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We are Shadow Company. We own the night so day shines bright for the free.

Corporal Arien Kyvart- Shadow 1-8

Sixteen Days after battle for Greenville

-18 Fahrenheit

The delivery of the radiation supplies to Evan were a god send to him and his Animals, and thankfully, the docks rode out the radiation storm without casualties. The storm was immediately followed by the onset of one brutal winter system, which dumped a metric shit ton of snow and ice just about everywhere. Because of the cold, the city seemed to grind to a complete stop, given that these were temperatures that were damn near unheard of in the state. While Dock 41 sat in a state of being near frozen, thanks to Truck and our Russian friends, we were very much active, braced against the cold from our own winter gear, and some new stuff that they were gracious enough to gift to us. True to his word, Evan had claimed shortly after we returned from Greenville that he secured us a meeting with Mech, who were headquartered at George Bush intercontinental. According to Evan, Mech's commanding officer was very interested in meeting us personally, and he would let us know when he was ready. In the mean time, we had been playing in the snow, trying to see if we could scout a way out of Houston on our own, as well as get the lay of the land and figure out what exactly was happening here. We had come to just about a unanimous conclusion that we really didn't want to get involved in some local squabble between Shadow Company and this other mercenary group that no one seemed to know anything about. The risks if we went after them and failed were too high, especially since, as the days without the meeting passed, there was a level of distrust that was beginning to form between our groups. Evan claimed he had contacts inside of Mech and repeatedly tried to assure us the meeting was going to happen. Having said that, he was keeping very tight lipped about the details. I certainly didn't trust him, neither did most of the team. To her credit, Alex admitted that even she, as the former leader of Shadow Company, had nothing but trouble with them. Evidently, Mech had a collection of US Army remnants manning a secret artillery battery somewhere in the city, and were using drones to strike out against any other organized forces in the city. Shadow Company, Caravans, Armed Civilians, Alex said there were no exceptions. Anthony wondered aloud that if that had been the case, how come Mech didn't fuck him and his crew with the artillery when they were grounded, given they wouldn't have any way of knowing where his loyalties were. We theorized that perhaps they had been listening in on our communications, and perhaps had been the ones that had left us our vehicles in the chemical plant where we had met the Goliath. James explained the events of that night to Alex, who nodded along said that was almost certainly the case.

In the meanwhile, as we waited for Evan to come through on what he promised, we had been playing in the snow, trying to see if we could find a way out of the city on our own. Sixteen days of near constant recce work, checking around with the locals, of which there were a surprising amount, all seemed to reveal the same thing. Shadow Company controlled 288 South and 288 North, the only clear way into and out of the city by vehicle. Armor was present to some degree, and apparently at least one helicopter was on station somewhere in the city. Anthony said he was willing to fly a low alt gun run against their armor on 288 South, because a chopper would have a hard time getting enough lift to get after him, and even if it could, he could just go upstairs and that would be that. The issue was, Evan was practically begging us to give Mech time to come through. Flying a gun run against them would bring every tank, animal and gun Shadow Company had right to Evan's doorstep, since they retaliated against him every time Mech harassed them. One day, while out in the field gathering up the parachutes that we had used to drop into the city, we had stopped to camp under an overpass for lunch. Alexi had brought in a bunch of Russian food rations, which were smelling real good over the fire.

"Smells fantastic Alexi", Alex complimented looking up from a book she was reading.

"We will make Russians out of you yet", Alexi joked as he stirred the stew.

"When is it gonna be done?", Eirren asked, wiping down the bolt of her AK.

"Neyt!", Alexi pointed the spoon at her, "rifle is fine!"

"That's not what we asked", Prysm stated rather matter-of-factly.

While most of us were huddled around three fires trying to keep from loosing digits, James and Prysm were dressed only in the white camo BDU's provided by Anthony, and a T-shirt with his plate carrier on over it. James's color had come back in it's entirety since the cold snap had come in after the radiation storm, and both he and Prysm seemed to be very happy in the below zero temperatures. James just looked like a normal arctic dragon now, if he did have marks in his scales that showed Prysm' presence. I guessed it was hard to for two minds and bodies to occupy the same space and material without showing signs of one another. Speaking of Prysm, when he showed himself, was no longer the angry red color I usually associated with injured flesh. Rather, he had taken on a light, grayish blue color, and open sores and scar tissue were no longer present. It was uplifting to see the two of them getting better.

Meanwhile, Anthony was peering out over the landscape with a pair of binoculars, the wind blowing the fur lined hood of the thick parka he was wearing repeatedly off his head, to the point he had tied the drawstring down almost as tight as it could go. We were up in a higher spot of the city, so even though we were on dirt under an overpass, there were plenty of things to watch out for.

"How's it looking out there bro?", Skeve asked, holding his paws over the fire.

"Nothing but snow drifts and ice", he shrugged, "never seen Texas looks like this."

"Feels good out here", Prysm stated, "I like this snow, is that what it's called?"

"Yup", Anthony said.

"I like it. It makes me fell well inside."

"Lucky you", Eirren said, holding her hands out by the fire, "least it's warm around the fire."

"Speaking of feeling well inside, how is lung?", one of Rhino's gunners asked, "Alexi says you had hole in it."

"It's fine now", I shrugged, "we reptiles tend to put ourselves back together pretty fast. Doesn't help much against the cold though."

"Makes me glad I'm a hybrid", Anthony said, not taking his eyes off the binos.

"I been meaning to ask", I inquired, "from one Mutt to another, what critters have you got in ya?"

"You first", Anthony said.

"Dad's a desert dragon", I said, "mom's an Arctic fox."

"Ah-ha!", Eirren smiled, pointing at me, "I knew it!"

"Excuse me?", I asked.

"I knew you had to have fox in you somewhere", she said, scooting from her position by the fire to sit next to me, "only having fox in your blood could make you as tenacious as you are."

"I never told you?", I asked.

"Don't think so. I would have remembered."

"Well, if you can come clean I guess I can too", Anthony said, "my Dad was an American Iguana. My mother was a New York Rat."

There was a pause.

"Man...your childhood musta' been rough", James said.

"You got fucked bro", Zack noted.

"Yeesh, I thought I had shit bad", I sighed, "I took you for a Coyote crossed with something hairless."

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry, how the hell were not lynched?", Eirren asked.

"Dad had Russian friends. Much like I do now. Cept', I think they must have rolled with the Mafia or something. Dad wasn't involved with them, but Vladimir and his buddies looked out for us. Didn't mean I didn't get the shit bullied outta me in school."

"How did they dress?", Rhino's TV Op asked.

"Fancy. Three piece suits, lots of high end watches and cars."

"Ah yes, the three piece suit and fancy watch. Standard mafia dress code", Alex said, "how would our Americans say...been there done that?"

"Accurate", Shannon agreed.

"You were Mafia Alexi?", Anthony asked.

"Da, joined air force when final world war broke out to get out of life sentence. I doubt many Mafia animals survive war. Mostly talk, little bite when someone can bite them back."

"Strange how stuff like that works", Eirren shrugged, sipping on some coffee she had found in the back seat of a car near by.

"I don't hold no grudges", Anthony said, "prefer it cold and dry rather than wet, but you can't have everything."

"Hey, I'd rather it cold and wet than hot and wet", I shrugged, "Ya'll are airborne most of the time huh?"

'We are yeah", Anthony said, "most air time of any of the Rhino teams. Why?"

"So, do you study weather patterns at all?", I asked.

"No, not personally. We get warnings from base if serious weather is headed our way."

"Just wondered if you might have some insight as to why when we got here three weeks ago it was 105 in the shade and now, everything is iced over."

"I lived in Texas just as long as you did", he shrugged, "you know that we could have all four fuckin' seasons in one damn week. We could ask Evan if the weather has been getting like this since the bombs fell I guess."

"If we can trust him", Eirren said.

"It is sad you can not trust another animal...just because they are not like me", Prysm said, "Evan did not strike me as untrustworthy."

"I agree with Prysm there", Anthony said, "he seems like he's been mostly trustworthy so far. Ain't like he lied to us about what we were going to see in Greenville. He wasn't upset about his fancy rad suits either. Wonder what caused him to go so tight fanged all of a sudden."

"Dunno...kinda wonder if he's taking orders from Mech?", Eirren suggested, sipping her coffee again.

"Could be", Anthony said, "how's the coffee there Eirren?"

"Stale, it needs some milk, sugar, cream", she shrugged.

"Well you pulled it out of the trunk of an abandoned car", James said, "what you expect?"

"Coffee", Eirren said, "this just tastes like dirt, but you know. It's warm."

"So, I got something I gotta get off my chest", I said aloud.

"What's that?", Eirren asked.

"Does anyone else get the feeling that this trip has gone rather smoothly? Too smoothly? Perhaps?"

"Explain?", Zack asked raising his brow.

"I mean...strictly speaking, what are the odds that we all met up but chance? All of us are extremely experienced war fighters and survivalists, and some of us have, for lack of a better term, supernatural abilities granted by sheer improbability. What are the odds that everything on this trip happened by chance? Someone has been fucking watching us for a good long while. And I don't wonder if it's these Mech animals that seem to be even more of a boogeyman than Shadow Company."

"You know, he has a point", Anthony said, "Alex, tell 'em what you told me."

"Okay", Alex said, "so, I told Anthony because it concerned him, but since we're all on the same team. Mech operates an artillery battery somewhere in the city. When I was Shadow's CO, we had nothing but issues with them because they could fire on anything at any time. At a time, they were using predator drones likely launched from IAH to spot and call in strikes against any other armed forces in the city. Armed civilians, Shadow Company, Army remnants, and even the leftover's from Houston PD trying to help us maintain order before Raul's treason. There weren't any exceptions, but I find it odd that Mech didn't fuck us with the artillery as soon as we dropped from Truck's plane. No way they didn't see us come in. Someone in our little militia is a Mech VIP."

'When were you gonna share this with me?", Alexi asked, "you say my plane could have been fucked with artillery and said nothing?"

"If they were going to fuck us Alexi, they'd have done it when we dropped into Houston. Mech has chosen not to engage us at least, and give us a wide berth possibly. I don't wonder why."

"That makes me wonder...Evan said our trucks are Mech Spec", Shannon said.

"That would imply these animals have been watching us for a good long while then", Eirren stated, "since Pennsylvania if that's the case."

"Possibly longer", I suggested, "whose to say they weren't listening in on us at Khen's trading post?"

"How does that make any sense?", Nat asked, "how would they have known Will would hand over his Ford to us?"

"Maybe they forced him into it", James suggested, "the note on Arien's Tundra said he got it back. Could be why they were so eager to pack up and run off."

"Something put us on their radar", I followed, "Or, perhaps they had been watching you from the beginning, and us happening across you was the excuse they needed to put whatever plan they had into motion to get us to Houston?"

"Why me?', James asked.

"You and Prysm", I said, "two creatures, two separate minds, sharing the same body, the same organs and brain. If I were a biologist, it'd be a wet dream to get to study how that came about."

"What about Ben and Nat even?", Zack asked, "living conduits of radiation with liquid Corium running through their veins."

"I buy that. How could they have possibly routed us to Houston though?", James asked, "seems like a lot of what's happened over the course of this OP has been largely by chance?"

"You know...Arien might be onto something", Alex rubbed the back of her head, "come to think of it...I was trapped in that mall for a good week or so. I sent out call after call with no reception, then, reception came back and...you all just kinda showed up."

"Correlation does not equal causation", Anthony protested, "they couldn't have possibly known that we would all show up at once. Moreso, if they knew we would cross paths, that could suggest that they manipulated us to force the meeting. Question of the day, Russian Air Special Forces with paranormal qualifications on one end, a team of wasteland hardened world war three veterans with all different skills on the other. Plus,now we have to add several who have improbable mutations, and an ex mercenary psychopath that ties them all together", Anthony said, "someone is very good at making sure things go how they want."

"Ogo, strashnaya mysl'..", Alexi muttered.

(wow, that's a scary thought)

'I've got another one for you", I threw out.

"Please don't", Alex pleaded, "this thinking sucks."

"When objectives are complete", I asked, "how do you ensure they don't turn against you?"

"We must get out of this city....", Alexi said, "why not just fly out on plane? Safe, no one can touch us in sky."

"Except the fighter jets that pinged our radar while our Shadows were on ground at the hospital."

"Yebat'...I forget about them", Alexi sighed, tapping the spoon on the pot.

"Can't fly out. Armor on ground....", I thought aloud, "damn...Mech's really got us by the neck don't they?"

"By design it seems."

"So, lemme just throw this out there", Alex said, "I know the guy who founded Mech, like personally. If something like this is really going on, he'll be VERY interested in knowing. He wouldn't be responsible."

"Bet your life on that?", I asked.

"Any day of the week. Shadow Salanath does his own dirty work. Has for the last 40 thousand years."

"Only feral dragons live that long", Anthony said.

"Guy said it's not the first nuclear war he's lived through. Remember Razgriz?"

"Only rumors. I don't think he's real", Tessa said.

"He's real as the sun is bright sister", Alex said, "Shadow picked up the Razgriz mantra from his Dad way long ago, and he's been killing ever since then."

"Forty thousand years of combat experience is hard to think about", Anthony said turning back to the group, "I've been in the military for five years and that seems like a long time."

"Man, I'll bet that guy has nightmares, Shannon said, "like...Jesus. Forty thousand years of war."

"There have been two nuclear wars on this planet?", I asked curiously.

"So he says", Alex stated, "he claims us Animals weren't always the dominate species. Something called humans came before. The legends around the Mech base say the last nuclear war was between us and them. Evidently, we won."

"You've been to the Mech base?", I asked.

She shrugged, "once, trying to work out an alliance between Mech and my Shadows."

"How'd that go?", I asked.

"Would have gone perfect if not for Raul."

"The fuck is a human?", Eirren asked.

Alex shrugged, "dunno. He never explained much. Just said history repeated itself."

"Alex, anyone else owe you any more favors?", Ben asked.

"No one in Mech, they all pretty much hate me after what I did to Raul. Lots of 'em wanted Shadow to execute me", she chuckled, "old dragon doesn't have the balls to try."

"We have heard of Razgriz in Russia", Alexi said, "I would not insult him as such. I would be afraid he takes plane out of sky with bare paws."

"Knowing Shadow", Alex shrugged, 'he probably could actually. He's not scared of anyone or anything."

"Hol' up, you just said", Luke began.

"I know what I said crispy", Alex fired off, "Shadow has a higher body count than all of us here combined multiplied by ten. If he wanted me dead he have killed me on that skyscraper. I've been wondering why he didn't."

"Could someone be pulling the strings of the mighty Razgriz?', another of Rhino's gunners asked.

"Not if they wanted to keep their fingers", Alex said, 'I doubt Shadow even has strings to pull. More like razor wire. Besides, there's only one dragon I can think of that Shadow would even listen to."

"Whose that?", I asked.

Alex sat her MG34 down and breathed deeply, like she really, really didn't want to tell this story, "Well...he used to be friend of Shadow's. Fought with him way back during the first nuclear war. Shadow had a name for him in Draconian, but, I'm not sure how to pronounce it."

"Do your best anyway, we tend not to judge", I shrugged.

Alex thought for a moment, her tone shifted, and then she addressed this Shadow as his alias, "Razgriz used to call him "Mdierekezi".

Eirren, James and myself all exchanged glances, Eirren was the first to say what we were all thinking.

"The devil?", she asked.

"Well...he wasn't exactly the devil", Alex said, "according to Razgriz, he was the one you sent to kill the fuckin' devil."

Now, Alex had the attention of everyone.

"I heard the stories about Mdierekezi", Anthony said, "quiet, lethal. A dragon who dealt only in death. Some of the stories I've heard over the years always made me think they were just that...stories."

"We talked of him in Mafia too", Alexi said, " A dragon with a body count, if listed, many kilometers long. One of my superiors put a bounty of forty million rubles on his head at a time. As joke, not serious contract. We all laughed, called it the bounty that'd never be paid. The very next day, boss turned up on doorsteps. We never did figure out what he was shot with, but he was missing good chunk of upper torso."

"And of course, everyone blamed the Mdierekezi", I said aloud.

"DA", Alexi said, "scary thing is he never left calling card, like ones like him usually do."

"I take it the bounty wasn't paid", Zack observed.

"Neyt", Alexi said, "never."

"I heard a story once during the war", I added, "a big feral dragon that tore apart a Chinese tank regiment with his bare paws."

"Well...", Alex produced a flask and took a big swig, "I've met this dragon, when I was talking to Razgriz about an alliance. I assure everyone here, the stories we've all heard about this dragon, if nothing else", she paused, taking another drink, apparently finishing whatever liquor was in the steel container, "have been watered down."

"I'd very much like to meet both these dragons", Anthony said.

"Myself included", I agreed, "anyone else owe you any favors?"

"Not around here no. Shadow and I were good friends, even if we didn't see eye to eye on much, so if I ring him, he'll probably answer. Not sure what he'll say, but he'll probably answer."

"Ring him up, let's see what he's got to say."

Undisclosed Location: Several Miles Outside of Houston

Shadow checked his watch, it was just after noon. It seemed as though he was the only living thing out here. Odd, he thought to himself, his contact was nothing if not punctual. The field was empty for as far as he could see, nothing but the snow that covered the ground and what was silently falling from the sky, landing on his equipment. He stopped where he was and took a sniff of the air, he smelled nothing.

He shook his head, muttering to himself, "dammit you old geezer, where are you?"

Shadow kept walking, another 20 minutes or so. He never liked the cold much, not since the Ashlands, and that had been so many thousands of years ago, during the last nuclear war. He had come wearing heavy winter gear, but he was an older dragon now, the cold always seemed to invite itself in. Eventually, Shadow stopped as he smelled a scent he hadn't smelled in a good long while.

"There you are", he sighed quietly, picking up his pace to a quick trot, rounding a cluster of pine trees to another open field, where the smell seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere. He paused, he wondered where the old dragon had picked that trick up.

"You can't keep using that tactic if you're not going to teach me", Shadow said into his radio, it was set to a frequency they had agreed on long ago, no one around would have their radio's set to it.

"I can, and I will.", a deep voice said from the other end of the radio, "It's good to see you again Shadow."

In the distance, Shadow watched a huge dragon with a 105mm cannon strapped to one side that had been camouflaged by a white snow suit seemingly rise up out of the ground. It'd been decades since he'd seen the dragon, but now was as good a time as ever to catch up. Shadow met the great big feral halfway, stopping and pulling down his balaclava and mask as his breath froze on the open air. The big feral did the same. Shadow would forever have mixed feelings every time he looked this dragon in the face. So many fond, old memories of childhood spent wandering around forests and mountains with this dragon and his friends. But also of rage, rage at him for managing to keep a hold of everything that Shadow had taken from him. His old friend didn't know loss like he did, it angered him to no end. Even now, it still did. Despite that, the other dragon was always there when Shadow needed him.

Shadow took a deep breath, "Tyro...how long has it been?"

"About seventy years", Tyro said, "give or take a few."

"Hows Adelind?", Shadow asked, sitting back on his haunches.

"We're getting' by", Tyro said, "always have."

"And the kids?", Shadow asked.

"All back home in Romeo", Tyro said.

"What about old man Hudson?", Shadow asked, "how's he holding up?"

"Eh, he don't get out much any more. Spends most of his time in the badlands, trains with me and the kids to keep the skills sharp, other than that, spends his time at home or on the coast fishing with Tyson and Ace. Still the same old man he was back in the Task Force Raven days."

"Pfft. That old prick'll never die", Shadow said, "and Romeo? What's the old stomping grounds like these days?"

"Still some old human ruins out there", Tyro said, "Hudson and the kids play war games in them sometimes, but other than that, life's pretty boring."

"Wish I could say the same", Shadow said.

"And what about you old friend?", Tyro asked sincerely, "how are you holding up?"

Shadow didn't answer.

Tyro took a deep breath, "Shadow, buddy, don't be like this. You forget. I was there."

Shadow gritted his teeth.

Tyro walked up to his friend and sat down next to him, "Brother, I know you miss Nina and your Dad. I miss 'em too. Not a day goes by where I don't think about that day in the trenches."

"I don't hold it against you brother", Shadow said, "not any more. Thanks for coming Tyro, I know we didn't leave on good terms on our last meeting."

"Hey, I told you a long time ago that you if you called, I'd come, no questions asked. So...what's the occasion?"

"Mercs terrorizing Houston", Shadow began, "by the name of Shadow Company. They used to be run by a shark named Alex. Now, perhaps she wasn't the most mentally stable out there, but the company was doing some good work for the survivors. If not for a traitor in her ranks, she might have actually gotten this shit together."

"Always someone whose gotta' ruin it for everyone.", Tyro shook his head and sighed, he had a half hearted grin, "does this traitor have a name?"

"Raul Holden", Shadow said, "a deer that's developed a nasty habit of boiling animals he doesn't like alive in swamp water. Mean bastard he is. Alex tried to beat him to death on a roof top, I'm ashamed to say I stopped her. Should have just let her finish him, but then again, by the time I got there, I didn't actually expect him to survive."

"Mmmm. That has a very horror movie villain like vibe to it don't it?", Tyro asked, Shadow had forgotten just how thick of an accent that old feral had, "So, what's the tab? Kill, capture?"

"Decimation", Shadow said, "their campaign has become rather viscous, and they're slowly starting to encroach on my territory in this city."

"Sounds very warlord like of you", Tyro stated.

"Yeah but I have hundreds of civilians at IAH", Shadow said, "animals that can't fight back. Animals crippled from the war, elderly, kids...etcetera."

"How many animals have you got that can foot a rifle?", Tyro asked.

"Not enough", Shadow said, "I have a hundred active at IAH, but everyone else is tied up on my tank squad and artillery battery. I've got two good Apaches a pair of Abrams and a Landship, but Shadow Company has five VTOL fighter planes. Only reason they haven't pushed me yet was because of AA defenses in place from before the war. Arien and his animals have a Russian Gunship and Evan's crew has a Mark Seven...I doubt it's enough. I could push them early in the morning when the VTOL's are grounded, but there's several hundred infantry at their base at NRG Stadium. Figured I needed the help from someone with real combat experience."

Tyro smiled, "here I was afraid you'd left Raven behind. Lucky for you, I didn't come alone."

On that note, four other dragons rose up out of the snow. Shadow had been surrounded from the moment he had stepped into the clearing, and hadn't even realized it. It'd been a very long time since Shadow had seen these dragons, the aura of death rolled off all of them like a thick veil of smoke. The black and white Raven insignia stuck to their chests was an image that Shadow had never forgotten, and the last thing many humans and animals had seen in their final moments.

"Well look at you old man", Sozenn chuckled, "it's been a minute Shadow. Hows life out here in the world of animals?"

Shadow shrugged, "lemme get back to you on that."

"In another five thousand years", Fireclaw taunted.

"Ahh come on now", Ator said, "why you gotta do the old geezer like that?"

"Old geezer?", Shadow protested, "we're the same age!"

"Yeah, we're all pushing over forty thousand years on the same rock", Val shrugged, "we're fuckin' old Shadow."

"Speak for yourself old friend", Shadow shrugged, "it's good to see ya'll. Really, it is. I'm sorry we couldn't have had this reunion under better terms."

"Hey bro, you needed help. Far as I can recall, those were the terms, we all come when we're called", Val said.

"Here, here", the group agreed.

"Let's quit standing around in this field", Tyro said flaring his wings, "we've got work to do. Can you still keep up with us?"

Shadow flared out his own wings, "better believe it."

The group took to the sky, heading back towards Houston. Shadow hit his radio.

"Overlord to Actual 1-1", Shadow said.

"Actual here, send traffic overlord."

"Mission completed, relay to Evan that we're ready for his Animals at IAH."

"Rodger that Overlord, relaying now."

Shadow shut off his radio. "I suspect Arien will be joining us very soon. Speaking of, Tyro, have you heard from Josh?"

Tyro shook his head, "nah, he and the other Venom guys dropped off the grid about twenty years ago. I can only assume that they died with the nukes, or decided to leave the life behind."

"Yeap, Deuce and his crew did the impossible", Sozenn said.

Shadow shook his head, "should have taken my chance when it was handed to me."

"We all should have", Ator said, "you said it best Shadow. Once a soldier, always a soldier."

"Ain't no flags left Ator", Shadow said, "question is, what are Razgriz, Mdierekezi and the Ravens of the past even fighting for any more?"

"Those who can't protect themselves", Tyro said, "that's what we do Shadow."

"Amen", Fireclaw agreed.

"Seems like fighting's all we knew how to do", Val said, "tell you what, shit keeps me up sometimes man."

"What?", Ator asked, "nightmares?"

"Nah, wondering what my life might have been like if I had gotten into Project Venom instead of Draco", he replied.

"They had things a lot easier way Josh talked about it", Ator said, "I like being a feral though. Been a dragon a whole hell of a lot longer than I was human."

"Here, here", Fireclaw said, "I miss Frank, Jack, Wyatt and Logan though."

"Better not forget about Issac.", Tyro agreed, reminiscent of the men that had stood by him through hell during the human days. Many thousands of years ago, "man, they did some messed up stuff back in the day."

"Yeah, we did messed up shit right back", Fireclaw shrugged.

Shadow shook his head, "yeah. Man I wish I could take some of those kills back."

"Keep preaching", Sozenn said.

"Got a few of them myself", Fireclaw nodded.

"We all do", Val said, "guilty of the same."

"Yeah", Shadow said, "surprised Hudson ain't here."

"He and Emelia are in Japan", Tyro said, "have been for about eight months now. We had a dragon show up at Romeo and request her and Hudson specifically. Said something from a long time ago required their attention. Didn't say what."

Shadow shook his head, stiffly pushing against the air underneath his wings, "man, 40,000 years on the same rock feels like a long time. But every now and again I pick up the good book and read about the passion of the Christ, then I remember that Hudson was there."

"Stories that man's got to tell", Tyro said, "I miss those days."

Val nodded in agreement, "Yeah, we're fuckin' old Tyro. I remember when Ace was a new born."

"I'll never forget that day", Tyro smiled, "turned my entire world upside down."

"Does every time", Sozenn agreed.

"Much like a log through the belly does", Ator chuckled.

"Still hurts huh?", Shadow asked.

"Not as much as it used to but, yeah. Still does, like a bitch every time it rains."

The crew continued to chatter among each other on their short flight back to IAH. Shadow hit his radio, calling ahead to inform his animals in the control tower he was coming in. Before long, the old friends had their paws on the icy cold runway of IAH, and everyone except Val was noticing.

"This road a cold hoe", Ator said.

"Yeah, no fuckin' shit." Fireclaw hissed.

"It is a bit nippy", Tyro agreed.

"Keep the cursing to a minimum guys", Shadow said, "lots of kids around."

Shadow and his friends began to head inside, towards the command center. On the way in, his radio rang.

"Um, Overlord this is Actual, we have an issue."

"Overlord, what kind of issue Actual?", Shadow asked.

"Shadow Company seems to have moved on Rhino Crew and Dock 41 at the same time. Artillery battery is reporting intercepted calls from both parties to the crew of a Mark Seven Landship for reinforcement. They are asking for permission to fire on both positions."

"That's a negative", Shadow said, "instruct artillery to contact Evan to direct fire support. Task Force Raven and myself will move to reinforce Rhino team. Round up all our Animals, get 'em ready for action ASAP. Seems like ol' Raul won't give us the luxury of planning our assault."

"Rodger that, Actual out"

Shadow turned to his team as he took the mask of Razgriz off his belt and put it on his head.

"Well", he took a deep breath, "Seems like we've got work to do Mdierekezi."

Tyro grinned. He reached into his belt and pulled out his own mask. It consisted of four pieces, the top head piece that covered from the top of the jaw line, wrapped all around the upper head and had a vented shield over the head ridges for passive cooling and stretched from the tip of the nose to the base of the back of the head. The second piece protected top of the lower jaw line, curved downwards to protect his softer under jaw and base of the neck and locked together via a joint at the base of the head, which allowed him to still open his mouth and use his teeth. The other two pieces were made of a flexible rubberized and padded carbon fiber material with plates of Chobam attached to it that flexed with her neck. The top part ended at the base of her back, while the bottom part ended at the base of the chest. Both pieces attached via a quick detach lever to the plate carrier. Tyro had painted his mask white and covered it with demonic imagery. That, combined with his sheer size and the blood of many mauled enemy combatants that had stained it beyond cleansing over the years had been what earned him the nickname ofMdierekezi.

Tyro clicked his mask into place, the slanted lenses lighting up with a dark, crimson red.

"Let's go to work."

Meanwhile

Alexi tossed aside the bowl of food in his hand as the grenade landed right at the base of our fire. We all dove for cover as he picked up the grenade and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Uberite granatu, ublyudki!"

(take the grenade back fuckers!)

He threw the grenade back in the direction that it had come from, and almost as soon as it left his hands, he reached into his coat and pulled out probably the most customized TT-30 that I had ever seen. Within seconds of the grenade coming in, everyone was up with weapons pointed downrange, towards where the frag had come from. Contacts were starting to pop up from around every building and from behind every ruined car, and very quickly we found ourselves in one hell of a gunfight. Under cover fire from Alex and another one of Rhino's crew who had a short PKM, we retreated behind the protection of the overpass ramps. Alex and Rhino's PKM gunner wasted no time in dumping drums to get fresh belts into their weapons, meanwhile, Eirren, myself, Skeve and Anthony were returning fire against our assailants, or at least trying to.

"Gotta be fuckin' two dozen of them", Anthony said, dumping all the shells in the magazine of his KS-12 down range as fast as the gun would cycle before ducking back behind the overpass wall, "I saw two feral dragons out there! 20mm Auto-cannons!"

"How the fuck did they find us?", Eirren shouted.

"Bet you five bucks that fuckin' bat sold us out!", Benjamin said, stuffing his last shell into his M203, "come on! Find me a target!"

"Gonna fuckin' kill 'em for that!", Alex said, "I trusted that fucker!"

"I hope you have learned lesson", Alexi shouted. I felt Luke tap me on the shoulder, the feel of a mechanical hand is very different from a normal one. I turned to him, he had one of his pipe grenades in his off hand.

"Where should I put this!?", he asked.

"Up their fucking ass!", I told him, a bullet came in and hit the concrete directly above my head, making me jump back.

"Grenade out!", Luke shouted, chucking the grenade towards where he presumed the hostiles to be. The pipe bomb landed directly behind a car, making two animals jump out from behind and dart towards cover. Several more popped out to cover them, at which point Anthony and Alexi both poked around their side of the bridge, a round of buckshot from Anthony hit one of the animals in the back of the head, while Alexi managed to kill one that had popped out of cover to support his teammate.

"We gotta push these clowns!", Luke said unslinging his Garand and taking it off safe.

"That we do!", Alex said, reaching up to her radio, "mayday mayday, Viper 1-2 to Bottom Feeder, Bottom Feeder, please respond."

"Viper 1-2, Bottom Feeder, send traffic."

"Rhino Team has been ambushed approximately three miles south of Tucker Memorial Hospital, roughly two dozen contacts. They have us pinned Kai! We need your Landship!"

"Negative Viper 1-2. Bottom Feeder is currently regressing back to base to provide fire support for native forces. Two dozen contacts plus armor reported there as well!"

"Fuck!", Alex barked, "Arien! Raul's trying to eliminate us and Evan at the same time!"

"Blyat!", Alexi shouted, "We have two belt feds! Let's use them!"

"Whose got a flash bang?", I asked.

"I do!", Zack said, pulling one out of a pouch on his plate carrier.

"Get ready! We move on my go!"

Zack shuffled through to the front of the line. Everyone stepped back from the edges of the overpass as Shadow Company began levying ceaseless full auto rampages against our positions as they closed in, taking breaks only one at a time to reload. Right before I would have told Zack to toss out the flash, I heard, over the sound of gunfire, two quick strokes of what must have been a truly impressive set of wings. Before I could even shift my glance to see what was coming up behind us, a truly gigantic feral dragon wearing more body armor than I had ever seen an animal wear fell from the sky like a meteor, the sheer mass of the dragon induced a mini earthquake, knocking almost everyone over. Satantic markings covered his equipment, along with a very prominent set of tally marks adorning the spiral fluted barrel of the Winchester 105mm smoothbore strapped to his side. A tattered old flag patch from a country I didn't recognize was on his shoulder. His touchdown made the battlefield go quiet instantly. Alexi swallowed audibly, I could see his pistol shaking in his hands.

"Svyatoy yebat'. Legendy pravdivy...", he whimpered.

(Holy fuck. The legends are true.)

"Mdierekezi", Anthony's voice quivered.

I felt too weak in my fingers, I couldn't have pulled the trigger on my weapon if I had wanted to. And trust me, I did.

The big feral cracked his neck, the safety on the smoothbore clicked off audibly, "you know what? Razgriz was right. I DO miss this job."

Without any further warning, the feral touched off a round from the smoothbore. No hearing protection left on the planet would have been enough to protect our sensitive ear drums from the shockwave that the muzzle brake on that cannon was venting off. I went deaf instantly, and instinctively covered my ears with both hands. Despite this, and the cloud of snow that the shot kicked up, I still had a front row seat as the carnage unfolded. Right after touching off the first round, the smooth bore started auto cycling the second round in the magazine. All 22 contacts came rushing at the dragon all at once, the two ferals out front. They both hit Mdierekezi at the same time, and much to their horror, the Mdierekezi dug his rear claws into the ground and refused to move, throwing both dragons off him with alarming ease. The other animals didn't have weapons that could pierce his armor, but while the Mdierekezi was focused on the other ferals, three of the other mercs had slipped past and seemed to be intent on killing the rest of us. I saw Alexi stand up, his pistol tight against his body as two of the mercs raised their weapons. Alexi fired the first two rounds faster than I could track, stunning the one closest to him and then very quickly shifting his aim to the other merc, firing two center and then flicking his aim to his head and sending one clean through his goggles. He shifted back towards the first merc and finished him with another head shot. God only knew what the third one was thinking, but instead of just shooting Alexi, he tried to swing his M4 at him like a club. Alexi thrust his pistol forward, striking the guy in the neck. When he reeled, relinquishing his M4, Alexi tried to shot him in the head, but realized his Tokarev was locked back on an empty magazine. He dropped the magazine, producing a new one from his belt and shoving it into the mag well with a sort of precision that said he rarely shot anything other than this specific Tokarev. Another single bullet to the head ended the third merc. By this time, I had managed to recover enough to pick up my own M4, Luke and Skeve were the only ones besides Alexi not still reeling from the blast of the smoothbore. Now, several other ferals wearing the same uniforms and one wearing a different one, had all landed. They started attending to my team, while the one with the white and red mask came up to me.

"Sounded like ya'll needed help on the radio!", he shouted, "I'm Shadow Salanath! Mech's commanding officer! Sorry we couldn't meet on better terms!"

"Yeah no worries!", I shouted back, 'Thanks for the save! Let's clean house!"

As Skeve, Luke, Alexi and myself stepped around the corner with the other ferals, we saw that Mdierekezi had already killed both of the ferals that had arrived with the mercs, however, it seemed as though they were being reinforced as two trucks full of contacts were pulling up, roughly a dozen more soldiers. The only reason that Mdierekezi hadn't blown them apart with the smoothbore was the fact that several coons with Mossberg 930R's were alternating fire and keeping him pinned.

"Hostiles with shotguns!", Mdierekezi yelled, "pinned down!"

Luke and I both raised our weapons, he fired three rounds, killing the middle merc instantly, I fired five, dropping the one furthest left. The remaining one sent all nine rounds of buckshot he had on tap in the general direction of our group. Shadow stepped in front of us, catching the pellets in the side of his body armor. Cursing some words I hadn't heard before at the top of his lungs as two of his dragons side stepped around him, with Skeve in tow. One of them, a blue male, was armed with a set of twin fifties, the other, another male, green, had a smoothbore as well.

"SMOOTHBORE!", One of the mercs yelled, "SMOOTHBORE!"

The green dragon touched off a round, and Mdierekezi popped up as soon as it had struck one of the trucks the mercs had ridden in on, cracking off another shot that struck the second truck. This time, because Shadow was in front of us, we were mostly spared the force of the shockwave, though it did put the ring right back in my ears.

Now, as more of my team was rejoining us, the rest of the mercs didn't seem to be interested in retreat. Instead, they kept trying to press the fight, a few of them, again, with shotguns, even had the gall to push forward. Keeping their shotguns on Mdierekezi who, despite his size, was still forced to acknowledge the force of 12 gauge steel slugs impacting his armor.

"Shotguns!", Mdierekezi asked loudly, "weak!"

At the same time, both animals ran empty, turning their Mossbergs over to load more shells. Alexi, using his movement as cover, stepped out in front of Mdierekezi, firing six rounds into both mercs, two to chest, two to chest and one to head, then one to head. Both of them fell in the street as Luke and I pushed up, using one of the buildings to the side as cover. One of them split from cover, his M4 up. Luke and I both targeted him at the same time, six rounds from me and three from him. Even over the chaos, I heard his M1 spit the clip out. He ducked back behind me, loading a fresh clip into his Garand as I shifted my ACOG's reticle to two other mercs that were aiming in the direction of Skeve. A third that came into view as I sent three rounds towards my target had his head split in half by by either Tessa or Skeve, since it sounded like a battle rifle that had taken him.

"Flash out!", Zack shouted.

I took my eye off my ACOG in time to see the grenade leave Zack's hand, flying through the air and landing right in the Merc's position.

"FLASHBANG!", he shouted as the canister rolled for a second, and then went up with nine, dazzlingly bright, ear splitting bangs.

"HA!", the Mdierekezi laughed, "ATOR!"

At the same time, both dragons touched off their smoothbores. The battlefield went quiet instantly. When the smoke cleared, all that remained was a crater where the mercs had been posted up.

"Clear?", Mdierekezi asked.

"Clear!", Alexi said.

"Clear", Skeve agreed.

"Clear", I said.

"FUCK I MISS THIS SHIT!", the green feral bellowed.

"Them some brave animals there", Mdierekezi chuckled, "not many look a Winchester smoothbore down the barrel and decide to keep fighting. Much less two."

"I mean they were", Shadow laughed.

At this point, the rest of the dragons had joined us, along with the remainder of my squad. Shadow turned to address me directly.

"Arien", he said, pulling the mask off his face, "I'm Shadow Salanath. Commanding officer of Mech. Good to finally meet you in person. I'm sorry we couldn't have met under better circumstances."

"I've heard stories about you", I said, "long before the nukes fell. Always thought they were just that...stories."

Shadow shook his head, "I wish some of 'em were."

"And you?", I asked, turning to Mdierekezi, "who might you be under that mask?"

The dragon pressed a button on the side of his helmet and it split apart, the top piece opening on a rear hinge that flicked back and held in place with spring pressure.

"Name's Tyro Serelath", he said, "the rest of these dragons are mine."

"The horror stories that have been told about you my dude", Anthony said.

Tyro shrugged, "yeah. I've heard a few of 'em."

"Bunch of watered down lies", Skeve said, "most reptiles are terrified of shotguns."

"Ha!", Tyro bellowed, "who said I'm not?"

"Got some pretty unique animals here", the blue and white feral said, "two with radioactive blood, a mechanical shark, a burnt up wolf and a dragon sharing his body with a creature that went extinct ten thousand years ago. Never mind a crew of Russian special forces that investigate paranormal activity all over the planet."

"All'ight", Zack sighed slinging his AK over his back, "what well what you just said was fuckin' scary."

"Guess we were being watched", James agreed.

"You called it Arien", Eirren said coming to my side, "it was Mech."

"Eirren", Shadow said.

Eirren sighed, "Shadow."

"Hows Hunter?", Tyro asked.

Eirren shook her head, "Hunter."

"Understandable", Tyro shrugged.

Some faces were now on Eirren, she seemed stunned, like she was trying to play it off that she had just casually addressed Razgriz like an old friend.

"Excuse me?", I asked, "something you'd like to share?"

"Yes", Eirren sighed, "Shadow is a friend of my brother. Has been for a very long time."

"Last time I saw you, you were what... four?", Shadow asked.

"Five", Eirren said.

"How time flies Eirren", Shadow said. He turned, looking at Alex, glaring at her from under a furrowed brow, 'I didn't expect Raul to survive the beating you gave him."

"I tried to stop him when I had the chance", Alex said, "it wasn't enough to refuse to send the fuckin' tanks when I was losing my life's work. You had to rub salt in the wound by denying me vengeance for the only two animals I ever truly cared about. Hope you're happy Shadow. Lots of animals went to terrible deaths because of your inflated sense of morality."

"Mam, mistakes happen", Tyro said, "even to the best of us and, in our line of work, that can lead to some terrible days. But that's why Shadow called us. Sure, we can't bring back the dead, or undo the damage caused by their deaths, but what we can, and will, do is kill the animal responsible and make sure that the living have a sense of closure. Now, I suggest we stop slacking off under this overpass and get to work."

"Ya'll heard the guy", I agreed, "let's go to work."

***Four Days Later***

I couldn't shake that feeling of first time combat as I strapped on my plate carrier. You know the feeling. That sort of state of being where you feel your entire body, but your heart especially. It feels like a pulsating rock inside your chest, seems like each beat could crack something. Last time I had felt this way was when my brother was turning his battleship's guns on the Chinese Super Carrier. I still think back to that night. Once we had freed him from the ice he'd run aground on, how one sided the fight had been. Over the course of the next four days, Shadow put together a military force that was unlike anything I had ever seen. Most of the animals were ex Houston PD, ex military, US Army Remnants, the works. He had two tanks, two Apache AH-68D Longbows and a Mark Seven Landship. Tyro made some calls too, and by day three we had nearly four dozen feral dragons, all wearing that same tattered flag, show up at IAH. They all seemed like they had been out of the military for a long while, but also seemed like that was all they knew once upon a time. Among the collection of hardened reptilian veterans, a few of them stood out, and I learned during a chat with that Tyro dragon that they were his children. Ace, Dusk, Helix, Tyson and Kayel. According to Shadow, those kids were the most dangerous dragons on the planet. He sort of let it slip that they might even be more so than himself and Tyro.

Alex had also made a call to her Animals that still might have been scattered around the city, and, much to my surprise, several Animals showed up. Dressed all in black combat gear and wearing the Shadow Company patch on their shoulder, they all looked genuinely happy to be Shadow Company again. Hell, payback's a fuckin' bitch. Always has been. Call time on the fourth day was three AM. PA call went around the base and ripped everyone out of their sleep like we were back in basic combat training. Foot mobiles were all equipped and ready to move within fifteen minutes, and within thirty, the vehicles were convoyed out and everyone was ready to move. Contrary to what is sometimes seen in the movies, no one was second guessing themselves. Sure, there were some yawns from the lack of sleep, since the last four days had been spent training for the raid on NRG Stadium, but that was about the extent it. We were going to fucking destroy Raul and his terrorists, the only question would be how to divide such a small pie among fairly among all of us. As I climbed into the Tundra, the radio chirped.

"Cobra 1-2 to overlord, it's oh five hundred, start the clock, we're Oscar Mike. Make sure you keep the eggs and bacon warm, we're due back at oh seven hundred."

"Rodger that Cobra 1-2. I'll make sure to turn them over often. Oh seven hundred and not a second later. Cobra 2-2, radio check."

I put the Tundra in first, following the rest of the convoy as the radio checks continued.

"Cobra 2-2", the commander of the other tank replied, "radio good."

"Hammerhead, radio check."

"Hammerhead here, radio good", the Landship pilot said.

"Falcon 1-2, radio check?"

"Falcon 1-2, radio good."

"Falcon 2-2, radio check?"

"Falcon 2-2 here, radio good."

"Boss, how you doing?"

"We're all ready here", Shadow said, "Shadow Company! Let me hear you!"

"HO-AH!", all us Shadow's answered into the radio.

"Rhino 2-3", the flight control watchman asked, a smiled crept up my crew's faces as we watched Truck's plane pick up the landing gear on the runway opposite us, shaking everything in the convoy as it took to the skies, "radio check."

"DA", Alexi answered, "Rhino 2-3 here, radio good."

'Rhino 2-3, Falcon 2-1, got some pretty wicked teeth in your mouth, can you chew what you bite off?"

"Da, chew into paste and swallow. Maybe chase with Vodka if dry. How do you like your terrorist served? Runny? Scrambled? Or perhaps with cheese?"

"I'm a cheese girl myself", Falcon 2-2 answered, "I like my terrorist well done with a side of fries and a coke."

"Damn ladies, making me hungry over here in this Landship. Better leave me some targets so I can work up an appetite."

"I can shoot ground in front of tank, fright would, how do Americans say, scare the shit out of you? Leave big room for more food."

"Yeah, save those explosive red bull cans for the roaches infesting NRG Stadium", Cobra 1-2 said.

"Now look here", someone else in the convoy said, "we roaches find the term infesting offensive as hell. What if I judged you based on the fact you're a spider? Would that be fair?"

"Probably", Cobra 1-2 said.

Several members of the assault team began bickering back and forth in good fun about each other's races. I turned my radio down, primarily because I didn't have anything half as witty to say, but also because Eirren was tugging on my sleeve. She had a big grin on her face as she rocked a magazine into her AK and racked the bolt.

"Hey, I got fifty bucks in my pocket says I kill more of them then you do."

"I don't get out of bed for less than two", I countered.

"Wanna sweeten the pot?"

"With?"

"I found an EoTech at that base the day we met Alex. I have it packed away, brand new. Seems like that Winchester of yours could use it."

I offered my hand, "Aight babe, you're on."

Most of the ride towards NRG was the calm before the storm. The roads were bare, smothered in the choking silence of the ice and cold that had the city in a death grip. Winter was officially here, and seemed like it was going to be a long one. That said, it didn't overshadow what felt like genuine joy. Finally home. About 30 minutes after leaving IAH, Alexi got on the coms as the convoy slowed to a stop, the Landship and the two Abrams maneuvered into a different position than they had been in. The foot soldiers began exiting their transports and lining up behind the tanks. We were maybe about a quarter of a mile or so from NRG.

"Razgriz Actual this is Rhino 1 how copy?"

"Loud and clear Rhino 1 send traffic", Shadow said.

"I've got the enemy fighter aircraft in my sights, looks like they're getting fueled up ready to start the day, I guess Falcon crew has got them spooked."

"Well Rhino 1 let's make sure they can start their day with a bang. Cobra 1-2, 2-2 and Hammerhead, how copy."

"Hammerhead copies Razgriz Actual. Armored units are in position with infantry in support, standing by for orders ."

"Cobra 1-2. Rounds in can, standing by for mission."

"Cobra 2-2, got rounds in the can, ready to fuck and suck."

"Falcon crew, gimme a sit rep over."

"Birbs ready", one of the ladies said, "fuckers ain't got no where to run."

"SHADOW COMPANY!", Alex shouted into the radio, "LET'S TAKE BACK WHAT'S OURS!"

"HO-AH!"

I could almost hear Shadow's grin over the radio, "Razgriz Actual to Rhino 2-3, green light given, you are weapons free."

"Rodger that Razgriz Actual. Rhino 2-3 on station, death from above!"

Alexi started his assault with a volley from the 30mm. I could hear shit exploding as the first wave was followed by the 40mm, then the 105.

"Razgriz Actual to all Mech Units. All contacts in NRG stadium are considered hostile. Check your fire for those still loyal to Ms. Alex. Weapons free!"

"Raven King to all units", Tyro said, "weapons free!"

I grinned as Alex and I traded glances, she nodded to me with a big smile as the convoy began to move again.

"Shadow Company!", I said into the radio, "WEAPONS FREE!"

We marched the quarter mile from the stopping point to NRG stadium unopposed. By the time we arrived, Raul's Animals were out in force, already being engaged by our own armor and helicopters. We spread out as soon as we hit the NRG parking lot, taking cover behind whatever was available. Alexi had caused quite a bit of carnage and was already coming around for another pass. I started looking for targets, peering through my ACOG at the many windows that faced the stadium parking lot, I counted about two dozen hostiles. So, I started putting rounds on target It didn't take long as Alexi came back over the radio again.

"Falcon 1-2, 2-2, Rhino 2-3, I'm making a pass to drop off Rhino Ground, need you to move your birds."

"Rodger that Rhino 2-3", one of the ladies said, "we'll sweep aside."

I looked up from my ACOG as Rhino flew over, low enough that the vibrations from his engines broke out the windows on the stadium. Bay door down, Anthony, Skeve, Tess and Luka jumped out of the back, parachutes opening instantly. They found the ground quickly, landing on their feet and shrugging off their chutes. They were weapons up almost as quickly as they had arrived.

"The fuck are we sitting in this parking lot for!?", Anthony asked over the radio, "let's get this on! GO! GO! GO!"

Without the windows to obstruct our vision, the mercs in the Stadium became easier prey, for us foot mobiles. Peering through my optic, I took interest in some breed of dog welding an M4 that had been built out into a DMR. I put the chevron on his forehead and sent it. I saw Kevlar explode out of his helmet as he dropped his DMR and fell out of sight. Another animal, directly next to him, flicked his point of aim near to where I was and started looking for me. If he hadn't moved as quickly as he had, I may not have seen him. I shifted my aim slightly and fired three rounds. All three struck the barrier he was hiding behind, but didn't seem to punch through. The second animal fired a burst of ten or 11 rounds at where he thought the rounds might have come from. He was a little too close for comfort. The rounds struck the car I was hiding behind just a couple of inches from my head, prompting me to duck further behind the vehicle and reposition to the other side and re-engage. My target tapped another animal close to him and then stood up to run towards the opposite end of the stadium hallway, exposing his entire torso. I shifted my aim to a few feet in front of him and fired three rounds. The first round missed, but the second one struck him in the chest. And, since he wasn't wearing a plate carrier, he went down. Very quickly, all of our units pushed towards into the stadium. No quarter was given to any of Raul's animals as we pushed in. Our units spread out, going from room to room eliminating anything that was breathing. It was probably the most one sided battle in the history of modern combat, and from the time Alexi fired his first 30mm round, to the time we were hearing Stadium clear on the radio might have been 20 minutes. At the most.

"All units, Razgriz Actual. Does anyone have a positive ID on Raul Holden!?"

"Negative!", one animal said.

"Negative sir!", another answered.

"No!", Tyro said.

"No positive ID on HVT!", many others answered.

"FUCK!", Alex hissed, "where'd he go! Can't have gone far!"

I heard a few gunshots echo off down the hallway from us.

"ARGH!", a female said, "Positive ID on HVT! I'm shot! Need bac..."

Another gunshot.

More gunfire.

"Animal down! Animal down! I have casualties need back up now! Postie ID on HVT!"

'All units!", an animal said over the radio as my team and I took off towards the sounds of the gunfire, "Postie ID on HVT! Attempting to escape out the east side of the building accompanied by two armed escorts! Heavy body armor! 5.56 can't defeat!"

I threw my AR over my back, grabbing my Winchester off its sling as we darted down the hallway.

"Do not kill!", Shadow said, "we MUST take him alive!"

"Not this shit again Shadow!", Alex barked.

"Don't kill him Alex! That's the easy way out!", Shadow said.

We arrived at the room where we had heard the gunfire, one guy was pointing his AKM at the doorway, while two others were tending to two wounded.

"They went that way!"

"Shadow 1-8 to Rhino 2-3! Shadow team is tracking HVT through halls of NRG stadium, do you have a visual!?"

***Rhino 30mm operator, Vetochkin Arseni Grigorievich***

"Shadow 1-8 to Rhino 2-3! Shadow team is tracking HVT through halls of NRG stadium, do you have a visual!?"

"Veto, pereklyuchis' na teplovideniye, yesli ty yeshche etogo ne sdelal. Vy vidite trekhfutovyye mobili, dvizhushchiyesya po stadionu s vostochnoy storony? Skoreye vsego, dvizhetsya k ozhidayushchemu transportnomu sredstvu"

(Veto, switch to thermal imaging if you aren't already. Can you see three foot mobiles moving through the stadium, east side. Most liklely moving towards a waiting vehicle)

A flick of the switch changed the camera on the thirty mill to white hot. I zoomed out, panning the camera, and the gun with it, around. I could see the strobes of Arien and the rest of Shadow Company and Mech, but I didn't immediately see any movement not marked by a strobe. I panned out further, something then caught my eye. It was three contacts. Two armed, one in the middle appeared to be limping. They were moving down a stair case towards the east end of the ground floor. I also noticed what appeared to be a large SUV that was beginning to glow on the thermals. This was in a second parking lot where it looked like a counter assault force was gathering. I spotted at least two tanks and about 400 foot soldiers gathering. I turned back to my CO.

"Komandir, ser, ya zametil HVT, pokhozhe, na stoyanke za stadionom sobirayetsya kontrataka. Neskol'ko bronirovannykh mashin i ne meneye 400 futovykh mobil'nykh mashin. Priglasheniye na pomolvku, ser?"

(Commander sir, I've spotted the HVT, it looks like a counter attack force is gathering in the parking lot behind the stadium. Several armored vehicles and at least 400 foot mobiles. Permission to engage sir?)

Rodzher, otklyuchi spasatel'nuyu mashinu i sledi za HVT. Ostal'nyye iz vas slyshali mal'chika. Sdelayte iz nikh farsh, kak govoryat nashi amerikanskiye tovarishchi.

(Rodger, disable the escape vehicle and keep track of the HVT. Rest of you heard the boy. Make mince meat out of them, as our American comrades say)

"Vse yedinitsy, Nosorog 2-3. My obnaruzhili vrazheskiye kontrnastupatel'nyye sily, skopivshiyesya primerno v sotne metrov k severu ot vashego tekushchego mestopolozheniya. Falcon 2-1 i Falcon 2-2 my dvizhemsya, chtoby vstupit' v boy i nuzhdayemsya v pomoshchi."

"Oni ne govoryat po-russki tovarishch", Anthony said, "Falcon 2-1, Falcon 2-2, Rhino squad is moving to engage a large force of 400 enemy fighters, they require your assistance."

"Rog, moving to engage."

The rest of my comrades opened fire on the enemies below. Meanwhile, I turned to my comrade who manned the cannon with me.

"Sploshnyye slizni, dayte mne krepkikh slizney, tovarishch. Nikakikh vzryvchatykh veshchestv, HVT nuzhno brat' zhivym!"My comrade flashed a thumbs up and pulled a singular, yellow ammunition crate from the rack as I unlatched my harness. We pulled the cannon in and safed it, opening up the feed pawls and removing the explosive rounds, setting them in the rack for loose ammunition. We loaded thirty rounds of inert ammunition, closed the feed pawls and pushed the cannon back out. I jumped back into my seat and harnessed up, getting back on my scope just in time to see the terrorists loading the HVT into the SUV, which peeled towards the parking lot and enemy soldiers. I lead my target, firing a burst of three rounds, two of which struck the engine block of the SUV. A splash on the thermals indicated that I had at least killed one of them.The dragon who lead Mech, he said something on the radio. I didn't speak any English, but he sounded happy.

"Kha! Otlichnyy khit Veto! Tekhnika vyvedena iz stroya, HVT okruzhayut druzhestvennyye sily! Teper' nekuda bezhat', chertov terrorist!"

(Ha! Great hit Veto! Vehicle disabled, HVT is being surrounded by friendly forces! No where to run now you fucking terrorist!)

_ ***Arien Kyvart-Shadow 1-8*** _

I only heard a bunch of Russian coming from our friends in the sky before the gunship cut loose and the helicopters followed shortly thereafter. Shadow got on the Radio, he was laughing.

"Arien. Me and six others have Raul surrounded. We're in an alleyway right outside the stadium."

'We're coming you", Alex said.

We rushed outside, following the sounds of the cussing from several large dragons into an alley way were we found them rocking an armored suburban back and forth. Shadow was on top of the car, while two others were scratching at the up armored glass like dogs that needed to be let out. My team and I quickly surrounded the SUV. I jumped up on the hood and fired a slug clean through the windshield into the animal in the driver's seat, it had been nearly shattered when Veto had shot the block out.

I racked my Winchester, pointing it right at Raul's head.

"Get out of the fucking car!", I hissed, "you lose!"

"Cool it, cool it, cool it!", Raul said opening the door and stepping out, his hands up.

I jumped off the hood, using the shattered glass to break my fall, landing on my feet with the muzzle of the shotgun less than an inch from Raul's face.

"G'on", I taunted, "gimme a reason to pull this trigger."

'So you're the one that's been boiling animals alive", Tyro said stepping around as Eirren took his pistol off his hip, "what a pathetic creature you are."

"Call off your thugs", Alex ordered, handing him a radio, "You take orders from ME now!"

Raul took the radio, "Shadow company. This is commander Holden...stand down. All units stand down."

"Good", Eirren said as Alex confiscated the radio, "now put your hands behind your back."

"What are you gonna do?", Raul asked, "arrest me? Hold a trial?"

"There will be no trial Holden", Shadow hissed, still on top of the SUV, "Only execution!"

Eirren and Zack proceeded to zip tie Raul's hands behind his back.

"He keeps the kettles in the stadium", Alex said, "I think we should pay them, a visit!"

"I second that", Zack said, "who gets to light the fire?"

"Alex", Eirren said, "Raul killed her son in the same way. It's only fair!"

Mob justice is a hell of a thing. I couldn't necessarily say that I supported executions as a general rule, it takes a lot in my book for a crime to truly warrant death. Then again, when I set foot onto the field of the stadium, and saw all of the blood that stained the grass, saw the kettles and the boiled corpses that had been hung up like meat in a walk in freezer, any issues I might have taken with the mass executions that were preparing to take place evaporated. The fuckin' smell was unlike anything I had ever experienced.

It took about 40 minutes after the fighting ceased to round everyone up and get them together in the stadium. Mech, Ravens and those of Shadow Company who were being held prisoner by Raul had all spread out in the stands to watch the show. The ladies that had been flying the helicopters had landed, and the tankers were down on the field with us, having parked their tanks in a way that barred entrance into the stadium. They were sitting on top of their armor, snacking on some stuff they had found on concessions. Seemed like half of the survivors had a bone to pick with the cocksucker. Another thing that was clear was that it was obvious that many of Shadow Company's troops not tethered to the stadium or the close vicinity didn't know what was going on. Alex was inclined to cut them some slack and give them one last chance, provided they watched. Seemed like it would be a good deterrent. The kettles were already filled with frozen water, so, all it took to get the process started was for Alex to light the fire, which she did gleefully. It took a long time for the water to get to boiling. By now, the crowd was cheering, hurdling slurs at Raul. Shadow held him down by his head as Alex stripped him naked and chained him by the wrists to a small crane on an F450 that at some point looked like it was a utility service truck, now modified to dunk poor bastards in death water. Heavy lead weights were tied to his ankles and he was hoisted into the air by another Shadow Company girl. A vulture, who also bore the scars of hot water. The cheering and slurs were deafening now. I couldn't say I disagreed with anything that was going on. The crane operator lifted Raul over the pot, it had reached and aggressive boil by now. Names were being thrown at the dead deer from the bleachers. I wondered what the exact number was, it was higher than I could count.

"Raul, this is for all the fathers, sons, brothers, mothers, sisters daughters that you cut, killed, maimed tortured fuckin butchered and sent straight to hell! This is for all of them!"

The vulture girl lowered, or, more accurately, dropped Raul into the water. I didn't think that any animal could scream like that, but hell, fucking served him right. A couple of other guys used long metal rods to hold him under the water, and I'm not sure what killed him, drowning, or the heat. Either way, when he was finally drawn up, there was barely anything left. A bunch of the other shadows took over from Alex, who rejoined us.

"It's done...Shadow Company is mine again."

"Yeah well, make sure you tear those cans apart for scrap metal", James said.

"I will", Alex said, "thanks for everything guys....it's been a ride."

"You aren't coming with us?", Zack asked.

"Nah", Alex said, "my place is here with Shadow Company. Our reputation has been tarnished and our stadium has been trashed. We have a lot of work to do. Bury the dead, rebuild our ranks, animals that need help. We still have a nuclear war to pick up after."

I offered my hand, "thanks for everything Alex."

She accepted, "Hey, if you ever find yourself back in Houston, NRG is open to you. I promise to stay in touch."

She smirked at Zack, "and to behave."

She turned, and began walking to where some of her troops were coming down to meet her. Zack acted like he was going to go after her, then sighed and shook his head.

"Nah", he said, "I can't handle that level of crazy."

"Not many of us can", Shadow said, "Arien. 288 is clear. You're good to go."

"Thanks for the assist", I said.

"I should be thanking you. Without your gunship, this would have been a much harder fight. IAH is open to you and your team if you ever need anything."

"We may have to take you up on that", I said, "so long Shadow."

I turned to my teams.

"Guys. Let's go home."