Chapter 34

Wrath and Tragedy

Shadewoods Manor

8:15 PM

Victor Lincel rode his Indian Chieftain 5000 motorcycle down the winding, forested private road, ending up at the gates to Shadewoods Manor. Already, he was getting the vibe that something was not quite right with this investigation he had been hired for. Despite the warm, tropical rainforest that this planet was mainly known for, the entire road seemed foreboding, corrupt, wicked... It was already causing his metaphorical "what is going on here?" antenna to rise.

Victor adjusted his over-the-ear headphones that were part of his signature look, gazing on at the house, which was gigantic: A five-floor mansion, covered in gardens and fancy shrubbery. Very high-end, and very classy. Victor pulled up to the side of the gate, ringing the buzzer.

"Welcome to Shadewoods Manor. I am Terrance Fullwinter, the butler in Cailus Foxmoore's servitude. May I ask who I am speaking to?"

"Uh... It's Victor Lincel, from the Pandemonia Agency?" Victor said. "I'm here to get the details about the case you wanted my team to look into, and start the investigation?"

Part of the panel slid up, revealing a scanner. It ran light rays all across Victor's body. They even seemed to be looking through his leather speedo, vest, and chaps, focusing in on those areas as well as others.

After the quick yet awkward scan, the scanner retracted, and the panel slid back. "Your ID has been confirmed, Victor. Welcome. Master Cailus is currently asleep in bed, but we will attend to your needs in the guest quarters, where you can sleep for the night. The gates will be open for you." With that, the tall gates parted. Victor, now even more suspicious of his new client, reluctantly rode his motorcycle in.

# # #

Egad's Villa

The Next Night...

7:00 PM

Mick was outside on the patio with Mick, Zarch, Jet, and Amon. Right now, Mick and Jet were playing table tennis, while Zarch and Amon were looking at the star constellations and one of the large moons in the night sky that bore rings, drinking tea. Mick was losing badly. Mainly due to being distracted by watching Xen on his laptop through the window. Xen had his back turned to the window, hacking away at databases Cailus owned through a terminal link on his laptop. Mick was distracted by Xen's muscular, scarred back which looked like something sculpted by Leonardo Da Vinci, like the rest of his body. Though every time he glanced over at Xen, Jet ended up scoring a point.

"God damn it, Jet! Stop it! Knock it off, you're cheating!" Mick griped, hearing the ball go over the table and hit the patio deck.

"Hey, I'm not the one looking away every five seconds at my piece of man-meat through the window." Jet quipped back with a toothy grin.

"Oh, shut up!" Mick snapped, red in the face.

Jet set his table tennis racket down and walked up to Mick placing an arm around his shoulder. "Honestly, I don't blame you. Looking at those scars... Ooohmph, I bet he's really rough in bed."

Mick's face reddened more from anger this time. He pushed Jet away. "Stop talking about Xen like that! He's not like that in bed!"

"Then what is he like in bed?" Jet asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mick gave Jet a deadpan look. "Simple. We open the karma sutra book and go straight to the none-of-your-damn-business section."

Jet let out a playful sigh. "Oh, well. Guess I will just have to go in and ask him myself..."

"Oh, no you don't!" Mick grabbed Jet by the shoulder and pulled him back, stopping him from going towards the door. "You are not going to ask him anything!"

Jet gave Mick a teasing glance. "Oh, what's that you said? 'Back off Bitch, he's mine'?"

Mick raised a hand in the air, waving an index finger. "One. More. Chance. That is all I am giving you, Jet... One. More. Chance."

"Or what? You will gag me?" Jet taunted with a wink, stepping away while Mick stood there, silently fuming.

After Mick finished fuming, he pulled up one of his jacket sleeves. "All right, that's it! Come here, Snow White! You're getting spanked!"

"I might be Snow White, but at least I'm no Sleeping Beauty!" Jet countered, waving his fingers at Mick in a provoking way that said, 'bring it'.

"THAT DOES IT!" Mick took off in a sprint, chasing Jet across the deck in a triggered berserk fury. They went around Zarch and Amon sitting in some loungers on the deck.

"GET OVER HERE, YOU COCKY FENNEC! DON'T MAKE ME USE MY CYBERNETIC ARM'S GRAPPLE-SHOT TRACTOR BEAM!!" Mick shouted.

"Really? Your cybernetic arm has a tractor beam?! I thought that was implanted in between your ass cheeks!" Jet laughed while running.

Zarch finally had enough. He grunted, raised his arms, and caught both of them as they darted between the loungers by their jacket collars. He then stood up from his lounger to his full height of nine feet, holding both up as he did so.

"If you two don't stop acting like a bunch of preppy schoolgirls fighting over who gets more dick, I will inform Master Egad, and both of us will give the two of you something to really whine about and it won't be pleasant." Zarch said flatly. "So be a couple of good girls, get along, and don't fight. Okay?"

Mick and Jet let out a collective sigh of defeat. "Yes, Zarch."

"Good." Zarch then dropped them both.

Amon looked over at Zarch as he sat down again, sipping his tea. "How did you manage to do what I have been trying to accomplish since that boy arrived?"

Zarch shrugged his shoulders as he picked up his tea. "Well, I do have two boys of my own. Trust me, Amon. Chaos and Hatred had much worse arguments and fights when they were children..."

Suddenly, loud pop and zaps were heard in the air. Mick's ears twitched a bit as he listened to the sounds carefully. "...If I am not mistaken, that is a PDBR-952 Automatic Blaster Rifle, equipped with a softnose barrel attachment."

Jet looked at Mick. "...Softnose?"

"It's an attachment that is mounted on the barrel of the blaster, increasing its firepower, screwed on the end like a silencer." Mick explained. "Basically, the softnose barrel attachment slightly slows down the laser blast, compresses it, and heats it up so it can cause more damage and pack more of a punch. They were outlawed in the Zakerra Accords ten years ago due to their destructive potential."

"The question is, who has the rifle, where are they, and what are they shooting at?" Amon said as both he and Zarch stood up from their loungers.

They then heard the lasers blasts get louder steadily. They were getting closer to the villa!

Mick took a glance at the wall nearby that separated the villa from the forest that surrounded it. A few seconds later, blaster bolts flew over the edges of the wall as he saw a lizard-like scalie jump the fence, fully nude aside from a silver tri-horned helmet over his head and face! The smooth black scales that covered his body were marked with nicks and burns from close calls with blaster bolts, even the dirty, yellow hair flowing from the back of his head was singed in places! From the way he walked, he was obviously weakened and exhausted, the scalie tripping over his own feet a few times before collapsing on the grass, then forcing himself back up. Mick now recognized what he was staring at: This scalie was a species of Digimon, a BlackWarGreymon to be specific! But what was it running from...?

Mick got his answer when an exaggerated over-sized buff rhino rammed his way through the wall, carrying said blaster rifle!

# # #

Gareth struggled to keep himself from tripping over his feet as he ran towards the house. He felt his heart racing, time seeming to move in slow motion. Tears fell from his eyes, the same thoughts kept going through his head since the hunters tracked him down five hours ago: This is it... I'm done for. I'm going to die... I'm never going to see Bishop again... I will never get to see my boy grow up, and find someone of his own... This moment, tonight... This is the end of my life...

Gareth felt a blaster bolt graze his shoulder from behind him, the sting from the heat going across his scaly skin. He collapsed once again, spinning around unintentionally. Gareth fell flat on his back, seeing Bones walk up to him with five other hunters.

Then, another blaster bolt flew past Bones' head, grazing the side of his face! Everyone looked up, and saw a fox holding a pair of dual-barrel blaster pistols on the patio, and he wasn't alone! At his side was a fennec, holding one high-caliber semi-auto burst fire blaster pistol with dot sight and a grenade launcher attachment! Behind them was a tall rat, and a wolf with horns. The rat and wolf were unarmed, but their physique still could pose a threat.

The fox, fennec, and their allies jumped off the patio, landing with grace and precision. Gareth was now between them, laying on the ground.

"Alright, what the fuck is going on?!" The fox barked. "I want to know who the hell you guys are, and you had better have a good goddamn reason for plowing your way through that wall!"

Bones grinned. "Isn't it obvious? We are in the middle of a hunt; this is our prey." Bones motioned to Gareth with a hand. "Apologies for the damage to your wall, but we weren't about to let our prey escape."

The fox didn't cease its glare. "Hunt or not, this is private property, bub! Which means that you are trespassing. We also have you on the security cameras, and I don't think the local authorities would take too kindly to be seeing someone with a PBDR-952 equipped with a softnose barrel! So, I'm going to go easy on you despite the damages you just caused. I'm giving you low lives five seconds to turn around and get your rotten, low-life, stank-asses off this property before I get angry and pump your guts full o'holes!"

Bones let out a hearty laugh, unintimidated. "Whateves. Make all the threats you want, but we're not letting anything get in the way of our hunt... Not even you."

Bones trained the rifle on the fox and fired! The fox jumped out of the way, the group scattering and firing back in retaliation while the rat and wolf charged at the hunters, avoiding their shots! Gareth quickly tried to crawl up to the patio steps, summoning all the strength he had remaining... He was only a few feet from the stairs when he felt a boot plant against his back. Bones then grabbed Gareth by the shoulder and flipped him onto his back. Bones flipped the switch on the rifle from full auto to single shot, and even lowered the power setting slightly.

"Sorry, lizard... Game over. I'm going to have some fun watching you writhe in pain before finishing the job." Bones then fired one shot at Gareth's chest! Despite having some tough scales that could protect him from most weapons and attacks, Gareth's scales couldn't deflect laser fire! Gareth shut his eyes tightly, letting out a loud scream as the blaster bolt seared a deep burn into his flesh!

Bones let out a loud laugh, sounding like a completely unhinged psychopath. That laugh quickly disappeared when he heard a loud, draconic roar from the patio! Bones looked up, and he turned ghostly white, his eyes wide in fear.

Gareth, despite being in such deep pain, looked up to see what had startled the rhino. Standing on the top of the patio, looking down at the scene with wings spread, and eyes glazed over white in fury, was someone Gareth though he would never see again. Someone he had dreamed would find him, and save him from the hell he was going through...

It was his bonded mate, Bishop Jaren!