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Guardians:

Chapter Seven: Surge

Alyx looked down at the floor as the sounds of his team voicing fears and doubts replayed in his mind over and over. After his half or the Corps had gotten back to Headquarters he'd sent out search teams and had everyone who was even semi-qualified for analysis and retrieval working to locate Craight and Zighz. About twenty minutes after that, orders had came down from the top; from Eli himself, to completely disregard the disappearance of Craight and Zighz and to resume normal patrol and training. About three hours later one of the generals had flown in with an entire platoon of Elites as well as heavy armor rolling in from one of the armories in the mountains. They didn't act any more hostile than the rest of the army, but the whole thing was suspicious.

He leaned back on the couch he was sitting on and looked over his shoulder as Sain walked into the lounge and sat next to him with a heavy scowl upon her muzzle.

"This is shit." She looked at Alyx, "That goddamned general wouldn't let me onto the shooting range because he's using it for 'necessary means' to assess all the GC's 'reliability'." She leaned against Alyx, "I don't like this guy; he reeks of trouble."

Alyx nodded and stroked Sain's mane softly,

"Yeah but he is a general so we have to humor him unless he goes against the original codecs."

Sain growled, "The jackass wouldn't quit asking questions about the tattoo on my leg."

Alyx looked down at her surprised,

"You have a tattoo? And I haven't noticed? What kind of lover am I?"

Sain looked back up at him with a curious expression,

"A scatter-brained one apparently." She paused, "Sure I have a tattoo. It's just a slightly lighter shade than the rest of my scales."

She shifted and pulled her pants off and pointed to her left thigh.

Alyx grinned a little and looked a little more closely at her leg. There was a tattoo there but it was hard to make out the only time you could actually see it was when the light bounced off her scales. He shifted his head from side to side before looking up at her,

"A phoenix and dragon mating?" He paused, "A Redeemer?"

Sain nodded and pulled her pants back on.

Alyx shook his head

"Why?"

"I can't remember where it came from really." Sain shrugged, "Been there for a while." She paused, "I guess I got it about the time I joined the Guardian Corps."

Alyx nodded and looked at his tattoo on his hand of an Oroboros,

"Sounds like mine." He sat still for a second, "In fact, the style is quite similar."

Sain looked at his hand and nodded, "Strange." She seemed to mull something over leaning against Alyx again, "Did you ever hear of the Legend Division?"

Alyx laughed humorlessly,

"Actually, my mother was one."

Sain looked up at him,

"Then she's dead?"

"Far as I know." He nodded, "And before you ask, no I can't confirm or deny the rumors of their supposed powers."

Sain nodded softly,

"I wonder if that's what got you tangled with the G.C.'s."

Alyx shrugged, "Dunno, I remember bits and pieces about her but I only saw her once after being... Well, brainwashed I guess, and that was a picture of her at her funeral."

Sain made a small noise,

"That's sad." She paused, "What do you mean brainwashed?"

Alyx shrugged again,

"I'll tell you about that later." He sighed and made a small gesture for her no to ask again, "If I could remember anything it would be. I do know I became a G.C. about three months after the Legends were terminated."

"How do you know this?"

Alyx looked down at her with a soft expression before it hardened,

"One the few times I've worked against the uppers I got a hold of some files on me..."

Sain looked up more interested now,

"And?"

He closed his eyes and looked down,

"I didn't read through it all; still got it though."

Sain cocked her head to the side,

"You didn't read it all why?"

Alyx held up his hand with the Oroboros,

"Because, I really am a monster according to them," He looked down and shivered, "and most of the files are incomprehensible."

Sain churled and kissed his cheek gently,

"You not a monster dear. But those files do sound interesting, could I have a look over them? You know encryption is one of my specialties."

Alyx nodded,

"Yeah, but later, they aren't in a really assessable place right now."

Sain gave him an odd look,

"Where are they?"

Alyx grimaced,

"I'll show you later, and I'll tell you about my 'brainwashing' then."

They both turned as the doors to the lounge opened and Raurian Swanson walked in whistling to himself,

"'Sup lovebirds?"

Alyx chuckled as Sain almost bristled beside him,

"Nothing of consequence. How's Duke doing?"

Swanson nodded and flopped down into an armchair across from the other two,

"He's fine. Won't stop cursing his 'weak' bones." The blue wyvern laughed for a moment before sobering up, "But that general guy is making me nervous."

"Really? You too?" Alyx and Sain said at the same time.

Swanson laughed,

"Got the mind thing going there?" He laughed harder as Sain started to say something before she was hushed by Alyx, "But yeah, he makes me nervous, asking all kinds of questions."

Alyx leaned forward slightly,

"Like what?"

"Mostly personal stuff; very little about the Guardian corps." Raurian paused his tail tip flicking, "He was particularly interested in a tattoo I have."

Sain started and looked at the blue dragon,

"Same here."

Alyx sighed softly,

"Let's see it."

"What you too!?" Swanson feigned insult or some other emotion close to, before laughing and showing a tribal caduceus on his right hip, "You like?" He wiggled his hips a bit before pulling the edge of his pants back up, "What about it?"

"Me and Sain both have tattoos of the same style..." Alyx paused, "I wonder how many of the GC's have 'em?"

The blue dragon nodded,

"Well duke has got a shield on his shoulder, and Ruze has one that..." He trailed off and almost giggled.

All three were silent for a few minutes each lost in different thoughts. Raurian broke the silence,

"So what's it mean?"

Alyx shrugged,

"Do you remember getting the tattoo?"

"No. I got it about the time I joined the Corps though."

Alyx nodded,

"So we all have tattoos we got when we joined the GCs that are all in the same style, and none of us remember getting them?" Alyx paused thinking it over, "I dunno what it means but it is odd..."

The other two concurred, before the intercom came on with General Black's voice over it.

"Alyx Zeltharian Ranas, report to your quarters. Alyx Zeltharian Ranas, to our quarters."

Swanson looked at Alyx,

"Did he say 'our'?"

Alyx shrugged,

"Iunno, but let's see if he asks about my tattoo."

He stood up and walked out of the lounge heaving a small sigh as he made his way to his sleeping quarters.

After a bit of walking he turned around the corner into his hallway and glanced around nervously at all the armed guards one of whom, the captain, brought his gun level.

"That's impolite." Alyx growled at the human quietly, "Especially since this is my base."

The human sneered,

"It's not yours asshole, and I'll be as impolite as I want, because I've got a gun and precedence over all of you low-life sc-" The man was cut off as Alyx had suddenly disarmed him and had two claws at his throat. One of the other guards raised his gun but another pushed it back down as they watched Alyx whisper into the captain's ear,

"Be careful what you say. Just because I don't have a gun doesn't mean anything imbecile." He released him and shoved him forward watching the man trip and fall before turning and walking into his quarters.

He glanced over at the general who had taken Alyx's FAL and was idly playing with the gun. Alyx stood there for a bit watching as the man swung his most expensive and hardest built guns he had. He started to say something before the general began speaking.

"This is an amazing weapon Ranas." Alyx looked at the man as he continued, "Not at all standard issue." He turned it over and took the magazine out, "Fires plasma, so you have roughly two thousand shot's per clip," he tossed the clip on the bed carelessly, "the barrel," he twisted and pulled it out of the body and receiver, "has a bore pattern I've never even seen something like that before," he dropped the barrel on the floor, "And pretty much, this entire gun is so advanced, it's totally illegal." He let the rest of the weapon fall on the floor making Alyx wince, "Even for your average military man." The general walked around to Alyx's desk and slowly went through the meticulously sorted documents scattering them around with less care than a dog scratching an itch, "You have even more access to Intel than I do." He looked over at Alyx with an unidentifiable gleam in his eye, "This entire corps is highly specialized and dangerous to our country because of it."

Alyx growled softly,

"Care to share what you're working at?"

The general walked forward and pushed a finger into Alyx's chest eliciting a much deeper and aggressive growl.

"I don't like you. I don't like your breed. Nobody likes evolutionaries or dragons, and yet here is an entire building full of them who have the highest possible military clearance." He paused and took his finger off of Alyx's chest almost looking nervous for a split second before the steel went back into his countenance, "I want this entire corps investigated to the highest possible degree, before-" He stopped himself and looked away.

"Before what?" Alyx asked watching as the man's demeanor seemed to change to that of a frightened child for such a split second Alyx thought he may have imagined it.

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" He glanced up at Alyx, before clearing his throat. "Sain Westingbrooke."

Alyx stiffened a little,

"What about her?"

"Your mate?"

Alyx nodded,

"What's it matter to you?"

Black looked down,

"I've said too much, but know this entire sect is madness and my main goal in life is eliminating madness." He turned and began to walk out of Alyx's quarters but he stopped himself at the door,

"Oh, I nearly forgot." He turned, "We found Craight and Zighz; they were moved to a secure area." Then he spun and disappeared before Alyx could ask what he meant.

Alyx stood looking after the man for a moment before sitting down on his bed and carefully putting his FAL back together, trying to figure out what had just transpired. Something was missing... But what?

. . .

"Vance Slater."

The wolf jumped, and spun around nearly dropping the explosives he was pairing together with radio transmitters. He looked around the workshop he was in; it was too damned dark inside the workshop except where his lamp lit the garage-like area.

"Hallo?" He looked around, "Anyone in here?"

General Black, (A fitting name.) stepped out of the shadows and walked up to the wolf.

"I am of course." The man laughed, but it seemed humorless and forced, definitely not a natural laugh. "I wanted to speak with you."

"Mmmhmm?" Vance set the explosives device and his tools down offering the general a chair and sitting down in one himself, "'bout what?"

"You studied alchemy and implied genetics as a college student correct?" Black sat down and looked intently upon the wolf

Vance laughed,

"Yes, but none of it is reality; it's all just wishful thinking of scientists who can't do what they want."

Black nodded and brought forth a small stack of papers,

"This is you're thesis upon hyperimbuement I believe." He glanced across it, "and what if I told you your theses were being used and actually having results?"

Vance laughed harder,

"I'd probably presume you've lost your mind and call in the white-coats."

Black grinned,

"Good. Smart man." He looked down upon the papers, "I still find it fascinating though. Tell me why did you research something so avidly if it wasn't real?"

Vance looked down.

"Something one of my ancestors came up with." Vance paused his mouth working, "The Darksun, as it was nicknamed." He looked up at Black, "My family's been made fun of for generations because he so thought it real. I was trying to prove it was real."

Black nodded,

"I see. Give your family its reputation back." He smiled in that same mechanical fashion, "You might want to ask Alyx about the Darksun's validity. I heard that he participated with your ancestor in that escapade."

Vance looked at the general oddly,

"Really? I've never heard such. Wait. How old is Alyx?"

Black shrugged,

"I don't really care. But I have heard he worked upon the Darksun thesis. But anyway, I mostly came here to ask you about your section in here about The Redeemer."

Vance chuckled,

"Yes, an interesting fictional story there. What about it?"

"In theory to activate The Redeemer's powers a death is necessary right?"

Vance nodded,

"Right, but it has to be the Redeemer himself who dies before it actually works. But for them to be able to complete it has to have been through an immense amount of torture."

"Or herself."

Vance looked over at Black,

"Well, yeah. It's also necessary for the Redeemer to activate before any of the others will." He laughed, "I shoulda wrote a sci-fi on it eh?"

Black nodded,

"Last question."

He flipped through the pages until he came to a piece of tribal style artwork or a phoenix and dragon entwined in a mating flight, "This is the symbol of the Redeemer correct?"

"Yup." Vance grinned, "Took me forever to draw all the symbols up. It's all actually drakine mythology and legend,"

Black nodded.

"That's all I wanted. Good day." He got up and left taking all the papers with him. Leaving Vance wondering why he was so interested in a college paper.