FSE

Furry search engine

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Zerrex winced as a small motorized vehicle flew through the air, quickly stepping out of the way as the Dragokkaren that had thrown it picked up another from the parking lot, then hurled it at the guard tower, snarling and covered in bullet wounds. A moment later, however, the goliath was sent down by a rocket fired from one of the guards, and Zerrex made a face as he ran through the crowd as a roar of rage went up from the rioting children of Cherry and gunfire peppered the area. The shots were wild however, and the soldiers in the metal towers above that guarded this section of the military sector were quickly losing confidence and beginning to panic: there was no protocol to deal with half of one's army deciding to mutiny, after all.

The Drakkaren ducked as a ghost image of a rock flew over his head, followed quickly by the real thing, then he straightened and sprinted down the narrow road that led directly to the genetics facility: one of the most important buildings in Narrius's kingdom. It was also currently guarded by three lines of black-armored Enforcers armed with heavy-duty assault weaponry, and five of the Combat Armors Zerrex had last encountered at long range in the defense of the rebel base. Many of the children who had attempted to attack were laying dead, corpses piled high... and the living were still yelling and taunting, but the soldiers were unresponsive. The Enforcers were cold, standing at attention, and in many cases unharmed or even without a scratch on their armor: Narrius's ultimate fallback army, the best of the best.

Fortunately, they weren't very smart, as Zerrex quickly snuck around to the side of the facility instead of attacking the main gates, slipping down a narrow side alley: the soldiers had obviously been given the order to repel any attack on the facility or respond to physical duress with lethal force... but that meant they wouldn't budge from their position. And with all the noises of the riots and alarms going off everywhere, it didn't take the Drakkaren very long to smash in a window and leap through - completely undetected, since there were already at least three other alarms going off inside the facility.

He found himself inside a small bedroom, and two scientists were huddled in a corner, whimpering to each other as they played cards on a laptop. They hadn't even noticed Zerrex's jump through the window... and the Drakkaren decided to leave them alone, moving instead into a hallway and stepping out almost directly into a patrol of two Enforcers. Immediately, they rose their guns... and Zerrex launched himself backwards as time seemed to slow down to a crawl.

He reached for his gun, feeling his muscles flexing, moving at what seemed a fairly lazy speed for him... but so much faster than the other soldiers. And his precog was still kicking in even with the slow motion, as the reptile realized this had to be some hidden, latent power of Lone's. He brought up his revolver with a cold grin, then fired one shell into the first soldier before twisting in midair and slamming the hammer back, then firing off another round: a moment later, time's flow returned to normal and the reptile landed heavily on his back with a grunt of pain as the two armored Enforcers staggered backwards, one of them blasting the ceiling as he yelled... Oh crap. That's not pain.

Then the two soldiers threw down their guns and drew kwaibars as Zerrex rolled backwards to his feet, facing them as he winced and realized he'd just pissed them off, gun ready in his hand. He paused, then sensed a figure behind him and spun, pulling the trigger of the revolver and blasting a shell into the face of another soldier who had been attempting to sneak up on him, sending him down in a screaming heap as he heard the other two charging forwards. The Drakkaren winced, then dropped forwards to his hands and donkey-kicked both legs backwards into the Enforcers, knocking them sprawling backwards in the narrow hall as Zerrex landed heavily on his stomach with a grunt of pain.

A moment later, he rolled back to his feet again, forced a bit further down the hallway and this time finding himself in a waiting room of sorts at the end of the hall and wincing as he saw two more Enforcers charging down another hallway towards him, both of them raising their rifles... and the Drakkaren quickly leapt back down the hall that the other Enforcers were already blockading again. He caught ghost images of the kwaibars swinging at him, then he ducked and slammed both fists forwards, catching both soldiers in the gut and knocking them staggering backwards, before snatching one of the short swords from the limp Dragokkaren's hand.

He spun around, the kwaibar held with the point towards his back, hand on the bottom of the machete-like weapon before tilting it upwards and slamming it through the unprotected throat of the other Enforcer, causing him to gag and stagger before the reptile spun and leapt forwards at the same time, slashing through the other's neck and knocking him flat on his back. Then the Drakkaren snarled and took off down the hallway, hating how he had to aim so far damn upwards just to hit the necks of his opponents at this size, before flinching and throwing himself sideways through a door as several bullets breezed by him and dug small gashes through his scales.

The Drakkaren winced as he found himself in a security room, the only way in or out an elevator that was currently locked down... and he cursed under his breath before running forwards towards it anyway, ramming it with his shoulder and cracking the doors open before tearing them wide: ridiculously, he almost paused to reflect on how many goddamn elevators he'd had to break through before he found himself falling instead of contemplating, arms flailing as he cursed and realized the elevator had stopped on a higher floor.

A moment later, he crashed to the ground, landing painfully on all fours and rolling straight into a wall with a loud half-curse, half-yelp. Then he groaned, finding himself laying flat on his back with his legs riding up the wall, cheeks flushed with embarrassment at his own utter lameness as Drake groaned. You're a retard. Despite all your training, all your balls and all your skills... you're an idiot.

"Shut up..." Zerrex mumbled, then he slowly forced himself up to his feet, brushing at his chest and swaying awkwardly on the spot as he grunted and winced, shaking his head slowly in pain. Then he looked up and sighed in relief as he saw that the bottom level of the shaft at least had an old fashioned pull gate instead of anything else, and he yanked this easily open before stepping inside and glancing back and forth with a frown as his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of... what seemed like a cavern. "This... this is never a good sign."

He took a few moments to take in his setting and tuck his fallen kwaibar into his belt, wondering what the hell something like this would be doing underneath a genetics facility... and not liking at all the ideas that came to mind as he muttered under his breath. This main, large cave he was in was already pretty nasty-looking, after all; lit by old cave lanterns hung on steel wire suspended from the ceiling, spikes of rock jutting from both cave floor and the roof, and with the only other sign of any intelligent activity a picnic bench half-covered in bloodstains and sawdust. Something had recently been sitting on it... and then Zerrex glanced up as he heard a guttural roar from somewhere deeper underground.

The Drakkaren felt a pull to explore further, however... and there were small lamps here and there to guide his way, as he walked through the brown stone cave, stepping through a narrow mouth and into another open area, much like the first... except there were two open briefcases here. Zerrex checked them both and found empty foam padding in the shape of a gun and a clip, and he decided to quickly reload his own revolver with shotgun shells, spinning it once and muttering: "Glad the recoil isn't too insane on this after all..."

Then he shook his head before pausing as he noted a last object half-hidden under the bench, in the shadows... and he bent, then picked up a laptop and sat down at the picnic table, setting the laptop on the top and opening it to reveal the Hez'Ranna logo, before the screen flashed and displayed the word: "ABYSS" in white against a black screen, with a strange, manticore-like beast etched in grey behind this. The symbol of whatever genetics corporation acted as the mask for Narrius's operations, Zerrex guessed... and he made a face as he examined the creature a bit closer: Dragokkaren wings and head, big, bulky body - Draybeast? Bear? - narrow forelegs ending in large paws and thick hindlegs that ended in hooves, with a long scorpion's tail.

He shook his head slowly, then hit the enter key, and paused as a list appeared on screen: he decided to go with subject names, first... and he browsed over several interesting codenames, including 'Titan,' 'Gorgon,' and 'XXXII.' Then he exited after finding he couldn't access any of the files without the proper verification codes, and checked another heading, 'Important Residents.'

Cindy's name jumped out at him... and then the Drakkaren muttered irritably when he realized he couldn't access her information for the same reason: he didn't know the password. He sighed, then stood and shook his head: it was enough to know that Cindy was here, though, locked up somewhere in this strange Abyss, which he was beginning to think was some sort of prison for creatures deemed as failures or too powerful... and the reptile couldn't pretend he wasn't scared to discover what exactly had happened to his daughter, and which Narrius had considered her.

He sighed a bit as he shook his head slowly, brushing his hair out of his eyes before shrugging and continuing forwards, muttering quietly: "Well, at least I know she's safe from the riots. It's just going to... take a bit of time to find her, and with some luck she's safe from everything else, too."

With that, the reptile nodded a bit to himself, then paused as he saw he was met with a choice of two passages to continue down: one, a well-lit upper passage that apparently led into another large cavern... or a darker hall that sloped down deeper into the earth below. The Drakkaren paused, then decided to go with the creepier, likely more dangerous latter choice: after all, getting back the things you cared for most never meant taking the easy road. He smiled a bit to himself at this, then he nodded and began to jog quietly.

He noticed that there were a lot of metal pipes on the walls... and every here and there, a grating that seemed to look off only into darkness or shadow. It made him wonder what lay beyond, and what exactly they were doing with these subjects... then he pauses as he heard another mournful, loud roar... and winced, muttering: "I get that the acoustics are better... but for sound to travel from... wherever that thing is, that thing has to be either pretty huge or pretty loud." A pause, and then he sighed and rubbed at his head, which was beginning to ache a bit. "With my luck, it's probably both."

He decided to slow his pace down and try to relax, calm down a bit from all the tenseness he felt in his system... after all, he had a kwaibar on him, and his revolver. A moment later, he had both of these out, the gun in his left and the kwaibar ready in his more-talented right. When it came to weapons, however, both hands knew plenty of tricks. He snorted softly at this thought, before pausing as he saw a door ahead slowly swing open, and a figure in a ripped lab coat staggered out, panting roughly.

The scientist swayed unsteadily, and then he turned towards Zerrex, his expression blank... before he began to foam at the mouth, raising his hands and staggering rapidly towards the reptile as he let out a loud gurgle, blood bursting from his mouth. The Drakkaren snarled, expecting an attack... but then the Dragokkaren fell to his knees and slumped forwards, still attempting to crawl forwards... and Zerrex looked down, realizing with horror his eyes looked as if they had been burned out, rasping: "Is... who is that... I heard someone... doesn't matter... run... run... the attack... security locks are broken, the XXXIIs are free..."

"What the hell are they?" Zerrex kneeled down, checking the scientist's pulse and wincing at how fast and erratic it was, before almost lurching backwards as the reptile on the ground gave a broken laugh and trembled violently, looking up at Zerrex with a grin that was both terrified and awed as he mouthed two words: 'wait... see...' before slumping back to the ground... and his breath caught in his chest... and never started up again.

The reptile frowned a bit... then sighed and winced at what he had to do next, holstering his revolver and then carefully rolling the corpse over, causing the dead body to belch a putrid last breath, and Zerrex made a disgusted face as he quickly patted down the scientist. A quick search found a keycard with some Hez'Rannan glyphs on it and a much-plainer, much more legible 'A,' and Zerrex pocketed this before straightening and redrawing his gun.

He stepped forwards, down the passage, glancing to the right and noting a dead end... but also what looked like several cell doors. He decided to travel down this first and make sure there would be nothing to ambush him from here - realizing with distaste, of course, it gave something else a chance to ambush him from behind - and carefully stepped down the hallway, glancing into the cells and then frowning as he looked into the first.

An Empty One was locked inside, but it seemed different... one arm was bigger than the other, and it seemed to have sprouted odd hairs and patches of fur here and there. It was also sobbing quietly, sitting in a corner... before it turned its features towards Zerrex and hissed something in some unknown language at him, and the reptile winced back at the deformed beast, half of the face changed to that of its prey, but the other half remaining the horrible, stitched-shut features of the empty shell it truly was. It glared at him... then went back to crying in the corner, and the Drakkaren silently made his way to the next cell to find a creature much the same way, except this one also seemed catatonic. Failed soul transfers?

The last one, however, was the opposite of the others: instead of half-transformed, it had almost melted with the depth of change it had gone through, with features of what looked like every species all overlapping its body and jagged spikes of black hair sticking out of its head, along with three differently-shaped ears. It looked at Zerrex quietly for a few moments... then grinned, revealing a maw filled with tusks, fangs, canines, and teeth shoving out of bloody gums in every possible direction, before it tackled the locked gate and gave a sibilant moan that was almost a plea of let me out, let me out.

Zerrex recoiled, then he shook his head slowly at these terrible, deformed freaks before turning... and finding himself face-to-face with another Empty One. Unlike the others Zerrex had seen, however, this one had skin like a chameleon, shifting to match its background with every movement of the creature as it reached up to snag Zerrex's face and leaned forwards to kiss him-

The reptile snarled, jerking his head back, then slamming it forwards in a hard headbutt, knocking the creature backwards before he stabbed viciously forwards with the kwaibar, tearing through the monster's ribs and causing it to spasm violently. Then it collapsed backwards with a long, dry hiss, and the reptile drew the short sword free from the freak's body as the other Empty Ones moaned and gurgled, rattling the bars of their cells, earning a cold look from the lizard. His instance of pity was past for these freaks of nature, as they all reached through the rusting, crisscrossing bars for him, no longer displaying emotions but instead once more soulless wretches hungry for more victims: but they had displayed more intelligence than the zombies they had acted like, distracting him long enough for another one to sneak up on him.

This was definitely a storage place for the dangerous creatures... and Zerrex frowned before glancing up from the body before him as he heard the squeak of a gate. He readied himself, snarling a bit and holding the kwaibar in front of him, cocking the hammer of the revolver back with his thumb... before his eyes widened as a strange, short creature slipped down the connecting hall on four short, stubby arms. It had a dark, mottled green body that made it hard to see in these dark tunnels, like moss on the brown stone... and instead of hands, it seemed to have large, rounded suckers that let it cling to whatever surface it wanted. The tail of the beast was long, snapping back and forth like a whip... and the head was horrible, with blind, rolling iguana eyes and three long, twisting tongues that the creature was flicking in and out. Spines ridged its... well... spine, down to the tip of its long tail... and it seemed to be drooling some sort of acid: this was confirmed when the creature spat a large spray of the stuff over the dead corpse, sending up steam as it rapidly ate into the body, and then the creature lapped at the wounds and softened flesh of the corpse with its three tongues.

"Not something I want to get close to." Zerrex murmured, and the creature suddenly looked up from where it had been slowly dragging away the corpse, then sped up one of the walls with surprising speed and ran up to the ceiling: from there, it charged towards the Drakkaren, tongues flailing and opening its maw to attack, but the Drakkaren had already quietly stepped out of the way and now blasted a shell into the freak, causing it to scream and fall onto its back as its body almost exploded, blood spilling out of the creature as its legs kicked and flailed wildly... and Zerrex put another round into it for safety reasons, stilling the beast forever.

He guessed this was a XXXII... although he had to wonder why the hell they were called 'thirty-twos.' He hoped it was just a serial number or something like that... because the other possibilities were unpleasant. The Drakkaren sighed, then he shook his head slowly as he gazed down at the strange beast with its plunger-like hands, and then he switched hands. Right was always primary, and now it held the magnum... and left had the kwaibar, which he planned to use more for defense purposes now in this strange, damned place.

The Drakkaren paused a moment longer to reload, then he continued back into the hall and down the way he'd been going, pausing to peer into the cell the doctor had come out from: it was another long hallway. A look down the hall he'd been walking confirmed it dead-ended... but Zerrex sighed, deciding to check the entire area before making his way down this next hall. He didn't want to miss anything here, after all... too many nasty creatures, too many hidden dangers, and too high a chance of missing his daughter.

There were five more cell doors at the end of this hall, three on his right, two on the left... and the two to the left were made of clear metal, the rooms inside coated with some strange, slippery plastic. In each of the cells were at least four XXXIIs... and in the plain barred-cells, Zerrex found a few more chameleonic Empty Ones. He then received an unpleasant surprise when one of the creatures shoved open the broken door to their cell and two of the skin-changing creatures charged out at him, but a quick revolver round to the face solved one problem, and a hard hack down with the kwaibar solved the other.

Zerrex then turned and headed back towards the hall he'd bypassed earlier, but winced and paused a short distance away as he noted a large, red-colored XXXII pacing back and forth. It had arms that looked almost muscular, and its hands were more defined, including opposable thumbs... plus it was pretty quick to turn towards him, rearing back as its tail lashed back and forth. Then it slowly reared its head back... before Zerrex's eyes widened at the ghost image that came to him, and the reptile flung himself against the wall with a snarl as the creature belched a long line of acid, splattering down the entire hallway to the horror of the Drakkaren.

Then it fell over and apparently died... and Zerrex stared dumbly at it for a few moments before realizing that it had splattered itself with its own acid, and that had killed it. He carefully made his way forwards, avoiding stepping in any of the gunk... then made a face and muttered: "Goddamn. The thing's huge... at least four feet tall." A pause, and he kicked it lightly, then winced at how fragile it was: it crumpled like paper under his foot as he murmured softly: "Powerful attack... but they didn't learn how to control the creature or toughen up its body. Looks like only the mouth can stand that acidic gunk."

He shook his head slowly, then carefully slid around the large beast and slipped down the hallway, looking back and forth with a frown, and careful to keep his eyes on the ceiling as well this time around. This hall was better lit at least, from both sides by a long string of high-intensity lights... and even though a few had burned out or broken here and there, the others provided enough light to more than cover for their fallen brethren. Sure, it meant he was lit up like a lunchtime special, but it gave him a clear view of anything that might be attempting to rush him, as well.

The lizard also noted the fact there were a lot of clear metal doors here... and that some of them had been melted through, or corners broken off. He had to dispatch three other XXXIIs within forty feet of the doors, but he also noted that a few of them refused to leave their enclosure, even when he made sure to present a good target and had harassed them a bit, and the reptile was quick to note these were also composed of a pair of red and green XXXIIs, usually guarding a nest made of what looked like decomposing remains, torn cloth, and stuff that the Drakkaren didn't want to guess at.

He was definitely getting a crash course in the kind of experiments that had been done over the years, however: biological weapons abound, as well as genetic manipulation and efforts to tap into the soul itself. After another hundred feet, however, Zerrex reached the end of the XXXII corridor, and he turned back to travel down a hallway he'd spotted earlier, guarded by a pair of gates, before pausing and looking up as he heard a loud roar again. The XXXII that had been stalking him - a small, spry one that reminded him of Hans for some reason, possibly because the little green thing looked so girly that Zerrex had decided to just ignore it as it crawled along the ceiling... it hadn't made any attempts to spit on him, anyway, it just observed - immediately let out a strange, yelping cry and dropped to the ground, flailing on its back before rolling to its feet and running away to the nearest cell with a hole in it, and then the Drakkaren grunted as the entire building shook with either an explosion... or worse, something moving.

He snarled a bit, then straightened as the trembles stopped... and Zerrex looked back and forth before Drake murmured: Something stirred beneath the ground.

"And all the people treading the earth did quake with terror." The lizard muttered, then he turned and headed towards the gates, sighing quietly as he spun the kwaibar idly in one hand before snapping the cylinder of his revolver open and quickly reloading it. "You know, at least I used to be paid for dealing with this kind of crap..."

The Drakkaren rolled his eyes a bit, then flicked his wrist to snap the cylinder closed and shouldered the gates open, which squealed and groaned loudly. He made a face... then paused as he looked down and spotted a broken handgun, muttering: "Well, that's never a good sign."

A moment later, the handgun ascended into the air in front of the Drakkaren's startled gaze... and as it passed near a light source, the reptile saw fine webs coming off it as it was pulled into a narrow hole in the ceiling. He rubbed the back of his head slowly as he peered up at this crack, and a few moments later, heard several loud, terrible crunching noises before an indistinguishable chunk of metal fell out of the crack in the ceiling. "And... that's always an even worse sign."

The reptile hesitated for a moment, then recognized that taking his time could likely screw him over here... before he saw strange, silky strands fall out of the hole in the ceiling before him, flicking gently back and forth. The lizard winced a bit before slipping over to one wall and pushing his back against it as the strands danced and flicked in the middle of the hallway, seeming to search for something, and he carefully made his way along the wall a good, safe distance away. A few moments later, a terrible, hideous, and gargantuan centipede emerged, its jaws and mandibles wide open and those many threads dangling from it, before it forced two clawed, barbed legs far larger than its hundred others out of the passage and seemed to claw at the air uselessly, its bulbous eyes glaring back and forth.

Zerrex was so horrified with this he stopped watching here he was going... and then his instincts kicked in and gave him a mental boot, making him spin around and then his eyes widen in horror as he found himself almost walking into the corpse of another one of the giant centipedes that was half - or partially - hanging from another hole. All surfaces here were also draped in sticky webs, with odd bulges here and there that the reptile didn't want to make guesses about what they contained, and beyond he could see the massive, sprawled body of another dead creature. They were all covered in claw and bite marks, with large chunks ripped from their bodies... and if the reptile had to guess, he'd say they didn't like sharing their territory with each other.

He made his way slowly down the hall, stepping over the giant bug's corpse, then continuing his way forwards as the silken web-work began to end. He also passed by four large-size clear metal doors... but one of these had been broken down, two were cracked and open, and the last was closed, but the centipede occupant inside the huge steel cube - covered in webs and chunks of dead, rotting meat - was sprawled out, dead and torn into pieces. The reptile made a bit of a face at this, then he sighed in relief as he found himself facing a security shutter. At least the freaky-ass things in here won't be able to follow me...

Ventilation system. Cracks in the ceiling. Come on Zerrex, you know better than that. Drake cajoled mirthlessly. How about we try the doctor's card before we break the shutter open, huh?

Zerrex paused, glanced at the runes on the door, then he shrugged and nodded, turning instead to an electronic scanner. It had a 'C' on it, but he attempted to use the card anyway... and a moment later the light clicked from red to green, and he figured he must have 'A' level clearance. Thank Gods it's not a matching game.

The reptile dropped to his knees to peer under the shutter, looking for hostiles... and there was indeed a pair of trembling legs. The sound of a surprised squeal and the fall of the Dragokkaren on his ass informed Zerrex that this wasn't exactly an enemy, however, and then the scientist crawled quickly under the raising shutter... before his eyes locked on Zerrex, he squeaked in terror, and he spun around and began crawling quickly in the other direction.

By now, of course, Zerrex was able to just duck a little and walk through the security shutter, snagging the scientist by the back of the collar and jerking him onto his ass as he let out a squeal of horror and wet his pants. The Drakkaren stared down at him as he babbled away the usual cries of mercy, covering his face... and then Zerrex shook him and said mildly: "So why are you so scared of me? I mean, everyone working for the Patriarch who recognizes me here either tries to run away from me or kill me... but you seem especially scared."

"It's just... you're... scary!" the scientist squealed, which wouldn't actually be a bad lie if the reptile hadn't already known it was a lie. "Please let me go, I'm not even one of the higher ups, I was just took notes from Mengele!"

Zerrex paused, then threw the scientist down on his back, causing him to grunt in pain, before he stomped down on his chest. The pin was more psychological than physical, since it was probably the easiest to break out of, but it did what it was supposed to do: asserted his dominance and made the Dragokkaren beneath him whimper and cower in terror as Zerrex bent down and quickly searched through his pockets before coming up with a wallet. He opened this, and glanced idly at what looked like some sort of ID card. "Lallis Kyellin... genetic coder. That's a pretty important job, isn't it?" He paused and ground his heel down into the Dragokkaren, making him squeak as Zerrex felt his ribs cracking under his foot. "So are you terrified of me because you helped modify my genetic code?"

"I never did any of the modifying, I'm not a technician!" Lallis babbled, raising his hands and waving them wildly, looking terrified. "I wrote the theories, the codes, that's all I did, I just wrote the genetic coding! But Mengele was the one who came up with the ideas, I just supplied technical theory and terms, I swear I didn't know what they were doing with Gorgon-"

He snapped his mouth shut at this, paling, but it only took a dark look of interest from Zerrex to get him frantically squealing again. "I swear, I didn't know they were for use on her, I didn't know that Gorgon Project and Three Daughters were being connected, I just-"

Three Daughters? Cherry referred to herself as my daughter before... and Narrius would think... no... "You were the one who wrote the modified coding for myself and my daughters and Cherry, aren't you?" He snarled, then put his foot on the other side of the Dragokkaren and reached down to grab him by the throat, hauling him up to eye level as he squeaked and his heels pattered against the floor, then he grunted when Zerrex slammed him into the wall, shouting angrily: "I saw what you did to Cherry, now what the hell did you do to Marina and Cindy?"

"Don't shout. You'll attract them... or worse, wake up the Titans..." whispered Lallis... and even though his fury, Zerrex realized that if something was bad enough to make Lallis more scared of them than a pissed-off 'experiment' and son of the Patriarch that currently was binding him against a wall, it had to be something nasty.

"Attract what?" Zerrex asked coldly, but he kept his voice low as he shook Lallis a few times, then let him drop. The Dragokkaren whimpered and slid to the ground, landing heavily on his buttocks and staring dumbly down the passage, then Zerrex kicked him hard in the leg and repeated in a snarl: "Attract what? And if you make me repeat myself again, I'll break your face."

"The V2s. The Empty Shells... more intelligent than the Empty Ones, capable of aligning their external temperature to the air around them, suppressing their bodily processes for extended periods of time, and changing their skin to meld with the environment. Literally able to become invisible... but uncontrollable, always hungry, and incapable of completing the soul transfer, eating energy instead of assimilating form and storing it." Lallis murmured... but just like all the other scientists, there was that sick pride in his voice, and he couldn't seem to control himself from spouting out more information. "We built the XXXIIs, which I'm sure you've met, to control them because they sense vibrations in the air, specifically sound... but I'm sure you've recognized by now those too were failures."

Zerrex nodded, then glanced down the hallway as he kept his revolver at the ready, other hand floating over it as he muttered: "So what else is stored down here? How many more freakshows am I going to have to deal with on my way to finding my daughter?" A pause, and a death glare that caused Lallis to leap back against the wall, looking terrified. "And where is she?"

"A Block, the Deep Abyss Holding Center. But you... you'll never make it to DAHC, it's a whole level below this, and then you'll have to get access to the underground security office..." Lallis laughed shakily, then he smiled dumbly and held out his shaking hands: "Can... can I have my wallet back?"

Zerrex glanced down at it, then tossed it down the hallway in front of him and said darkly: "Fetch." A moment later, when Lallis just stared dumbly down the hall in horror, he asked: "Tell me what else is down here, and I'll not only let you live... I'll make sure the path to your stupid wallet is clear and then you can be on your way."

Lallis nodded rapidly, looking at him with dumb happiness, like an unevolved dog offered a treat. "Yes, yes! Okay!" he laughed shakily, then pointed down the hall and said in a trembling voice: "Hez'Ranna Manticores are to the left, and to the right is another long hallway. Through a broken shutter are more V2s in cells they've probably opened or broken out of, and then there's a research room. Elevators in here leading down to the Titans and other projects, and a stairwell leading down to the V2 breeding facility. They were kept in capsules... but most of them have likely broken free, along with any Angel units we were modifying or creating." Lallis paused and gave a hesitant grin. "I hear you took care of all Iago's though, so those should be no problem for you.

"There's a heavy shutter door leading through there into the power chamber, which will remain sealed when it detects a biohazard, but it can be overrun with the proper ID card and if the AI program is shut down, which means dealing with the main computer system in the breeding facility." He paused, trembling a bit and then wincing when Zerrex glared at him. "I dunno, just destroy the computer! It'll overload the breaker in the door!"

"Through there is the power room... and through the power room is another long passage that'll take you to the security center, just follow the signs." Lallis half-fell over at Zerrex's deadly look. "I can't think!" A pause, another series of shivers. "Through the security office is the door leading into the DAHC. That's where you'll find your daughter, and... it shouldn't be too hard. I hear she broke out of her cell when the alarms started to go off... someone up above destroyed a power station, the electrical discharge triggered a knockback, it fried our circuits... the whole facility down here is terminal."

"Great." Zerrex muttered, then he holstered his revolver and instead drew his kwaibar, walking down the long hallway and hearing the scientist all but skittering along behind him. As he passed the wallet, Lallis grabbed it and then turned and fled, his shoes smacking loudly down the tunnel... before he heard the Dragokkaren cackling as Zerrex reached the end of the tunnel, then he turned with a snarl to see the shutter descending rapidly.

He muttered irritably... then snarled when he realized that the control panel on this side was broken. Then the heavy bombproof shutter closed entirely, and the reptile made a disgusted face. That... would take a lot of time to break through. It was at least a foot of steel... and he sighed before turning and taking the route that the doctor had pointed out, rolling his shoulders irritably. It already seemed like it was going to be a hell of a long trek through this crazy, twisted underground facility...

Oddly enough, however, he wasn't too disturbed by the V2's, as he made his way down the hall containing their cells... most of them were content to stand back behind their cell doors of crisscrossing metal strips, peering at him distrustfully, a few making odd grunting noises and one or two clawing at each other as if to point out to their friends - or rather, cellmates, since there were at least three of the deformed creatures per cell - the odd Drakkaren striding through their territory. One or two staggered after him... but the rest backed quickly off when Zerrex cut the head off one without slowing and simply shoved the other aside, knocking it over, where it whined and spasmed on the ground, deformed limbs making it all but impossible to climb back to its feet.

Then he passed into the 'research room,' which was just another hollowed-out cavern with a picnic bench - this one pretty deteriorated and with green fungus growing all over it... closer inspection revealed that the mold was eating and rotting the wood as it quickly spread out of some spilled beaker of green gunk, which Drake informed him he shouldn't even poke with the kwaibar when Zerrex drew the sword to do so - some empty briefcases... and a crate with a laptop on it in the corner. The Drakkaren looked at this... then he sighed and shook his head, instead deciding to keep on, turning a corner and finding another set of chiseled stairs leading down deeper into the earth.

Zerrex made his way slowly down these... then he pushed his way through a heavy steel door and into a huge, open cavern, with a wide, flat 'stage' that he had just stepped on, before the floor sloped upwards on a forty-five degree angle until it eventually made a sudden curve upwards to meet the mossy ceiling. There were two sets of stairs here as well, carved into the angled floor... which divided the six or so rows of glowing green genetic capsules into three groups of thirty.

The reptile made a face, frowning a bit as he looked closer over these, then noticed some of the capsules had shattered and were only reflecting the glow of their neighbors. All of them had long tubes coming out of them to go up to one of many long steel pipes along the ceiling... and a glance to the left side of the room showed Zerrex what looked almost like a metal podium, which sat in the middle of a large, flat steel floor.

The Drakkaren couldn't make out any visible hostiles... and another look confirmed another heavy, bombproof shutter almost directly across from him, built into a recessed area of the wall with a red double standard on it... and the reptile made a disgusted face. It was pretty small compared to everything else, ten feet tall and five feet wide... and it looked like it had been reinforced with the stone around it, so it would probably be next to impossible for even him to knock down. Plus, he just didn't think he had the time... he couldn't hear the riot above anymore, but he had the growing feeling that it was starting to draw to a close and the children of Cherry were letting themselves be driven from the city or hiding in any safe areas they could find.

So instead, he approached the plain steel podium and looked down at the top of it, grasping the widened top and looking down thoughtfully into a pale blue screen, which had the word "ULTIMA" in white block letters across the top left corner. Below, it identified itself in smaller lettering as an 'Artificial-Intelligence-Guided Security Control Center.'

The reptile made a bit of a face, then he tapped one of the buttons on the side, and a deep, mechanical voice that Zerrex sensed a certain malignancy in - Great. An evil computer. - asked: "What is the current situation?"

"I need to override the shutter door... the power system might be failing." Zerrex said clearly, and then he glanced around the room before noting there were no visible cameras. That made him nervous. And after a long silence from the computer, he added mildly: "And I need to get to the security offices beyond."

"Nice try, Son of the Patriarch." replied the machine-voice glibly, and Zerrex snarled before wincing as he heard the sound of pneumatics behind him, and two metallic Dragokkaren rose up out of hidden trapdoors that had just slid open in the floor, both of them toting assault rifles and taking aim at him, burning red eyes glaring. They had silvery bodies, made of connected metal plates that were designed to illustrate what Zerrex guessed was the ideal physical form - powerful without becoming ridiculous, tall, and... well... steely, for lack of a better word and a better pun - before both cocked their rifles and took aim at Zerrex's head. "My systems have been uploaded with strategic information on-"

"Goddammit, I freaking hate monologues." Zerrex snarled, then he rose his knee before slamming his foot back into the computer podium and knocking it out of place, the wires and fragile circuits inside disjointing and sparking before the stubby tower of metal simply fell over as something inside exploded, and both mechanical units fell silent, the red light in their eyes fading and their mechanical bodies slumping. It was only then that Zerrex realized this was likely what Iago would have looked like with all his faux scales stripped... and he smiled a bit, reaching out and patting one on the shoulder, muttering: "Sorry I misjudged you. Drakkaren, not Dragokkaren."

"Apology not accepted." The machine replied in the computer's voice, and its red eyes flashed on before it smashed Zerrex in the face with the stock of the assault rifle, sending him crashing down as he snarled and winced, then ghost images appeared in front of him as both machines rose their assault rifles and began to fire. He quickly rolled to the side and threw himself out of harm's way, and they turned clunkily around, continuing to try and strafe him with firepower before both ran out of bullets.

"So you what? Uploaded yourself into them?" Zerrex asked coldly, hating that he was talking to a computer and watching the two machines toss away their empty guns, both of them beginning to slowly walk forwards: their movements were different from Iago's, less solid, less complex... and he had the distinct feeling they also wouldn't stand up to as much punishment, either. "I'm really bad with technology, you know. And I don't usually get into threesomes on the first date."

The computer buzzed angrily at him, then both of the machines 'spoke,' their jaws opening and some internal speaker spouting forth the voice of the AI program. "I possess no sexual drive. And I plan to destroy you."

Zerrex rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath: "Talk about foreplay," before stepping quickly backwards, gauging the movement ability of the two as they stayed an equal distance apart and turned towards him. The Drakkaren wondered how much they knew about him, how they would react to his tactics, and how they were able to 'see' him. He thought for a moment about drawing his gun, shooting out their red 'eyes,' but figured that the computer must be able to see him somehow... before he realized that the two machines were lined up in a perfect, straight line, and he grinned before simply charging forwards: he'd already managed a few good quips today, after all.

He slammed into the first machine with a hard shoulder bash... and then staggered backwards and fell over with a grunt as the robot rocked backwards on its heels, but that was it. The chest plate was severely dented in, and it fizzed a bit... but then it reached down and grabbed Zerrex's foot as the reptile rubbed at his head dumbly, before Zerrex yelped and covered his face as the machine picked him up, and spun him hard around to simply slam him into the other robot.

The Drakkaren fell to the ground again with a groan, before the second robot reached down and picked him up, its steel hands crushing his arms as the AI program said coldly: "Gravity boosters and magnetically-reactive coating over the machines. You can't knock these machines over so easily... you have the tactical planning abilities of a child."

With that said, and the second robot restraining the Drakkaren's arms as he struggled, the first walked around and grasped Zerrex's neck and head, preparing to snap his spine. The reptile snarled furiously, then closed his eyes before bringing both legs up, hanging suspended from the arms of the slightly-taller machine, and slamming both feet forwards into its chest plate, dislodging himself and slamming his full weight into the robot behind him with all his strength, causing it to stagger and release him as well.

The reptile fell heavily on his ass, then he winced and dived out of the way as the first machine attempted to slam a fist down through him, instead burying itself to the elbow into the ground. Immediately, Zerrex saw his chance, running forwards and leaping onto its back like it was an unevolved pony, then reaching down and snarling as he grabbed its arm when it twisted it backwards on its joint to try and grab him. The second robot moved forwards as well to assist... but the reptile quickly rolled off its back and jerked the arm with him, causing the machine to let out a warning beep before falling forwards and landing heavily on its chest.

It flailed against the floor for a few moments before suddenly crumpling inwards, and the AI machine let out several mechanical squawks and snarls, the second robot making staggering and flailing motions as Zerrex snorted in disgust, panting quietly, his arms aching from the strength he'd had to use. "Looks like you didn't pressure-treat it entirely... once it got stuck to the floor, your goddamn gravity booster in the machine did the rest of the work for me and crushed it like a tin can. Ever see someone stand on a tin can? No problem, lots of support. But stand on the body, and you crush it."

"Calculating... incorrect mass assignment detected in machines. Recalibrating." The AI voice spoke mechanically, before the second robot shut down. Zerrex ran forwards, seeing his chance... and then he snagged the broken chest plate on the front of the machine even as it began to flicker to life and tearing forwards, ripping it off. The machine flickered to life and seized him in a death hug, causing Zerrex to wince in pain as the sharp edges of its armor cut into his chest... but then he shoved a hand into its stomach and simply tore at the sensitive wiring and circuitry he found, causing the red eyes to fizz out again before it simply fell over and sparked a few times on the ground.

He snorted, and then glanced up as an alarm went off, and the program spoke again, in a cracked, psychotic voice that somehow made Zerrex doubt this thing was really all machine; it was too full of fury, and somehow too... damned, as it raved: "So you think you've won, Son of the Patriarch? You think you're successful? Fine! Get through the door, find your darling child, but be warned, I'm still alive, I'm uploading even now to Paradise, and already validating the order to unleash a whole new terror into this world... after, of course, this facility self-destructs! Run, run, run, if you want to-"

Then the voice was lost in a garble of static, before a calm mechanical tone took over and said clearly: "Level two biohazard detected in production facility ID 43522. Warning: switching to emergency power." As the lights suddenly blacked out - even the capsules going dark, which Zerrex thought was a very bad sign - the voice spoke again as the alarms continued to blare, and the lights flashed back on... except providing only dim red light that flickered in and out: "Warning: power reroute interrupted by hostile program. Overload detected: all shutters in B4, B5, B6, B7 opening. All doors in B3, B4, B5, B6, B7, B8 opening."

The voice continued to speak as the reptile heard groans and the sound of cracking glass filling the room... as well as the shutter to the side sliding open and revealing a brighter area beyond. Zerrex immediately decided to ignore everything else as he ran into the power room, then snarled as he realized it was just a massive, circular platform with some sort of huge cylindrical turbine in the center that stretched up through a hole in the ceiling above... and down into a dark abyss below that Zerrex couldn't see the bottom of. There was some sort of bridge leading off the left, but the two large rectangles of steel that made it up had folded downwards and left a gaping hole instead of a bridgeway, and the reptile snarled at this before looking to the right... except the shutter had lodged somehow, and the Drakkaren could see horrible, grasping claws underneath it anyway, and hear roars and hisses. So instead he went with his only option as he glanced over his shoulder to see a mass of soulless, zombie-like creatures staggering after him, all of them equipped with all sorts of technology and wires sprouting from their bodies, but clogging the air at the same time with the stench of rotten flesh. A moment later, the voice of the AI computer, of Ultima, rose up from them, screaming furiously: "Play with my Angels, Zerrex! And they're much stronger than Iago's pathetic zombies!"

Zerrex decided not to, instead turning and sprinting down the single open catwalk and smashing through a rusted door at the end of it, before slamming it behind him and slamming his elbow into the frame beside the handle to jam it shut. The light here was red again... but he could see nothing down the narrow corridor, and there was another open, narrow shutter at the end of this long stone hall leading into what looked like some kind of security room. Alarms blared all around him, only adding to the sense of urgency as the reptile charged forwards and then ran into the room, which was currently manned only by the mauled corpses of scientists and soldiers. Blood dripped from the ceiling, and Zerrex looked up to see a massive hole torn in the roof and several hanging, sparking wires... through whatever had entered and then exited. He winced a bit, hoping that it was long gone... before he glanced to the side to spot another open shutter, with a panel beside it that had a large 'A' on it.

The reptile smiled faintly, realizing he wouldn't need the card after all... but keeping it handy just in case, as he stepped into a concrete stairwell. He walked down it, turned at the island and went down another set of stairs... before coming out to a narrow stone hallway with a cracked cement wall and a heavy, bombproof security shutter with the letters DAHC on it, and the name spelled out in full below in rusting paint. There was a single switch beside this... and the alarms seemed distant now as Zerrex pressed it, the switch flicking from red to green, and the shutter rising slowly into the ceiling before Zerrex stepped through into a large, open cavern.

His eyes first picked out all the corpses... and then the massive creature that was currently shaking a uniformed Dragokkaren soldier armed with a taser around like a rag doll, before he screamed as it slammed it straight down into the ground and crushed it beneath its hands. Then the monster roared, throwing its head back and forth, a bloody foam coming from its jaws, and the roar shook the cave as Zerrex snarled and held his hands up as if to protect himself from the sound. Then the creature turned towards him... and Zerrex felt horror and agony tear at his chest as even Drake whispered: She's...

"Cindy." Zerrex whispered... and the creature looked at him with a stupid snarl, lurching forwards slowly as the Drakkaren took in the extent of the horrible experiments that had been conducted on his daughter. No longer was she the tall, pretty girl he'd loved... her body had been warped and mutilated, changed into something entirely different. Her arms bulged with massive, ridiculous muscle, and ended not in fingers but gnarled, twisted claws... one arm much larger than the other, with muscles upon muscles that looked almost like giant warts or sick, pulsing tumors, the back of her hand dragging against the ground and the flesh yellow and scaleless... and the other arm was at least proportionate, but the scales had turned red, edged in thick black and seeming almost to burn. There was also a strange, metal chamber built into this arm, with wires all along its length...

Her body was thick and massive: not fat, just... bulky and thick. Her back was layered in strange black mounds that formed a large, hilly hump almost as big as her... and even slouched forwards as long as she was, she stood at least ten feet tall, which meant she had to be at least twenty if she was standing straight, instead of bowed forwards with her legs bent almost into a squat. She had one huge breast, on the same side as her gargantuan, more-deformed arm, and the other was normal sized, but both were nippleless: she was naked, but sexless now, genderless. The hump of fleshy mounds and her one huge breast were both yellowish, and seemed to sprout, or rip from the rest of her body, which was still patterned in green scales that turned black and ripped raggedly around the yellow flesh, as if that part of her had burst like foam that had turned solid from her form.

Her legs were huge and thick-muscled as well, and her ended in gargantuan claws, almost talons, with one huge spike jutting back from either heel. They were both scaled green... although her tail was composed of that yellow flesh, almost thirty feet long, dragging behind her like a great, segmented dead snake, ending in a menagerie of all-sized spikes that were coated in blood.

Her head whipped back and forth as she arched her back, rose her hands and roared again, foaming and furious, the blood of the many victims scattered around this tunnel leaking from huge, oversized jaws. Her eyes - almost pure white now, with only black dots, lacking an iris - burned with hatred and fury Zerrex had never known his daughter to possess... and a crown of spikes and terrible horns ripped up from her skull. Her head had turned the same putrid yellow as her mutant arm and most of her body... and around her neck, wrists and ankles were heavy, ivory metal bars from which jangled long chains. She drooled and slavered as she looked over at Zerrex with hate and anger that made him fall to his knees, because it was the same feelings he'd had all his life... and looking at his daughter, as she began to lurch towards him - the huge arm reaching out to slam and rip into the ground ahead of her and her legs hobbling along to catch up to the hand, then the process repeating - he realized they'd turned his beautiful little girl... his always-innocent Cindy, into a living version of the darkness inside him that even Ravenlight and Drake quailed away from.

She approached, and he didn't care what she did to him. He had failed her. He had come too late... and tears rolled down his cheeks as he began to sob, covering his face in his hands and falling forwards as he howled: "I'm sorry! It'll never be enough, but I'm so goddamn sorry... I failed you, I failed Cherry, I know I've failed Marina! I can't take back the past, I can't return things right, I can't do anything right, I'm so... fucking... sorry..."

Then the reptile slumped and fell on his side, curling up and crying hard as he heard the beast they'd mutilated his daughter into becoming approaching with hungry grunts and growls... before it stopped before him, the thing's breaths panting raggedly in and out. The creature loomed over him... and Zerrex didn't have the strength to fight this thing, only wanting the pain to end now, his mind full of static and agony as he felt the giant hand descend on him and grasp him in its claws... then lift him slowly up, the reptile limp in her grip.

The opened his emerald eyes as its maw descended, growling and snarling... and first looked silently away to see the tattoo on its yellow arm of 'GORGON,' with 'PROJECT XXII' beneath it... before looking quietly up, knowing he had to at least look his once-daughter in the eye. Just like Cherry, her face remained the same... and that hurt most of all. They met each other's eyes... and then the snarl of the creature slowly subsided, its expression becoming blank for a few moments as the other smaller hand reached up to grasp him, and the creature frowned before looking at him curiously. It tilted its head back and forth as it inspected him, making strange noises in its throat... then Zerrex lifted his hand and quietly touched her muzzle, whispering: "I'm sorry, Cindy. I'm so sorry I couldn't save you, my innocent little angel..."

The creature's eyes fluttered at the contact... and then it slowly put Zerrex down and looked at him silently for a few moments, the hate, the anger leaving its eyes as it gave a quiet whimper. Zerrex stood before it, his hand stroking its face quietly as he trembled, tears rolling down his own features... and Cindy silently brushed back his hair before leaning down and nuzzling him, closing her own eyes and whining quietly in her throat, pushing her muzzle against his face and through his hair. Then her arms quietly wrapped around him, and he wrapped his around her neck.

They clung to each other quietly for a few moments... then Cindy drew back and turned quickly around, making whining noises and short, sobbing grunts. Zerrex looked at her back for a few moments, then he silently walked around to the other side of her again, looking up at her face as she whimpered and tried to turn away, but this time he caught her and murmured the hardest words he'd ever had to say: "I'll... I'll free you from this pain. Just like I did Cherry." He stopped, then felt Drake silently nudge him and murmur something in his head that he'd feared hearing, before he sighed quietly and whispered: "You have... something inside of you that I need, though. It means I'll have to take your soul out of you while you die... I don't want to... imprison you in my body if you don't want to be, though-"

But she leaned down and bumped their muzzles together, pushing her muzzle against him firmly as she let out a long rumble, and Zerrex laughed faintly: he didn't need words to communicate with her, he never did. So he nodded quietly... and then silently drew his kwaibar, holding it up... and swallowing thickly. This was even harder than with Cherry... and the look of relief in Cindy's eyes both terrified and agonized him; yet it made it a bit easier, too, as he drew the blade back and quietly rose his other hand in front of him, murmuring: "I love you, Cindy. I always have. And even like this, you're beautiful to me... but you're in pain, and you've been... turned into something you must hate beyond death. So I'm going to end the pain... and just... just like we promised..." His voice hitched. "We'll stay together forever..."

Then the reptile stepped forwards and swung the blade in an arc as he let out a roar, spinning the sword at the same time in his hand to bring it around in a stabbing motion and tearing it through Cindy's chest, causing her to let out a guttural moan and vomit blood as he pierced deep into her, purple ooze and black blood leaking from the wound as she fell forwards. Zerrex caught her around the neck as she did so... and then he met her twisted jaws with his own, not caring about the way her teeth ground into his, or the blood and taste of dead flesh, or the heaviness of her deformed body pressing down against him...

They kissed, and her light flowed into him in a rush, and Zerrex heard Drake screaming in his head as agony flooded his body: no matter how tainted her flesh and body, twisted and broken her mind... her soul was pure, far purer than his own, and then he saw Cindy smiling at him in his mind, and he held on through the pain, and through the blinding light... and her warmth, her love, her compassion filled up his being as the reptile's back arched with a groan... but before he could pull back, something putrid and vile touched his soul.

A moment later, darkness flooded into him: a horrible, choking feeling, as he staggered backwards, recognizing this all too well: it was the same blackness that had surrounded him before he'd fallen comatose, the physical side of Drake... and as the reptile stumbled backwards and Cherry's monstrous corpse dissolved into motes of light, he fell to his knees with a shout of fury, arms flailing but barely able to move against the black sludge that flowed over his being as he saw Drake snarling and leaping forwards in his mind to connect his mind to his physical half, and the Drakkaren felt himself consumed by the darkness before once more he opened his eyes and found himself standing in his own mind.

Drake stood there, looking down at Zerrex with a mix of amusement and apparent contempt, dark energy floating off his form as the reptile slowly climbed up to his feet with a grunt of pain. The two looked at each other, Drakkaren and dark nephilim, their forms reflecting each other... and then Drake smiled as he rolled his shoulders and his body solidified completely, before he said coldly: "I'm much, much stronger now, Zerrex." A pause, and then the world flickered around them... before Zerrex realized they were standing not in his mind now, but in reality.

And Drake stood across from him, arms crossed, head tilted upwards as he continued to speak mildly: "First off, I'd like to point out how inhospitable you've been to me..."

"Bite me." Zerrex rasped, rubbing at his sore throat, and Drake rolled his eyes in disgust as the Drakkaren straightened, then he laughed harshly and rose his hands, saying darkly: "So is this it then, Drake? This our standoff, or are you gonna run away?"

"Neither. I want to seal our contract." Drake responded mildly, then he grinned and melted into the floor, before the reptile felt something on him, and he saw the dark nephilim leaning against his side easily, a friendly arm around his shoulders. "See, for a while, I was figuring you wouldn't be so hard to take down once I got my physical-"

Then Drake let out a loud 'hurk' as Zerrex rammed a fist through his body, splattering black gunk over the cave floor in front of them and ripping a large portion out of the dark nephilim's stomach, leaving him standing dumbly with his arms out, before the creature stared as Zerrex drew his revolver and fired a shell into his face. The dark Drakkaren reared back, yelling and grabbing at his features as the slag ripped through his form, before dissolving into a puddle of dark goo on the ground. Zerrex's sharp eyes watched as it quickly slid away, before Drake reformed at some distance with a snarl. "Oh, so you want to play rough, is that it?"

"No, I want you to get to a point. Besides, I know that doesn't hurt you. Much." Zerrex responded with his own snarl, tilting his head and glancing over Drake's form as he solidified and recomposed himself - both literally and figuratively. "You're like an enhanced version of Mercury, aren't you?"

"Sort of." Drake admitted stiffly, then he shook his arms out and rubbed slowly at his sleeves, as if to straighten them. "In short, you lack tact, but for some reason, you also have an amazing amount of energy and strength in your body." He paused, then seemed almost disgusted as he added in a mutter: "So I think that I will continue to aid you if you let me take up residence in your body, which may be painful at first but will come to be good for both of us, since I also am starting to believe you are indeed capable of taking down the Patriarch."

Zerrex snorted, holstering the gun and murmuring: "And why do I need your help anyway, huh?"

Drake looked up at him coldly, before he grinned slowly and held out a hand, saying softly in return: "Then why don't you let me in... and I'll give you a taste of what we're capable of once our bodies are symbiotically linked? You can give me a test run, so to speak."

The Drakkaren knew it was a temptation he'd do better to resist... but finally he nodded slowly and said softly: "Fine. But just answer one question first..." He paused, then tilted his head towards Drake as the dark nephilim struggled to hide his irritation and impatience. "Without being in a body... your powers are suppressed and you can't survive more than a few minutes, can you?"

Drake's eyes widened... and then he muttered: "I thought I told you the second in so many words. As to the first... good guess. The more energy I use up and shape myself in... the quicker I die. So since you seem to want to humiliate me, fine, I'll beg." Drake clasped his hands and asked in a disgusted, pleading voice: "Please, oh please, great Lord Zerrex, let me use your body so I don't dissolve within the next five minutes?"

Zerrex smiled slightly and said softly: "You're not on your knees, for one thing. You can beg better than that." And then, as Drake stared at him in horror, he held out a hand and added mildly: "But I'll show you some mercy for now, since you're providing me with something useful."

"Good." Drake grumbled, then he grinned as he stepped forwards before dissolving, his body turning into a long, twisting line of dark energy that spiraled towards the reptile. Zerrex winced at this as it contacted with his arm - it felt strangely warm, alive, like some sort of dark serpent as it weaved itself around him, covering his body as Zerrex grunted before wincing as the dark gunk forced its way down his nostrils, into his mouth, and he couldn't stop from struggling a bit before a spark of pain went up in his mind and he fell forwards, grasping his scalp as Drake said coldly inside his head: Stop whining.

"It hurts, you... dickhead!" Zerrex retorted, and then he winced again before the aching began to subside and the horrible taste of sulfur and death left his maw, the reptile rubbing his tongue against his teeth and spitting a few times in utter disgust before pausing and glancing down at himself, staring as Drake said, with a ridiculous hint of pride: Aren't I awesome?

"I hate suits." Zerrex muttered: the energy over his body had indeed formed into a perfect replica of a black, three-piece suit... Drake grumbled something in return about how he was lacking in the class department before the clothes on his body turned almost to liquid, rippling and then changing shape to become a tight t-shirt that fit snugly over his chest, and withdrew from covering his black pants.

He shrugged, then nodded a bit, rubbing the back of his head and smoothing his hair out of the way before asking mildly: "So what, are you just a living wardrobe?"

Fine. Ugh... look, hold your arm up. Zerrex did so, then stared as some of the darkness slid down his strong limb and formed a bracelet around his wrist. Then he felt Drake nudge his head up to glance at a hanging light above his head. Raise your arm.

The reptile did so... and then stared when a streamer of dark energy shot out of it and knocked out the light, making Zerrex leap back with a wince as bits of glass hailed down where he had been standing a few moments ago. Then he muttered: "Well, okay. That was sorta cool. Very comic book, but whatever... I guess like Mercury you can form your body into anything?" But so long as I'm inside you and feeding off the darkness and energy in your body, and from the energy released when you kill people, I can also turn into weapons.

Drake decided to illustrate by pooling the bracelet of darkness into Zerrex's hand and forming it into a kwaibar, and the reptile looked at this curiously, swinging the light-as-air weapon back and forth before it dissolved and rolled back to his body. Then the Drakkaren made a bit of a face and said mildly: "Great as this all is, Drake... it looks like you're going to be useless in combat. It's not like I can pause to order you to turn into something every now and then, you know."

The dark nephilim muttered something in Zerrex's head, then said clearly: Look. Every move you make is processed by your brain before you actually do it, whether it seems that you just 'move on instinct' or not. Since I'm also hooked into your brain, specifically the area around your frontal lobe... and my physical form is currently pulsing through your nervous system and your bloodstream as well as covering your body... after our bodies synchronize, our symbiotic relationship will allow us to become and act as if one creature. Unfortunately, it means I'll feel the same pain as you do... but you'll also be able to use my powers as if they're your own, as long as I'm in your body.

Zerrex tilted his head at this, then he mumbled: "Just don't think you're moving in permanently. I already have plenty of... new residents and... other things to get used to." The reptile lowered his head, closing his eyes tight for a moment... before he shook it slowly and sighed a bit, forcing back the despair that wanted to well up in him again. He'd been distracted by Drake's assery for a little bit, but again, it seemed the pain was already coming back... before he twitched as Cindy slowly faded into existence.

She smiled at him as she adjusted her spiked bracelets, winking: the old, beautiful Cindy Narrius, his daughter... and then she waved to him and bounced a bit on the spot before running over to a shutter. Zerrex approached it with a frown, noting the numeric keypad... and Cindy pointed out a set of numbers with quick taps that the reptile quickly memorized before smiling at him softly and vanishing. The Drakkaren looked at this for a long time, then he quietly punched in the number - 2236 - and watched the shutter open, murmuring softly: "That's right. I haven't failed completely yet... I still have my last daughter. Marina. The legacy of myself and Cindy..."

Last of the Narrius bloodline. Drake muttered. God, you're a fucked-up bunch. This last made Zerrex grin widely, wiping at his emerald eyes, before he started and looked up as the facility shook, dust rolling down from the ceiling as a cool mechanical voice announced: "Project Genesis is now in effect. I repeat, Project Genesis is now in effect. As per instructions, the self destruct sequence is now in effect, and complete destruction of this facility will occur within ten minutes. Minimum safe distance is one hundred feet from the facility."

Then the message began to repeat, and Zerrex winced before charging down the stone hallway beyond the shutter he'd just opened, past cells that rattled with monsters trapped and screaming within, before rounding a corner and staring at a shut-down emergency elevator on the right... and what looked like an ancient maintenance ladder on the left. He muttered under his breath, then winced before jumping on the latter and beginning to quickly climb up a long, blood-colored metal shaft. Flakes of rust and dirt floated down with every tremble of the facility, and the reptile grunted as he climbed rapidly higher and higher, Drake yelling at him to hurry the hell up and Zerrex replying with a snarl: "Dude, we're at least seven basements down from ground level!"

After six minutes of climbing, Zerrex reached the top, which was covered by a heavy hatch... and took a good thirty seconds more of ramming his shoulder upwards to dislodge this. Then he forced it open with a squeal, and he quickly climbed out the top with a grunt, pulling himself out and into an old supply shed filled with blood-smeared, rusting cages.

The reptile attempted to push through the large metal double doors in the dark shed... and he heard the jingle of chains on the other side. He muttered as Drake began to say something about using his powers to cut through, but then the Drakkaren quickly looked back and forth and muttered: "Nope, this is quicker."

Then he simply covered his face and barreled through one of the wooden walls to find himself at the back of the facility and in front of a good thirty foot high concrete wall. Meanwhile, the reptile could hear sirens going off and loud, blaring alarms as they reached the two minute mark, and he held up his hand, shaking it back and forth wildly as he winced and said loudly: "Hey uh, Drake? Now could be a good time to do that comic book thing!"

The dark nephilim muttered, then Zerrex glanced down to see a dark coil of rope forming at his side, and he grasped this before flicking it upwards: immediately, the end of the rope turned into a set of large, grappling spikes, and the rope snapped back and forth through the air as it guided itself over the edge of the wall before slamming itself inside. Then Zerrex ran up the wall using the rope, which rapidly coiled itself back into his body at waist level at the same, the reptile grinning and unable to deny that this was actually a bit more than just pretty cool or rather neat.

He reached the top of the security wall, then leapt off and landed heavily on the road beyond, wincing at the fact that even the Enforcers were scattering from the facility now and ignoring him. He decided to follow this trend and charged off down the street himself, at the same time flicking his revolver open and changing out the cylinders with the use of the kit even at a quick jog, asking mildly: "Hey, Drake, you wouldn't happen to know what Project Genesis is, would you?"

No clue. Why don't you stick around and find out? A pause, and then Zerrex ducked into a narrow alley between two large stone buildings, peering around the corner before grunting and staring as Drake's upper half emerged from his chest, grabbing his shoulders and glaring down into his eyes as he snarled: "Do you want to die? I was kidding!"

"Well, since we're in an alley, do you want to make out instead?" Zerrex asked dumbly, the only retort he could think of. Drake stared at him in horror, made a face, then shuddered and withdrew back into Zerrex's body as the Drakkaren grunted and winced at the feeling of the creature's strange composition sliding back to mix with his own. I hate you. And why do you always reply with sexual lines?

"Because they're the only ones I can ever think of on short notice." The reptile muttered in reply, kneeling down as he unscrewed the large barrel to change it out for the smaller one, completing the eight-shot .45. "See, what I should have said to that AI thing was something like, 'Well, at least I come with full software installed, and don't need a registration key after a thirty day trial...'"

That's... really lame. Drake muttered... and Zerrex paused, then made a face and nodded in agreement. Before the two could banter any more, however, a loud explosion sounded from the facility, and the ground shook... before the building began to collapse inwards, a massive cloud of dust rising into the air as the reptile covered his face and slid back into the alley, feeling a blast of strong wind roll by before the air began to settle... but the earth trembled, and the ground shifted, the stone road shattering and heaving upwards in places as a roll like an earthquake rolled through the blocks surrounding the facility.

What the hell is that? Zerrex snarled, then he spun out, wincing and covering his face as he gazed through the cloud hovering over the ruins of the facility... before his eyes widened in horror as a massive silhouette appeared through the settling dust. It looked almost like a gargantuan hand... before it slammed down and grabbed the wall of the facility, hauling itself upwards... and Zerrex realized it was far more than that.

The hand was connected to a shaggy arm... which was connected to a muscular body... of a gigantic, at least a hundred and fifty foot tall wolf. It was male in design, but if it had any sexual parts, it was well hidden by a large tuft of shaggy fur over its crotch, as it straightened and roared, shaking the facility, naked and born into the world from the hole in the ground, and Zerrex snarled as heard the pops of gunfire in the distance, insignificant compared the laughter that rolled out of the creature's maw before it stomped down on something near it and smashed a building with another hand, grinning viciously. It was pure white... but the fur seemed thick and ragged, almost like it was wearing some kind of thick wool sweater... and then two other creatures emerged from the ground as well behind it; another canine, equally naked but with golden fur and floppy ears, but the same stupid violence burning in its eyes... and a tall feline with the same build, just a bit shorter than the other two giants.

It, however, also had large plates of armor apparently bolted somehow into its shoulders and over its shins and forearms: it gleamed gold, and Zerrex figured it was probably something like painted tank armor. The reptile snarled in disgust as Drake muttered: Genesis. They were just born out of the ruins of the facility...

"Yeah, well, let's put them back in their graves." Zerrex said darkly, and Drake stared at him in horror as the reptile started forwards towards the three goliaths, who were starting to wade through the city, smashing buildings, crushing people beneath their huge paws, and laughing as they raged forwards. The Drakkaren sensed Drake wanted to stop him... before the dark nephilim seemed to realize it was useless at the sudden fury burning from the Drakkaren's very soul at the monsters Narrius had created to mock the lower races, who he had always seen as 'barbaric, pathetic maggots,' and instead muttered: Fine. But your kwaibar and guns will be useless against them... whereas dark energy burns through almost anything. So here... a replicated gift for you to use for now.

The Drakkaren stopped... then held out his hands instinctively as dark energy bubbled out from beneath the scales on his palms, feeling the 'shirt' on his chest tightening to become as armor and then watching as a Blackheart of black energy formed in his hands, before he snorted and grinned a bit, lowering his head, his white locks falling over his face as he said softly: "I guess you're alright, Drake." He paused, hefting the massive sword and swinging it easily back and forth, before asking mildly: "Am I working in a time frame with this weapon?"

Drake shook his head inside his mind. Like I said, I can maintain form and all sorts of other special tricks as long as I'm connected to your body somehow. I feed off energy, darkness, violence... and since you're using that to make war on some bloodthirsty goliaths...

"Should be plenty of all three flying around." Zerrex muttered to himself, then he nodded and charged towards the ruins of the facility as the gigantic wolf turned towards him from his attack down the street, grinning viciously and roaring some impossible to understand, too-loud sound at the others, who turned curiously before laughing as they saw the Drakkaren charging the monolithic lupine. Then Zerrex stopped and held up the sword as the blade flashed white instead of black for a moment, shouting furiously: "Hey, big shot! Stop your pathetic rampage and face somehow who's not just going to scream and try to run away, or are you too busy picking on the weak and chasing harmless punks?"

"The little one wants us to stop." simpered the gargantuan wolf, his voice wavering in and out, the sheer amount of sound almost making it indecipherable to the reptile... but it became clearer as the lupine leaned down on one knee tauntingly, as the others gave booming laughs - and Zerrex noted there wasn't anything slow in their movements at all. They were fast, they didn't move like the giants in video games or in all those dumb movies: they had speed and size. "We have one order from Patriarch Narrius, silly little lizard, and it is to destroy!"

At the last, Zerrex saw a massive ghost image... and he snarled as the wolf followed into it, suddenly standing and stomping a paw downwards... but Zerrex kneeled and stabbed upwards with the sword at the same time, and instead of being crushed, the lupine screamed and drew his foot back, the sword still buried in it, and Zerrex clinging to the blade as blood poured down around him, coating him... and he could feel Drake's physical presence almost lapping it up, turning it into raw energy for the dark nephilim's own uses. The other giants were laughing hard at their friend, as he tried to balance on one foot and reached down to swat the bottom of his paw... but Zerrex had already half-flipped, using the dark sword as an axis and kicked off the paw of the lupine, placing the blade of energy onto his back and then catching the thick fur as he began to quickly crawl up his leg: for once, his long white hair would have come in useful if it had been unbraided and given him some cover, and he grinned at this thought as he quickly made his way up the lupine's thigh as the wolf swatted at his foot and raged: "Get off my paw! Get off, where the fuck are you, little lizard?"

"Let me show you." Zerrex murmured, then he drew the sword from where he'd placed it on his back - and was it ever nice to just be able to let a blade go and know Drake would hold onto it form him - before slamming it forwards into the wolf's thigh, aiming for the muscle. The lupine howled in pain, and Zerrex let himself drop as the giant's hands moved to grasp his thigh, which was bubbling up blood as long, thick locks of white fur fell down around the reptile.

The other two goliaths just cackled louder at this, grinning and apparently deciding to watch the show over continuing their rampage, as the wolf nearly overbalanced and put his other leg down, snarling angrily and shouting: "You can't hide forever! I'll crush you!" And with that, he began to dance around, throwing a tantrum as he kicked buildings, smacked his own body with his hands, and roared to the sky, but Zerrex had already secreted himself on the back of the giant's heel as his voice became too loud for the reptile to hear and follow properly.

The Drakkaren simply clung onto the thick fur, wincing and dodging stones that flew his way every now and then, keeping his eyes open for ghost images and real chunks of rock alike. At the same time, the reptile found himself unsurprised to find bullets and small bits of stone trapped in the thick fur of the wolf as he realized exactly why this and the other giants had such shaggy, lanky fur - it formed a natural mesh that acted as a trap for any sort of material that was thrown at the goliaths by whatever means, likely easily capable of halting bullet and steel blade alike.

On the other hand, however, it made it incredibly easy for the reptile to quickly climb his way up the back of the wolf's leg as it halted its tantrum, slumping forwards and panting hard, the other two goliaths jeering at it loudly. Then the reptile slung his way from the giant's leg to its tail, snagging onto the long, bushy appendage as it snarled and looked down at itself, gazing back and forth as its tail automatically rose in an ancient - and in the reptile's opinion, literally and incredibly gay - sign of dominance. Also incredibly stupid... as Zerrex immediately slung his way from the tip of the lupine's tail to the middle of the giant's back, as it roared: "I know you're down there, little lizard! Stop hiding!"

The Drakkaren crawled his way quickly up to the wolf's shoulder, then shouted clearly up into its ear, as he snapped his huge, black sword of energy from his back: "I'm right here, maggot!"

The wolf jumped as if shocked, turning his head as Zerrex had hoped it would, and the reptile leapt forwards onto its muzzle as it rose its hands and made a face of what seemed like revulsion as the other two goliaths cackled all the louder as the Drakkaren charged down the wolf's maw before leaping forwards and slamming the dark sword down through the lupine's left eye. It screamed in agony as blood and eye matter sprayed up around the reptile, immediately snapping its head downwards as it clapped its hands to its face... but Zerrex felt time slow as he turned, feeling himself falling as he watched the ghost images of the goliath wolf's hands approaching slowly.

He twisted his body in midair, pushing both hands out above his head and grinning coldly as he slid between two fingers, kicking his legs down at the same time and causing his body to flip as he reached a hand up and snagged the shorter fur on the wolf's hands, catching a handful of fur and locking his fingers in... before time returned to normal, the giant arching his back and screaming in agony, blood gushing around his fingers as Zerrex sat safely between two fingers before leaping forwards as the wolf faced towards the sky with a howl of agony... and then slammed down onto the other eye of the lupine, stabbing the sword deep through it and exploding the other eye beneath its lid, black energy burning through the wolf as it staggered backwards, arms flailing outwards as it shrieked in agony, shaking its head back and forth uselessly as Zerrex felt himself thrown to the side, clinging onto the wolf's face with a grunt.

Then it froze, clawing uselessly at its cheeks with gigantic claws, crying blood and dark ichors as Zerrex looked up, emerald eyes widening in shock as he saw another one of the giants no longer laughing but charging in, both hands raised in a tomahawk. Immediately, Zerrex did what his instincts told him to do, charging down the wolf's muzzle and then diving forwards even as the other huge canine slammed its hands downwards with a grunt, crushing in the skull of the giant lupine and sending it bonelessly to the ground.

The reptile landed easily on the dog's muzzle, and it stared at him before yelling wordlessly and slapping at its own face, but Zerrex had already launched himself to the side, landing on its other forearm and skidding downwards before he slammed the sword down into its wrist as it tried to shake him free. It whined in pain, then screamed and clutched its arm uselessly with its other hand as Zerrex grinned coldly and charged forwards up its limb, dragging the sword straight up the arm and ripping a wide trench along the path of the golden dog's vein, spewing forth a literal river of blood.

It finally tried to bat him away with a shriek of something to the cat, but the lizard easily kicked off the dog's hand and up to the shoulder, before leaping forwards along the front of the creature and slashing the dark sword outwards, slashing another long tear along its throat and causing it to stagger backwards with a loud gag, eyes bulging its shock. The single stumble step backwards took it safely out of Zerrex's range, however, and he instead found himself falling through the air unchecked towards broken ground too torn apart from the giant's rampage and too far below for it to be safe.

Without thinking, he drew the sword back, then snapped it forwards, and it turned from a gigantic blade to a long, snapping whip of darkness, tearing into the end of the dog's muzzle as it squealed and snapped its head upwards: the Drakkaren sailed upwards with it on a vicious arc, then crashed down into the open jaws of the dog.

Immediately, it snapped its maw shut, gagging before swallowing as the whip reformed into a dark sword of energy, and Zerrex felt himself being propelled downwards towards its throat before kicking off its thick tongue and stabbing the blade upwards with a yell that echoed through its maw like a fleshy cave. It screamed, shaking its head back and forth, blood and saliva splattering over the reptile's body as the Drakkaren shouted: "Drake, give me a hand here, huh? Doesn't seem that my sword ripped all the way into this freak's brain!"

I got it covered. Drake said mildly, and then the reptile felt the strange dark energy rippled through his body, seem to roll through his form. Unseen to him, the blade shot forwards, lengthening suddenly and rapidly as it tore through the dog's brain and out the back of its skull, the canine stiffening and drooling stupidly as it slumped forwards a bit, still standing but now dumb and broken. A moment later, the sword turned from a single blade into a spiked forest, long, straight spear branches firing from every direction out of the middle of the huge dark blade and ripping apart the dog's brain, spikes of dark energy knocking holes in the creature's skull from every direction.

Its mouth gaped open as it arched its back and shivered violently... before it slowly began to topple backwards, and Zerrex let the sword dissolve into dark energy, feeling it sliding back into his form as he leapt out of the dog's maw, a streamer of blackness trailing behind him as he kicked off the dog's chin, then ran rapidly down its falling body. Before the goliath hit the ground, he kicked off its body and flew a good distance through the air before landing on the cracked stone road and wincing at the impact of the giant hitting the ground, feeling a tremble shake the earth and almost falling over as he staggered to his feet and turned around.

Ghost images of falling stone assailed him, and the reptile threw himself backwards before performing several rapid reverse handsprings, stones crashing to the ground all around him before he flipped fully backwards once and landed in a crouch, skidding backwards with a grunt and grinning coldly at the fallen corpse of the giant dog, laying half-in and half-out of the deep hole in the ground. Then he snarled and glanced up at the feline that was staring down at him in horror.

They looked at each other, their eyes seeming to meet, and then the feline snarled before roaring and starting to run forwards: the Drakkaren snarled, raising his hands as dust and small stones hailed around him, before he straightened in surprise as a strange ghost image passed in front of his eyes... and then he heard the hiss of a surface-to-air missile before he watched it collide with the cat's face, sending it reeling backwards as it screamed in pain.

Several more missiles followed up after this, slamming into the giant's upper body and face, explosions filling the sky for a moment before it fell backwards and into another building that fell in on it, stone and rock half burying its broken, destroyed features. Zerrex looked at this for a few moments, then he slowly turned around and smiled faintly at what he saw, unable to deny his surprise.