffed out and the hands were black.

"Put the knife down, please..."

My voice quavered.

Come on, Tai, you're holding a freaking gun. This is GSS.

Might have been my slum-sense...

"PUT THE FUCKING KNIFE DOWN!"

The figure didn't quaver.

I realized it was quite small, and I just caught a bit of brown hair spilling out over one shoulder in the darkness of the alley.

It was a she, I assumed.

"You will do nothing."

Her voice was sharp, and young. Very young.

I was shocked for a moment.

"Test me..."

She stood.

At full height she was still very short.

Raised her knife, though she was still far.

"Go on. Do it."

No, I wasn't going to.

"I could escape and kill so many soldiers. And innocents. But you could stop me."

I didn't say anything to her, eyes fixated on the dark face I still couldn't see.

Her voice was almost like a child Lynx, Asian with a northern-

...

Child?

"Take the hood off at least."

She gave a shrug. Lowering her knife, at least I'd accomplished that.

I saw she was a child, as my suspicions and fears confirmed.

Red Panda. Dark eyes.

Her face was rough- patchy in the fur and scarred. But her hair was in one coarse braid over one shoulder, now black that I could see.

"H-how old are you?"

I expected a jeer at my stuttering but she didn't seem to react.

"11."

My gun shook for a moment, the sound of metal clipping reverberating throughout the alleyway.

Something in me tossed and turned, a nauseous spirit that made me feel like an outsider looking in.

On this cruel, cruel world.

"You have family to feed?"

She gave a quick nod. Either she had practiced this or was afraid lying would be signified with a slow one.

Or maybe she was telling the truth.

I've learned the more they are like me...

The more inclined they are to lie.

"Tell me your name."

I was caught off guard once more, looking into the young, harrowed eyes.

I noticed her knife was away.

And she was nibbling on that bread she stole.

Best to claim things with your own spit.

If you stole and ate it you got the use from it, there was nothing they could do.

Unless they hit you in the stomach and...

"I'm... I'm Tai."

I pulled myself away again, unnerved at the sudden return of harsh life.

She finished the small bit of bread, looking up at me.

God, those eyes haunted me...

I could feel her boring into me, harshly pulling my soul through the portals and looking over all that was Tai.

I stood completely still, gun lowered to the ground, staring back.

I couldn't do anything. I couldn't even try.

"You are like me. I can see it. Your eyes tell all..."

She really did sound a lot like Lynx, voice quiet and raspy.

"What do you mean...?"

Her eyes narrowed, the black edges around them piercing right through me.

"You know. The slums. The settlements. We live this life."

I was openmouthed, pitiful.

Pitying her.

Pitying myself.

Her face changed as she drilled deeper, cutting in and looking beyond.

"You betray yourself."

I heard what sounded like a certain hyena having a shouting match with a bull from outside the alleyway.

"W-what do you mean?"

Her nose twitched.

"Look at what you wear. Look at the patches. Look, Tai of the slums. Look what binds you."

It took a moment.

"You're insinuating because I work with"-

"Work for. You should be ashamed. Watch your friends rot instead of help them."

Heavy footsteps behind me and I turned to see Riddick practically throwing money at the bull, to no avail.

Turning back I heard the rustling of a pipe and a burgundy streak just flash from view.

I could have sworn I saw a silver eye on the hem of her cloak.

The bull was shouting something back and forth with Riddick as I turned around, pushing the fistful of GRA dollars my squadmate was trying to fork at him away.

He seemed to notice me.

Pointing, he yelled something at me I couldn't understand.

As he got in my face, hot breath nearly blasting me back with his powerful lungs, I handed him a nice bit to pay off the loaf and a bit extra- just squabbling among the commoners-

I stopped myself and my eyes widened as he took my crimson cash.

My Jinn notes.

My...

The man begrudgingly took his cash, leaving me and Riddick staring at each other.

I opened my hand and a note fluttered to the ground.

Our eyes followed it almost comically.

"Tai? You, uh... Do some exchanging?"

"I..."

I hadn't touched that stuff in my life.

I didn't have any money...

It was just there, in my hand... And I'd never touched it in my life.

"You alright?"

I said nothing for a moment, mouth opening and closing.

"Yeah. I... I'm fine."

I started to leave but Riddick grabbed the one note that I'd left and handed it back to me, it was supposed to be of a great deal of value.

"Fucker probably lost like 8 more when he left his stand... Thanks for handling it, I thought he was gonna sock me or something..."

Once again I kept silent.

I started walking out and he followed me.

What just happened?

Was that another Janus thing? I could straight summon money?

I mean, I certainly wasn't complaining but-

"Tai, are you alright?"

"...You just asked me, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but... I worry."

I looked over to him and our eyes met for a moment.

Mine darted away, still stinging from that ghost in the alleyway.

"Ever since the airport you've been quiet. And that day Reyna was yelling at you... It's like you just shut down. Especially with all this sleep you've been getting, I..."

My eyes finally fell to the dust underneath my boot, and I realized Riddick was steering us back towards the hotel.

I said nothing to him, I didn't know what to say.

"I feel like you're my only friend here. No one else's bad or anything but... I just... I can't trust people all that well. I had bad things happen to me, back home before all this... And ANZU. And if anything happened to you, Tai..."

I gave a nod, still staring at the dirt.

Riddick and Reyna were a lot alike.

At least one of them knew just how deep the hole they were digging was.

And all they'd find was a wooden box six feet under.

My name on it.

I gave a sigh.

"What was that you were going to tell me at the magnatrain station?"

"Back in Vervous?"

"Yeah, you said it was heavy?"

He gave a nod.

Bit his lip, we walked for about five seconds before he made up his mind.

"I have reason to believe that either Isaac or Kyle, maybe both, are working with"-

"Riddick, Tai? Been looking for you guys!"

The red fox dashed up behind us, we'd left the market street and everything was maneuverable.

I looked to Riddick but he shook his head and then stared forward.

I moved and Isaac got in between us, chest rising and falling. He'd been running to catch us.

It came to me I hadn't spoken to him before. I'd be surprised if he even heard my voice.

No, I gave him my name before.

"Reyna wanted to talk to you." He said it directly to me but I got a strange feeling from it.

We held eye contact for another moment.

I just didn't understand him...

There was something strange, beyond reckoning about him.

Was it a good thing? Or not?

There is no spectrum of good and evil.

I've found there is a gray line, it goes straight for eternity.

I peeled off as we got to the hotel, Riddick looking distraught as Isaac began speaking with him casually.

///

Top Floor

0600 hours

I didn't find her in the lobby or any of the immediate rooms.

Reyna actually talking to me and not the other way around.

If I couldn't find her I was going to be royally pissed. Probably break a few glass cubes if they were lying around.

Defeated, I headed back upstairs.

To find the jackal waiting for me, arms crossed, leaning against the wall, in perhaps the first place I should've looked.

I put my hands in my pockets, some instant scorn coming over me as I saw her.

Maybe I'd forgotten the sting.

She opened the door of her room, and almost sarcastically waved me in.

Rochelle was there, I could hear her earbuds blasting practically in the hallway...

She raised her eyebrows at me.

I gave a look to the jackal.

Reyna pointed out the door and snapped her fingers, giving a glare to the mutt.

"Didn't Marshall put in some sort of rule about guys and girls alone in the same room?"

"Wha- just get the hell out!" Reyna yelled.

Rolling her eyes, Rochelle got up and departed, giving a grin and a wink to me as she walked out.

Reyna closed the door just as Rochelle left, taking a deep breath and releasing as she did.

"If I could murder one person, and get away with it..."

I gave a shallow laugh, mostly just giddy to talk to her again...

I sat on the center edge of Rochelle's bed and she on hers respectively, in the small gap between them our feet were nearly touching.

I looked at her slender black toes, graceful arch.

She had adorable feet.

"Isaac told me you wanted to talk to me."

Her eyes narrowed.

"I don't remember telling Isaac... Oh, nevermind. I wanted to speak to you about important things."

"I figured they'd be important."

I was still dressed head to toe in guard armor and I began taking off my vest and jacket, leaving me in my t-shirt.

She was acting sheepish, staring at the door.

"Rochelle's probably pressed her ear to it, let's keep quiet."

I gave a nod, I would have heard the music if she wasn't.

Reyna gave another huff.

"I need to speak to you about your disease."

I was really hoping for something about us, but...

After all, she didn't feel anything for me.

It certainly wasn't the last time I would be crushed in love.

No one ever stays long enough...

Maybe it's me.

...

It's probably me.

"I've heard quite a lot over the past few days..."

"You've slept a lot over the past few days. Which tells me that there's a clear problem."

I raised an eyebrow.

"I worked in the Janus division back at Trojan. I know more than you do."

She was wearing that shirt from last time, probably as PJ's or something.

The Egyptian football team.

"I'm pretty sure I know what it means, Rey."

She gave a barely audible, slight but sharp intake at being called Rey, perhaps the first time I'd used that name for her.

"It means your diet is lacking, or you've received too much trauma, or your lifespan"-

"No, that's not it."

"Ponder on it. I hurt you badly during training, I could have killed you. In fact, it's a miracle between all that's happened you aren't dead"-

"No, someone's sent me a message."

"...What?"

"I got sent a message, and it's been doing a bit of collateral damage bouncing around my head... Until I can actually grab it and read it. From my understanding."

I realized I might have used the wrong word for grab in Euro Common.

The first time I'd butchered it since almost 2 months ago now.

She was confused a good bit.

"Forgive me, the Janus field is relatively unexplored, but... How did you come by this?"

The voices in my head.

Of course, I couldn't tell her that.

...Or maybe I could?

I was getting tired of this secrecy game, things I could tell Reyna, things between me and Marshall, things between me and Ariya...

And that abyss that existed between me and Lynx.

"I was visited by an afflict, she was testing me."

"Avital?"

The name sounded familiar so I gave a nod.

"I'm surprised she's still alive, it must be a week or two before her birthday..."

"Oh?"

Reyna gave a grim nod. "It's very strange, always exactly around the birthdays of the afflicts. Within a week of it they always..."

She cut herself off.

Ariya... Didn't have much longer then.

I didn't know how to feel. I only knew the fake Ariya.

"I just want to let you know, you need to tell me everything. I can help you."

God, if I had a penny for the amount of times someone's tried that on me...

"Reyna, can we talk about something else?"

...

I'd probably have a lot of fucking pennies, I don't know.

She gave a reluctant nod, probably worried I was going to talk about what I was going to talk about.

I didn't know what I was going to talk about.

Was this what it was like to be rejected?

"Can we start training again when we get back to the Union?"

She gave a sigh.

"Well, knowing what I do now it's... Unwise. Playing with fire like that."

"I... I guess I just don't want our relationship to suffer."

Oh, I'd fucked up there.

She was going to say something biting, wasn't she?

I realized just how passive she'd been so far, maybe in the days I was gone she felt less obligated to be that cold person I knew she wasn't, I knew-

"As far as I'm concerned we have no relationship."

...

Oh.

"I thought we could at least be... Friends."

Her braids spilled over her shoulders as she stared down at the floor.

"Tai, we've been over this"-

"Damn it, what are you going to do then?!"

I surprise-

No.

I shocked myself.

But you know what? I was going to take this and fucking run with it.

Just like that letter in Gibraltar.

"Just hole yourself up from everyone? This is war, Reyna. And you decided you'd be a part of it. And look at yourself, drowning in your own self-pity!" I growled.

"Some of us didn't even get the option. Riddick, he got forced in here. And Kyle? His family's out of the picture. That band of mercs is all he has... And me?!"

I stood up, she looked up in shock.

Shock.

It recurs a lot.

"I'm from HELL! I was born there, this is all I fucking have and when your contracts are over, you all get that paycheck and go home?"

I grit my teeth, winced, and the tears, as hard as I fought them, started flowing.

"I'll have to go back to"-

I stopped myself.

No, I wouldn't even have that.

"I'm going to be six feet under..."

My fists clenching, they shook.

When I opened my eyes I saw nothing.

And in that nothing, there was more so where my jackal was sitting.

"Tai, I didn't mean"-

I barely caught my name in her mouth when I ripped open the door, Rochelle already having backed away from it as a precaution.

The mutt gave me a look of distraught.

...

I wasn't going to my room.

...

Where could I go?

All I wanted was to be alone...

Die where no one would feel sorry.

Where no one would notice.

I didn't even fucking care if I was terminal. I never did.

I just cared about her.

...

I wished Omar had just killed me back there.

///

Gynezis

Abandoned Jinn Airfield

November 4th, 1900 hours

His panther eyes- or at least his thermal eye- swept over the airfield.

It was abandoned, overgrown with all sorts of green, only a rusty hangar was ever here anyways. But his unit would be arriving shortly to escort him to the Jinn line.

Best to land at a place like this, his own wanted him dead.

From there they would move into Thailand.

And he would speak with Ms. DeSanta.

...

It was going to be a shitshow.

Just some taunts, maybe proposed prisoner trades or land deals that got shut down instantly.

And then they might get shot in the ass leaving.

But Watanabe and Kuro were both hinting at Jinn's own surprises.

Like rumor in a disorderly classroom it spread through the factions of Jinn, and Gynezis would be lucky if he heard it before it happened.

Such was the way of Jinn, those who were trustworthy learned things first.

No one had any real allegiance; just whatever patch was closest on the quilt.

He would change that when he was at the top.

And god as his witness, he was going to unify Jinn.

The plane took off behind him much like a taxi.

He was the only one in it, one of his most trusted affiliates flew it remotely.

It had been shot down by every sort of alliance- GRA, rival Jinn, mercenaries, people that just wanted to shoot down a fucking plane.

Of course, Gynezis was in it the whole time.

Just a bit more scorch to replace with metal.

To improve.

To make two- ten- one hundred times better.

One more piece of humanity, his soul, to relinquish.

One more-

He gasped as a silenced DMR's shot cracked through the airfield, the knifelike bullet embedding itself in his left shoulder.

He fell with the momentum, a hole in his favorite button up and his dark blood mixing with panther fur and his black t-shirt.

He groaned and tossed once, then thought better of it and went still.

This was why he was the man in the chair, so shit like this didn't happen as much...

Someone always wanted to kill him in a mile radius.

Jinn was terrified of him.

GRA... Well, they killed everyone Jinn.

He was likely worth a lot of money dead.

But damn, if he didn't miss doing his own dirty work...

He heard the boots as they came for him, his right eye switched to his satellite and magnified the area.

8 Jinn soldiers, the only reason he saw this was because he swapped night vision for increased lighting.

Heat sigs were entirely compressed, high tech shit he hadn't got his hands on yet...

Patches on their arms were gray and black, meant they were Singh's.

Singh had ordered they kill him.

He hadn't told them that was fucking impossible.

As one of them touched for the pulse the panther stabbed him in the throat and yanked up, cleaving his muzzle into tatters and sending him falling back.

Before they could draw any guns one had two bullets in each knee and one in the forehead.

He spun on the ground as he got up, metal leg sweeping the first to pull his gun so hard he corkscrewed in midair.

The first enemy fire erupted in an automatic burst, all of it missing as the barrel was jerked up back into the shooter's face.

His blood spattered Gynezis further than the first casualty did.

The corner of his eye told him a fist was raised and he threw himself at the opened-up grunt, shoulder bashing him a good few feet and setting himself away from the others.

Those others aimed their guns and fired.

Immediately he began a series of evasive maneuvers, one of the guns ceasing to drag their swept friend back, his leg bent at a terrible angle.

Bullets hit the panther, but on his cybernetics.

He couldn't keep it up for much longer, they had to reload but as the last one rejoined he was sporting an LMG- and nothing light on the clip.

Ripping a smoke bomb off his belt Gynezis crushed it in his hand, tossed it into the center of them and moved around the left.

He threw bits of metal that came off his arm by a bullet to the right, blindfire instantly going to the wrong side.

Nonchalantly he caught the knife behind him meant for his neck and twisted the arm savagely without looking, sending the soldier back on their ass.

He could just hose them all down with bullets but...

Where was the fun in that?

Striking through the smoke that was rapidly increasing in size his palm caught a helmet, and crushed it instantly.

Little yellow bursts through the screen, jerking to the side as their dead comrade fell against them.

He gave a sadistic laugh, a genuine one. His voice receptor was turned off so he could translate everything he said onto code during the flight, but now it just served an echoing, metallic voice.

"You thought this shit was gonna be easy, huh?"

He waded through the smoke and kicked the swept one in the ribs, his leg crushing the ribcage and sending the now sure corpse gliding off the ground a few feet, out of the smokescreen.

The other two blindfired.

One of them thought better at firing in the direction of the other but they were gunned down.

Gynezis seized the closest mass by the throat, careful not to crush it in his metal hand.

"Last man standing. You wanna keep it that way?"

Carrying them out of the smokescreen, the panther's cybernetic eye began to pick up that heat signature again, and it was blazing.

He picked up his pace and drew them back, then tossed them about five feet.

Low power.

As the soldier landed, they scrambled up but as Gynezis brought his metal foot down on the back of the shin, a sick crack echoed throughout the bloodied airfield.

A cry muffled by the helmet, feminine.

As the soldier lay still he nudged her onto her back with his bloodied leg.

Crouching down, he pulled off her helmet.

She was a mutt, probably grabbed off the streets.

Hard to see in the dead of night but her fur was brown, her hair red, and her ears taut.

Gynezis looked into her eyes, ate up all the fear...

"Do you know who I am?"

She gave a whimper.

"You know my name, but do you know who I am?"

Another whimper, weaker.

Her eyes rolled back into her head and she went limp.

A cry of pain from a few yards away.

He'd forgotten.

On his way to the man whose arm was bent backwards at a right angle, sleeves wet with blood at what was a clear sever, the man was tossing and turning on the ground.

Gyn ripped the helmet off this time, and crushed it in his hands before tossing it to the side.

Raccoon. Male.

"Where the fuck's your comms?!"

He shook his head.

Grabbing his good arm, Gynezis wrenched it until he heard a pop and a scream.

"ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION!"

"It's on my bracer! Please, don't"-

The panther's fist made a hole in his chest cavity and a crater in the ground underneath it.

Now covered in blood...

Yeah.

He missed this shit.

Grabbing the bracer and pulling his fist out of the man, Gynezis tinkered with it a moment.

"Razor-6, what's the situation?"

"I want to speak with Singh."

"...Razor-6? Is that you?"

"I want. To speak. With Singh."

A pause.

Half of him didn't expect that bastard to have the balls to pick up, but sure enough...

He did.

"Gynezis. Managed to get up from that one?"

"I'm invincible. You're not."

"You seem to think so."

"Damn straight."

A laugh from the other end.

Singh had spent most of his life in England despite his heritage, prompting an accent from the land.

The panther himself had been raised in what was then Sweden, before the Union formed.

But only he was ragged on for not staying in his childhood home of Korea.

Singh.

Gynezis remembered when he was a spymaster. Now he was just another obstacle.

He was a lion, heavily built, at least twice the size of Gynezis.

But the mere thought of anyone 'bigger' than the feline made him laugh.

"I must admit, you're resilient. No wonder you have so few soldiers... Or is it because you can't amass a following?"

"You're all going to kiss my ass or die soon."

"Ambitious young lad, as he always was."

"And that's how I got here from foot soldier, you? You were just handed the keys by your father."

"My father was a founding member of Jinn."

"You're not the shit on his boots."

They carried on for about five minutes, as they always did.

"One day, time's going to run out on you, Gynezis. And it might be to the GRA. It might be to Jinn... But these afflicts I have with me are damn powerful."

"They aren't real afflicts, they're Jinnrai clones. And they're not as powerful as the assassin behind you."

Gynezis crushed the bracer.

It was a simple game of made-you-look he'd played for years but one of these days Singh wouldn't look.

And that would be the time Lynx was actually behind him.

As a select group of individuals saw the bodies around him they jogged over to their panther, a certain masked Lynx among them.

///