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"I... uh... we're going to show you a... test... operation... of the railgun, since... since that's one of the good... er... best things... one of the nice features of the uh... of the combat armor..." stuttered the pilot who had apparently been elected to take their boss's place, and she could see the other four looking worriedly back and forth. Then she heard someone clear their throat from the crowd, and Cherry paused in the act of trying to slip into the group from around the side, thankful that no one had really noticed her.

"Where's Rodrigo? He's supposed to be going over the specifics of this machine." Lone's voice rose up indignantly, and there was a murmur of consent from the crowd. The soldier up front paled at the looks he was getting, raising his hands as if in surrender before quickly running over to pick up a small stepladder, almost tripping in his haste.

He hurried back to the combat armor, then dropped it and cursed in a shaky voice, electing a few huffy titters as he turned and flushed deeply, finally replying: "I... he's busy with... another business transaction right now, trying to get... more materials and... prototypes and... machines... and... stuff... but I'm gonna show you how this armor works right now!"

Cherry finally managed to slide her way forwards, and now she was standing right behind Lone, who was looking sulky: he was one of the two people in the middle of the Silver Crusaders, the six standing in a line slightly apart from the crowd. He yawned visibly, and Cherry saw the perfect chance to perhaps cut the snake's head off before any more trouble was caused.

"I don't think so!" she said clearly, then reached forwards and wrapped an arm tight around Lone's neck, causing him to gasp and splutter as she snaked her other arm into his ridiculous suit jacket and jerked out the magnum revolver from the cloth holster, loving the ease of access it gave her. She shoved it against the wolf's temple, then cocked the hammer, dragging him backwards with a snarl as he choked and grabbed at her arm, pain, surprise, and utter terror on his features as his ears flattened and tail curled up between his legs. "Get down! Get away from there."

The pilot only stared, visibly horrified, frozen on the stepladder: Cherry'd seen this expression from rookies or soldiers who generally stayed away from the front lines many times before. It was like being snared in the headlights of an approaching truck, but worse... not only did the body cease to react, even the mind shut down and couldn't give the most basic of commands. It was terror: not for one's self, but simply because the entire world had gone upside-down.

The other drivers, on the other hand, dropped to the floor immediately and put their hands over their heads, apparently recognizing that Cherry had their meal ticket in hand and she would have no problem blowing his head off. And, as she dragged Lone quickly back another good few feet, keeping the huge revolver placed firmly against his skull, she grinned slightly at the screams of the rich people as they fled in all directions, and the silver crusaders looked at her with something like horror.

Then Madam Dandridge began to laugh... and Dana joined in, hers a horrible chortling. Soon, the other three were laughing as well, even as the pilots continued to stare and the other members of Apple Villa panicked and fled to the corners of the room... but like so many, preferred to find a safe place to hide and watch then actually flee while they had the chance. Cherry snarled, confused by the apparent merriment of the Silver Crusaders, wondering what the hell was going on as Lone choked and gargled... then her eyes widened as a bear in a tuxedo and wearing a monocle pulled a handgun out of his suit jacket.

She had a moment to wonder why her precog didn't kick in... then the bear pulled the trigger and she saw why, as the bullet hit Lone instead of her. She hadn't been concentrating, so she wouldn't see the ghost images... and there was never any actual threat to her, which would cause her ability to snap in automatically. And Lone... well... she didn't even like Lone, but her expression of horror was real nonetheless as the wolf slumped in her grip and fell over, a startled look frozen on his face, a neat hole in the breast of his suit. Rose petals fell around him as he collapsed to the ground and lay still for a moment.

Cherry automatically aimed the massive revolver at the ursine, but he was still grinning, as if at some great joke, ivory-handled, classy .32 handgun still aimed neatly at her. His golden monocle glimmered, and then the black bear tilted his head upwards as he reached up and toyed with the silver sword dangling around his neck with his other hand, saying mildly: "It seems you've made a grievous error in your judgment, Miss Cherry. Lone is as important to us as say... he is to you, it appears."

The female Drakkaren stepped back a bit, snarling angrily as she adjusted her stance, bringing one leg forwards and her other hand up to grip the bottom of the revolver's handle. She felt a dull rage taking over her senses as the other members of the Silver Crusaders drew their own weapons... all of them stupid, worthless trinket handguns that would nonetheless kill her if they put enough bullets into her body. And although she was fairly sure she could wipe them all out with a quick strafe of the revolver, she couldn't resist asking furiously: "Why? How could you do that to him? Yeah, he's a fucking idiot, a fucking asshole, even... but he was your leader, your comrade-in-arms!"

At this, the other Apple Villa rich folk laughed again, and Cherry was disgusted to see that they weren't even smart enough to keep their guns trained on her. Then the ursine spoke again, saying in a horribly-pleasant, terribly-cruel voice: "Lone Wulfe is the reason this town is the way it is. A Mayor that was nothing more than a puppet to your twisted friend Zerrex... and unlike Reinhold, who lived for Apple Villa, to see Apple Villa become a majestic masterpiece, all Lone ever did was tend to his own selfish desires. He attempted to use us, to prove himself better than us, who are the true royalty and masters of this town, who gave birth to Apple Villa and almost conquered that sick and decrepit Comfort Town... and so we merely returned the favor. Lone had access to weapons... connections with all the right people... and wealth and social power that even we could envy. But he was never our leader... we let him think he was in charge, but in reality we ran circles around him and all his stupid little ideas."

"Fuck you..." came a groggy voice, and then Lone slowly sat up, wincing and rubbing at his head as Dana gave a little shriek and actually dropped her handgun; Lone blinked slowly at this, then he rubbed slowly at the hole in his suit before muttering: "I'm definitely not going to you for repairs, Dandridge, you old bitch... you lose customers by fucking shooting them."

"I shot you, idiot!" snarled the black bear, taking aim at the wolf as he stared stupidly up at him: but there was a tremble of fear as well. "Why aren't you dead?"

Cherry looked around at them all - making a slight expression of disgust at the fact that Dana was grunting and squatting, trying to bend low enough to pick up her gun without overbalancing - before Lone slowly frowned, apparently adding everything he'd just heard together with the fact he'd just been shot. Then he snarled angrily and opened his muzzle, likely about to go into some long, betrayed monologue... but Cherry quickly snapped out a foot , hitting him squarely in the temple and knocking him sprawling. She paused for a moment as the others stared, making sure he was unconscious, before she turned her gaze back to the black bear with a grim smile. "That's one problem solved. Care to be the next?"

"I've got a better idea..." the ursine replied, backing slowly away before looking over his shoulder with a grin. "Hey, you! I have a better combat test for you to run... kill her!"

"Sir!" Cherry snarled, looking up in time to see the soldier from the stepladder jump into the cockpit, then her eyes widened as her precog kicked in and warned her of an incoming bullet. She quickly kicked her feet against the ground, shoving herself backwards as she twisted her body slightly in midair, and a bullet fired from one of the Crusaders narrowly missed her temple as she took aim at the black bear. His eyes widened a moment before she fired, and the power of the recoil was almost as satisfying as the fact that most of the bear's head flew off in an explosion of blood and gore.

The other pilots were sprinting away, as the Apple Villa Crusaders screamed and immediately began to shoot at her: Cherry, however, had no problem taking aim at Dana, who had fallen on her fat ass and was firing almost wildly into the air, looking terrified. The Drakkaren grinned violently as she pulled down the hammer again with her thumb and then fired another round, this one blowing the flabby skunk backwards as it slammed into her chest... but then she glanced up as she heard the combat armor whirring into life.

The rest of her fun would have to wait, as she sidestepped to avoid a lucky bullet that would have caught her in the arm. She dropped the revolver to waist level, then brought her other hand to hover over the hammer as she focused herself: a moment later, she moved with ghastly speed and precision, bullets pounding the remaining three Apple Villa folk who dared to try and make a stand backwards and off their feet.

At this point, she would have celebrated... but then the Combat Armor stepped easily off the slightly-raised platform and turned towards her as she sidestepped. Cherry paled slightly, the giant revolver feeling insignificant in her hand even as she rose it to take aim at the glass... and then she heard a charging sound a moment before some massive force blasted by her. From behind her, she heard a window shatter and people's screams.

It's faster than my precog can detect! she thought stupidly, then the Combat Armor held out its other arm and one of the armor panels beneath the vise slid back: Cherry only stared for a moment before a rectangular turret popped out, with a pair of small barrels and an ammo-belt feeding into it from some storage unit inside the arm. Then ghost images of bullets struck her, and the female snarled before throwing herself out of the way, going into a roll and then shoving off the ground with her hands as the whirr of heavy machine gun fire filled the air, mixed with the discordant melody of shattering tile.

Then she landed neatly on her feet next to Lone, the amazement she felt at her own ability to actually pull off such movements in a frigging dress drowned by the fact that Lone would be mulched by the machineguns if he continued to lay here: so without bothering to think, she simply kicked him as hard as she could in the stomach, sending him flying across the room and rolling bonelessly across the floor a good, safe distance away. She grinned, reveling in the joy it gave her before quickly sidestepping and turning at the same time, as if dancing: in the same liquid movement, she brought up the revolver and fired the last three bullets in the enormous gun straight into the glass shield that covered the cockpit of the combat armor.

The gunfire stopped as the driver inside screamed, the movements of the machine halting as well for a moment before it suddenly began to walk and turn itself towards her once more, stomping over the tile as she saw heard a loud clunking sound from the railgun. Her eyes widened as it tried to take aim at her, sidestepping but stumbling on the dress, and then the black eye of the enormous cannon was facing her and she did the only thing she could think of: she slid both her legs out to either side, doing a complete splits and dropping both her arms down to catch herself as she fell forwards slightly.

There was a crackle of electricity and again, the feeling of some massive force passing over her before she heard a wall blow out behind her this time: she grinned, feeling a surge of adrenaline and the thrill of battle rushing through her body before she threw herself to the side, kicking her legs up at the same time and going straight from the splits into a one-handed cartwheel, her dress billowing out gracefully: at the same time, her hand swept between her legs and snared the end of the handgun, tearing it free from her inner thigh before she landed on her feet with a grunt.

She backstepped quickly as the machine stomped forwards and swung at her with the vise grip, bringing up the plain 15mm before she realized that she could see the driver through a good-sized hole in the combat armor: as it walked forwards, she ran backwards, an idea coming to her before she spun around to hide her next action, ejecting the clip into her hand and kissing the barrel of her handgun in a silent prayer for luck, before she jumped into the air and spun at the same time, focusing herself as the ghost images appeared once more, snarling as she threw the fully-loaded clip and let herself fall backwards.

The flight of the clip was graceful, beautiful... and it clinked gently off a shard of broken glass, revolving rapidly as it entered the driver's cockpit. Her handgun followed its movements without a waver, instinct telling her to wait... and then finally, the perfect shot presented itself and Cherry fired the single bullet she always kept chambered in any gun she used, the round flying true and striking the clip squarely.

The magazine of ammunition simply exploded as Cherry hit the ground and slid back a foot or so, her red dress flying around her as the driver gave a gargling scream, a series of cracks appearing on the inside of the glass cage along with a generous splatter of blood that leaked out through many of the fractures and the gaping holes in the window left from the massive revolver she'd used earlier. She grinned a bit to herself as the armor began to walk in a slow circle, catching sight of the pilot slumped over on top of the control panel, and then there was a loud fizzle of electricity before the armor staggered awkwardly to the side and finally collapsed with a heavy crash.

Cherry shook her head quickly and then reached down between her legs, wincing as she pulled out the spare clip from where it was stuck on her thigh: a swathe of duct tape was still stuck to it, and she used her jaws to tear it off before spitting it out, at the same time slapping it home into the handgun and automatically working the slide. Then she glanced up as the combat armor gave a few faint whirrs before looking around the room and yelling bad-naturedly: "What the fuck are you all staring at?"

She shook her head slowly, then blinked and looked up as she heard a loud smashing sound: a moment later, the people clustered near the back of the room ran screaming as the wall all but exploded, chunks of concrete and metal raining down around the area before four other combat armors walked out, crushing stone and fragments of steel under their feet like paper. Immediately, Cherry gave a sound of disgust and jumped backwards, raising her handgun as her eyes flashed, snarling angrily... but her stomach gave a horrible twist at the sight of the machines moving forwards in a solid line.

Slowly, she walked away from the fallen armor she'd already taken on, making a face at the others as she moved into an open area, her eyes sizing the other machines up. Three of them were bipedal as well, but one of them had heavy tank treads instead of legs. In fact, it looked almost exactly like a small tank, except for the fact it had what looked like an upper torso instead of a heavy cannon turret atop the tank's body.

The torso was composed of a detailed design of a person's body, and then a pair of arms: each of these ending in what looked like long, 40mm cannons, with the stocks extending along the forearms and past the elbows. Obviously a psychological tactic... most soldiers would panic and run screaming from a headless techno-centaur with guns for arms. Mounted on the shoulder was some kind of large-barreled cannon as well, and to Cherry it looked almost like a grenade launcher with the huge drum and design of the gun. There was no head, no... instead it was designed like a wide V-collar, and the female was fairly sure that even the 'neck' was wide enough so a pilot could climb in and out of the body with ease. She also guessed there was likely some kind of hidden camera system... probably built into the tank body somewhere.

The rest of the combat armors had the same type of general design as the one she had just taken out, except for minor details here and there, and the arsenal: one of them had a slightly-shortened cockpit that ended in more of a square than a curved nose, and it was armed with an enormous gatling gun instead of a railgun on the forearm - it made Cherry wonder morbidly which was worse. The other hand also had a large, single blade instead of a vise.

Another machine had what looked like rocket turrets mounted on top of it, one on each shoulder, and each turret capable of holding three missiles: fortunately, these were empty... although it did answer Cherry's question as to how they'd managed to break through the wall so easily. This one, however, didn't possess any forearms: instead, both arm units ended in cannons of some sort - one was definitely a grenade gun, from the bulbous drum attached into it near the middle, and the other seemed to be built almost like an oversized automatic shotgun.

That left one armor: this one, however, seemed pathetic compared to the others. The metal plating seemed of much higher durability, but otherwise it was armed only with a pair of vise hands on rotating joints, which constantly opened and closed. They were lobster-shaped, and looked like they would pack a nasty punch... but Cherry didn't think it would be enough to stand up to the Boss in hand-to-hand.

"Hey, I could really use a little freak coincidence right now, by the way!" Cherry suddenly yelled, as the armors advanced slowly on her: at her shout, however, they all stopped for a moment, and there was an almost awkward silence before the female muttered and cleared her throat, raising her handgun and strafing her aim back and forth over the combat machines in front of her. "Well, okay. Nevermind. Looks like this is the end of Cherry. Zerrex, I'm going to fucking kick your ass when you get to Hell for not-"

Before she could finish, there was the distinct whirr of a motor she was all-too-familiar with - a heavy-duty, many-times-repaired motorcycle. She looked up in surprise, and even the combat armors turned slightly towards the noise before the massive black bike smashed through the window, and Cherry grinned widely, watching it sail far above their heads before crashing down to the ground, the sound of the motor filling the ballroom like thunder.

Zerrex curved the motorcycle from moving towards the tables to heading to the front doors, then he suddenly spun on the spot and instead raced in the opposite direction, heading towards the combat armors that were lined up. A wide grin was on his features, and his emerald eyes glinted darkly as his hair blew back in the wind... and the massive rocket-launcher balanced easily on his shoulder bounced a bit: he had one shot, and he'd already selected the combat armor from a single glance that would receive the surface-to-air missile it was loaded with.

He suddenly spun the handlebars, yanking hard back on them at the same time as he hopped up onto the seat: his hand released the throttle as his arm went out, other hand's grip firming on the rocket launcher as he tilted his body forwards even as he stood, bringing a foot up to slam down firmly between the handlebars of the motorcycle as it went up on its back wheel. The reptile straightened, shirtless and as terrifying as a wrathful god as he brought the rocket launcher up to aim, bringing one leg up and for a moment standing like a stork, perched precariously on the top of his handlebars on a motorcycle that stood almost ninety-degrees on its back tire... and then he kicked off, flying backwards as his eyes flashed and he pulled the trigger.

He flew back through the air as the rocket flew from the metal tube, shooting from the launcher and leaving a trail of smoke behind it before it smashed into the gatling-gun armed combat armor with an explosion that caused the two units beside it to stumble backwards and fight for balance, bits of metal and glass hailing down as the twisted, ruined hulk of the machine flew backwards, crashing into the ground and leaving a trail of shattered tile as it rolled several feet. It crackled with electricity, fire bursting up from the blackened ruins as the bullets for the gatling gun stored throughout its body went off like firecrackers. It was enough to drown out the screeching of the motorcycle as it crashed down on its side, followed soon after by Zerrex's own neat and near-silent landing a few feet behind Cherry.

The reptile grinned slightly as he idly threw the rocket launcher aside, then he paused to glance Cherry over, in her posh red dress, saying mildly: "I can't believe you were actually fighting in that."

"Me neither. Change of clothing?" The female grinned, then she wrapped a hand in the silky fabric and easily tore it free from her body with a loud, satisfying rip, throwing it aside and revealing the jeans she'd cut off at the knee and the black, fancy-ass bikini top that came as the top half for one of the two-piece swimsuits the wolf had bought her. Zerrex looked almost impressed, then her eyes settled on a certain object he had stuck to his belt and her grin stretched wider. "Hey, would that be..."

"Yours." Zerrex reached down and quickly undid the plain rope he had tied around the female's chain whip before handing the deadly weapon over to her. Cherry immediately grabbed the handle, then she snapped it hard out to the side to unravel all fifteen feet of deadly, sharpened-metal links. It ended in a vicious, almost-fang-shaped hook that could be used to capture weapons, and the reptile licked her muzzle at the comfortable feel of the weapon in her hand of it before glancing back at her husband.

The reptile had brought one of his favored swords with him: an odachi, with a five foot blade and foot-long handle. The lightweight but long and elegant sword gave Zerrex extremely high versatility and speed in combat, although it didn't pack the same punch as the other sword Zerrex usually carried with him into battle... but then again, Cherry'd never seen a weapon that could match the ferocity of Zerrex wielding Blackheart. Before they could continue their banter, however, Cherry's eyes widened as she saw a ghost image of a grenade flying at them, and she quickly launched herself to the side, going easily into a shoulder-roll.

Zerrex blinked and reacted as he felt Cherry leave his side, instinctively jumping to the other side, then backstepping again when he saw the heavily-armed combat armor launch a grenade. The explosion sent up a plume of smoke and sharp fragments of stone tile, and the reptile covered his face with his arms, wincing as they pattered against his bare chest. Then he reached behind his back, grabbing the hilt of his sword as one of the combat armors advanced quickly through the smoke, before grinning slightly as he saw it was armed only with a pair of vice-grip hands that were rotating back and forth on hidden axles, opening and closing greedily.

The reptile slowly drew his long sword from the sheath strapped to his back, then he held it out in front of himself in a ready position, standing straight and rolling his head on his shoulders as he locked his eyes on the cockpit, breathing easily: this would make a good practice for him. The ten-foot combat machine advanced closer, looming threateningly, then it swung hard in as it continued to step forwards, the vise closing to form a point it could simply spear the lizard on.

Immediately, Zerrex swung his sword in a hard counterstrike, striking the flat of the vise with the flat of his blade... and with enough force that the arm swung wide and the entire body of the machine turned, forcing it to almost stumble backwards, on the edge of balance. The Drakkaren easily resumed his basic ready stance, giving the driver enough time to get the machine balanced again and to refocus on the target in front of him, then the lizard tilted his head as the combat armor stopped in front of him, asking over the sounds of battle nearby: "Need to phone a friend?"

Cherry, meanwhile, had charged in after the only combat armor that currently interested her: the tank-shaped one. She grinned as she ran towards it, watching it aim both cannons at her before clear ghost images of the slugs the slow firing weapons shot appeared, and she skidded to a halt, letting the first two dig deep gashes in the floor in front of her before snapping her whip out and then flicking it easily up so it lay across her shoulders, the edge resting gently enough on her honed body to not dig into it, the female holding both her arms out in a taunting, seemingly-vulnerable position as she tilted her head and called teasingly: "Think you can get me?"

The other combat armor - the one armed with the explosive weaponry, which would actually make things far more difficult - began to advance as Cherry winced... but then it paused and instead stepped back. The female grinned slightly as instead it turned to seemingly watch, figuring they had communicators inside, then she refocused her attention on the battle machine in front of her and tensed her body.

Her precog activated a moment later, and Cherry swayed her body slightly to the right, a slug passing within inches of her before slamming into the ground behind her: then she ducked, her movements flowing and graceful, keeping her arms out as another fired over her head... before going up on the toe of one combat boot and spinning, almost like a ballerina.

Two more slugs passed harmlessly by her, then she bent quickly backwards, keeping her arms out, metal whip draped across her shoulders as another one passed close enough to cause her breasts to bounce on her chest, and she grinned at the feeling and the exhilaration of showing off... but showing off with a point, as she straightened back up and smiled, resuming her first position.

As hoped, the driver was frustrated by her movements, and the next ghost image that appeared was a shot from the shoulder cannon: although the images were transparent, indistinct and misty, Cherry still was willing to bet that it was a time-based grenade. Moving with that same amazing speed, she shrugged the whip off her shoulders, then spun on the spot and let the chain fan out as the grenade gun made a weak pop: as she turned, she looked over her shoulder with a grin and her precog answered her question for her even before she snapped her whip viciously upwards, using her ability to guide her aim true.

It smashed into the metallic orb and sent it flying back, straight down into the barrel of the shoulder cannon: a moment later, there was a massive explosion that disintegrated the gun and most of the upper shoulder, one of the cannons collapsing onto the body of the tank as a miserable scream rose up from inside the tank. Immediately, Cherry leapt up onto the tank body, standing directly in front of the torso and ignoring the heat of the fire that was already eating into the metal along the shoulder and treads, gently tossing the coils of her whip so it draped across the top of the 'neck' of the torso. A moment later, she heard a trapdoor fall, and a screaming pilot emerged, clawing at a bloody, terribly damaged arm as he tried to push his way free from the five-foot 'body' atop the body of the tank. He pushed against Cherry's whip, apparently not feeling the metal pressing into the junction of shoulder and neck as he tried to use his good hand to grab at the side of the tank's neck, then the female yanked viciously downwards and the driver had enough time to give a strangled, horrified squawk, eyes bulging, before a torrent of blood sprayed up as the whip ripped through his body much like a saw through softwood, the mangled pilot collapsing back into the battle machine as Cherry quickly jumped off and used it as cover between her and the final combat armor, which no doubt would soon be attacking with malice.

Zerrex, on the other hand, was still calmly using the same technique to play with his opponent, enjoying the fact he had to use most of his strength to knock away the vise hands. The combat armor was also moving with much greater speed now, and using both vises to attempt to smash him... the reptile had to compliment the driver on his impressive ability, as he deflected the first strike with a rising counter of his own, then swung the sword sideways to knock the other hand away with the flat of the elegant blade.

Then the right vise was swinging at him again, and Zerrex countered with a hard forwards chop that landed neatly between the vise, grunting and leaning in as he heard motors and pistons working madly inside the arm, gears squealing as the driver forced the machine's strength against the natural, raw power of the reptile. The Drakkaren's muscles bulged... then he blinked as the vise hand suddenly smashed together and twisted violently, the reptile stumbling backwards as the odachi was snapped almost in half, and the machine stepped forwards once as it swung the broken end of the blade out towards the Drakkaren.

Zerrex easily leapt back, however, snarling; before the driver in the armor could react, the reptile suddenly reversed his moment and leapt forwards, kicking off the lowered arm of the combat armor as he flipped his sword around so that the shattered blade pointed towards. He dropped like a hammer, landing in a crouch on the glass-shield that covered the cockpit, the bulletproof glass cracking a bit from his impact before he shoved the sword straight down, another webwork of fractures fanning out along the shielding as he kicked off and gracefully performed a backflip to land easily on his feet, sliding back a bit.

The combat armor staggered backwards several times, then it simply fell and lay still, and the reptile snorted quietly, muttering under his breath: "And we were having such fun, but you had to go and ruin it. I liked that sword."

He shook his head, rolling his shoulders and feeling calm amidst the chaos of battle, glancing up to see Cherry was hiding behind combat armor she'd ravaged, as the last one standing attempted to drive her by firing grenades overtop the armor: the female was able to easily shift positions and use her precog to let her avoid most of the resulting shrapnel, however, and Zerrex started forwards, figuring he'd simply jump on the combat armor from behind and rip the top off it... when he paused and instead looked towards the hole in the wall where he assumed the machines had come in from, watching as a sloppy line of soldiers advanced forwards. The Drakkaren made a disgusted face at this... but despite the fact they seemed like badly-trained mercenaries, it still made things far more difficult than he'd hoped it would be.

The reptile quickly charged forwards, then he blanched as the combat armor swiveled at the waist and leveled the shotgun arm at him, quickly throwing himself to the side and going into a roll that carried him behind the tank armor and next to Cherry, barely avoiding a powerful shotgun blast as the female blinked at him, then snorted and jerked her head at the soldiers. "Great work, Boss. Now we're gonna be in real trouble once that thing comes around the tank and we get bracketed."

Zerrex muttered something under his breath, as he shoved Cherry over and slid behind the tank, tilting his head to look past the female: it looked like the soldiers were attempting to assemble into a double-line formation, and since the combat armor wasn't moving, he guessed they were going over some plan. "Well, on the bright side..." He paused, then glanced towards the main doors, where a bunch of rich people were clustered... and a single badger was jogging towards them, wearing an oversized Kevlar vest. The reptile grinned slightly, then he looked at Cherry and said mildly: "Cavalry's here."

"What?" Cherry blinked and leaned past the reptile, then she groaned as Tinman slowed to a walk, leaning forwards a bit and panting slightly as he continued to approach, apparently ignoring the giant combat armor that was undoubtedly about to set its sights on him. She snarled, then began to stand... then frowned as Zerrex grabbed her wrist and pulled her gently down. "What the hell are you doing? That thing's going to mulch him!"

"Have some faith in Tinman." The Drakkaren responded gently, and Cherry frowned a bit before paling as she heard the combat armor take a few steps forwards... then the sound of a grenade firing. She stared as Tinman winced and covered his face, feeling a horrible twist of pain in her body... but then the badger straightened and coughed, rubbing the back of his head as the grenade tinked off the ground and rolled harmlessly to his feet.

He picked it up, then shrugged and threw it aside, rubbing the back of his head as he walked towards the combat armor fearlessly, despite the expression of apprehension on his face. He didn't exactly like the situation he was in... but it was for Miss Cherry and Zerrex, so he figured he had to do the best he could. So instead, he managed a bit of a smile as he stopped ten feet away from the machine, then he looked up at it and asked meekly: "Hi. Can you just... surrender?"

The badger was met by a shotgun blast, and Tinny winced, twitching back a bit... that was all, however, as the pellets halted in midair instead of continuing forwards. He paused, then leaned forwards and peered at them, surprised by how big the slugs were before letting them drop and glancing back up at the combat armor again and sighing, rubbing the back of his head again. "I guess that's a no. Well, I guess I can just try this, then..."

He reached up a single finger, then made a gentle downwards flicking motion. In response, the combat armor suddenly fizzled, the weapon-arms jerking madly as electricity surged over the machine, gears and pistons snapping inside. Some of them exploded, causing the armor to bulge and dent outwards as the driver inside screamed: all the dials on his control panel went insane, flicking back and forth from zero to maximum as fires popped up from under the keyboards and electricity surged back and forth like snakes. Then, a few moments later, the combat armor completely shorted out and collapsed forwards, the combat armor falling forwards on its squarer face and the glass shield popping open with a puff of smoke, expelling the driver inside.

He hacked and coughed violently for a few moments before looking up at the badger with terror, and Tinman rose a hand in a bit of a wave, smiling faintly. Immediately, the pilot shrieked in terror and scampered away on all fours before managing his feet and fleeing.

Zerrex and Cherry quickly made their way around the damaged tank to Tinman, who looked strangely hurt; at this, the muscular female grabbed him by the collar and hauled him into the air, looking down into his eyes darkly. "I swear, if you ever pull shit like that again..."

"Miss Cherry!" Tinman squealed, and then Zerrex reached out and dislodged the badger from his wife's grip, gently settling him down and pushing Cherry backwards as he looked from one to the other mildly.

"We're not done yet." He said calmly, and both Cherry and Tinny looked past the tall Drakkaren to see the advancing soldiers, moving in two lines of ten and with their weapons raised at the ready. Then he paused and glanced down at the badger, tilting his head and asking mildly: "Care to jam their guns?"

"No problem." Tinny said meekly, then he walked quickly forwards as the muscular male turned his attention to his female counterpart. Cherry smiled slightly at him, then she laughed a bit at the look in his eyes and she snapped her whip once.

Then the two turned to join Tinman, and the three faced off against the twenty armored and armed mercenaries, the last assault force that Apple Villa had managed to hire. Some of them were checking their guns uncertainly, as the badger stood with his hands in his pockets, and others had already discarded guns in favor of batons or knives, many of them trembling fearfully and others simply too stupid or too thrilled to be in battle to realize that the disadvantage they were at in terms of everything but numbers. Even Tinny possessed more fighting knowledge and vast worlds more of combat experience than the strongest of their group, and Zerrex cracked his knuckles slowly before announcing mildly: "I am the Boss of Baskin's Grove, Zerrex Narrius. Your job is to kill me. My companions are Cherry Blossom and the Tinman. If you fight, you die. If you surrender now, I'll still kill you for bringing the hell you have to this town. But if you wish to flee, I'll allow you to go on the condition you never return. There will be no mercy for those who stay, however."

"We... we ain't scared!" one of the soldiers called back in a chattering voice, and he was met by a yell of affirmation from the others. Then the self-appointed leader looked back and forth before finally raising his baton and yelling: "Charge!"

Tinman and Cherry both ran to the left and the right, putting distance between themselves so they each had room to work, and even Tinny looked firm and ready... although the cold sorrow in his eyes was far different than the gleaming battle-joy in Cherry's. All three, however, readied for the attack, as the enemy soldiers divided up and charged in.

The first that reached Zerrex tried to swing in with a combat knife, and the reptile easily swayed to the side and swung his arm down, looping it through the soldier's own and then snagging his forearm before he twisted and simply flung him hard down into the ground. The force of the throw shook the tiles beneath the reptile's feet and snapped the soldier's arm like a toothpick from the movement, and his knife flew harmlessly through the air before clattering to the ground behind the Drakkaren as Zerrex grinned at the next two offenders who tried to charge in.

One of them wielded a baton instead of a knife, swinging hard at the reptile's chest: Zerrex easily swayed back, avoiding the blow, then he reached out and slapped the soldier's hand almost playfully, causing him to spin on the spot before the reptile reached up and wrapped his arms around his neck, snapping it even as he turned and used him as a shield as the other mercenary attempted to stab forwards with his knife. Instead of hitting Zerrex, the knife buried to the haft in his dying friend, and he screamed before stumbling backwards as Zerrex tossed the body away, reaching quickly out to grab his throat and making a hard, brisk twisting motion. Then he released the body, and it fell bonelessly as the reptile spread his arms, the others around him looking nothing short of terrified at how easily the lizard had dismissed their comrades.

Tinny also wasn't having much difficulty, although he handed the situation with much less finesse: the two soldiers who attempted to charge in against him both wielded knives, so the badger had to do nothing more than flick his hands when they'd risen their weapons to slash at him. Both blades had flown from their hands and landed in chest and neck, and they'd fallen, one with a fine spray of blood gushing from his jugular as he grabbed at his throat. Only one of the next two had been armed with a knife, however, and he'd attempted to stab forwards as his friend had swung at him with a baton.

Tinny leapt backwards, at the same time making a shoving motion: the knife flew back from the grip of the mercenary, slicing open his fingers, but knocking the wind from him when the hilt slammed into his stomach; the badger hand then quickly followed up with a rising motion that made the knife point upwards as the soldier had doubled over in pain, and Tinman had winced as the blade had shot up and straight through the eye of the offending soldier, the force that it ripped through his socket enough to almost flip him in the air. His partner had screamed and fallen over at the way the knife had moved by itself, and Tinny had quickly stepped forwards, bringing his elbow down hard to shatter the muzzle of the soldier and making him scream in pain, before he'd winced and kicked the end of it hard, sending bone fragments back into his brain. He hated using the killing techniques he'd learned in the Goth Legion... but they were effective, nonetheless.

Cherry, on the other hand, had already reaped through the soldiers that had attempted to face her with her whip: three had fallen almost at once from a simple head-level slash that had caught them all in the throat, then she'd snapped it hard to send the fang-tip through the chest of another, shattering his ribcage before she'd drawn her handgun and blown apart the skulls of the two behind her that had attempted to sneak up on her. Then she'd flicked her whip hard, sending the dead corpse down and freeing her whip with a burst of bone fragment and gore, before spinning her handgun idly on one finger and snorting as she murmured: "Barely worth any entertainment value."

Zerrex managed to clean up another two soldiers before Cherry joined his side: the tall male had snagged the back of one's neck and jerked him backwards, then simply smashed his face in with a hard punch that sent him crashing to the ground, before moving quickly into a full arm sweep that snapped the baton of another as the mercenary swiped it at him. Then he'd simply reached forwards, grabbing him by the skull before crouching and slamming his head firmly into the marble floor, crushing it like a tomato. Then he'd stood with a wince and a snort, wiping off his hands and glancing up as Cherry neatly shot another soldier in the temple, sending him crashing to the ground and his baton bouncing along the now blood-stained tile floor.

Tinman dealt with the last three: using their senses, they attempted to flee, and the badger had winced but reached up a hand and used his powers to detonate the spare clips they wore on the belts around their waists. They had fallen, one of them dying instantly but the other two screaming in agony, and Cherry had used her handgun to end their suffering before glancing up at Zerrex with a mild look. "Quite a slaughter, huh?"

"Slaughter's the right word, yeah." The tall Drakkaren agreed, crossing his arms and watching as Cherry bent down and idly removed a shoelace from one of the soldier's bodies. Then she stood as she rolled up her whip, running it through the chains and using that to bind it together as she glanced idly over the wreckage.

Tinman was wiping at his hands, shifting uncomfortably back and forth, and Zerrex reached out to squeeze his shoulder gently. The badger jumped, then looked up at him and smiled a bit, laughing and rubbing the back of his head quietly. "I... I locked all the other entrances and put up the bombs, like you requested. I'm sorry it took me so long, but I wanted to make sure that I had enough to take out the outer walls of the building after I catapulted you inside."

"So that's how you jumped through that window." Cherry said admiringly, then she reached out and nudged Tinny lightly: of course, it was still almost hard enough to knock the badger over. He winced, but smiled nonetheless at her next words. "You're gettin' damn strong. Training with Zerrex is really paying off."

"It is." Tinny said softly, then he looked up as Zerrex looked around the room before walking over to a small, ripped-clothed, silently-crying mess that was half-hidden behind an overturned table. Cherry made a face and began to follow, but the badger reached out and gently pulled her back, making the female blink as he smiled a bit and tilted his head quietly. "We should get Zerrex's bike and bring it outside for him... as well as make sure those people are good and chastised. I... I'd rather not see them buried in the wreckage. So let's get the people who haven't fled yet out of here and make them walk back to town but... no killing them, okay?"

The female made a face, glancing after Zerrex and feeling another burst of hate for the wolf that was sitting dejectedly by himself, wanting to make sure that the Drakkaren knew all the hells Lone had caused... but then Tinman looked up at her softly and pulled on her arm again, and she decided to just trust in the Boss's judgment, sighing and nodding to the badger, giving a bit of a smile. "Alright."

"Hey, Lone." Zerrex said gently, as he stood on the other side of the table the wolf had overturned and was somewhat hiding behind. Lone was staring at the ground, but he did look up quietly when the Drakkaren addressed him. Today, though, there was no dramatics, no tears, no begging or screaming or wheedling... instead, the wolf actually seemed to be thoughtful and reflecting on what had happened.

So Zerrex chose to merely stand and watch the wolf, as he slowly looked back down at the floor and rocked from side-to-side. Tears rolled silently down his cheeks, and he kept rubbing at a neat bullet-hole in his breast, where bits and pieces of shredded rose had melted to the fabric like dots of bright blood. Finally, after a few minutes, he glanced up at the tall reptile and said quietly: "They tried to kill me. They... I was a throwaway to them." He paused and looked down, then he glanced back up quietly. "They treated me like... like I was a servant, like I was an idiot."

"Karma." The reptile shrugged slowly, putting his hands in his pockets as he looked down at the lupine, keeping his voice gentle as Lone visibly trembled. "They treated you the way I know you've treated a lot of people. And their words hurt because-"

"I trusted them." Lone finished, and he laughed harshly as he looked down at the ground, leaning back a bit and putting his hands flat before he smiled with silent bitterness, looking back up at Zerrex. "I don't really have what it takes to be a hero... or even a villain, I guess. I just... got in the way. Cherry had to knock me out and kick me across the room because my first instinct wasn't to do anything useful, it was to... to get in the way and make a nuisance of myself."

The Drakkaren nodded, then he shrugged and offered a hand over the table to the wolf, when he grunted and winced in pain, clutching at his stomach: then he glanced up and reached a hand up to silently take the lizard's, allowing the reptile to haul him to his feet as he looked up into his emerald eyes quietly with his own steel gray, a river of tears still falling from them as he asked in a near-silent voice: "Why?"

"Why what?" Zerrex tilted his head curiously, following Lone's gaze downwards for a moment before the wolf drew his eyes back up to look at the Drakkaren, another pained smile appearing on his features.

"Why don't you just let me die? Why don't you kill me like you have everyone else... crush me under your heel like the maggot I am, break me into pieces..." Lone said quietly, his eyes roving downwards as he slowly rubbed at his rumpled clothing and aching body. "You know that I organized the whole mess here... you know that I'm responsible for stealing so much of the city's funds to fuel my own little toys and desires... fuck, three years ago you should have butchered me and... all the time since then I've crossed you, you've shown me mercy. Why?"

The Drakkaren felt the faintest of smiles bridge onto his muzzle as he looked down at the lupine, then he shrugged slowly as he spoke softly: "Mary didn't want you to die. Cindy didn't want you to die. Cherry hates you but she didn't even kill you, no matter how many chances she's had. Three years ago I learned mercy as well as honor... and for every stupid thing you do, there's something else that you put in effect that limits the powers of so-called 'evil' in this town, or in this case the rich assholes who shot you and now lay dead.

"Lone, you have a wonderful talent for not only fucking up, but also for atonement. And unlike all the people I've killed for crossing me, you don't necessarily screw up on purpose. Your goals have always been simply to do what serves you best... that's not good or even right by any standing, but it also isn't directly violent. Like when we talked about the differences between me and you three years ago... when you were on the floor and I could have taken that time to kill you.

"No, Lone. You're not a bad person. You feel guilt and remorse, but you stuff it away somewhere hidden deep inside of yourself." He paused, then laughed quietly as he looked evenly into the wolf's eyes. "And then it all breaks free at times like this, and one day you'll learn to feel your way through the pain instead of hiding from it by stuffing your face or abusing everyone else around you." Another pause, then the reptile tilted his head upwards, looking at the dangling chandeliers above as he added softly: "So maybe in the end, it's my cruelty and not my mercy that keeps you alive, Lone. Because a lot of the time, living can be a hell of a lot worse than a quick, painless death."

With that, the Drakkaren turned away, and Lone felt tears well in his eyes again as he thought the lizard was just going to leave him here... but then Zerrex glanced over his shoulder and motioned with his head for him to follow, and Lone smiled faintly before quickly doing so, automatically falling in step with the reptile and pacing silently behind him, holding his midsection and trying to keep his walk steady. He mulled over the reptile's words as he moved, but for once didn't try to puff himself up or anything like that... instead, he accepted what the tall lizard said as truth, perhaps for the first time since three years ago. But as they approached the open double doors leading out to the night beyond, he couldn't stop himself from asking meekly: "What about Cherry..."

"She'll stay with you, at least for tomorrow and the day after. You're going to need protection and I need to continue training for my fight with Requiem." Zerrex responded gently, glancing back at the lupine. Lone smiled faintly in return, and the wolf nodded respectfully to him: it was definitely a nice change of tune for the usually aggressive and standoffish lupine. It also beat his ass-kissing, too, which tended to get very tiring very fast.

Then they emerged out into the night air, and Zerrex couldn't help but grin slightly at the sight of Cherry marching the rich, fancily-dressed people down the road and back towards town, snapping her whip at the backs of those last in line as she drove them like slow-moving, ornately-decorated cattle. Tinman was standing on the road by his motorcycle, and the Drakkaren and the wolf walked their way up the short dirt drive leading down from the old concrete highway to the badger, who was rubbing the back of his head and looking back and forth bemusedly from the reptile to the lupine. "Um, well... the way I've set up the placement, it should pretty much destroy the lower regions of the entire outer wall. Normally you'd need a lot more to take down a building, but since it's been almost entirely gutted inside and turned into a giant ballroom..."

"It'll collapse the whole thing... the whole wall will buckle and the ceiling will cave in, right?" Zerrex crossed his arms, glancing out towards the warehouse and nodding slowly, then he smiled a bit as Tinman nodded in return. "So you gonna blow it up or what?"

"Um... I guess..." the badger winced, then he sighed a bit and picked up a thin metal wire, closing his eyes and concentrating. Zerrex watched this feat with a slight smile as Lone tilted his head curiously, then he blinked as the metal wire suddenly sparked and Tinman dropped it with a yelp, putting his fingers in his muzzle and then looking up at the building.

For a moment nothing happened... then there was a small spark of light along one of the walls before a massive explosion rent the night air, knocking Lone and Tinman sprawling, toppling the heavy black armored motorcycle the badger had been leaning on as Zerrex winced and squinted through the oncoming cloud of dust and debris, feeling bits of stone bouncing off his muscular form as the building rumbled and collapsed. Another great burst of dirt and grit flew up, and this time the lizard closed his eyes and covered them with an arm, grunting at the feeling of the dust cloud invading his nostrils and lungs as he coughed and brought his other hand up to cover his mouth.

In a few minutes, it was over, and the reptile rubbed at himself with a disgusted look, patting dirt and grit from his body, shaking himself quickly off as Lone and Tinman both stood up. Tinny blinked slowly, rubbing dirt off his body, and the wolf coughed and gagged a bit on the sour, horrible taste in his muzzle, wondering morbidly what kinds of poisons and toxins they'd all just breathed in as he looked at the wreckage: but little was left except for a few heaps of stone and rubble. There were a few small fires in some places, and much of it was smoldering... but otherwise all that remained was a heap of broken metal, glass, and stone. Lone paused as he looked at the destruction... but then he only smiled a bit as his eyes shifted to watch Zerrex wipe dirt from his hair, listening to him curse quietly under his breath. All-in-all... gun collection lost, everything else buried and ruined... he could care less.

"Oh. I picked this up, Mayor." Tinman said suddenly, reaching out and squeezing the lupine's shoulder. The wolf turned, cocking his head curiously... then he laughed a bit as Tinny held up the huge, rectangular revolver. He took it almost reverently, looking over the black handgun silently, then he tucked it carefully back in his jacket.

"Thanks, Tinman." Lone said softly, and the badger smiled warmly at him before nodding and glancing up as Cherry approached them, the female letting out a loud whistle at the destruction. The rich folk on the street had halted as well, to look at the smoldering ruins of their hopes and aspirations to once more rule Baskin's Grove, and then she coughed before reaching out to pat Zerrex firmly on the back.

"You guys all look like you need a shower. Seriously." She said cheerfully, then she glanced at Zerrex, a question in her eyes. Zerrex smiled slightly, but he shook his head, and the female laughed faintly before nodding slowly and turning her gaze to Lone, rolling her shoulders as she looked at the wolf and added gently: "We'd better get going back to the Mayor's House."

The wolf nodded slowly, and then Tinman pointed across the street at a plain limousine, saying quickly: "That limo should still work... I screwed up most of the other ones, but I haven't played with that one's engine at all. I'm sure Cherry can hotwire it, if they keys aren't in there."

"You know it." the female said, sounding entertained, then she paused and nodded to Zerrex before turning and heading quickly over to the limousine. Lone looked up at the Drakkaren as well, and Zerrex looked back down, emerald and steel meeting for a few moments before they exchanged awkward smiles.

Then Lone looked down, rubbing the back of his head quietly and finally glancing up again to say softly: "Thanks for everything, Zerrex. And giving me another chance... it was... I guess I'll see you later."

The reptile nodded silently in return and rose a hand to the wolf, and Lone smiled again uncertainly before turning and quietly walking away, feeling weird and unsure of himself as he headed for the limo. He paused, watching Cherry tinkering with the driver's side stuff - she was still wearing the jewelry and those damn black gloves, and the wolf didn't think she even realized it yet - then he silently walked around to the back and climbed inside. He sat down on the seat, and found himself oddly glad to find there wasn't anything extra fancy in the vehicle... just comfy, slightly-curved seats on either side.

The wolf laid down on his side, closing his eyes and curling up a bit as he kicked off his dress shoes, rubbing again at his chest and feeling the small bullet lodged in the bulletproof vest Cherry had forced him to put on. He shifted uncomfortably, laying on his back and staring at the ceiling, remembering how he'd been... such a child about the whole thing... how he'd bitched, moaned, whined and complained...

"She saved my life. Twice." he said quietly to himself, looking at the ceiling as he felt the car start and heard Cherry slam the door. He closed his eyes, pressing a hand silently to his forehead as they began to move, and he heard her yelling profanity at the rich people as they passed. A lot of the words she used he felt could definitely be attributed to himself... and he wondered quietly how it was that he could feel so goddamn humbled by... a bullet and a few harsh words than by all the beatings and speeches and calm, gentle talks he'd been given by Zerrex and his cohorts.

But he knew the reason... it was because he'd seen the Silver Crusaders all as his equals... as people who were also rich and famous, powerful in so many ways and seemingly blessed... as grotesque as they had sometimes seemed even to him. They had been his equals... but in the end, they had described him with the same words that the people he'd once thought of as somehow being less than him had used. They had done the same things... no, they had done worse. All the times Zerrex had chased him down and hurt him, it had been because he, Lone, had kicked the hornet's nest, and because Zerrex gave his all for people other than himself. In fact, on that fateful day three years ago, Zerrex had done far more than that... he had been willing to throw himself against Apple Villa itself in a final, desperate attack that had decimated the police force and annihilated the corrupt vigilante army that Lone had put together. And he had given him a chance, after it all ended... had hurt him, yes, but the reptile hadn't killed him and had instead almost brought him up, almost mentored him... despite the fact that Lone had been responsible for so much hell in the Drakkaren's life.

And he had thought that he was better than Zerrex. No. He could see the truth now... because the bear's words kept repeating again and again in his head, and that expression... the expression on his face reminded him of what he must have looked like those three years ago when he had shot Mary, safely surrounded by the Goth Legion and far out of reach of the Drakkaren. Just like the bear had been safely protected - or so he thought - by all the other Silver Crusaders, and the war machine toys that they had brought to town.

The wolf rolled over, facing now towards the back of the seat, hugging himself tight and closing his eyes as he felt self-loathing bubbling up from his stomach. He'd played the fool in a million ways over the last few years, and probably a billion more in all his years of life before he'd come to Baskin's Grove. He'd worked so hard to build up a reputation, his power, wealth and prosperity... and now he found himself hating everything he stood for, hating all the things he'd done and everything from his parents to the snot-nosed friends he'd made in Apple Villa.

He let himself soak in the acid of his thoughts as Cherry drove through the night streets of the city, then he finally sat up when he felt the familiar bump of the limo pulling into the driveway of his home. He sighed a bit, then quietly opened the door and slid out once the vehicle came to a halt, closing it behind himself and pausing for a moment to glance up at the cloudy night sky above, the moon shining dimly through the scattered wisps before he turned his eyes to Cherry. She was already walking up the stairs, so he cleared his throat and then said in a clear, carrying voice: "Thank you."

The muscular female paused, then turned and tilted her head, looking down at the lupine with distaste that she didn't try too hard to hide. "For what?"

"For... saving my life. And for... putting up with me when I'm such a jerk." Lone replied quietly, then he too began to ascend, nodding quietly to her as he passed, the female staring at him with blank surprise before he smiled faintly over his shoulder. "I... I'm gonna go to bed soon, after I bathe and... stuff. I'll... have someone set up the spare bedroom for you."

Then the wolf turned and pushed through the doors, and Cherry followed, feeling dumbly amazed at the sudden change in the wolf's behavior. She watched him stagger down the hall towards the kitchen, leaving puffs of dust behind him as he stripped off his suit jacket and dropped it to one hand, then she shook her head a bit before finally saying softly to the empty room: "You're welcome."

Lone rubbed his back slowly as he pushed through a door and into the kitchen, glancing up at a servant who was doing the dishes and unsurprised at the shock on his features: for one thing, he looked like hell. For another, he wasn't yelling and bitching about it, which he was suddenly painfully aware he'd done every other time he'd been in this kind of nasty shape. He also recalled the way he'd treated many of his servants in the past... and he shook his head slowly before looking up at the fox who was doing the dishes and asking in a quiet voice: "How many people are on duty tonight, kid?"

"Thirty, sir." Responded the young male, and Lone nodded a bit. He glanced at the fridge, then decided a bath could come before food, so instead he smiled at the todd again before turning and heading to the nearest bathroom.

Thankfully, it was one with a large tub, and the wolf slowly stripped his clothes off before running the hot water. He used the toilet, then flushed and washed his hands and finally turned the water off, climbing into the nearly-boiling tub and forcing himself to slide down into the painful, scalding water, rubbing at a small, painful bruise on his breast: the only mark from being shot, but a bullet that had apparently done more damage to him than even when Zerrex had blown his legs out.

He contemplated to himself as the water eventually started to soothe his wounds, and he thought it was good metaphor for what he figured he was experiencing: right now, sure, it hurt like fuck... but if he actually trusted in Zerrex's words for once instead of thinking of him as some uncivilized barbarian lowlife, then maybe that pain would eventually turn... well... not painful, and it would even become comforting. Then he laughed faintly, figuring the heat was getting to him and that he should just suck up what was going on and... actually work to be someone he could be proud of. That was what it came down to... he could follow in the example set by the person he'd thought of as his archnemesis for so long and just... work on being someone who he could actually admire and like.

After half an hour of soaking and rubbing dust out of his fur, the wolf finally climbed out and toweled himself off, then he wrapped one tight around his midsection and picked up his dirty clothes. He left the bathroom, then wandered around until he finally ran into a servant and asked in a voice that was almost embarrassed, holding the clothes up: "Where do I put these?"

"I'll take them, sir..." said the otter slowly, then he gently pried the dirty, ripped clothing from the wolf's hands and paused before carefully adding, at the wolf's strangely-miserable look: "They're ruined, sir. I'm just going to throw them out... but there's a clothes chute on the second floor and if you look around enough, there's a laundry room on this floor."

"Huh. I didn't even know I had a laundry room." Lone responded with a faint laugh, then he shook his head slowly before nodding and heading quietly for the nearest staircase and along to his room. He pulled on a pair of plaid pajama bottoms and a plain white t-shirt, hating how tight they both were, then he went over to his bed and lay down, closing his eyes.

After only a few moments, however, he got up and sighed, grabbing a few pillows and a blanket: suddenly, he didn't want to sleep in here. So instead, he headed down to one of the dens on the first floor, the one where he'd got the game consoles set up what seemed like a lifetime ago and been so... retarded. He quietly put the pillows on the couch, then walked over to the machine and looked down, seeing it was still on: the wolf quickly kneeled and turned it off, cursing himself for his stupidity, then he walked back to the couch and checked the time.

It wasn't late at all... it was just turning towards eleven. But the wolf felt like years had passed since he'd last slept... and the couch was oddly comforting, as he curled up and put a pillow under his head, curling his blanket around his body. He closed his eyes, and within a few minutes fell asleep, his last thoughts promises and vows to be different, to change, to live up to the person he had once convinced himself he was... and to prove Zerrex's words true. That he did have a gift for atonement.

Tank stood in the appointed meeting place, on top of a picnic table with a grin on his face as he watched people filing in: the streets and all nearby parking lots had been jammed with towns, and he thought he counted at least a hundred and twenty faces. It was definitely a hell of a turnout, with all these badasses standing side-by-side... bikers, assassins, mercenaries and all other sorts of scum, soldier and specialists.

The muscular badger waited a few minutes past midnight, then he cleared

his throat and rose his arms for attention, and he loved the immediate hush that fell over the crowd. The park was jammed with everyone, and he figured that there were more than enough people to give a good meeting and provide a good army... so he started off with a fairly simple lie that would immediately make it clear who was in charge here: "So everyone knows... Felicity was busy all night working out the details for the plan, but she was too tired to make it to this meeting. Thankfully, it means that she's not going to hear my next words or worry that the rapist bastard who hurt her so badly will come for her... and so we're all clear, my name is Tank and I'm the leader of the Godkillers. And Felicity is one of the reasons we're here today... because we don't want pretty girls like her suffering under the spell of the fucking monster that lives in this town!"

He was met by a roar of approval, and the badger grinned as he saw the hate burning in the eyes of almost all present, hatred for Zerrex that he knew would have been refined and grown by the stories he'd fed his own crew while on the road, and that the other gang members would have told their pickups. There were all sorts of rumors flying around now, and Tank had been more than happy to supply news articles and other official information on Zerrex he'd dug up over the last year to those few who had approached him after he'd gotten up from his nap.

Sure, not all of it was true... but the point of propaganda wasn't to make your enemy look good, but to look bad and weak and disgusting. And it wasn't like he was twisting around the stories too much... Zerrex certainly had killed and raped a lot of people, he'd just changed some of the minor details around. Like who it had been, if they had committed any crimes themselves, all that kind of thing... and of course he'd been careful to make the reptile look weaker than he knew he really was. Presenting him as some unconquerable demigod - like Felicity always did, and it never ceased to piss him off because it just couldn't be true - would definitely be counterproductive when he wasn't aware yet of the mettle of the recruits.

"I'll keep it short and sweet, people... the 'Boss,' as he likes to call himself, is gonna be kept busy by Requiem in a few days, someone who Zerrex apparently pissed off in the past... likely by raping and killing his family, I think! And we know he's keeping the daughter of the Boss hostage, and I hope like shit he's raping the hell out of her every night and making her scream, but hey, who am I to say she might not like that shit with who her father is... after all, I bet he's even raped his own daughter!" There was a roll of laughter, disgusted, angry yells, and various obscene comments throughout the assembly in the park, and Tank let them work it out of their system as he rose his arms, grinning viciously around at them all before continuing to yell his message to the masses before him.

"Because he's killed so many of our own... hurt so many loving parents by killin' and fucking and raping and hurting their kids in ways that they just goddamn shouldn't be hurt, especially when they're innocent, we're gonna take his daughter! And if you like her, you can take the bitch in any way you want, that is my promise to you, as revenge on her father! The sins of the father, let them be visited all fucking over that bitch daughter of his, who's turning out to be as bad as her father... and then, if Requiem dies because Zerrex shoots him in the back or some shit like that, then we have the best bargaining chip ever to make him do what we want and get the hell out of town, where we can take the fucker out right old-fashioned and proper! And if Requiem gets back and refuses to leave... 'cause I hear that despite his noble intentions here, he's a rich bastard and only interested in himself... then we still got the daughter to do with as we please and we can swarm him and drive him outta our place, our town, and put rulership back in the hands of the people!

"How do you want to live in a mansion? An estate house, and rule the fuckin' city? If we get rid of Zerrex, we can do that! You guys hear the plan, it's goddamn simple, right?" He waited, cocking his head and putting a hand by his ear in a pantomime of listening, and was immediately greeted by a loud yell of affirmation, making him laugh and grin widely. "My thoughts exactly! Once Zerrex is gone, Mayor fuckhead won't have jack-shit to defend himself... we can take him out, and the town is ours! Everyone knows the police force here is crap, because all the fucking rich people rely on Mr. Zerrex to defend themselves... well, those days will be over, and we'll live in paradise... paradise!" he roared, and was again greeted by a mass of shouts in return, before Tank simply threw his arms back and laughed, yelling at the sky as the crowd stomped their feet and roared with him, fists pumping in the air as they psyched themselves up for the coming battle.

For the few hours, the badger alternated between praise and promises of power, fortunes and prosperity - mentioning things like how Zerrex lived in a veritable palace, and that he had more money than most countries in his bank account - sermons on all the horrible things the reptile had done, from eating babies to raping and killing ninety-year-old great grandmothers in front of their children's children, and bits and pieces of his plan, which was really just a few sentences that the badger drilled into their heads again and again. Tank, however, was on a roll, finally feeling like was getting real recognition for the first time in his life and basking in the glory of having other people actually listening to his rants, at the attention and the hungry eyes that swallowed up all his stories. Lost in the crowd, even the other members of the Godkillers and the people who knew very well none of this could be true came to believe all of Tank's lies, and believe it with the firmness of fanatics... in only a few hours, Tank transformed the entire mass of mercenaries and gangsters from a loosely-organized group of violent-minded people to a cult with the brilliance of total accident. And he himself had become the leader, the high priest that was determined to bring down someone he depicted as killer god.

Of course, he also instilled fear in the hearts of even the hardiest there, with some of the stories he told about Zerrex... giving details on his past and how he'd run a military unit with an iron fist, and the enormous strength he possessed. He soon came to realize, as he talked, yelled and ranted, that fear could prove to be an even greater motivator than treasure or promises of glory: the more he spoke of the reptile's extreme power, the more he saw hatred and envy flare in the eyes of those present. Of course, he also made sure to always give the lizard some sort of weakness, or made him out to be a coward at heart, well aware that if he stretched the reptile's power too far, he could end up converting his entire newly-created flock into worshippers at the idol of the Drakkaren instead of haters of the motherfucker.

Finally, Tank found himself running short on wind and things to say, and so he finished by raising is arms and announcing in a clear voice: "We've taken the first step today... into truly becoming Godkillers. Because that is exactly what we're going to do... kill that motherfucking false god!" He basked in their cheers, then grinned around at them all and made a wide waving motion, laughing loudly. "Okay, soldiers. Let's go home and get some good rest, yeah? And everyone prep up for the coming battle, too... we don't want to underestimate the fucker, after all. You all have a good sleep, and if you have any questions, don't be afraid to come to me..." A pause, then he quickly added: "And remember! Ellie can't know any of this... she'd become terrified, and could even run to Zerrex. I'm gonna have some of the boys try and keep her busy, but in the worst case scenario we'll have to lock her up somewhere where she can't get confused until we get rid of that bastard who's been torturing and manipulating her."

There was a murmur of assent at this, then some sparse applause before the group of people began to filter out. Tank watched them leave, then he finally jumped down from the picnic table with a loud sigh and stretched, cracking his back and rolling his shoulders as he let the others Godkillers congratulate him on a great speech, heading back to his car with a dark grin on his features. Yeah... you're goin' down, motherfucker. Ellie's my girl, and you're nothing but shit now.