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Damien

The pain from taking a bullet was something I had forgotten after a year of recovering.

Stationed right by me were Arthur and Zoey, shooting at everything that didn't wear our colors. Parachute troopers landed on our flight deck from every possible direction, and I was no sniper but the ones that were shooting had their hands full. With every squad that flew in against us, we only managed to take down a small fraction of their number before they landed, leaving us with a handful cowering behind large ammunition crates so we couldn't fire. A small group of Revolution soldiers stood with us, raining down bullets against any man that broke from their cover just to grow closer towards us. Only armed with a pistol, I used my sharp vision and attacked without regret, using up cartridges of ammunition on vast sums of soldiers just to see them fall by my hand. At least two dozen had to have fallen already by me, many more by Arthur and Zoey's, and more for the soldiers that had our backs.

That didn't seem to be enough though. More soldiers just sprouted out of nowhere and attacked us, a few of their bullets merely grazing my body before I rounded on them and laid them to waste. From out of the corner of my eye, I snapped to the left and fired three shots, immediately dropping two soldiers who thought they could get past my senses. The soldier who had nearly gotten killed quickly thanked me and resumed to attacking the enemy. Zoey hissed, kneeling and clutching her forearm as I saw a small slash of crimson colored blood ooze from her wound and coat her clothes. She waved her hand aside to Arthur and quickly ripped the sleeve off her arm and tied it around her forearm, returning to the firefight with pain-filled eyes and clenched teeth.

She was a trooper, I'll give her that. More men tried to break our line, only to fall shortly after trying their push as our own men from below attacked and pushed them back, taking up different positions throughout the deck just to throw the enemy off as much as possible. Our snipers made better work of the parachuting troops as time progressed, leaving us time for recovery while our troops picked up the slack. Arthur took this time to disinfect Zoey's arm and properly bandage it, having dozens of curses thrown his way while he tried to help his fallen friend. She was thankful for him in the end but the pain in her eyes told me all I needed to know.

Quickly, I looked behind and found the hatch cleared as two more of my soldiers stood in the doorway, beckoning me to follow. I nodded to Arthur and Zoey, ordering the troops to stand their ground here until someone of higher rank told them otherwise. They hastily nodded my direction and ducked as an explosion rattled the section of the ship we were at, returning to their attack against the Overlord's troops while Arthur, Zoey and I made our way down the stairs towards the lower levels. We needed to get back to the Hub if we were going to coordinate the fleet properly, yet the only problem was that we had been cut off from the Hub for about two hours now, fighting our way through wave after wave of soldiers without getting killed in the process.

The only reason we had left the Hub was to eliminate the Overlord soldiers who had been rigging our engine room to explode after a certain amount of time. Luckily, we reached the location with ten seconds to spare, killing every man that shot at us while defusing the bomb. It was pure luck that one of our technicians had been tied up down here and was kept alive, so I used him to defuse the bomb while we protected him from afar. Good thing he was there or else this ship would've sunk two hours ago, and I was pretty fond of this ship and I was not going to watch is sink to the bottom of the ocean.

Once we were at the lower hallways, the three of us sprinted as fast as we could towards the other end of the hall, keeping our weapons close. Arthur panted from behind me, running while reloading his gun. We were both growing tired of this battle, but this was something we needed to persevere through in order to get out of this fight alive. Besides, we had both been through things that had to have been worse than this, right? As I looked over my shoulder to check on Arthur, Zoey grabbed my attention almost at an instant. She stared far ahead while we ran, keeping her sight focused on anything that appeared to be a danger to us. She kept a pistol loaded and ready in her right hand while a bloody knife stay close to her weapon, dry blood coating the blade like a un-washable paint. Her intent to win this fight nearly scared me, but I also felt pride knowing that she was just as serious as Arthur and I were about winning not just this fight but also the war. I knew she was devoted to our cause and swaying her was as impossible as living without air.

I turned my attention back to our path, quickly rounding the corner on the left up ahead before slowing my pace for Arthur and Zoey. Though they were soldiers, I had to make sure they weren't out of energy by the time another firefight might break out. Being the general of this fleet, they were going to be even more protective of me in case things grew too dicey. With haste, Arthur took point and scanned the hallways with his communicator, giving me the all-clear before pressing on. They both stayed close behind me while we made ourselves down the hall, staying close to the walls in the event that soldiers attacked us from out of the blue. For the most part, we seemed to be clear as far as enemies went.

Arthur and Zoey kept their guns at the ready while I placed mine back into my holster, cautiously walking forward. I should've been more cautious though. From my left, I heard the creak of pipes and turned my head a second too late and soon found myself blasted with cold water that slammed me into the wall on the other side. The powerful water spurt pinned me to the wall while Arthur used the closest sheet of metal and handed it to me, allowing me to block it while Zoey grabbed a broken pipe from the floor and hit the gushing one, bending it until it shot water against the ceiling.

I coughed up mouthfuls of clean water, shaking my head dozens of times until most of the water was nothing to worry about except an annoyance until my fur dried. Arthur made quick work freezing the pipe shut with a small liquid nitrogen spray that iced the water and kept the pipe from bursting for a certain amount of time. It was a good thing our engineers designed our pipes to re-route after the pressure reached a certain margin. I could only hope that the system still worked despite the damage to our ship.

"Are you okay?" Zoey asked, leaning close to make sure I was fine.

I spat out a few more gulps of water before nodding. "Yeah, its nothing. I'm fine. It was only a pressure break, so I'll be fine."

"You sure?" she insisted.

Nodding, I patted her shoulder and smiled. "I am fine. What we need to worry about right now is getting back to the Hub before they do even more damage to our fleet. If only I knew what the condition of our fleet and theirs was then could I actually make a counterstrike."

Arthur came back after disappearing ahead to check for any enemy soldiers. I didn't even notice he had left until I saw him rushing back to meet us. I suppose stealth really was his strong suit.

"Damien, I spotted a small group of Overlord troops and their keeping our number hostage," he urgently alerted me.

"How many is our number?" I asked.

"Around fifteen, sir," he replied. "Two of the Overlord's number investigated close to us and I was only able to take them down without being seen by sheer luck. No doubt they'll send others to scout for their fallen."

I nodded, taking the assault rifle strapped to my back and cocking it. "Well then, why don't we go and meet them?"

Arthur took me to where he previously was with haste. Rounding the corner we were walking towards, I saw two bodies lying lifeless on the floor, bleeding from their sides a small pool of blood. How did he manage to do this with the short time I saw him disappear? It seems I underestimated him more and more as the days went on, so I was going to keep good watch over his progress from now on. We stopped a little ways ahead after rounding a few more corners, staying close to the wall as we peeked over and looked at what the situation was.

It was exactly as Arthur described it. A small group of Overlord soldiers kept younger, inexperienced soldiers hostage by keeping a bullet close to their head, threatening to shoot anyone who didn't tell them what they wanted to know. I quickly switched places with Arthur to get a better view of our number. They were definitely young and inexperienced, trembling violently while the enemy soldiers kept them on their knees and continued to berate and threaten them over and over again. It took all the willpower I had not to go charging into this fight without a second thought, but I knew that was suicide. The Overlord's number seemed to be around five to six, pinning the rest of our fifteen down with a very small margin. One of the black uniformed soldiers grabbed one of the hostages--a white fox--and slammed him hard on the side of his head with his gun, letting go of the young one as he whimpered and cried while the man's friends laughed to their hearts content. I was about to charge in without a second thought, but Arthur stopped me and shook his head.

I turned my head back in the direction of the troops and cursed softly, nearly gritting my teeth while I listened in on the conversation. It sickened me that I couldn't do anything without a plan, but I had no choice but to wait and see what we could do to help.

The man who hit the young fox laughed and spat on the ground close to the boy. "This is how the Ghosts train their soldiers? How pathetic! If it had been me instead, you'd all be stronger and you wouldn't be crying like tiny children. Slave work would straighten out those backs of yours, I bet my paycheck on that."

"We're not going to be slaves to you bastards anymore!" one of the hostages cried out. I commended them on their bravery, but they were being brash and foolish and should just keep quiet until the right moment. They were still probably in training, so I couldn't blame them for wanting to be brave.

The man bellowed with laughter along with his friends. "Ha! Oh, you foolish children. You will be though. I can see it. Each and every one of you will bow down before your new master and beg for his forgiveness for being such arrogant and stupid brats thinking that fighting for this cause was going to grant you freedom! Ha! All this cause is gonna get you is a coffin six feet under with a tombstone that has your name on it."

"That's your tombstone, you fucker!" another one of our members shouted from the group, garnering the attention of the guard. Once again, they were brave but really brash.

He snarled. "Oh, really? We'll see about that, you brats."

The fox he had hit earlier managed to gather his strength and crawl back to the group of hostages, only to be grabbed by the end of his tail and be dragged back by the same man. The soldier held him by his tail while he cried out in pain, begging for the man to stop, yet the soldier only slapped him again and again, laughing completely through the entire ordeal. He then dropped the boy and kicked him into the group, our members holding the boy close while he sobbed and cried, groaning out in pain.

I saw the man pull out his gun and load it. Arthur tapped me on the shoulder before I bolted forward. The man was easily my height or shorter and his build was mine or only slightly stronger. I had a gun and the element of surprise on my side though. He gave me more than enough reasons to kill him. He beat and abused my soldiers. He berated my training and my family's name. He thought that he was going to take my soldiers and turn them back into slaves. And he thought that this cause was worth nothing.

Our cause was worth more than his and his Overlord's, and I'm not kidding about that. They were trying to buy and sell people from anywhere possible just because they wanted to make a profit, and I wasn't going to stand for such foolery and malice any longer. No one in this Revolution stood for it. We were dedicated to protecting the freedom and equality of the people--the same people who had been robbed of it a long time ago, and we were going to achieve this so help me God or die trying.

Before attacking, Arthur stood next to me and showed me one of our miniature smoke bomb deployers. Just with the impact of this one marble-sized white orb could fill the room and the hallway with smoke thick enough to mask our attack, giving us the perfect opportunity to strike without being seen. The effects lasted only a minute at the maximum, so once Arthur dropped it, we were going to have to work quickly before our cover disappeared.

He quietly strode up closer to the group, pulling the thin cord attached to the orb before throwing it just enough to land in the center of the group of hostages and soldiers. All three of us placed our goggles over our eyes to keep the smoke from interfering with us while we moved forward. The blanket of smoke went off just as we went forward, clouding everything that was once picture perfect in a cloud of white smoke that masked everything around it. The enemy soldiers immediately stopped what they did and coughed franticly, shouting out for named while we remained undetected to them.

Zoey was the first to strike, and her impact made me shudder as if she had attacked me instead. The first man went down quick by the graceful and powerful feline, groaning out once before meeting his last breath. Arthur was next, using the silencer now attached to his gun, taking out three more men before the others could even react. He made sure they were down by stabbing each one in the chest once just for added measure. I handled the last two, keeping the man who abused the white fox earlier last. The man closest to him turned to my direction and gasped as if he had seen a ghost. Oh, how ironic. I kicked him forward then threw my knife right at him, watching as it impaled him against the metal frame, the man crying out few times before he stopped entirely.

Last and certainly not least was the man who boiled my blood beyond measure. The smoke dissipated in a matter of seconds; the hostages had been moved by Zoey and Arthur to a safer part of the room while I faced down the man by myself. He looked dumbfounded for a few moments, looking to his left and his right for the hostages and his men, finding that there was no one where other than him and I.

"Looking for someone?" I asked, nearly growling at him.

He turned, looked over his shoulder, then stared at me with frightened eyes. "Oh, God." The color immediately drained from his fur while he trembled right where he stood, his knees shaking in pure terror of me.

I took the spare hunting knife from my other arm and spun it twice in the air before hastily pushing him forward, pinning him right against the wall with my knife pressed firmly against his neck. I bared my fangs and growled menacingly at him while his ears laid flat against his head, and his eyes looked into mine and saw pure, unyielding anger and malice for him. My knife hungered for his blood. I hungered for him to die right where he stood. No one was going to berate my fleet, my family's name, or the Revolution in my presence! Anyone who did was going to answer me whether they wanted to or not, and I was not a happy man when someone talked smack about us and our cause.

"Y-you're...you're..." he stammered, losing the words.

I pressed my knife roughly against his neck. "You utter another word and I'll send you on a one-way ticket to Hell, understood?"

He nodded, keeping his mouth shut.

The grip on my blade never faltered. "You dare scandalize my family, the Revolution, and these people? Why think yourself high and mighty when you force ordinary men into unwanted service just because you want money, power, and authority? You are not nobles. You are not gods. You are not justice. You are evil. You are greedy. You are darkness. This Revolution has more pride and honor than your usurpers allow you to believe, and I guarantee that your masters will lose this war and justice will be restored to this disorderly world. I will not allow you to tarnish what good is left on this world because our light will illuminate the minds of the people, bringing men and women to our side without the need for recruiting, but they will do so out of freewill and rebel against your masters for the greater good."

The man almost spoke, but I kept my blade placed firmly against his throat, keeping any words he thought of making to himself. I did not want to hear a meaningless lecture on what he thought was right because I had heard those kinds of speeches a thousand times and finally grew sick of them. Whatever this man had to say, I didn't want to hear a word about it. He was lucky I hadn't snapped fully because I was on the brink of snapping.

Looking him dead in the eye, I let out a sigh of relief and pulled my blade away. He coughed and spat on the ground, trying to take in as much as air possible since my blade kept him without it for a long time. I almost had half a mind to left him suffocate to death, but I was merciful. No man good or evil deserved to die such a slow and painful death like that.

I knelt down right next to him. "You chose the wrong side, whatever your name is. The Revolution will finally bring salvation to this world, and we will free the people of their pain once and for all. Just you wait and see. I'll leave you be so you can go and tell your superiors what I said to you in hopes that they will think twice before attacking my fleet. Don't squander this opportunity."

Before leaving, I grabbed his guns and placed them in my own holsters. In case he did try and shoot me, I took away his means to do so. Arthur and Zoey stood patiently with the young ones, giving them as much security as possible while I dealt with this heartless man. I know what he did had to be repaid tenfold, but I was going to let this man live in hopes that he would allow this to pass and save himself. He still had hope, and so did I.

I stood up and walked away from the panting man, unaware that he stood up right behind me, leaning against the wall while rubbing his neck tenderly. I walked away from him.

I knew that wasn't the end of him, and I also knew this was going to end badly.

Arthur pointed right at me. "General, watch out!"

The man charged forward with a hidden knife he had and sprinted right for me. I sighed and stopped just as the man reached me. In a swift movement that looked almost inhumane, I pulled my knife from its holster and swung around at the man just as he reached me, catching him square in the center of his chest. He stopped right where he stood, only millimeters away from my body, dropping his knife on the ground and grabbing my arms. Blood spilled from the sides of his mouth and coated the fur on my hands, almost spilling onto my arms where the crimson liquid settled onto my palms and dripped onto the floor.

We both stared in each other's eyes, but I was the only one who spoke. "I offered you a chance, and you squandered it."

The man coughed once, letting out one last sigh of air before I pulled my knife from him, watching as he fell dead right next to me, smearing his blood onto my uniform. The young ones looked at me with awe and fear. I looked away and sheathed my knife one last time. Before we set off for the Hub, I knew I was going to have to make peace with these inexperienced soldiers otherwise they were not going to trust me, and I needed their trust if this Revolution was going to stay the same, strong family we were.

"Listen well, okay?" They all nodded, saying not a word. "Men like the ones you see crumbled before you only wish to make you into slaves for their own purposes. You cannot trust them. They could be offered a thousand chances to renounce their dark ways, but they will never change because they believe the notion that there must be slaves for the world to operate properly and buying and selling an individual is perfectly fine. It is not. Men like these will abuse you, tear you down, and will try to break your spirit. You cannot allow them to do that. If you allow them to break your spirit then they will have won the war before we even see the shining light at the end of the tunnel. We are the hope of the future--the next generation--and we must fight for what is right. We fight for the common folk who cannot fend for themselves, and we die for the very cause we support now because if we do not fight then who will I ask you?"

"No one?" someone answered among their number.

I nodded. "That's right. No one will fight for freedom if we do not stand up for what we believe in. That's why there is a Revolution, my brothers and sisters. Only when the Overlord is out of power and we have won the hearts of the people can we truly achieve victory. I will fight until I cannot fight any more for this cause--and that is when I die. I will not ask that each one of you die for this cause because you are still trying to understand it, but I want you all to realize that you are the hope for the Revolution and that is war will be won many ways. It can be won on the battlefield, inside the senates of the countries worldwide, and among the people themselves. We are not the only fighters, my friends. We are a piece of something greater than cannot be described, and I will not tell you what to do because I would then become the same men we are trying to defeat. This Revolution is meant to show you the truth about what is going on and allow you to decide which side you are truly on--whether you believe it is good or evil."

"So, we could choose which side we want to be on?" another asked from the group.

Once more, I nodded. "Yes. Though I would want you on this side where your hearts belong, you still have the freewill to choose which side best suits you and your beliefs. This is something that the Overlord does not offer you, but we can wipe you from the world database so you can choose what your destiny is. We always welcome those who want to fight for the just, and we also are more than happy to allow you to choose where you will go. Do you all understand?"

They mumbled and exchanged uneasy looked with one another. Most of them looked to be around fifteen and sixteen, but I could spot some young ones here who still didn't understand what right and wrong were despite watching it happen before their eyes. I didn't expect them to completely agree with me though. What I said was true, and we had to say goodbye to many people because they wanted to fight for something their believed in. Though I was hurt, that was the path they took and I was not going to judge them based on their decisions. They had freewill here and could go if they wanted to.

The group made a small gap, allowing one of their own through while I was in deep thought. I looked over and saw the fox from earlier. His eye was black and I saw a slight cut on the side of his face, and he clutched his side from pain The poor boy looked around fourteen to fifteen and strong as far as I could see. He could take a punch and still remain focused enough to speak without stumbling.

He also looked very familiar, reminding me of someone I remembered from my childhood. I squinted my eyes and looked closer, soon jerking my head back, shaking it from side to side.

No, no, no, no! This boy was not him! He...he was dead. I saw him die all those years ago before my very eyes when he took that bullet. Besides, this boy was easily fourteen or fifteen, and I had been his age when this had happened and my brother had been two years younger than me when it had happened. He'd be almost as old as me.

He would've been almost as old as me.

I rubbed my eyes and shook my head again. "I'm sorry. You just remind me of someone, child. I didn't mean to intrude. Was there something you were going to say?"

The boy gulped and nodded, looking unsure of himself. "My mommy and daddy told me the Revolution saves people from being hurt. They also told me that you're like an angel that protects his people."

I already liked this boy. He had me blushing and forgetting about Thomas's death almost as quickly as I recalled it. I looked to Arthur and Zoey, finding them smiling and nodding to me in response. They seemed to like the boy as much as I did. It wasn't every day that I was called an angel, so I found the compliment more than lovely enough to make this day much better despite everything that was going on right now.

Patting his arms, I nodded. "You could say that. I protect the men that fight for this Revolution. I also protect you and the others behind you because I want you all to be safe and sound. Your mommy and daddy are very smart people, aren't they?"

He blushed and smiled back. "Yeah, they're really nice. They say that you can do anything."

I blushed almost as darkly as him. "Well, I can't fly."

He giggled. "Yeah, that's true."

"If I could though," I added. "I'd fly each and every one of you somewhere safe where these horrible men will never harm you. That's a promise."

"Could you fly us to a better future?" he asked.

I tilted my head at the question. This boy was much smarter than I gave him credit for. Sure, he was winning me over with flattery and compliments and a nice attitude, but I didn't expect him to have a forward mind like this.

I licked my chapped lips, looking to Arthur and Zoey before speaking. "I think I can, metaphorically speaking. Don't you worry, okay? There will be an end to war because there is always an end to a means. Trust me, okay? I won't let you down."

"Promise?" the little boy asked.

Knowing what I was about to do, I knew for a fact that it was a little childish, but the boy needed something to relate to--if little boys like him even did this anymore--in case they thought I was telling a lie. If they needed to believe something, I wanted to convince them I was their friend and that I could be trusted instead of deceived.

I held out my pinky. "Pinky promise."

The little boy looked at me for a moment, almost unsure if he should trust my word on the matter. I could understand what he was coming from though. If I was in his position, I'd find it hard to trust a man who killed another man before my eyes and expected the killer for me to trust them. I suppose it was because I was raised in the Revolution unlike many others and understood what we were fighting for at a young age, and I accepted what we did because I was a part of it and soon I would be partaking in the situation as well.

This boy wasn't used to our ways yet. Neither were the ones behind him. I could tell they were scared. They had no clue what was going on and, I suspected, that what they knew about it was that it was bad and they just wanted it to end as soon as possible. If they stayed in the Revolution, they'd understand truly what we were fighting for one day and would fight with us without any sort of hesitation on their part. I didn't expect them to pick up guns and start shooting at men without a second thought, not until they were ready and stable. I needed men who were accustomed to fighting on the field without hesitation, and I knew that these recruits were just learning the basics before moving on to the harder things, so I didn't expect much out of any of them besides that they do well on everything they do.

I was about to pull my hand away, but the boy stopped me and wrapped his own pinky around mine. "Okay, okay. Pinky promise."

My heart warmed, yet I managed to keep a straight face. "Thank you. You won't regret this, little one. I'll make sure that your mommy and daddy know that you were a brave boy and you stood up for your beliefs, okay?"

He nodded. "Okay."

"Right then," I stood up and turned to Zoey. "Zoey, I need you to escort these recruits to the nearest safe room. Make sure that none of these innocent..." I turned to them with a smile. "...men and women die before I tell their parents how brave souls they have been this fight."

She smiled back and reloaded her weapon. "It'll be done, sir. C'mon, lets get you guys somewhere safe. Stay close to me."

Zoey was quick and helped escort all the kids out of the room, however I pulled the boy back and turned him around. "What is your name, child?" I asked gently.

He looked down and whimpered. "Zachary...but my friends call me Zach."

I smiled, patting him on the head. "A fitting name for a strong soul like yourself, Zach. I look forward to seeing your progress in the future because I can see a promising road ahead of you."

"But how do you..." he trailed off, meeting my gentle eyes.

I placed my finger at his lips. "Don't worry about that. Just go on ahead with your friends and stay in the safe room. Go."

He didn't wait another moment. The boy was gone, running down the hallway to catch up with his friends as quickly as he could. I felt terrible sending Zoey out there by herself without any sort of back-up, knowing that she was going to have to face some enemies along the way before she got to the safe room. If she was going to have a chance to save those kids, she was going to need as much back-up as she could take.

"Arthur, go with Zoey," I stated.

"Sir? Are you sure?" he asked me.

I turned and placed my hand on his shoulder, reassuring him as much as possible. "Positive. I'll be fine."

He didn't look convinced, but he didn't have a choice. I needed him to go and protect Zoey and the recruits as much as possible since I knew the road to keeping them safe was a treacherous one. The safe rooms were higher up and it was the higher levels that had the most action. I could only hope that those kids knew how to shoot a gun without hesitation, otherwise their number would be less than half when I see them next.

???

I worked my way back up to the Hub all by myself.

The journey up there wasn't an easy feat to accomplish just with myself only. Not far from where we freed the hostages, I met another wave of enemy forces, yet they were oblivious to my location and paid me no regard. The time it took to take each one down without being seen was consuming and wasted a good portion of my time, but I was taught to handle things with caution rather than foolery. Each man fell at the hands of my blade before they could take notice of me, breathing their last breath while I dragged them somewhere their allies wouldn't notice. Once everything was clear for me, I bolted down the hallway as soon as I possibly could in hopes I could just make a break for the Hub.

My advantage only lasted a few minutes though. I made my way up the stairs to the flight deck where I stepped out and nearly had my head blown off by one of the camping snipers. If not for my quick reaction time, I would've died long before I reached the Hub, but I managed to sidestep the bullet, only allowing it to cut along my arm before I dove for cover towards the nearest ammunition crate. There was little room for me to secure myself, but I had soldiers fending off enemy troops on my side close by. Once they saw me, each and every one of them rounded up close to me and defended me while I took shots against the Overlord's grunts. Countless men fell at our combined strength, each one crying out in pure agony before falling dead on the deck.

While I was focused on the firefight, I looked over my shoulder only to notice a jet falling through the sky right towards the deck where I was at. I shouted at the top of my lungs to the men around me, each one including me turning their attention to the crashing jet and turned around, diving for the wall of the upper section of the ship as the jet landed and skidded along the deck, cutting up and destroying everything in its wake before exploding in a massive fireball that send shards of glass, wood, metal, and bullet shells everywhere. The intense heat lasted for only a brief amount of time before it was nothing other than a small blaze for a certain section of the ship.

It was my luck that the jet took out a vast number of the enemies we were firing at, many of them gravely wounded to the point where they were dying just from blood loss. My men charged forward towards the wounded men, putting them out of their misery before giving the rest the all-clear, allowing me to reload my gun once before making another long spring to the Hub.

I was nearly out of breath before I reached the center of our operations, aided by a small group of soldiers who helped me shoot down anyone that rounded on me. Half a dozen men fell before I reached the Hub, giving me elbow room to think before barging in without thinking. I was already covered in ash, water, dirt, grease, oil, sweat, and blood, so even if I was met with retaliation, I had already been through this entire fight and saw all its tragedies. The men and women who followed me stayed close, keeping their guns at the ready in case any enemies came out of hiding and attacked us.

One of them used their keycard on the door since mine had been burned during the entire battle. While she typed in a new code to unlock the door, Overlord soldiers charged at us from below, killing two of my men before I reacted, cutting me along my sleeves just before I reached safe cover. They were very bent on making sure I didn't survive this fight, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from taking this win from them.

We continuously battled until the soldier was able to crack the code to the door, suffering only minor wounds just as we retired into the Hub and locked the doors from the inside. I managed to take out a few more men before the doors shut, small dents appearing on our side of the doors from the impact of their bullets.

The only ones who were inside the Hub at this point was myself and the small group of soldiers who followed me in, along with a few of the ship operators frantically working at their stations trying to keep things from getting any worse. I watched as they typed against their holographic keyboards, talking with captains of the other ships that made up our entire fleet, telling which group to go where and telling where our cannons needed to fire. Many of them looked exhausted beyond all reason, panting while their fingers locked up on them at crucial moments.

"I need a group of soldiers helping out the ship operators as best they can," I ordered. "Tell the operators to fire at the weaker ships before moving onto the stronger ships. We weaken their number before they even realize it. I also need half of the group staying right here guarding the door just in case those men outside manage to break in."

The faction quickly broke off until it was just me. I strode quickly over to the monitor and brought up the condition of our fleet. Our pincer move in the beginning won us an advantage over the rest of the ships that sailed right into our trap, taking the full force of the combined attack of our ships, especially our capitol ships. Even though we managed to weaken them in the beginning, their fighter jets did a number on our defenses, shooting down a good sum of our jets and anti-air cannons before we could get another shot in. We still had cannons doing work and had sunk a small fraction of their fleet, but I knew it wasn't enough. They came with submarines just as I suspected, using their torpedoes to attack lower and sink our ships just from the massive rush of water instead of attacking us above ground. Our own submarines met them in the water, but I could tell things were just a stalemate down there for the most part. I could only hope our teams down there were making progress.

Another explosion shook the ship, nearly throwing me off-balance as I tried to remain focused. The monitor flickered a few times before returning back to its regular state, and our power only dwindled for a few moments before coming back on, but only God knew much longer we were going to last.

"We're getting our asses handed to us," I mumbled, cursing under my breath, feeling another tremor shake the ship violently.

Just as another explosion made our ship tremble, I turned and stare din awe as a massive fighter group passed right by our fleet, all of them in the same formation that was so perfect I had a hard time believing that it had happened. My eyes followed the large fighter group as they broke away as they reached the enemy ships, dropping bombs that created massive infernos that engulfed all the ships that opposed us in their wake.

"Sir! We received an urgent message for you!" one of the operators shouted over the clicking and popping of the cables that sparked around the room.

I made my way over to the station. "What's the message, soldier?"

"I don't know," he replied, typing away at his keyboard. "They just requested that you take this message now."

"Patch this man through," I ordered, watching as the operator swiftly typed at his keyboard, bringing up a face-camera with a man I knew too well.

I leaned in close. "Reggie?"

The white fox on the other end smiled, tipping his navy cap at me. He wore the same uniform as me and the same badges as well and looked just like me if I was five years older and with hazel eyes that I never figured out as I child. In one hand, he held a white cup that I knew for a fact was tea from the English while in the other he held its white plate.

"It's Reginald, Damien," he replied yet shrugged. "But you may call me that if you wish, brother."

More explosions rattled the opposing fleet. "It took you long enough to join the fray, Reggie. Did you honestly have to make tea during this crisis?"

My question didn't seem to faze him, and I didn't expect it to. He was always calm and mellow, yet I knew underneath all that white fur and lean muscle was a strong and superior brother that I could never seem to rival. Even when I thought I had finally gotten a step ahead of him, he always seemed to be two steps ahead of me and rubbed it in my face afterwards. I hated him and loved him at the same time, just like a brother should.

He sipped his tea. "I don't see why not. Tea calms the nerves, something you should drink just to calm yours, brother. Not to be crude or anything, but you look like you need a drink some time."

"I think I'll pass," I mumbled.

Another line broke into the conversation. "Another wishes to join the conversation, general."

I sighed, already knowing who it was. "Patch her through, soldier."

It took only seconds until another one of my family members appeared on the viewing screen. This one resembled both Reggie and I, yet she was more poise and serious than Reggie and also smarter than myself. Her fur was neat and tidy--white as snow yet still sharp enough to cut anyone who got too close to her. She had long silver hair that streaked to her shoulders, almost covering up her right eye, those emerald green gems staring at Reggie and I strongly. She wore the same outfit as me and him and stood erect with her slender and lithe body, contrasting everything about Reggie and me in a split second.

"Started the party without me? Typical," she toyed.

I sighed. "The party started almost three hours ago, Angela. There's still a lot of work to be done."

She laughed. "Oh, little brother, consider it done."

I almost thought she was joking, but I looked to my right and saw a massive fleet sailing quickly for mine. They all flew the French flag with the 'R' on it for the Revolution, and I could see the English flag flown just to that fleet's right, each ship looking almost bigger than the last. They were all fast and cumbersome, reaching the battle in no time at all. I watched as the cannons from their capitol ships landed shot after shot against the other fleet, tearing their ships apart like spikes as they grew closer and closer.

"You may have been here first, Reggie, but the French know how to finish a fight," Angela smirked, cutting off the communication with the both of us as her fleet tore into the Overlord's ships.

My brother growled, putting his tea down. "Oh, you're not going to get all the glory, little sister."

And like that, he cut off the line with me. I stood over the shoulder of the soldier who kept the line secret and watched in awe as my older siblings made mince-meat out of the opposing fleet, sinking their strong ships in swift movements that had me questioning the strength of my own fleet. We were strong, but my siblings always seemed to be stronger than me by a very wide margin. I don't know if it was because the Overlord's fleet was caught off-guard or because the combined forces of two powerful fleets crushed them, but I had to guess that it was just my sister and my brother's added strength that we were finally able to make a push forward.

I watched in awe for a few minutes as they totally obliterated the opposing fleet as if they were nothing but ants that were becoming an annoyance. The French fleet fired volley after volley of explosives against many of the capitol ships, sending them all up in a massive ball of flame before they sunk almost as quickly as my sister shot at them. My brother's fleet just seemed to add even more strength to the fleet, but his jets were the ones who were doing the true work--each one dropping powerful payloads onto flight decks, eventually cutting large holes in their ship that made them sink faster than the Titanic over a hundred years ago. My own men finally made a push forward on our own deck, using the disarray of their enemies to their advantage as they continuously fired cartridges of bullets at the opposing men, making their numbers dwindle in no time.

All I did was stare at my fleet, or what was left of it. We still had a good number of our ships still afloat but badly damaged, and the ones that had sunk left hundreds of soldiers carrying survivors aboard on the ocean, waiting to be picked up by rescue teams. Even the ship I was on had huge fires that needed to be put out as soon as possible, turning the gray flight deck black as night from all the ash. Our ships were clustered, my men had no idea what to do, and all I did was stare at the pitiful condition of my fleet.

I turned away from the sight and looked at my flight deck. It was littered with countless amounts of debris ranging from the remains of fighter jets, the bodies of fallen soldiers from both sides, wooden boards and metal sheets laying everywhere, and ammunition crates scattered throughout in a disorderly manner that had me sick to my stomach. At least my soldiers were starting to clean up the mess, never missing a beat while they began to clean up as much debris as they could, putting out as many fires as their fire extinguishers could handle.

One thing did catch my eye though. Maybe I was just seeing things or something, which was possibly the case since I had been battling for almost three hours straight, but I saw someone in the very center of our flight deck. My soldiers walked right past this figure as if he wasn't even there.

His fur was as white as mine--so white that it almost glowed in the light, and he wore nothing more than a pair of gray pants and remained to keep his chest bare. I don't know if he saw me, but I knew that we both made eye contact. He was young and innocent, flashing me a smile with his bleached white teeth that sparkled in the light of the sun.

Just as quickly as I saw him, a soldier passed right by him and before I knew it, he disappeared into thin air looking into the distance ahead of my ship. No words left my mouth as I looked into the distance just as he did, finding nothing there except the vast sea of emptiness.