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To put it simply, Narrius was displeased.

He snarled as he paced back and forth in the meeting room, Alone almost hiding under the desk, he was shrunk so low towards the floor, his hands on the table and visibly shivering, as Black Requiem looked silently downwards... but his red eyes kept flicking anxiously towards the Dragokkaren. Last, but not least, Mengele was grinning cruelly, his feet up on the table, hands behind his head as he repeated for the third time - and cheerfully, at that, even though he usually loathed repetition: "I told you, Godsmite isn't ready yet. We're not even past stage two testing... if we drop the bomb now, there's a fifty percent chance it won't work."

"You're a failure!" Narrius suddenly rounded on him, snarling and smashing a hand down hard enough into the wood of the table Alone was leaning on to shatter the surface and crack the metal beneath it, sending it collapsing inwards in two halves and causing the wolf to squeal and fall backwards in his chair, as Mengele threw his head back and laughed loudly.

"I'm a failure? Talk to Cherubim. Or go look in a mirror." Mengele said haughtily, tilting his head upwards as he met Narrius's eyes challengingly: ever since Narrius's threats this afternoon, he'd decided to be even more uncooperative and hostile than normal, and seeing the Dragokkaren lose his temper was working wonders for his usually miserable or dour mood. Even the team of worthless slackers that worked for him had noticed the difference and had been wondering if a mosque or some other Jewish settlement had just been entirely wiped out. "You're the one who sent out the bitch, after all."

Narrius snarled... then he forced himself to calm down, closing his eyes... and willing a cold smile back onto his features as he straightened, turned around, and approached the window of the meeting room, looking down into the courtyard, where several Enforcers were going through another drill: takedown practice on one of Black Requiem's body clones. The black liquid soldier moved gracefully back and forth as other Dragokkaren watched impassively, the three fighting soldiers - naked except for loincloths and belts with their sidearm, a knife, and three clips of ammo - fired uselessly with their fully automatics at and into the body of the water creature. Both Narrius and Mengele could say it was useless... the entire point of this training was to train soldiers to last at least ten minutes even in the harshest, undefeatable conditions... and all three were currently panting, bloody, and one of them had a broken arm that was hanging limply at his side. They had been in the ring for nine minutes now... firing like idiots, blasting bullets through the semisolid black ooze that made up Black Requiem's body.

Then the creature in the ring suddenly paused... made a face when a round of full auto blasted his body apart... and then turned to a puddle of gunk that slid through the feet of the crowd and quickly up the wall, then through a small crack in the window, spent bullets pattering down uselessly out of its broken body with bits of black liquid. Then it reformed into the not-as-tall Dragokkaren in black armor, bowing respectfully to Narrius before walking over to Black Requiem and stepping into him, the dark-bodied Dragokkaren raising his head with a wince, before becoming a bit more solid as the clone he had created from his own dark matter slid back into place, brushing idly at his suit as Alone stared in horror.

Mengele snorted, glancing at Alone, then up to Black Requiem and saying callously: "What's wrong, pretty doggy? Jealous of the superior being? Our RED Commander... the personal bodyguard of your Patriarch Narrius... is much better outfitted to go in and deal with the rebels than you are, but he's busy, so maybe you and your worthless unit of 'Untrained' will be forced to go in after all to clean up the mess that the bombs will undoubtedly leave, since we'll be forced to go the air tactics attack route." A pause, and a grin as Alone looked over at Mengele... but he was terrified into silence as Narrius's cold red gaze slid onto his body.

The half-wolf waited a few moments anyway, then snorted and continued easily, earning a disgruntled look from the black Dragokkaren: "He's made from an exceptional genetic coding taken from the dead brother of Narrius himself, who Zerrex already put down for a dirt nap once... I think if you search your stolen memories, you'll recognize an image of you pissing your pants in fear of him. But on top of that, he's been given a liquid body... physical attacks on him are almost useless, and he regenerates fast enough that only someone who could inflict massive trauma would be able to ever dream of defeating him in physical combat. Hitting him with a bullet is like splattering water in a tub... and because of his liquid composition, bullets tend to shatter once they enter his body, losing the ability to cause a splatter effect when they rip out the other side or to mushroom and blow big holes in him.

"Combine that with his prodigious strength, and the fact his body is controlled by a secret little thing I'm not dumb enough to tell you about..." Mengele snorted and shrugged, grinning coldly as Alone looked at him, trembling in horror. "And you have the ultimate warrior. Able to split into up to twenty replicas of himself, turn into a puddle on the ground, and slide through any crack, escape any prison, break down any door... and destroy any foe. What do you got? Pathetic strength, the lamest form of size-shifting, and the ability to shoot straight and run away really fast. All you are is idiotic attitude."

"Fuck you!" Alone managed finally, half-sitting up from where he had fallen... and then he was quelled by a glare from Narrius, trembling and looking up at him with a faint smile, whispering: "My... my unit isn't... they're all snipers, we haven't done level six yet..."

"Then I suggest you should do that." Narrius said coldly before flicking his fingers disdainfully, and the wolf yelped and turned, fleeing from the room. The Dragokkaren watched him with distaste, then murmured: "Pathetic weakling. A pelt, a pedophile who begs me for little girls and young ladies who he tries to make pregnant, and access to the breeding queen whenever she isn't 'busy.'

"But at least he listens to me." Narrius snorted, looking at Mengele with disgust. "Get lost... and send in the Generals on your way out of here. And get back to work on Godsmite when you return to your stupid little playground."

"Yes, oh yes, great and wonderful Patriarch." Mengele said drolly, standing and bowing ridiculously to accent his words, then he stood and flipped Narrius off with both hands, adding crudely: "Alone couldn't fuck his way out of a wet paper bag, literally or metaphorically. But yeah, at least he listens to the crumbling statute." And with that, he left and waved his hand idly to the soldiers standing outside for them to go in, leaving Narrius snarling furiously and glaring after him as he clenched his hands into tight fists at his sides.

Slowly, the Generals filtered in, all nine of them wincing and attempting to avoid Narrius's deadly crimson gaze as they took their places at the table, with High General Mylan in the center. Although all of them were to be present for this... whatever it was, it was only Mylan who would be permitted to speak... and any attempt to break protocol would result in punishment... often a punishment that started with a 'd' and ended with an 'eath.'

Mylan was the spokesperson, the figurehead, the most decorated and most elite soldier of the group... but otherwise, all his information was taken secondhand on the advice of the Generals in a separate council they held before meeting with Narrius, after looking over a file filled with information. After a thirty minute bull session, they all had to assemble outside the door like kids waiting for class... or nervous students about to serve detention with the cruelest, most vicious pedophile teacher ever to roam the dark halls of any school.

To Mylan's right, two of the generals were from the Eastern and Western Divisions of the General Army... one was from the Private Army... and one was the leader of the Hez'Ranna Naval Division. To his left were his three personal aides, generals from the Military Overseer Branch, and the general of the Black Rogue Enforcers, a special division of RED that served as the storm team of Narrius's army. But even he all but cowered before Narrius: here, bravery and impassiveness weren't appreciated, but instead blood tribute and fear... and the latter of which wasn't hard to show, because by no means did it ever have to be faked.

Patriarch Narrius, after all, held everyone in the grips of a fawning, awful terror: quite literally, a mix of servility, fear, worship, amazement, and utter horror. He was like a child of a wrathful god cast down into Hell out of fear of his powers... and who had easily climbed his way up from the abyss and decided to play with the mortals for a little while before he made his way back up to Heaven to crush his foolish, overachieving parents. His rulership was almost like that of the old barbarian tribes; the strongest of them all were given power... except unlike those dead, warring clans, he saw strength and the ability to inspire - not just fear, but wonder and amazement - with both intelligent technology and brutal displays of force.

And they all knew about the girl he kept locked up, the heir to the throne... the cold princess, many called her. Hell, the more enterprising of the bunch had even written books about her... and it had been only after a copy of this book had passed unnoticed through a discussion session that the soldiers had come to realize with dawning amazement that Narrius couldn't read. Sure, he could recognize some words here and there... he knew what numbers and certain calculations meant... but everything he did, he did in his head, from his strategizing to his genetic sequencing to his battle plans, and then he always dictated his ideas out to them. Even more, whenever given a file, he always seemed to look over it impassively for a few moments for the few words he knew... then he'd shrug and demand a strategy and the situation be explained to him better than 'with meaningless pictures of twisting shapes.'

Only now, after seven years of hard work, cruelly torturing, killing and maiming all those in their way... was Hez'Ranna beginning to understand and realize what was going on. But they were all too scared to do anything, everyone in the city under the cruel rule of soldiers, many of them cloned... and anyone who dared to go against them slaughtered, raped, violated, beaten down and otherwise crushed mercilessly. The soldiers too, however, were only acting on orders... and now, with all the clones - type three genetic soldiers, Narrius called them - it could even be argued that they didn't know any better. Raised only to do battle, hurt and kill, and so many of them containing strings of the most violent genetic coding available... they had no idea, didn't understand the effects of the things they did.

Perhaps it was the only reason Narrius ruled... now he had so many soldiers under his command that he had literally designed from the ground up, that didn't know any life other than this and were taught they were 'fortunate,' and how Narrius was 'cleansing and purifying' the world, and educated on how 'Narrius is the one true Patriarch and Lord of the world,' that they would all gladly die to defend him... except it was also an easy way to shift the blame from themselves, and avoid admitting their own cowardice. Avoid saying just how little they had really done, how gladly they had gone over to his side, and how they had enjoyed the power they had held at first... but already, the strings of their empire were beginning to fall apart even as Narrius day-by-day grew closer and closer to dominating the world, his armies spreading like a plague over the globe and mauling cities, razing capitols and wiping out entire countries in the blink of an eye...

Yet with every victory, the secret treasure box of power Narrius had tempted them with grew a bit more open, revealing not gold inside but darkness... and now all of them knew they were only staring at death and destruction as their prize. That their greed to shape the world in their image had led them to a prize of equal violence and ruin... and that no one would be walking out into this world with a smile except for Narrius. Already every day seemed darker, and sometimes the horizon burned unnatural red... and in the distance, thousands of miles away, they said that the entire continent of Ire was aflame, that millions, billions had died... that all the world outside Hez'Ranna already lay in crumbled ruins, and Narrius's death squads were just now only doing sweep after sweep of the destroyed cities to ensure there was no last resistance, no pelt left without a tag, a marker, or living. Ironically, their knowledge of the world was less than ever before, and they only had the words of censored broadcasts that Narrius's campaigns were going well, even these higher-ups in the military... but none would be surprised to learn from Narrius that seventy-seven percent of the once 'civilized' world was officially Hez'Ranna territory... and that sixteen percent of the rest of the available land had been damaged, burned, or nuked to the point that it had been turned into a literal hellish wasteland, and would never be able to support life of any kind again.

That left an estimated seven percent of the world standing tall and alone... a few scattered bastions of hope in the larger countries, a few smaller countries that hadn't yet attracted Narrius's deadly ruby gaze, a cabin or cottage here and there. Other than that, however... all were dead and in ruins, all had given in or fallen to Narrius's terrible attacks, cruel tactics, and unrelenting soldiers backed by his genetic anomalies. He'd already started up his own factories and facilities in many of these countries, and shipped supplies, food, slaves, and possible soldiers to Hez'Ranna for everything from training... to cutting apart and serving as food, in the case of a few unlucky slaves and pelts. After all, the Dragokkaren's favorite delicacy was still the well-cooked tender flesh of what he thought of as the lower species.

But of course, the outside world was never of any concern to Narrius... he just as soon ordered a missile strike against a country for displaying statues of him in improper lighting as destroy one that posed an active threat. The most common tactic of the Dragokkaren, too, was the 'shake and sweep:' a blitzkrieg of low-to-medium strength missiles or planes carpet-bombing a city... and then immediately following up by sending a small army of soldiers divided into platoons of five into the wreckage to comb through and kill everyone they came across.

Hez'Ranna itself, though... that was something Narrius seemed to cherish, where total power and control was most important to him. It was the nexus point, the hub of his power and operations, and it served as his military base, his home, his favorite hunting ground, and both bait and trap. And lately Narrius had thrown aside all his other duties to look solely upon the rebels that had caused minimal but still unsettling amounts of damage throughout all of Hez'Ranna... their main target, however, being Uroboros. But now that they had been joined up by Zerrex, the son of the Patriarch... Narrius's intent had gone from more passively countering the rebels and causing them to lose morale until he wiped them out with a single display of brute force, to actively exterminating them and their base. He had turned from using their attacks as a political gambit that would, in the end, have fortified his position once he'd defeated them with grace and ease... to a cruel, cold military strike that would simply eradicate the problem and leave the rest of Hez'Ranna shivering in fear of the same retribution being acted out on any of them if they ever made the slightest move against Narrius's forces.

Narrius, however, was betraying perhaps... a bit of hesitance? That's what a few of the younger Generals thought... and they would have been sorely mistaken. The Patriarch was not hesitant, but instead trying to control his rage... and moreover, his fury at not only having been so disrespected by Mengele, but at needing the entire council of loathsome idiots, the nine highest-ranking Generals of his immense, world-spanning army, to say yes to everything he'd proposed and then finally make their own pathetic suggestions in return.

He snorted, then finally raised his hand and asked in a disgusted, icy voice: "So what is your analysis of the given situation that has now arisen? Cherubim and her unit are dead, and we're still waiting on the coordinates of the rebel base."

"After reviewing the information given, we agree more aggressive action should be taken..." Mylan replied slowly, shrinking back a bit in his seat and tapping his fingers against the table as he coughed and kept his eyes respectfully lowered. "And as always, Patriarch Narrius, we agree wholeheartedly with your ideas, but may we suggest first sending in a scouting unit composed of no less than twenty soldiers to physically assess and attempt to infiltrate the rebel base? We could also send in a bomb unit of five soldiers with them, to destroy their vulnerable points - generators, support pillars, security doors - and leave them open to further raids and attacks? That way we may only need to expend minimal resources and military strength to-"

Narrius reached down and grabbed Mylan's collar, hauling him up and glaring into his eyes as the Dragokkaren paled in terror, wincing as a few sparks of electricity travelled over his scales and trembling violently as the much-larger reptile asked coldly: "Do you think I am not aware of this?" A pause, then Mylan arched his back with a hiss of pain, eyes bulging as a short burst of electricity shot over his body, and then Narrius continued to speak, voice deadly and soft: "We are not at 'war' with these rebels, nor is it an enemy 'base.' It is a stain. It is a spot, a blotch on my empire, and they are not soldiers, but miscreants and scum. Maggots and filth and weaklings that are undoubtedly riding on the carnal fury of the biggest pile of shit there, which right now simply happens to be my son.

"In a quarantine situation, where an area is infected by... disease..." As Narrius spoke, he made a disgusted face and threw Mylan back into his chair, the high general panting with pain and clenching his eyes shut, before continuing: "We don't play nicely with the lepers, the tumor-riddled ex-patients, the Typhoid Marys that are bent on infecting the rest of us with their sickness and genetic irregularities. We find their base, and we drop a bomb on it. And that is exactly what we are going to do with these... disgusting maggots, this scum of the earth. We're going to purify them through fire and give them a taste of hell before they even get there.

"You have not been asked to give your opinion on... saving resources, military power or soldiers... I have merely asked what's better: use our missiles, artillery guns or Mobile Combat Units to blot out this stain from a distance... or do a more thorough job by sweeping in with an air strike and dropping ten thousand tons of explosive force on them." Narrius paused as he looked over the gathered generals with disgust, rubbing his palms together slowly before putting his hands behind his back and turning to approach the window, looking down into the courtyard, where the Enforcers had left and a few slaves were sweeping up. Children, too, nearby, chasing each other around and laughing... and Narrius watched them with distaste for a few moments, then smiled coldly when one of them fell and hit his head off the hard concrete wall, going limp on the ground as the other child stopped to nudge him a few times, looking horrified. And meanwhile, the pelt slaves simply continued to quietly clean up, deaf to the children's pleas even when she tried to run over and get their attention. "But since you're unable to come to me with a proper response in this regard... let's do all of the above."

"What?" whispered Mylan, sounding horrified, and Narrius tilted his head towards him, making an irritated face at the lack of respect, before Mylan gathered himself and asked in a shaking voice: "Sir... I mean... how can we coordinate..."

"At noon tomorrow... exactly noon... we drag fifteen artillery cannons loaded with long-range, high-impact mortars out to the valley. Guarding these will be three Mobile Units... one tank per line of five cannons. We'll also triangulate their position and give them a little greeting, test the solidity of their base with two volleys of short range low-impact rockets by fifteen hundred... and at seventeen hundred hours tomorrow night, when dusk begins to fall, I'll send in the attack squadron from the Hez'Ranna Elite Aerial Tactics. A HEAT platoon of five will be more than enough to deal with them." Narrius snorted softly, raising his hands and loosening the cuffs of his jacket idly. "Then the unit can circle their base while the mortars and mobile units finish the job with rocket barrages and burrowing missiles... and clean up whatever insects crawl out of the carrion with their guns."

Outside, the child's body was being removed by two soldiers, and another one had the arms of the girl restrained above her head, as she struggled uselessly, whimpering. The Enforcer was expressionless and impassive, however, and instead made a quick radio call to some other base, but Narrius already knew what would happen: the youngling would be sent to Alone, who would rape her and either kill her or add her to his harem, and then she'd probably die of malnourishment or neglect. Alone wasn't exactly one who was ever very good at taking care of his toys... which in turn made Narrius think idly of Marina; a pause and a glance at Black Requiem, who was still present, and the giant nodded silently before dissolving and heading back to the Estate, to check on the so-called 'Princess of Hez'Ranna.'

A princess who was already carrying his child... six months pregnant; soon it would be time to remove it from her womb and place it instead inside an artificial tank, to check on the genetic structure of his son and develop his body faster... and then Marina could be delegated as another breeding queen, just like her mother: unlike her mother, however, she had useful genetic data that he had wanted to make use of before manipulating her body into something to serve the army as either a toy or a factory.

He glanced outside again idly, then turned to the generals, who were all murmuring to each other, Mylan in the center looking pale but composed, before he finally whispered the only thing that he knew he could: "As you wish, Patriarch Narrius. Whatever you will... we shall do."

When Zerrex awoke early the next morning, he felt... odd; it was like a warm blanket had surrounded the lower half of his body, and there were strings - sticky but at the same time, not - of the same stuff attached to his chest and back... and he still ached, but it was dull, and he was definitely nowhere near as stiff, either. And he could feel Mercury's arms around him, her head resting overtop his... and then he opened his eyes and glanced down, blinking in surprise to see only about half his body: the rest was covered by some dark, semi-formed substance.

"Sorry." Mercury murmured lamely, and then she slowly slid back from him and pulled her own body free from around the male's, making Zerrex blink and stare stupidly at his bare legs. "I just... wanted to keep you warm, I guess."

"That's... pretty amazing." Zerrex said slowly, then he rolled over to face her with a slight smile, glancing up into the features of the strange, dark creature as it blushed and looked down. Then he paused, looking over his body - naked, he'd ended up taking off his clothing, sharing some... personal time with the hermaphroditic creature... and damn, what an experience that had been - before tilting his head back up and asking curiously: "So... what kinda stuff can you do with that?"

She smiled a bit, then reached out and touched his face gently before winking, and her body became almost liquid, hand sliding down his face and her sinuous darkness wrapping tightly around his body as she lost her form, Zerrex grunting in surprise and putting his arms out as he felt her cover him entirely... then solidify, and he stared as he realized that now it was like he was wearing a full-body leather jumpsuit that connected into heavy black boots over his feet, with both full pants and long sleeves. Then Mercury's head emerged from his chest, looking up at him with a grin as he stared back down at her in amazement, and she said easily: "My body has the consistency of water, but with the ability to maneuver into the smallest spaces and over any surface. My original design was for infiltration... so I can mock clothing, carry-on items, and fit into any space." She paused, her expression softening. "Usually... shapeshifting isn't that comfortable... but when I can actually hold on to someone's body like this, I can 'eat' a bit of their energy too, so to speak, and just... feel connected with them. Which does a hell of a lot for me and makes it feel... almost good." She blushed, then paused and smiled again. "But my powers are passive... whereas Drake's abilities, the nephilim sealed inside you, are active. And once you get him up and running..."

I am up and running... Drake muttered irritably, sounding offended, and then he added in an indignant voice: And tell the shapeshifting bitch to get off you. She makes my skin crawl... I'm the one who's going to have to do this in the future for you.

You can do this kinda thing too? Zerrex asked curiously, but when Drake didn't respond, he shrugged mentally and turned his attention back to Mercury, looking down at her softly. "Well, let me just tell you then, that this is... really, truly amazing to me. And that..." He paused, flexing his muscles, moving his body... and loving the raw feeling of her attached to him, covering him. It wasn't like wearing clothing, and even though it felt tight - which was a bit embarrassing considering the down-under regions of his body - it also felt loose in the right areas... and when he flexed, it wasn't like the 'fabric' of her body stretched... but instead moved with him, liquid and amazingly comfortable. But most of all... she was warm, and made him feel... connected. Cared for, even. "This really feels good on my end, too."

"I'm glad." Mercury said softly... then she winked and sank back into his chest, and he felt an odd tugging, as if someone was pulling on his back lightly. He blinked, then shrugged and lay down, letting himself rest spread-eagled... then closed his eyes and tilted his head back with a sigh of pleasure as she began to massage herself against his body, tightening and loosening here and there, heating against his muscles and generally making him relax, eyes closed, head tilted back.

An arm slowly reached out from the reptile's shoulder without Zerrex even noticing, snagging a pillow and dragging it over... then gently sliding it under the Drakkaren's head, making him blink in surprise, before smiling slightly as he heard Mercury's voice again, sounding almost embarrassed and coming from his body itself: "I know that... this is a bit inappropriate... but maybe, I... really could serve you, as your Iuratus... I know that Mist and Shine would have proven better company, but I can take any form you like, be anyone you want, and I'll protect you until my death..."

Zerrex put his hands behind his head, closing his eyes, and then he said softly: "The only form I want you in, Mercury, is your real body... because I think you're plenty beautiful just as you are." To which Drake added in a mumble, You're lame, and I think she should divvy herself up into an orgy of females.

Mercury, however, laughed as her body suddenly reformed, the black 'clothes' sliding up off of Zerrex and instead forming into the hermaphroditic creature, as she smiled down at him, playfully pinning his arms and straddling his waist as her eyes looked down into his tenderly. "You're far too kind, Zerrex... far, far too kind. I'd almost call you naïve... but from what I've seen, you've been able to go good places with your trust." A pause, then she kissed his cheek gently as the reptile opened his eyes and looked up at her softly. "But I promise then, to do all I can to serve you. I just wish I could provide you with more than armor, sex, and an extra soldier when the fighting starts... but I'm not as malleable as Drake is."

"What do you mean by that, anyway?" Zerrex asked curiously, tilting his head as she shrank down a bit to comfortably settle against his chest - and damn, but it was weird how used he was getting to this already. Then again... he had spent a good portion of his life involved with telekinetics, precognitives, and people who wouldn't die even if you chopped their heads off... so size-shifting really wasn't much of a stretch. It even seems pretty popular around here... "What makes Drake so special?"

I hate you. Drake muttered in his head. Not just am I special, I'm the most special. Thankfully, however, he was drowned out after this by Mercury's explanation, as she looked at him curiously. "Well, for one thing, Drake is kept inside you... so he can be carried around any area without any difficulties at all. Better yet, when Drake's physical half is present, you can not only wear his energy as armor or clothing, but use it to create weapons, or as weapons by themselves."

Zerrex only stared at her blankly, and she coughed before sitting up on him and smiling a bit as she rubbed slowly over his chest, speaking softly: "Think of it this way. Drake will act... as an extension of your body, so long as he's kept inside you. And you can use that extension in any way you please, within the limits of Drake's ability to shape himself or reach out... so you can't split yourself into pieces or dissolve yourself into goop like I can, nor can you absorb someone as I do... but if there was a keyhole that you didn't have the key for, Drake could slide his energy into it, solidify it, and then you'd just be able to open the lock, no problem. If you needed a weapon, Drake could create one in your hands... and if you wanted to use Drake's energy to attack someone... the form of the attack is only limited by your imagination." She shrugged a bit. "Spikes... giant bowling balls... swords... anything, you could create and will to do as you please."

Almost right. Drake murmured. I've got limits too. But- "Well, why can't you do that?" Zerrex asked mildly, then he paused and grinned stupidly. "I'd much prefer to carry you around in me than Drake, by the way." I fucking hate your guts sometimes. Like... you know how much shit I'm doing for you? You're a... a jerk!

Mercury only smiled though, looking at him with soft affection as she reached up to stroke his face gently. "Silly. My body composition is different... I'd be toxic to your system and I'm more solid than Drake, because Drake's pure energy, so I might clog your veins or whatever up as well. So I can only exist on the outside... and plus, what I do is different than Drake, because my creation works more on a material level. His is molecular... he uses energy to create solid, physical objects, whereas I just... manipulate what I really am to create... you're lost, aren't you?"

"Er. I get it. It's just confusing... but I understand." Zerrex nodded slowly, muttering and trying to remember his physics lessons - particles, nuclei, binding properties, oh my. He looked down for a moment, then glanced back up curiously. "So you're saying that if... say... you turned into a sword for me, you'd feel it every time I chopped or defended with you?"

"Pretty much." Mercury smiled a bit. "That black goop? It regenerates pretty fast... but if it's disconnected from either of its vital sources for even a moment..." She paused, then stuck out her tongue for a moment and raised her ring-wearing hand. "The things that act as a regulator to keep my volatile body from falling apart... all that dark gunk would disintegrate. And that would hurt like hell and shock my system. I've heard rumors that one of the RED Commanders is built on the same properties as me, but modified in a different way and controlled by a nephilim, so he doesn't suffer from the same nasty drawbacks as me."

Zerrex nodded slowly, thinking back to the 'RED Minions' they'd encountered in the alleyway, then tilting his head and smiling a bit. "Then just one last question for you... what do you plan to do once we show off your real form to the rest of the world?"

Mercury opened her mouth to answer... then tilted her head curiously for a few moments, and Zerrex blinked before staring as she split in two, shifting immediately into the bodies of the twins, flinging excess black matter from her form as they quickly buried under the blankets, tossing them up over themselves and Zerrex and curling under his arms as he stared, then looked up as there was a polite double-knock at his door. A moment later, Schindler stepped in, only to make a face as 'Mist' and 'Shine' giggled and Zerrex gave him the same disgusted face in return, shouting and blushing: "Hey, knock!"

"I did!" Schindler replied in a strangled voice, half-hiding behind the door, then he grumbled, winced, and stepped into the room anyway, as Zerrex held the twins tight against him... amazed by how Mercury was able to easily portray both of them and wondering how the hell she managed it, as the Dragokkaren doctor shuffled through some files, then cleared his throat. "I've uh. Completed my analysis of you... everything from your genetic blueprints to descriptions of all the important so-called abilities you have, and a few other bits and bytes here and there that you might want to look over when you have the time." He made a face, walking forwards and throwing the file down on the edge of the bed, then stepping backwards as 'Mist' winked and put her hands behind her head, shaking her body to make her large breasts jiggle, then he promptly spun around on one foot and left, muttering irritably to himself and leaving without another word.

Then Zerrex blinked as he heard a strange sludging sound behind his body, looking to the right and seeing one of the females gone... and then to the left, and feeling a bit of black goo splatter onto his body. He blinked again, then rubbed idly at it, looking surprised as he saw that Mercury had already shifted back to her normal - if somewhat shrunk-down - form. A moment, later, and the female idly reached one arm out, and Zerrex watched it lengthen ridiculously before it returned to normal proportions after she grabbed the file, glancing at him with a bit of a blush. "Yes?"

"Er. Nothing." Zerrex muttered, then he leaned in to peer at the information about him on the page, before Mercury blushed a bit deeper and handed the files over to him. Zerrex smiled a bit, taking the papers, and then he read quickly through, murmuring aloud the parts that looked important. "Increased regenerative abilities... 'immortal' gene, what the hell does that mean?" A pause and a glance up at Mercury, then back at the paper with a frown. "Shapeshifting pertaining to size and mass... increased physical ability traded off for eventual decrease in healing ability..." He shook his head slowly. "I don't know what most of this means."

"It means they did a surgery on you where they stopped your biological clock. Literally stopped you from aging... or at least, slowed it down so much it becomes insignificant." Mercury replied softly, and Zerrex blinked before looking up at her curiously as she massaged one hand lightly over his back, resting against his side and laughing softly as she looked at the file. "It also means that even though you don't age physically, you'll still eventually die... your body will gradually lose the ability to heal itself over many years, and tumors may start to crop up instead of wounds healing... it's like... the body forgets how to heal itself, or the cells don't replicate, but mutate or give birth to something new." She paused as Zerrex looked up at her softly, and then smiled faintly. "They usually gave me what they called the 'stillbirths' for food... failed experiments in those areas or lab rats who had the immortality gene but were then forced through a time cycle, which sped up the so-called 'aging' process until it killed them."

The Drakkaren nodded slowly, then he gently wrapped one arm around her waist, squeezing her close as they browsed the files on him together, Mercury pointing out things and terms she recognized and Zerrex doing his best to piece together the puzzle from what he knew, as well. The most interesting thing, however, was once he reached size-shifting, and the hermaphrodite perked up and then glanced at him with a grin. "You didn't tell me you could do that!"

"I have... no clue how exactly to do that." Zerrex replied, rubbing the back of his head and making a face as he blocked out Drake before the dark nephilim could even start with his usual bull. "I can barely communicate with Drake... usually, I only hear him when he's pissed off about something and wants to bitch, whine, or make a point."

Mercury snorted, then shook her head and gently took one of his hands before closing her eyes, placing both of hers over his. Zerrex looked at her curiously, then she murmured: "This may sting a bit... but..."

The Drakkaren made a face... then winced in anticipation of pain as he felt his muscles suddenly seeming to strain, bulging outwards as if he was lifting twice his body weight, and a strange tingling sensation rolled through his fingers and palm... before he stared as his hand slowly grew to twice its normal size. The reptile gaped stupidly as Mercury took her hands away, grinning and wincing a bit as he looked at his hand dumbly, then at her and said blankly: "So I need a girl with a penis to make me bigger?"

"Worked last night." Mercury responded mischievously, then she giggled a bit behind one hand as Zerrex coughed and blushed slightly, rubbing the back of his head slowly with his not-giant hand, and flexing his fingers slowly. "But no..." she paused, softening and tilting her head towards him. "Muscles work on electrical stimulation, impulses, and chemical reactions that take place in various parts of the body. Your muscles have been changed, however... and if a certain chemical is released into them, then you'll be able to change your body's size, because it will cause them to... to put it metaphorically, to open up a different box of toys and lock them all together. I just concentrated to push some of that same chemical out of my body and into yours... one of the advantages of having a semisolid form."

Zerrex nodded, looking at his hand still with amazement, then he coughed and tilted his head as he glanced over at her curiously. "So I need to inject myself with something in order to grow to different sizes?"

Mercury smiled and shook her head, laughing quietly. "No, the sizeshifting ability, as I've seen in other soldiers, can be activated instinctively or through conscious thought." she paused and tilted her head towards him thoughtfully. "But it requires thought and discipline, and time to master. A lot of the normal soldiers who were designed with it ended up being given to me... which... is why I can do it so easily." She shrugged a bit, looking down, then forcing herself to lighten as she glanced back up at him with a bit of a smile, meeting the softened emerald eyes of the Drakkaren. "It just takes time and practice, and it's easier to make your entire body shift size than it is to do one part at a time... but right now, it shouldn't be too hard to make your hand shrink down to normal. Why don't you see if you can put it back to normal?"

Zerrex looked at her for a few moments, then he made a bit of a face as he looked down at his hand, feeling anxious, stupid... and like he couldn't do it. He was never good with any sort of power... that wasn't his thing. Even with guns, he usually just got lucky... he'd never been a stand-up shot, never a fast learner, never a good draw... and Drake was muttering away in his head, too, which didn't help. But Mercury was looking at him with faith and compassion, and she wouldn't laugh at him... so instead he sighed, then nodded a bit and looked at his hand, concentrating on it, thinking of how ridiculous it looked bigger than everything else and wanting it to be smaller...

Nothing happened... and ridiculously, the image that came to mind, was Zerrex's own penis. Imagining it going from big... to flaccid and small. Or well, at least, smaller... he'd never been small in any sense of the word. It was a horrible visual metaphor and something that probably few would understand... and they'd all figure he was a pervert despite understanding... but oddly enough... it seemed to help. His hand trembled, and that strange sensation rolled through him again... and then it shrank down to its normal, proportionate size, and Zerrex slumped back with a sigh as Mercury smiled warmly and reached up to squeeze his shoulder. "You're amazing, Lord Zerrex... you truly are."

"Blah." Zerrex responded, raising his hands... then he glanced at her thoughtfully. "So... this... ability to shift sizes..."

"It was designed for soldiers, originally..." Mercury nodded, laughing quietly. "But I think the project was abandoned for some reason. There are still plenty out there, especially elites, who can do it, though, but only a few capable of shifting back and forth in the middle of battle... and even less capable of changing the size of one part of their body at a time. The thing is, though, when they grow larger, they become much, much stronger and heavier-"

"But easier targets." Zerrex murmured, and Mercury looked at him with surprise as the Drakkaren winced and rubbed the back of his head, sitting up to page quickly through the files on size-shifting and glancing down curiously at the notes the doctor had made. "And Schindler's notes here say that the bones decompress or fold out or something... and even though flesh hardens to compensate - and there's simply... much bigger cushions of flesh between scale and bone, too - the bones break easier than in smaller creatures because they're comparatively smaller in larger ones." The Drakkaren blinked stupidly. "Wait. That made no sense."

"I get what you're trying to say." Mercury responded, looking faintly amused... then she quietly grasped beneath Zerrex's muzzle, looking down into his eyes softly, before giving him a gentle kiss on the lips, surprising him as their eyes met. "Lord Zerrex... why don't you spend some time today working on changing your size up and down? Those muscles, too, need to be worked and limbered up before they're ready to use... you don't even need to shift sizes, just get used to the weird sensation you get when you do, and see if you can summon up that ability during periods of stress, to have it ready when you need. But I still think for the first little while at least, you should likely stick to doing what the rest of us do, and choosing your size before going into battle." She paused, then stroked slowly down her face and laughed faintly. "But shouldn't we be going? No alerts are going off, and that bastard Schindler was pretty calm... but we'll need to meet with the council and Churchill. Today's the big day, after all."

Zerrex nodded, climbing out of bed and idly picking up his scattered clothes as he heard Mercury separating herself and then take on the form of the twins, before glancing over at 'Shine' and asking curiously as he started to pull on his boxers and pants: "Do you know Schindler?"

Both of the twins frowned, and when they spoke, now it was in unison instead of finishing each other's sentences. "He was one of the head geneticists for Narrius... and even though he freed a lot of good people, he has blood on his hands too. And I guess I just have a natural hatred for traitors, even when the person they betray is a bad one..."

"The end doesn't justify the means for you?" The Drakkaren asked, tilting his head and smiling a bit, and the twins nodded as black gunk spread over their forms before taking on the shape and almost perfect texture of the rebel uniforms. He paused to stare at this before walking over to the drawers to take out a new uniform shirt for himself, and they both grinned at him. "That's creepy."

"Glad you like it." Mist said cheerfully, winking at him before laughing quietly. "But believe me, I can do things a lot weirder. My minimum is tiny, my maximum is huge."

"And don't I know how you like huge." Shine added, and Zerrex rolled his eyes as the twins laughed, before heading out towards the door. He was quickly followed by the two, then Shine cursed lightly and Zerrex looked at her curiously as they stood in the small private hall, watching her run back into the room before returning a moment later with Zerrex's weaponry. The reptile blinked, checked himself, then groaned: and last night he'd been so goddamn careful to put it all out where he'd remember.

"Thanks." he mumbled, then carefully strapped his gear on and checked his revolver to make sure he'd reloaded it, before glancing at the two who were really one. "What about you and your cleavers?"

They both shook their heads, then spoke as one, voices mixing in a wonderful, scintillating way: "We'll be on sniper duty with Albatross... no need to burden myself with close range weaponry."

"We and... nevermind." Zerrex coughed, rubbing the back of his head as he turned and headed for the doorway, mumbling: "Damn, this is so weird. You're the only exception to every rule of grammar in existence."

Then he paused and stared as Shine stepped in front of him... except her breasts were twice as large. She grinned, fondling them... before they shrank back to their normal size, and she leaned up to whisper teasingly in his ear: "Just promise me that tonight, you'll share your most secret fantasies with me... and I'll make them all come true."

"And I'll provide you all the pleasure I can offer with this shifting body of mine..." added Mist, pressing against him... except he could feel a massive, cylindrical hardness pressing into his back, but when he turned, it was just Mist standing there, looking innocent with one hand behind her back and idly nibbling on a finger with the other. "But you'll have to be honest with me, or I might just give you some nightmares, instead."

"Evil bitch." Zerrex grinned despite himself, then he forced himself to turn and walk quickly ahead as Mercury laughed in both voices and leapt forwards to wrap an arm around either side of his waist, quickly walking with him and smiling as she rested her heads on the powerful breast of the Drakkaren, as his arms slid around her waists. It was good... it felt... wonderful... and she felt needed and happy. Even better, wanted... and that was the most beautiful feeling in the entire world.

A few moments later, as they were walking along the Ring in the general direction of... somewhere... they bumped into Albatross, however, and the male groaned and rolled his eye as he caught sight of them, looking slightly irritated. His military jacket was slight askew today, to reveal a lightweight weave vest beneath and two sets of dogtags hanging just above his breast. A glance down, and his jacket was quickly done up to hide these... but if Zerrex had to guess, the expression on the one-eyed Dragokkaren said it was likely his brother's. "There you are. I've been looking all over for you... Mist, Shine, I need you to report to the armory, grab the best weapons you can find and then head upstairs to handpick a platoon of soldiers... ten for each of you."

"Sir." Both females saluted, then quickly left without a word, obviously recognizing the urgency of the situation as Zerrex became more serious himself, almost regretting sleeping in... almost. Except he'd found out a few trump cards he could use in case of a serious battle... before staring as Albatross broke into a grin.

"Lord Zerrex... I've been running around all morning, but I'm glad you got some rest. I hope you're feeling rejuvenated, though... because things are going to get rough. It's only nine, but we already have reports of enemy activity in Hez'Ranna." He paused and glanced back and forth, then pointed at the clear metal ceiling, where it looked like soldiers in uniforms were going over quick training exercises. "We've enlisted a full ten-thousand from the civilians... the rest have been evacuated to the tunnels and are currently being guarded by what many people are already calling the 'old military.'" He gave an ironic smile. "Cheeky bastards, huh?

"We found out something amazing, though... through sheer luck, maybe." Albatross shook his head slowly. "Narrius still doesn't know about the train tunnels... either that, or he's been neglecting them. Through our largest tunnel, what we call the 'path of good intentions-'" Zerrex had a minor flashback at this to some nasty excursions in his own mind, which made him wince, unnoticed to Albatross who was looking out over the rail of the Ring and at the empty bazaar below "-we've been able to set up a shortwave, old-style pass-along transmission system and we have a scout with a radar hack on an old coal cart, ready to pull back if any soldiers appear... but otherwise secure and listening in to transmissions. Narrius plans to start making his move at around noon... and we think that if worst comes to worst, we'll be able to send the civilians running down the tunnel. Sorta like sending them running into a fire, but if Necropolis is clear, then there shouldn't be more than minimal patrols... and since you killed Iago, I don't think that area's in much use anymore. Everyone's been informed that at worst, they go there, they hide in the wreckage, then at nightfall they make their way back, to a safehouse they know of, or out of the city.

"Churchill actually set this up... I was impressed." A pause a sour face. "Except he still thinks he's head of the council and not just an average grunt. For now, though, he's doing okay and acting more like a soldier than a politician, so that's working out at least. But Huckleberry wants to see you... just take the main freight elevator to the third floor of the facility and following the swearing and hammering, you'll find him. I have to go check on the civilians, then escort my team to position." And without another word, Albatross turned, leapt gracefully up onto the railing, then jumped off the Ring, spreading his wings and gliding easily down the bazaar floor.

Zerrex didn't stop to watch, though: instead, he jogged quickly down the connecting hall between the barracks and the basement of the facility, then heading down the halls for the freight elevator. Now, however, he was responding automatically to the hails of soldiers as they passed, giving short, polite salutes in return, and even a smile and nod when he walked by Hans, who was blushing furiously and carrying several crates of ammo in the opposite direction. The Drakkaren wondered briefly where he was going, then he hit the button to call the freight elevator... made a face at the hole in the floor that hadn't been repaired... realized there was probably no way to repair it... then sighed and hit the button to ascend to the third floor.

The elevator did so... creakily. It apparently was in a bad mood after the abuse it had taken recently, and didn't like having to suddenly go up and down not just between the basements, but all the way to the top floor of the facility. "Well, I mean... close to the top floor." Zerrex murmured, peering at the pad and noting a '4' emblazoned on one of the buttons, as he idly kicked at a fragment of metal that was sticking up... then stared and winced as it snapped off and fell through the hole into the dark shaft of the elevator. He looked back and forth, leaning against the wall and coughing... then quickly hopped out and onto the third floor, peering back and forth... then smiling a bit as he heard a 'tink... tink... fuckgoddammit!'

The reptile walked down a short, L-shaped hallway, then emerged into a dusty room that was covered with computers riddled with mold and rust. He blinked a bit at this, looking down at the sand and grit-covered flooring... then up to note the holes knocked here and there in the walls, and the gaping space with a slight balcony overhang, out of which pointed a massive cannon of some kind. Working on this were three mechanics... one of them nursing a wounded thumb... and then he leapt up, cursed again and threw down his hammer bad-naturedly, before blushing and rubbing the back of his head as he looked at Zerrex.

"Awkward." mumbled Huck, and the other engineers laughed as they continued to work: a wolf and a zebra, Zerrex noted. Well, of course he's either less or not speciesist. He wasn't born in the country. "Er, sorry, there, Boss. I keep hitting my frigging finger instead of this last goddamn bolt on this side. Those other two are already workin' on the fun stuff, and I'm still stuck hammering the pressure armor back on."

"No worries." Zerrex said mildly, then he walked forwards, glancing over the huge cannon as Huck sucked his thumb and looked miserable, his coveralls half-shrugged off with the arms tied around his waist, leaving his chest bare except for the rawhide suspenders that held his pants from falling down, and the plain army-issue revolver he had holstered under one arm. Up way too close to his armpit... a rookie mistake that Zerrex found somehow endearing instead of irritating in this particular commander, as he asked: "So this is a railgun, huh?" He paused, then added meditatively: "Cherry fought one of these before. Said it shot faster than she could predict."

"Shoots faster than most people can blink, actually." Huck responded with a bit of a grin, brightening now that he was in his element. He picked up the hammer - thick and bludgeoning on one side, but an extremely narrow cylinder on the other - flipped it around in his hand, then slammed it squarely into a large bolt, knocking it home and grunting in triumph as he said mildly: "We've found some ammo, but we ain't gonna be able to test fire it for fear of alerting Narrius... and we also gotta clean these out." He pointed down at a set of dirt and mold-clogged tracks in the ground, leading back from the cannon, then up at another set on the wall, which had vines growing out of them. "Need to roll this thing back in here and then close the missile shield. One or two hits, and this puppy's toast."

The Drakkaren nodded, then he shrugged off his cleaver and placed it to the ground as he kneeled down, reaching into the tracks and beginning to tear out handfuls of mold and vines as Huck stared at him, then grinned as the Drakkaren looked up mildly, as he brushed off the gears that ran the entire mechanism inside the tracks. "What?"

"You are a piece of work. I like it when the guy in charge can get down and dirty with some grunt work, too." Huck laughed, then he winked and grabbed what looked like a double-tiered knife out of his toolbox and tossed it over to Zerrex, who caught it and blinked at the odd shape. "That'll let you clear out the crap in there faster. I'm going to start on the other shutter once I finish calibrating the rail cannon."

"Alright." Zerrex nodded, and for the next half hour, he worked on cleaning out the tracks as the two mechanics continued to make adjustments inside the machine, and Huck went from playing on the railgun's computer to digging vines out of the gears that controlled the shutter system. Finally, both reptiles accomplished their objective, and with the press of a button, the massive cannon slid back into place and a heavy titanium shutter closed over the large gap.

Huck sat back for a moment as his mechanics went back to work, checking over the enormous weapon as Zerrex paused for a moment to look at the strange, futuristic cannon... before reminding himself he was inside the future, now, so he guessed it was just your average, modern-day weapon of war. It looked almost like the old mortars on ships... a loading section at the back, a digital aiming system and long-range sensor-camera built into the top, a lever to fire, a huge, rectangular body that sloped into a half-dome at the back and a massive, silver cannon that the mechanics were currently cleaning the dirt out of, clad in rubber gloves. Zerrex could see why, too... wires came from all points of the body to fit all along the huge cannon, powering the super-strong magnets inside that would allow it to fire off its ammunition.

A glance to the side, at the stack of 'rails' Huck was sitting on... and there really was no better word to describe them. Big, long girders of metal that fired at blinding speeds, propelled by Gods-knew-what kind of electromagnetic force... and in this day and age, Zerrex didn't want to bother guessing how far advanced these ones were compared to the one Cherry had taken on, and that had been big enough to blow a hole big enough for him to fit through even in his current size in a cement wall.

Then the Dragokkaren stood up with a grunt and grinned a bit, looking embarrassed. "Aww, shit. Right, Albossatross sent you here, didn't he? The one-eyed bandit of sea burritos." He coughed. "Don't tell him I said that or he'll beat me. He doesn't like being reminded of those days sitting in an artificial log with a sniper rifle, shooting at idiots trying to transport drugs from sea to shining sea." He paused, then stood up and said loudly: "Hey, Mikey, Gary, test-drive the thing dry, okay? I'm gonna go check on the others... if it makes a really loud pop, then we got it working. If it coughs or blows up, then um... run like fuck."

"This is why I hate working with you!" the zebra yelled over his shoulder, as Huck slapped Zerrex on the back on the way out. The Drakkaren followed him with amusement after picking up his cleaver, placing it on his back and shaking his hair - now safely braided in a long, knotted ponytail at the back, and left hanging to standard shoulder length at the shoulders and front - out of his eyes and away from the cleaver.

He followed Huck to the elevator... but then thankfully, they walked past it and over to a ladder and a pair of open hatches: one above, and one below. The Dragokkaren jumped onto this easily, then climbed up, and Zerrex followed him curiously to the next floor... before blinking as he emerged into a large, central hub area with shattered glass windows, a good dozen mechanics all working on repairing the computer system that circled the entire area... and several of the cracked monitors were already shining with life, whereas others remained dark. The Drakkaren stared around in amazement, and Huck grinned a bit as he blushed, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, I figured since we've been found out... it wouldn't hurt to throw up some extra electrical interference, right? This was once the first level of the tower interface that this facility used... the other two were blown away, otherwise we'd be getting the computers up there running, too. But basically, this is just a big, round room with one gigantic supercomputer surrounding us... the best part, however, is that we got all sorts of nifty radar-type gadgets, and the range is so wide that we'll get at least two minutes notice, even if the Patriarch sends his fastest planes out of Uroboros to bomb us."

"Two minutes." Zerrex murmured, then he nodded slowly: it wasn't much time, but it was more than he'd thought. A bomber could only fly so fast, after all, depending on what it was carrying... and more often than not, it would have to fly in formation, or guarded by other planes. That could tack a lot of time on for pilots to get into and slow the group down... then the reptile shook his head quickly and glanced around the room at the flickering screens and the working mechanics. "This is way more than I could have expected of you, Huck. You've got a talented crew here."

Huck laughed, then grinned and shouted: "Hey, the Boss thinks we're talented! What do you guys have to say to that?" The response was a rousing 'thank you!' that made Zerrex cough and smile... but he observed with admiration that none of the mechanics stopped working even as they responded. Huck had trained his engineers just as well as he'd trained his soldiers... hell, they were probably more disciplined than many officers the Drakkaren had seen. "Great. But hey, Lord Zerrex, I got one last thing to show you."

With that, the Dragokkaren jumped back on the ladder, then slid easily down to the bottom, landing with a thud on a hatch two floors down and rubbing at his hands from the friction burns he'd gotten from using his palms on the sides of the ladder. Zerrex merely snorted, then did the same action, but his thickened scales protecting him more effectively than Huck's had as the mechanic glowered at him. "You're a showoff."

"You're an ass." Zerrex responded easily, and the greasy, sweaty mechanic rolled his eyes and made a face before turning and motioning for him to follow. The Drakkaren did so with amusement, walking down the same hallway as in the floor above... before emerging into a long, rectangular room that had a slight curve in it and thirteen different openings. This one was devoid of computers, but had many tracks that had already been cleaned out, leading out onto currently-empty, square balconies... and inside, working feverishly, were seven more mechanics, repairing what were undoubtedly the massive, long-barreled 50mm cannons that Albatross had talked about earlier. A good eight cannons had already been cleaned up... one of the mechanics was just finishing polishing out the barrel of a ninth... and the others were all working on repairing the last four, which seemed fairly rusted.

They all had the old-fashioned reticule... a few circles of metal, and that made Zerrex smile slightly, since it looked like most of the more advanced aiming systems had been shattered. He paused, looking down to the far right corner, and saw a few soldiers huddled in the corner, talking as they checked over bullets and loaded the ammo belts. They were all Dragokkaren... and all looked fairly similar... and Huck nodded wordlessly when Zerrex asked him a silent question with his eyes, before the mechanic shrugged, smiled, and gently wrapped an arm around Zerrex's shoulder. "Yeah. They are. But they can be trusted... in fact, I'd trust them more than I would some of our whiny bitch-soldiers like Churchill. They might be genetic creations... but they know what they're doing, they won't back down, and they're big enough they can handle moving the cannons themselves. I mean, they're mounted and they're each on a one-eighty degree axis... but they're rusted, and there's only so much I can do with engine grease, get it?" Huck snickered, squeezing Zerrex amiably around the shoulders as the reptile smiled a bit, looking at him... then blinking in surprise as the large male kissed his cheek with a loud smack. "Maybe you can arm one of 'em too, 'less you're already gonna be busy with first mate Albossatross on the royal ship of the facility roof?"

Zerrex made a face and wiped at his cheek, and Huck looked lamely at him, coughing as he slid back a bit. "You uh. Not into..."

"Getting slobber all over me." Zerrex flicked the Dragokkaren's drool at him, as he managed to look both relieved and offended at the same time. "Dear Gods, did you save up all your spit for that one moment?" Then the Drakkaren made a face before smiling a bit. "And now I get why you came here, too... the army didn't like the fact you were gay, did they?"

"Not really." Huck admitted with a foolish smile. "Hitting on your superior officer is frowned upon. I realize that I coulda gone higher, but comin' here... they don't care if you're gay or not." Huck paused, glancing out over the working mechanics and softening a bit, revealing more of his calmer, gentler nature. "I loved Hez'Ranna. It was... like coming home, it really was. My... my orientation didn't matter... hell, it was encouraged in some circles, and no one ever looks at you funny when you wanna hold hands with that guy you really like and walk down the street... there was no pollution... there was just... it was so damn nice, you know? Even in the military. They didn't yell at you all the time, like they did in those shitholes in Ire, but they encouraged you. They were tougher, too, yeah, and the tests were so damn hard to pass, and every day it was this and that, here and there... but then you got to sit down at the end of it, and the commanding officers didn't sit all together at a table, pencil-pushing shitheads who'd never seen a day's battle lookin' down at you from their high-and-mighty place... no, they sat right with you, talked to you, asked you how you were, treated you like a living being. That's something they ain't ever got out there... and that's why Hez'Ranna fought so much harder and bred such superior warriors. They were strict... but they didn't need to scream at you to get a point across, just say a few gentle words.

"But Narrius has made everything different." Huck walked out to one of the balconies, and Zerrex followed him slowly, as they looked out over the artificial, war-created desert, the Dragokkaren looking disgusted. "He ruined it... and he's done worse then beaten down the soldiers he's created to turn them into weapons... he's started breeding them just as weapons. And I hear over there, in his training grounds, they use real guns, real bullets, and try to kill each other... and anyone who gets seriously injured in training just gets shot, just like that, in the head. Kapow." Huck accented this with a pantomime of shooting himself in the head, two fingers the barrel, thumb the hammer that cocked and then snapped. Then he softened, grasping the plain metal railing around the balcony, staring out at the desert before glancing to Zerrex and silently sliding an arm around his shoulders, asking hesitantly: "I don't wanna pry... but... it must've been tough for you as a kid, huh?"

Zerrex looked out silently over the desert, then he simply nodded and said quietly: "Yeah." A pause as the silence spiraled out, and the reptile found himself starting to talk again, liking the feeling of closeness, of physical contact with another strong male... because it felt like it had been an eternity since he'd ever felt a strong, muscular arm around his shoulders, someone offering to protect him... instead of him always, always, always being forced to protect. The fact that he ended up always sacrificing so much of himself for others... he thought that perhaps was the cruelest punishment of all that had been acted out upon him. "I was... just a young kid... when Narrius killed my mother. Or he tried to, at least... my mom... she was... a porn star." He smiled a bit at this, shaking his head slowly as Huck looked at him curiously. "That's what attracted Narrius's attention at first, I think... because she was beautiful, and as an object, I guess, extremely, extremely valuable for her beauty, to all manner of modeling industries. But moreover, she was smart, too... so damn smart..."

He glanced down, grasping the short metal railing around the balcony tight as he leaned forwards a bit against it, continuing to speak quietly: "But after she gave birth to me, he grew distant from her, she told me... more and more as I grew up. At first, for a little while, he was... attached to me. Not in a fatherly way, but he'd train me, rough me up, constantly push me, push me, push me... and then when I kept failing his too-hard tests, he grew distant from me, too. I'd go over every now and then, spend time there on holidays that I hated, but otherwise I lived with my mother. He or my uncle always trained me... Requiem. Requiem was... always more a father to me than he ever was...

"Eventually, I guess Narrius decided that my mother was just a liability... and he sent an explosive-laden car to crash into her as she was going out for milk." He smiled a bit, not adding the other part of the story as his eyes flicked away from Huck: how it had been the same day he'd lost his virginity as a young boy to his own mother... how he'd gone to bed and slept with her, made love to her, with her guidance. "She didn't die... but one night, he brought her home... and he wanted me to rape her. He'd left me tapes, instructions... everything... on how to do it. That was also when I found out my mother was a porn star... he left me a bunch of videos of her and other males..." he broke off and glanced down, resting his forearms now against the balcony as Huck began to slowly rub his back.

For a few moments, he was quiet, then he closed his eyes and continued in a drier voice: "Narrius killed Celestial DePriese, my mother, by ripping her throat out with his teeth in front of me. Then he kicked me across the room... probably would have killed me too, except Requiem stepped in... he just argued with his brother, but Requiem... never stood up to Narrius. He idolized his big brother in all the right ways for all the wrong reasons, but I always thought he was stronger than that, smarter than that... just... blinded by love. So Narrius took his rage out on him instead... then left.

"From then on, I lived at the Narrius Estate... I spent most of my days in intense physical training or at a private academy." Zerrex looked down, then he laughed faintly and straightened, looking up at the sky. "And to shorten the story... eventually Narrius got sick. Once he got sick enough... I snuck into his room, and I ripped his throat out in return. Then I left the Estate, drenched in my father's blood, and none of his guards or slaves or whatever stopped me, and Requiem never caught up to me until a few years ago."

"Did you kill him, too?" asked Huck in a soft voice, unable to stop himself and looking at Zerrex with deep, gentle compassion... and Zerrex turned to him and smiled faintly, rubbing at his eyes with the back of one hand... and then glancing down to see, unsurprisingly, they were dry. They only felt wet with tears that he wanted to cry... but was unable to.

"Yes." Zerrex paused, then added quietly: "And it was the most difficult thing I've ever had to do it my life. Fighting him was the greatest honor I have ever had... because it was like being allowed to duel with a god of grace and serenity. But killing him was like... picking up a rock and bludgeoning a nightingale to death..." A glance down and a soft sigh as he rested with his back against the rails, looking down as Huck squeezed his shoulder gently. "But from what it sounds like, I might have to do it all over again."

"What do you mean?" Huck blinked, tilting his head... then he paused and glanced down with a quiet laugh. "No... you're not saying that... of his RED Commanders, that Black Requiem, of all people, is-"

Zerrex nodded slowly and laughed quietly, closing his eyes as he sighed and crossed his arms, saying softly: "Narrius has always trusted only Requiem to be his one personal bodyguard... and the shape, the form of those so-called 'RED Minions' I encountered with the others on the way back reminds me more and more of Requiem, the more I think about it... plus Narrius would be smart enough to have a backup plan, and he's enough of a bastard to just want to cause me pain. Anything to make me hesitate... including a brainwashed and genetically-modified clone of my mentor."

"I'm really glad I don't have your family." Huck said plainly, and Zerrex stared at him for a moment before throwing his head back and laughing... then starting and freezing as Huck suddenly hugged him tight. He tensed... then forced himself to relax, going a bit limp as the Dragokkaren said encouragingly, drawing back and squeezing his shoulders: "It'll all be alright, Lord Zerrex. We'll protect you until the last drop of our blood falls."

"Here, here." came another mild voice, and the two turned to see Becca standing there, looking dour and dressed in a tight military uniform with a black cap on and a close-fitting vest of some strange, silvery material. His bare arms displayed his many charms and bracelets, the necklace with 'Becca' on it jangled free over the armor, and on his back Zerrex could see a plain, black metal sniper rifle with a built-in scope... a heavy, long metal barrel... and at the bottom, he'd actually attached a bayonet, as if he planned to stab the bombs to death. The look on his face, however, made the tall, white-haired Drakkaren nervous: it was the same look he'd had on when he'd cheated Zerrex out of his pants. "Hey, douchebag. I've been looking all over for you."

"Fuck you." Huck spat immediately, glaring at the smaller Drakkaren, then he crossed his arms, his mood suddenly becoming remarkably irritable. Zerrex blinked, feeling nonplussed at how dark the usually-cheery Dragokkaren had become, as he mumbled under his breath: "What the hell do you want, Becca?"

So... it actually is his real name. Creepy. But before Zerrex couldn't comment, Becca slid over beside him in one easy movement, leaned upwards, and whispered loudly behind one hand as Zerrex cocked his head curiously: "He's mad at me because I dumped him last week. Actually, that's a lie, because we were never going out to begin with..."

"I'm mad because I don't like you, you homophobic little twat!" Huck retorted, flailing his arms, then he made a face and forced himself to calm down as he attracted the looks of several of his mechanics, instead giving a painful-looking, icy smile as one of his eyes twitched. "Are you just here to annoy me, or do you have some reason to be here?"

Becca seemed to consider for a few moments... then he turned a bit more serious, glancing over him mildly. "Albatross was contacted by the advance scout about movement in Narrius's forces... like, heavy equipment and transports gathering at the northern sector. From the sounds of it, they're preparing to bring mortar cannons out here... possibly attack us with artillery fire beforehand. Now, Albatross says that'll be next to useless, but he's worried a freak shot could damage the weapons... and because we're doing passalong transmissions every klick or so..."

"Right, it's probably been half an hour since that report, meaning they could already be setting up the artillery to fire." Huck murmured, then he quickly walked past them and into the long hall, glancing up at the ceilings and cursing quietly. "Shutters're jammed... I don't wanna just trust in fate here. I'm going to clean out the gears I can reach, then rewire the generator that runs the shutters. If I supply some additional power, it might just tear through all the shit that's been building up in here ever since the facility's been abandoned... definitely strip the gears, either way, but whatever. Better to have some manually-operated shutters over a broken 50mm, 'cause these things don't come cheap."

Even as he spoke, Huck was already at the sole computer terminal, hammering away at the buttons to try and get it working, before cursing angrily under his breath. "Shit, I can't even get the computer system running, its-"

He was cut off by the sound of metal screaming against concrete as Zerrex jumped up, caught the edge of the first shutter in line by the smaller manual-operation handles sticking out of it, and then jerked down hard. One handle came off, but the shutter came halfway down, giving the Drakkaren enough leverage to yank with just one handle the heavy titanium alloy the rest of the way down to the floor. Huck stared at this, then he coughed and grabbed Becca, shoving him towards the door. "Tell Albossatross we're good up here. And get someone to bring up some low-power plastic explosive, we might have to blow these shutters off if they get pounded by a few good mortars."

"If that happens, I'll just tear them off." Zerrex grunted, as he yanked down another shutter - the difficulty was only in reaching them, since most of them were suspended twenty feet in the air, which was still a good few above his head and required a jump that made him feel like an idiot. Then he moved to the next, leapt up... and found himself hanging from the handles. He blinked... then snorted and hauled himself up before dropping his weight and jerking down at the same time, succeeding in tearing it halfway down but ripping out both handles and falling back on his ass with a wince at the same time. "Goddammit!"

"I got it!" Huck called, digging through a duffel bag full of tools before producing a crowbar, as Zerrex went about yanking down the rest of the shutters. The Dragokkaren, meanwhile, cocked the heavy metal bar back and slammed it a few times into the shutter, causing dust to hail down and the metal door to drop a few good inches as he knocked a small ding in it, then he dropped to a kneel, managed to snag the hook of the metal bar into the ding, and yanked it down as hard as he could, leaving only a few inches between metal bottom and concrete floor.

The Boss rubbed at a forearm slowly as he walked over to the other male, then he smiled a bit, exchanging a high-five before clasping their hands as Huck grinned. "I ain't so weak myself, you know. Just don't like doin' acrobatics."

"Bite me." Zerrex said amusedly, before he shook his head. "I'm going to go see how Albatross is doing... see what he plans to do if they're using mortars. After all, I don't think they can exactly shoot those out of the air."

"You'd be surprised what Albossatross is capable of. He's a fuckin' wizard with a sniper rifle, puts me to damn shame." Huck said cheerfully, then he clapped Zerrex on the shoulder and nodded as he glanced around at the watching mechanics, yelling: "Hey, hey, breaktime's over, get back to work!"

The Drakkaren made his way back down the hall with a bit of a smile, glancing idly back and forth and feeling a few vague stirrings of discontent as he made his way through the facility, once more stepping into the elevator and riding it down to the first subbasement, then following the path back to the Ring. He paused as he realized he had no clue how to get down to the bazaar, and so instead content himself with wandering aimlessly through corridors for a little while and asking soldiers here and there where Albatross was. Finally, a female sniper told him that he was outside, and Zerrex nodded his thanks before turning and heading back the way he'd come; getting outside, at least, was the one thing he was sure he could do.

A few minutes later, he stepped out into the sandy desert, his eyes roving over the barren area before settling on a dusty, yellowish tent that had been set up. The Drakkaren walked over to this and slipped inside, and found Albatross and a few other snipers cleaning their guns, other gear laid out before them on neat cloths. The blue-scaled reptile glanced up curiously, saying mildly: "I already sent Becca back with some explosives for Huck... don't tell me he wants something else now..."

"No, I just came out to see how things are going. It sounds like we're going to get hit by an artillery barrage first, too, so I wanted to check and find out what your plans were for your team." The Drakkaren replied, glancing at the few other soldiers. Albatross looked sourly amused, as if he wasn't used to being questioned like this, and Zerrex rubbed the back of his head, coughing and adding lamely: "No one tells me anything, so I have no clue what's going on."

"We're going to use thermal-repressing camo blankets and hide at a distance with our rifles ready." one of the soldiers piped up mildly, looking at Zerrex with arrogant distaste as he finished polishing his rifle and now began to slide clips onto his belt. The Drakkaren frowned at the fellow lizard, who looked back at him with something approaching a sneer, as he cinched the blanket roll shut with his remaining cleaning kit inside. "Ten rods each, which Commander Albatross will hand out once we're through working here. I recognize you're just infantry, but don't you have somewhere to be?"

Zerrex looked at him mildly, then he snorted and glanced at Albatross again, who now looked more uncomfortable than anything else, saying dryly: "Mortars aren't going to be anything more than suppression fire. He's going to end up mixing a missile barrage into the mess, so I hope you, Mist and Shine are all damn good spotters. I also don't want you positioning snipers on the roof, but instead use the balconies outside... it'll be safer and give you a fast retreat in case of trouble... just half-open the shutters and lay flat half-in, half-out, and keep a support bar handy so it doesn't fall and cut any of you in half." He paused, then glanced out through the flap of the tent. "How were you going to get to the roof, anyway?"

"There's a ladder around back... why?" Albatross asked, frowning a bit... and then he blinked as Zerrex turned and left, heading out the tent wordlessly and around to the back of the facility to find a rusted, damaged ladder. He quickly climbed this to the rounded rooftop of the second floor, walking down a short metal catwalk to another longer ladder that spanned up to the roof of the battered tower.

As he climbed, he could hear the burnt walls crumbling and creaking under his weight... but he made the roof of the tower without incident, stepping out onto a wider platform that was once perhaps used to land helicopters and medium-sized VTOL aircraft, but was now just a cracked rooftop on a cracked building... but it was an excellent sniper location, he would admit that. He walked a few times around the roof, making sure that it wouldn't give out under his feet - the only really damaged area, however, was a broken hatch leading down into the top of the tower - and glancing around at the antennae and large pipes and smokestacks on either side, a few bridging up from this rooftop, many others from the wider roofs of the other floors. The facility was stacked like a bunch of old coins, with the largest few as the bottom... a few medium sized ones for the middle... and then a bunch of tiny pennies forming the tower, and off these other open spaces came everything from dying vines to enormous, rusted pipes and broken satellite dishes.

The reptile sat quietly on the edge of the roof, cleaver behind him, sidepack open and the scope that could be fitted to the revolver held in one hand, the Drakkaren peering through this and into the distance... and with it set to maximum magnification, he could almost make out the shape of Uroboros beyond the jungle, but the only really clear thing was the end of the dusty valley. He thought there were some specks moving around there too... but that could just be his imagination.

He paused as he heard a few flapping sounds, then glanced up in time to see Albatross land smoothly beside him, wincing and rubbing at his shoulder, murmuring under his breath: "Goddamn rifle needs to be adjusted." Then he paused, looked at Zerrex, and gave a bit of a smile. "Sorry for... everyone's behavior, and... mine too, Lord Zerrex. I... we're all just really stressed, since this is our first big battle, and our first time defending our base, too." He stopped, then blushed a bit as he quietly offered a pair of binoculars in a plain case. "These might give you a better view than that, too."

"Thanks." Zerrex said quietly, taking the case by the strap and letting it dangle over the edge with his legs, as he slid the scope back into his side kit before closing it. Then he pulled the case up to his lap as Albatross sat down beside him, glancing idly at the Dragokkaren and noting the five large metal rods with bulbous, spherical ends he had around each leg. "Are those..."

"Yeah." Albatross nodded, glancing down and touching one idly. "What we'll be using to set off the missiles with, the things I was telling you about earlier." He stopped, then looked up at Zerrex before looking off into the distance with his single lavender eye, as Zerrex opened the case to pull out the military binoculars and gaze through them. "See anything?"

He paused for a few moments... then the Drakkaren shook his head a bit. "There's surveyors over there, looks like... they're setting up an attack, but I don't think they'll actually get around to it for a while, yet. We have a lot of time yet..." He lowered the binoculars, then adjusted them idly before laying back on the rooftop and looking straight up, flicking a few buttons on the side before muttering under his breath: "There's a spy satellite above us, too."

Albatross looked at him with surprise, as Zerrex drew back the binoculars, then he blushed a bit and rubbed the back of his head before trailing his hand down his braid. "It's an... old trick I learned. You just set the binoculars to thermal mode... the satellites show up as big yellow specks. It's so distant I can't define it... but I can at least make it out."

"Really..." Albatross murmured, then he lay back himself, propped his sniper rifle against his shoulder, and aimed upwards, hitting a button on the built in scope in the huge, semiautomatic rifle, before snorting in faint amusement. "Well, what do you know..." A pause, then he rapped off two quick shots, wincing a bit each time before sitting up and rubbing at his shoulder. "Fuck, it's a bitch to shoot like that."

Zerrex stared at him, then he glanced up and was somehow unsurprised to see what looked almost like sparkles in the sky... except the reptile was well aware that the pretty sparkly lights were most likely metal, shrapnel and fire. He confirmed this with a quick look through the binoculars, watching as the satellite fell out of orbit, before smiling slightly and glancing over at Albatross with faint amusement. "Huck was right. You are amazing with a sniper rifle."

"I've been doin' range shooting all my life... ain't really that far a shot, either." Albatross responded embarrassedly, rubbing the back of his head as he stood and slid his rifle onto his back, then he laughed a bit and smiled. "Well, hopefully that buys us some blind time, anyway... so I'm gonna hurry down, get the soldiers to set up some more tents, and rig up some emergency gear if I got the time, too. Just shout if you need anything, Lord Zerrex, and I'll do what I can for you."

"Thanks, Albatross." Zerrex said softly, then he smiled a bit as the Dragokkaren nodded before turning and jumping off the roof, spreading his wings and gliding in a quick downwards spiral towards the earth. The Drakkaren watched this for a few moments with faint amusement, wondering idly what it was like to fly... then sighing and sitting back a bit as he rose the binoculars to his face again, staring through them into the distance and murmuring under his breath: "Better yet, what's it like to have a frigging vacation..."

No, it's not that that bothers you. Drake said in his head, and his voice was oddly gentle, as Zerrex glanced up. It's because you really... are on a sort of vacation right now, aren't you? Leading a military unit, no family around, no friends. Enjoying the company of other people for a change, working hard and in control, fighting against your father in a whole new change to prove how much better you are than him, without having to resort to cheap thrills or idiot, cowardly acts of violent revenge. Sure, you seek justice, and retribution... but this time, you'll do it facing off against him in hand-to-hand instead of knife-to-dying-throat.

Zerrex shifted a bit, looking down... but then he laughed dryly, eyes flicking to the side as he murmured softly: "Yeah, but I try to avoid thinking about that so I can pretend I'm noble." He paused, hesitated, then added quietly: "And does it make me a bastard that..."

That you're not acting as broken up over everything as you actually are? That you're not playing drama queen, but moving on with your life? That, despite your optimistic denials, you are writhing inside with agony over your losses? Drake sounded almost amused, but also irritated and sardonic. Zerrex, you're an idiot, but you're not weak. You know how to compartmentalize, separate things off, deal with things one issue at a time. I think you're doing pretty good, considering it's been seven years... and you've ended up waking to a hostile world where you're seen as either a savior or a monster.

Fucking hell, but only you would see the ability to force yourself through and endure the pain of losing your loved ones - temporarily or possibly forever - as a bad thing. Drake paused, seemed to wrestle with himself, then he finally sighed a bit and muttered: I'm going to regret this later. But slide backwards so you don't fall off the edge, lay down on the roof, and close your eyes.

Zerrex blinked a bit... then he shrugged mentally and did so, putting his hands behind his head and looking up at the blue sky above for a few moments before his eyes slid closed... and suddenly he was standing in a plain room with Drake, who was looking at him with mild distaste, the dark nephilim's body still mimicking his down to the white locks that floated all the way down to his ankles... except his hair still had that ghostly light and strange, tendrilish look to it. Zerrex blinked, opening his eyes automatically, and Drake swore at him with a wide variety of curses as the reptile found himself looking at the blue sky above once more. You cuntbuster, it's an illusion! Close your damn eyes, this is hard for me and your head is going to start aching soon, which'll screw everything up. We only have so long to communicate before your brain starts blocking me out automatically for reasons we've discussed already, you emotional midget.

The Drakkaren felt oddly offended at the last sentiment, but he contented himself with a few vague mumbles and instead once more closed his eyes, breathing softly in and out as he once more found himself looking at Drake in a plain, empty room. Then Drake sighed, closed his eyes and snapped his fingers... and suddenly Zerrex was looking at his family. At Marina, Cherry, and Cindy... and he felt his heart twist as Drake murmured, standing behind the smiling trio of females: You're not weak. You do love them. You've just been under a lot of stress, a lot of shock, and all your life, you've been betrayed, cheated, and hurt, and so you're used to making yourself feel better by manipulating, seducing, and simply infatuating other people to get physical contact. Only your daughters have never turned their backs on you... and even though Cherry's done some stupid shit in the past, you know how much she loves you.

She really, really does... piped up another voice, and Zerrex turned with surprise to see Cynterra standing nearby, smiling quietly at him. She was shorter than Cherry now... looked younger... but had that same 'go-to-hell' look in her eyes and a grin that said fucking with her was best done at one's own discretion. Her hands were shoved in the pockets of a plain jeans jacket as she looked at Zerrex lovingly, and when the reptile looked over at Drake, he saw the dark nephilim was just as stunned as him... before he suddenly grunted and literally fizzed out of existence at a single glance from the female, before she turned her blue eyes back to him with a wink. I woke up from all the commotion... Drake makes a lot of mental noise.

"Does he?" Zerrex asked quietly... and he didn't realize there were tears streaming silently down his cheeks, as his body burned with a mix of joy and pain. The room faded out... but his family was still standing nearby, looking at him with deep adoration. Cynterra Cherubim walked over to them, looking over them quietly, and Zerrex asked in a shaky, awe-filled voice: "Aren't my girls... so pretty?"

Yeah, they are. The ghost-Drakkaren inside him agreed, then she turned and smiled softly. You've been working on size-shifting, haven't you? Well, so long as my soul is inside you, I can help you with that. Call me your training wheels. She laughed a bit at this... and it was such a pretty sound. She was a like a more docile Cherry, in some ways... but when she grinned, it showed the side of her that was just as wild as her sister. Or call it paying rent to stick around in your body, until you finally get to my sister. I've attached myself to you for a reason, after all... I want to see Cherry one last time.

"I figured." Zerrex murmured softly, then he paused and tilted his head, asking quietly: "How can you help me out with that?"

As long as I'm in your body, you can... for lack of a better term... utilize my powers. You have my soul... basically, the map and instruction booklet for doing a bunch of things. Some things you can't do, no, because you don't have the proper kind of body or genetic markers and makeup... but the basics, like changing your size up and down, that's already programmed into you. I just wanna help you learn your way through that. Cynterra paused, then softened and stepped forwards as Zerrex looked longingly at his family once before they vanished, and then he turned his full attention to her with a blink. I'm sorry.

"What? Oh..." Zerrex laughed a bit, rubbing at his head slowly... it was beginning to ache extremely badly, but... he hadn't noticed the pain. He'd been too obsessed with looking at the picture-perfect memory of Cherry and his daughters... his wife, his little girl, his... in some ways, his sister. "It's okay..."

We can talk in your head when you can concentrate and take some time to yourself... but I'm deeper than Drake, and I spend a lot of time dormant in your body, to avoid putting stress on you. Cynterra said softly, then she kissed his cheek... and Zerrex could swear he felt something invisible brush his face in reality. So I'm going to go back to sleep... but whenever you need me, just think hard of me, and I'll wake up and run to do what I can. Or get Drake to read my soul, he's good at stuff like that, even though he doesn't like to talk much about it. A pause and a vague smile. Odd, strange creature he is. But whenever you want to sizeshift... think of... Another pause, then a cryptic grin. The color gold.

And with that, she was gone... and Zerrex blinked a few times as he opened his eyes... before covering his face and groaning, clenching them shut again as his head gave a wicked throb. He rolled back and forth on the ground, and the pain spread throughout his entire body... colors were too bright, and the gentle breeze that ruffled through his hair almost felt like sandpaper scraping across his scales. For a few moments, he could only lay there in agony, and then trembling horror as voices he thought he'd long ago defeated suddenly picked up and began to talk and chatter in his head like a thousand lost souls... before they went silent, and he slumped back against the rooftop, panting hard, heart hammering in his chest. Now he'd learned what happened if he pushed his concentration under sheer will alone... and when he reached up to rub at his face, he found not only tears, but a bit of blood on the burned side of his face as well. He traced them upwards, and found his left eye had bled slightly... unnerving, but fortunately, the Drakkaren didn't think it was anything serious. He had the feeling that side of his face was mangled enough it wouldn't take too much stress to cause the damaged veins to crack or whatever... so instead he just sighed and let himself slump back against the rooftop.