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The Os-Nàdarra Sentinels 

Chapter 4: Bait & Bash

-Hidden Lab of the

I.T.O.U.E, August 14th 2010-

            "Our time is upon us," Rex began to

brief the commanders of the Retrieval Teams, all of whom were listening through

the communications terminals in their Retriever Aircrafts. "I have granted you

my upgraded Centurion cyborgs and granted them to your units; I've improved

their combat programming and made them more resistant to damage, so if the

disruptors should fail us again, we'll still have the upper hand; my new

Centurion cyborgs are much stronger than the originals, too powerful for even

Skilerain and his gang of freaks to handle. However, I could only finish six of

them in time for this operation, so you'll each only have two per squad. Still,

if all goes according to plan you will not need them.

            "I have also given you each an EMP

grenade for dealing with that blue dragon friend of his if he should

interfere," Rex continued. "I have confirmed his powers come from nanobots; hit

him with that grenade, and he'll be temporarily incapable of using his powers,

but be sure you eliminate him before his powers return. Make them count; you'll

only get the chance to use them once; he won't let you use it a second time."

            "Yes,

Sir," Commander One returned. "What

is our plan of attack?"

            "Volcan is in the city, and he's

away from his friends right now," began Rex. "You've finished your

observations, you know their daily procedures. Teams two and three, I want you

to apprehend all of his allies; take some of them alive if you can, as we may

be able to use them for a bargaining chip later."

            "You

plan to blackmail Skilerain into cooperating?" Commander Three inquired.

            "I am assuming the possibility of

failure, Commander Three," retorted Rex. "You should understand that,

considering you failed to eliminate Devilshade; now he's still out there and

has every reason to come after us himself!" He slammed his hand on the chair.

"Worse yet, the police on both sides of the border are tearing the area apart

looking for us because of your

sluggishness in finding him! There will be no margin for error this time; if

any of you fail me, it will be your heads!"

            "We...

understand sir," Commander Two returned.

            "Good. Now, with his friends' lives

on the line, if you're unable to detain him, use them to force him into

cooperating," stated Rex, folding his hands in front of him as he leaned

forward, propping up his elbows on the terminal. "We cannot let him continue to

roam free as a beacon of trust for others; when the time comes, and those

wretched Empowered Beings betray the world, he'd be a leader among them, and

nobody would try to resist him until it's too late."

            "Sir...

I've been thinking," began Commander Two. "Permission to speak freely?"

            "Permission granted."

            "I've

done some research on Skilerain and... to be honest, I'm not sure he is evil; what if maybe, unlike the others, he

really is on the same side as the mortal world? He had the opportunity to

betray them when they were divided during the gang war, but he didn't; he

defended everyone, even other mortals who at some point wanted him dead.."

            "That was nothing more than a facade, Commander Two!" Rex bellowed. "He

didn't betray them because he would still have been outnumbered by them, so

instead he chose to earn their trust by protecting them, and is still doing

that now by pretending to protect them from the radicals across the city; it is

nothing more than a mask to conceal the devil beneath!" His voice turned low

and threatening. "You better know whose side you're really on, Two, or you may

found yourself joining the next batch of refuse in the incinerator, do you

understand me?"

            "Y-yes

sir... I'm sorry. I won't mention it again."

            "Now, you all know your targets; Two, I want you to procure his friend

Pavan Stevenson and his brother, Lighris Skilerain," Rex instructed. "Three,

you're to find those dragon friends of his; Obsidian Kimoyama should be getting

released from the hospital today according to the records I managed to procure

from their database, and the blue dragon will probably be going to pick her up;

they are to be apprehended as well if you can, but if not, simply eliminate

them. Team One, you're to head directly for Volcan Skilerain himself."

            "I

thank you for the honor, sir," Commander One said, confidently.

            "Don't waste it," Rex returned.

"This is our last chance to take him down; the police are watching for us, and

if they see even the faintest hint of our presence, we will be forced to go

back into hiding and our work here in Alberta will be stalled."

            "We

won't fail sir. Volcan Skilerain will be ours before the day is out, and we'll

learn all of his secrets."

            "Studying him is no longer a priority; he's more trouble than he's

worth, and too powerful even for my disruptor technology to stop," replied Rex.

"If we're forced to move onto the secondary plan, and he will not cooperate,

then there is nothing else to do. One way or another, he needs to be removed as

a threat. So, he is no longer a priority capture target; he is now a 'Dead or

Alive' target."

            "Understood,

sir. We're moving out now; we'll report our progress and inform you the moment

we have them." Commander Three stated.

            With that, the transmission ended.

Rex stroked his beard with one hand, still not entirely convinced even his plan

was guaranteed to work. If they managed to subdue Volcan, with or without the

hostages, it would be a success, but if he still resisted regardless -as much

as Rex didn't want to believe they could, he had already underestimated the

Phoenix once, and regretted that decision.

            "Good thing even my backup plan," he

began as he looked over his shoulder towards a massive, mechanical creature in

the shadows of the workshop. "Has its own contingency."

            ~~~~~

-C-Plaza, Unity Falls, two

hours later-

            Pavan and Tsume walked out of the

movie theater well into the afternoon, after spending a couple of hours seeing

a new action flick Pavan had wanted to see ever since he'd seen the commercials

for it. Volcan, however, was out at Vinges' place, so he hadn't been able to

ask him to come along. So, Pavan had used this opportunity to ask Tsume out on

a date, something he'd secretly been longing to do for some time, and luckily

for him she had the day off that day, so she had been free to go with him.

            "That was pretty good, eh?" Pavan

asked.

            "Not too bad, although damn if you

didn't fidget a lot throughout the whole thing," Tsume pointed out.

            "Well, you know me and sitting

still," Pavan returned, tucking his hands into his pockets.

            "Then why'd you want to go?" Tsume

inquired.

            "Well, I wanted to check out that

movie, and..." He blushed. "Been wanting to ask you out for a while, honestly."

            Tsume giggled. "Oh, so that's why,"

she said. "How long have you wanted a date with me?"

            "I don't know; weeks, maybe," he

replied. "Suppose we could do it again sometime?"

            Tsume's smile faded somewhat and she

let out a sigh. "Don't take this the wrong way, Pavan; I like you and all but,

I'm not sure I'm who you'd be looking for," she said.

            "Why not? You're one dynamite woman;

fearless, competitive, definitely deadly and in my personal opinion, freakin'

gorgeous!" He showered her with compliments. "What more could I want in a

woman?"

            "Perhaps someone who's more your

pace," she replied. "I know, I've said once before I prefer men who could keep

up with me, but, I'm not sure I could

keep up with you."

            "If you mean my speed, I can slow

down for you," Pavan offered.

            Tsume rolled her eyes. "Not like

that, Pavan. I'm free spirited, but you're as on-the-move as the wind you're

connected to, and I don't want to sound offensive when I say this, but, I'm not

sure you could stay committed to any one person for very long. At least not at

this point in your life, but me... I'm hoping for something a little more

long-term, and someone I can really connect with." She stopped as they passed a

flower garden, eyeing a wilted rose with a sad expression.

            Tsume reached over and touched the

rose, feeling life still flowing within it, and with her touch, it became full

of life again, its colours becoming bright once more, standing up proudly on

its stem and 'facing' the wingless avian girl as if to thank her.

            "You move with the breeze, Pavan,"

said Tsume. "But I look for somewhere to grow my roots; I want to be with

someone who I can connect with much like I connect to the Earth, someone who

will be with me for as long as we can stand each other, and who can understand

me both inside and out, just like I understand this flower." She looked at him,

her expression apologetic. "I'm just not sure you're that one. I don't want to

hurt your feelings... I just want you to understand."

            Pavan felt a mild ache in his chest;

he had been hoping Tsume would be as interested in him as he was in her, but it

seemed that she wasn't... Still, the way she described both of them in such

detail -both herself and himself- made him realize she was right; he was

someone who preferred to be constantly on the move, and was not someone who

could so easily tie himself down to any one person; if there was to be someone

in his life he could connect to, in the way Tsume described, it had to be

someone like him, someone who moved with the ages and followed whatever path

they wanted. He probably couldn't be happy with anyone less or more than that,

and he knew Tsume wouldn't be happy with him; Tsume wanted something more

permanent, and looking at it like a road across the land, Pavan understood,

Tsume would fall far behind him all too soon...

            The ache in his heart lifted. "I

do," he assured her. "You're absolutely right... I guess we really aren't each

other's type." He rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. "Guess I don't know

myself as well as I'd hoped.

            Tsume smiled at him. "I'd still be

willing to hang out with you as friends. You may not be my type but," she

giggled, "it's hard being bored around you; you know how to keep things

entertaining."

            "That's my jam!" Pavan chimed,

laughing a little. "But yeah; we could do that."

            Tsume walked up to him and gave him

a friendly hug, which Pavan returned, feeling much better now that they could

both be honest with each other. After pulling out of the hug, he looked back at

Tsume. "So, should I just take you home then?"

            She nodded. "Sure; if we hurry, can

still meet my schedule for my yoga routine."

            "I thought you practiced

Capoeira?"  Pavan asked. "And... knife

fighting?"

            "I do," she replied. "But I practice

yoga as well to keep my body fit and flexible," she replied. "Combining the

three has made a good combination." She put her hands on her hips in an almost

heroic-pose kind of way. "I am a

three-time regional champion knife fighter for a reason."

            Pavan snickered, and feigned a deep

voice. "I pity da fool dat mess wit you."

            "Ya should," she replied, and the

two shared a hearty laugh.

            They were about to continue up the

street, when suddenly, a gust of wind rushed over them, blowing dust in their

faces and forcing both of them to cover their eyes as it was blown in their

faces.

            "Whoa! Someone's being a real

blowhard today!" Pavan remarked.

            "It's just the wind, Pavan!" Tsume

called back.

            "This ain't no wind; not a natural

one anyway!" He called back.

            A static sound filled their ears;

shielding their eyes as much as possible they reopened them, and looked up,

gawking when they saw a large airship hovering above them, shaped almost like

an airplane, but at the end of its wings, two huge rotors spinning at high

speed kept it aloft. A door slid open on the side of the airship, and six men

jumped out, aiming firearms are the two.

            The men were dressed in tactical

gear, and the two avians' keen eyes spotted the upside-down pentagram symbol on

the shoulders of their body armours, kanji and lettering as well, immediately

alerting both of them as to who these six men, each one of a different species,

were.

            "Pavan Stevenson," one of them stated

firmly. "You are coming with us, right now. Do not attempt to flee, or we will

open fire."

            "What makes you think you guys will

even get a shot at me?" Pavan taunted. "If you know who I am, you should know

I'm pretty damn fast."

            "Maybe you are... but is your little

friend there?" The man warned, training his rifle on Tsume.

            "Who is that girl anyway?" One of

them asked.

            "Who cares? We're here for

Stevenson," another one retorted.

            As the men conversed, Tsume leaned

over to Pavan and whispered in his ear. "You see what I see?" She asked,

pointing at their shoulders.

            "Yes ma'am; these guys are more

I.T.O.U.E punks," Pavan whispered that. "Time for operation 'whoopass', eh?"

            "I don't think that's what we called

it, but I would say... yes," she whispered back. "You go get Lighris -it's

Sunday so he should be at home, and Brent; let him know what's happening. I'll

go find Rikyuu and call Volcan, and then we'll draw them to the... you know

where." She grinned.

            "Time to 'rock' & roll, eh?"

            Tsume rolled her eyes. "You and your

puns."

            "Hey, stop talking!" The leader

barked. "Are you going to cooperate, or will your friend be leaving in a body

bag?"

            "Nope and, nope," Pavan replied.

"Time to scram!"

            The two separated; Tsume leapt back,

doing several hand sprints until she arched directly into the flower garden

behind her; several shots were fired by the leader, but they missed her as she

vanished into the garden, as if devoured by the flowers in a fraction of a

second, while Pavan sprinted away, the air around him seeming to vibrate as he

sped off with impossible speed. Pavan formed a wind tunnel around himself,

concentrating on it propelling him forward as he ran; with this method, he

could sprint up to a speed of -according to Brent during a test they had done

long ago- a hundred and fifty kilometers per hour, and could fly even faster

than that with the same effect; the speed of his flight had never even been

measured, but he knew he was far faster than the airship that the I.T.O.U.E

goons were scrambling to get back into even now.

            He didn't go his full speed,

however. Because he wanted them to

follow him, at least for a while...

            Not far away, Tsume emerged in one

of the city parks, erupting from the earth as if spat out of a mouth, and

landing gracefully in clearing; she'd used her senses to make sure nobody was

nearby so she would not scare them, detecting no vibrations through the soil to

indicate footprints, cyclists or people playing catch. Safely concealed, she

pulled out her cellular phone and dialed Volcans' number.

            ~~~~~

            "Man, Vinge... I don't know how you

can live in a house this small," said Volcan, barely able to maneuver around

the ice phoenixes' furniture as he and Vinge started to walk back out of the

house.

            "It's not about the space for me,"

replied Vinge. "Only the privacy; it's quiet out here, several kilometers from

the city."

            Volcan nodded. "I guess I can get

that. But still, even a trailer would be roomier; s'all I'm saying," he said as

they approached Volcans' truck, carrying the bags Vinge had come back for.

"What is all that anyway?" The phoenix asked, indicating Vinges' luggage.

"Didn't you already bring all of your clothes to my apartment?"

            "I did, but these aren't clothes.

They're my keyboard cleaning tools, song-writing supplies from back in high

school I've hung onto since graduating, my kendo practice sword and some

lavender incense sticks."

            "Wait, you burn incense?"

            "Helps with my daily breathing

exercises, and also helps me think."

            "Hope that doesn't bother my

neighbors," said Volcan. "You want to drive back to town?"

            "I... don't have a license," replied

Vinge.

            Volcan stared at him blankly. "Say

what...?" He asked. "You spent all of high school practicing martial arts,

battlefield tactics and learning how to write songs and play instruments, and

you didn't try for a drivers' license?"

            "I had other priorities," replied

Vinge. "And I..."

            He was interrupted by the sound of a

metal-themed ringtone, coming from Volcans' pocket. The fire phoenix looked

down at his hip, before reaching into his pocket and plucking out his cell

phone, checking the caller ID before answering it. "It's Tsume," he said,

before tapping the 'answer' button and holding it to his ear. "Yeah?"

            "Volcan;

we've got trouble,"  Tsume informed

him.

            "What is it; what happened?" Volcan

asked.

            "It's

the I.T.O.U.E," Tsume replied. "They're

back; they just came after Pavan and I but we've slipped away; he's leading

them out to the spot now."

            "Where are you?" Volcan asked.

            "I'm

at the park, but I'll be heading to look for Rikyuu soon," replied Tsume.

            Volcan looked at Vinge. "What time

is it?"

            Vinge plucked out his own cell phone

and looked at the screen after flipping it open. "Two-thirty," he replied.

            Volcan spoke back into the phone.

"He and Ayane will be heading for the hospital to pick up Obsidian; get over

there, fast! They might go for him or Obsidian!"

            "On

it! What about Pavan? He doesn't have his weapons."

            "Think you can stop by his place on your way to the spot?"

            "But

I don't have a key..."

            "His balcony door; it's always

unlocked," said Volcan. "You'll have to find some way to get up to his floor,

but that's your way in."

            "THAT

part will be easy," assured Tsume. "You

with Vinge?"

            "I am; we'll start heading for the

spot and meet you all there," said Volcan.

            "We'll

be there ASAP," promised Tsume. "Be

careful; some of these goons may be after you too."

            "I'm counting on that," said Volcan, his eyebrows furrowing with anger.

"One way or another, this ends today."

            "Right..."

And with that, Tsume ended the call, allowing Volcan to once more pocket

his phone.

            "They're back," stated Vinge; it

wasn't even a question.

            Volcan nodded. "Yeah... they went

after Pavan for some reason, but he's following the plan. Long as nothing goes

awry, we'll have those fuckers right where we want them."

            "Should we start heading out there?"

Vinge asked.

            "Not yet," replied Volcan. "I have

no doubt some of those bastards will head for my place looking for me. I have

to make sure they come out there too; if we don't lure every one of them out to

the spot, this won't work."

            "Can you out-fly those airships of

theirs?" Vinge asked.

            Volcan looked at the ice phoenix and

grinned. "The only thing that can fly faster than me is a jet," he said with a

hint of arrogance before he took a mighty leap into the air, spreading out his

wings and using them to ascend until he was high enough and angled himself

forward. He focused his fire powers down to his talons, shutting his eyes as he

mentally commanded the fire within himself to that area, and to burst from his

feet.

            Flames erupted from his feet just as

he wanted, and propelled him forward like a bird-shaped rocket, he stiffened

his wings into a glide and soared through the air, leaving behind a trail of

smoke as he flew back towards the city.

            Vinge watched Volcan as he leaved, a

small grin creeping up to his face. "Now you sound like Pavan," he remarked

before he opened the door of Volcans' Jeep, reached inside and picked out three

items; two sheathed swords, one of which he attached to his belt, the other he

slung across his back, and the third was a black staff. With that, he shut the

door of the jeep, and spread his wings, taking to the air and angling his

direction of travel northwards.

            Vinge scowled as he thought of the

I.T.O.U.E gunmen. 'One of them must know

about my father,' he thought. 'Perhaps

this is finally my chance to get the peace of mind I've sought all those years...

to finally learn his fate. When I learn the truth, I'll make my next decision

from there, whether to move on with my life, seek my father to save him, or

take revenge upon Jacob Rex...' Anger welled up in his heart, and his

ice-blue eyes began to emit a glow, like two flashlights that matched the

colour of his eyes, beaming from behind his eyelids. 'For better or worse, perhaps I will finally have peace.'

            Yes... peace would finally end his night terrors, and allow him to

truly live his life.

            ~~~~~

            When they were outside, Obsidian was

finally allowed to leave her wheelchair, and stood up, very carefully at the

nurses' insistence, and stood on her own two feet again. Rikyuu, Ayane and

Yurui stood at her sides in case she needed them, but she assured them she was

fine, and stretched her arms over her head.

            "Mmm... feels good to finally be out

of there... not for nothing but, I've been cramped up in there for too long,"

she said. "It was getting boring."

            "We understand," the Nurse said.

"You take it easy for a few days, okay miss? The muscles that were hit by that

bullet won't be completely healed yet. Still, you should be clear to return to

work whenever you're ready, long as you promise to try not to get shot again."

She gave her a stern look.

            "Hey, in my profession that's easier

said than done," returned Obsidian. "But I'll try to be careful."

            The nurse nodded. "Have a safe trip

home," she bade them, before turning the wheelchair about, and making her way

back into the hospital.

            With that, the four friends started

to walk up the sidewalk away from the hospital, following it to the main road

and heading towards a blue Subaru four door -Rikyuu's personal vehicle, which

he had purchased after the Genocide War.

Obsidian rubbed her hands together as they neared

the car, "so what should we do first?"

            "You don't want to just go home and

chill for a bit?" Rikyuu asked.

            "Heck no; I don't want to relax,"

replied Obsidian. "I've been stuck in that hospital for nearly two weeks."

            "It was only ten days, 'Sid,"

corrected Ayane.

            "Whichever; regardless, I want to go

out and do something," she said. "I don't know what yet, but I'll think of it."

            Rikyuu chuckled. "Well, okay; we'll

see what's..." He paused.

            Everyone paused.

            "Anybody else hear that rotor-y

sound in the air?" Rikyuu asked.

            All three women nodded in

confirmation.

            "Good, then it's not just me," he

said. "And, crap; it's not just me... I know that sound."

            The sound of the rotors, however

muffled they were, were getting closer. The wind began to pick up, blowing some

dust off of the parking lot. The three dragons and one snow leopard stood close

together, watching all directions for the source of the sound, but they saw

nothing that could make such a sound; it was like the muffled rotor of a helicopter,

or two side by side.

            "Guys, we have to get out of here,

now," said Rikyuu. "I know that sound all too well and it is bad news; we need

to leave."

            "Can your car outrun it?" Ayane

asked. "Whatever 'it' is?"

            "I don't know, and it's an aircraft,

used by the I.T.O.U.E; I heard that same kind of twin-rotor engine before

Volcan and I were attacked back at Overwatch, where we first met them."

            "Why would they be coming here?"

Yurui asked.

            "They're probably after me, or Rik,"

replied Obsidian. "We've been a pest to them and they probably want us dead for

it."

            "Yurui, will your powers work on all

of us?" Rikyuu asked.

            "I... I don't know; I've never

tried," replied Yurui, folding her ears back in fear.

            "Well, maybe you can get away at

least; try to..." Rikyuu was interrupted by something falling at his feet,

rolling and stopping against his foot. He glanced down at the object

quizzically, eyeing it with confusion as he tried to determine what the small,

oval-shaped object was...

            Suddenly, a light appeared on the

front, blinking furiously. Rikyuu came to an easy first assumption as to what

the object was. "Grenade!" He screamed, and tried to leap away, but the object

was already about to detonate.

            There was no explosion.

            There was no fire.

            Only the crackle of electricity.

            Rikyuu hit the ground on his

shoulder, wincing from the pain of his landing, but otherwise easily getting

back up and eyeing the grenade quizzically, uncertain as to just what was

supposed to happen.

            "Was that a... dud?" Ayane asked.

Like Rikyuu, she, Obsidian and Yurui had tried to jump to safety, and were just

as baffled as the blue dragon as to what the device they had mistaken for a

grenade was supposed to do.

            Suddenly, high above, the group

heard more electrical crackling, and looked up to see the aircraft Rikyuu had

been talking above before hovering high above their heads, and as the cloaking

field lowered, so too did the ship itself, the side door sliding open and six

armed gunmen leaping out when the ship was safely hovering above the ground.

The first one who leapt out spotted several people nearby; civilians who were

on their way into or out of the hospital, and had gathered to see what was

happened.

            "Get out of here!" The gunmen

barked, firing his weapon into the air to scare them; the people screamed and

ran to escape the scene, not wanting to become the targets of the guns carried

by these strange men, the other five of whom had trained their weapons on

Rikyuu and his friends.

            Ayane was reaching behind her to her

back pocket, producing something and tapping a button on it. She expected to

hear a beep in response, but there was nothing, and she turned to look at the

device -a small, rectangular object with a tiny screen, a little larger than on

that of a calculator, but only six buttons on the front. She pressed them

again, but still the object seemed to do nothing.

            "Trying to phone your freak-friend

Volcan for help, or maybe the police?" One of the gunmen taunted, his armour

marked differently than the others, with green stripes decorating the sleeves

and legs of his clothes, and a matching one on his helmet. "Good luck; that EMP

grenade will have shut down all your mobile devices.

            "An EMP?" Ayane repeated, eyes wide

with shock.

            "Oh no..." breathed Rikyuu. "That

means..."

            "Right, dragon," replied the gunman,

proceeding to finish Rikyuu's sentence for him. "Your powers have been cut;

you're just a regular, everyday dragon now."

            "But mine aren't!" Obsidian barked

in defiance, ready to attack the gunmen with her mind, but paused when one of

them aimed their weapon at Rikyuu.

            "Don't even try it," he said. "You

make my head pound, I pull this trigger, and your friend gets some holes in

him. The other ones too, including the kid back there," he pointed at Yurui,

"if you even breath the wrong way. Unless you want them to be the next ones on

your coroners' table, Miss Kimoyama, I suggest you keep your thoughts to

yourself."

            Obsidian paused, weighing her

options. The gunman was right; one twinge of pain and even out of reflex he

could pull the trigger of his gun and hurt her friends. She looked over her

shoulder at the others; Ayane had no powers of her own, and whatever the device

she had picked from her pocket was for, it wasn't working, and the EMP grenade

would not only have cut Rikyuus' powers, but Yuruis' as well; her powers came

from the same kind of nanotechnology that gave Rikyuu his copying abilities.

            This was bad... Obsidian was the

only one who could fight them at this point without getting shot to death but

if she did anything, they'd open fire. Even if she could protect her friends,

there were other people nearby -wrong place, wrong time, she thought- that

these gunmen could take hostage.

            "Well?" The gunman leader asked, now

turning his gun on Obsidian. "I'm waiting, 'officer'; you going to make a

move?"

            Obsidian, reluctantly, started to

put up her hands in surrender, shutting her eyes and turning her gaze downward.

The instant she did, one of the gunmen who had snuck around to her side grabbed

her and roughly pushed her down to the ground, putting her face-first into the

sidewalk, hurting her nose painfully and jarring her teeth somewhat, before he

placed one foot on her back and pinned her.

            "Smart woman," the leader scoffed.

"Alright, men; let's get them on board." He put a hand to his ear. "This is

Commander Three to base; come in home base... We have the dragons as you

ordered, sir, but there are two others. A red Eastern Dragoness, the other a

snow leopard; she looks to be in her late teens at best... standby." He turned

his gaze towards Yurui, and tapped a tiny button on the side of his lenses,

watching her for a moment.

            Yurui shifted uncomfortably under

the stare, but resisted the urge to back away, not wanting to so anything that

could be mistaken for a provocation, and stayed perfectly still. After a

moment, the man shifted his gaze to Ayane, pressing the same button a second

time and watching her just as he had Yurui.

            "That an X-ray camera? What, Playboy

hiring mercenaries now?" Ayane taunted, making her spite for the gunmen known.

            They didn't take it well.

            One of them stepped forward, taking

his hand away from the gun he carried and striking Ayane across the face with

his rather large fist; a glint of metal on his glove revealed that his glove

had metal-clad fingers, which only made the punch to Ayane's face hurt more

when it landed, sending her reeling and falling to her side. Rikyuu moved to help

her, but one of the other gunmen fired a warning shot past his head.

            "Stay put, you," he warned.

            Soon, 'Commander Three' as he called

himself earlier, spoke. "Negative, sir; no E.B genetic code detected, and no

sign of nanotechnology according to the readings," he reported to an unknown

benefactor. "They're both normal..." Behind his makes, they saw his cheekbones

twitch. "As you command, sir."

            He turned to the other gunmen. "No

witnesses; the blue and purple ones come with us, but the red and the cat die

here. Eliminate them."

            The group froze, and stared in

horror as the gunmen trained their weapons on Ayane and Yurui. Obsidian was

still pinned on the ground, and if she even tried to act, they'd kill her and

she'd accomplish nothing. She wracked her brain, trying to think of something

as Yurui backed up in fear into the shadow of a tree, and Rikyuu tried to throw

himself over Ayane to shield her but one of the gunmen kicked him before he

even reached her, sending him onto his back painfully, before they once more

aimed their weapon at Ayane, seeing their own reflection in her terrified eye.

            Suddenly, the ground beneath all of

them shook violently, throwing off their aim as they pulled the triggers of

their firearms. The shots flew wide; the man standing on Obsidians' back

suffered three rounds to his armoured chest and fell on his back; a bullet

whizzed over Ayane's head but missed her fin-ears, but one of the rounds

intended for her nearly hit Rikyuu's leg, making the dragon yelp in fright.

Yurui ducked as a bullet struck the tree behind her, covering her head with

both hands.

            "What the hell?!" Commander Three

barked, and glared at Obsidian, aiming his gun at her. "You miserable bitch; I

warned you!"

            Obsidian only grinned. "Tell me;

have you ever heard of a psychic that could make the ground quake like that?"

            "What are you babbling about?" He

demanded, spitefully.

            "I'm saying, that wasn't me,"

replied Obsidian.

            An eerie, terrifying groan filled

the air, and a shadow loomed over the four anthro's and the masked I.T.O.U.E

gunmen, who looked up as they sought its source. But what they saw, they did

not expect in the least.

            The tree Yurui had been standing

near was leaning in their direction, outstretching one of its limbs like an arm

and swinging its branches towards them. Two managed to duck in time, one of

them the commander, but the other four, stunned and dumbfounded by the sudden

attack by a towering piece of vegetation, failed to avoid the attack, and were

sent flying several steps, one of them even knocked back against their own

airship with a painful clang as his armoured body hit metal.

            The two who had dodged stood up, and

aimed their weapons around as they sought the source of this sudden wrath of

nature. The commander was even aiming his gun at the tree, hoping to find

something that didn't look like it belonged there that he could shoot, but all

he saw were the brown of its trunk, limbs and branches, and the green of its

late summer leaves.

            With their distraction, Obsidian

sprang to her feet, throwing herself at the commander and ramming into him with

all of her weight. He grunted as the wind was knocked out of him, falling to

the ground with her on top of him, where she proceeded to rip off his helmet,

goggles and face mask to expose his face. Underneath was an anthro feline, a

cheetah by the looks of him, whose' ears had been cut short for unknown

reasons, allowing him wear his helmet in such a way he could be mistaken for a

human or other short-muzzled anthros.

            Obsidian hadn't exposed his face to

identify him, though; she'd done it so she could punch him across the face with

all of her strength, her knuckles aching upon impact with the bone, but it

didn't stop her from punching him a second time, this time directly in the

eyeball, which made the cat scream in pain, and finally she struck him one more

time with her elbow, knocking him unconscious.

            "Never threaten my friends in front

of me, you bastard!" She roared in his face -not that he could hear her- but

his threatening of her loved ones brought out a side of her rarely seen, a side

that made her as protective of those loved ones as if they were her family.

            The second gunman was up, and

training his MP5 on Obsidian for attacking his commander, but Rikyuu was

faster; even without his powers, the dragon used his natural agility to kick

the gun away, sending the shots wide, and then delivered a punch right to the

mans' temple, sending him limply to the ground just as Rikyuu had intended;

using knowledge of vulnerable points on the body of multiple species of

humanoid, he had struck a spot of the skull on this person that could be used

to knock a person out cold with a good, clean hit. He smiled in satisfaction,

but frowned when he saw one of the other gunmen, now recovered from the

unexpected attack by the tree, already poised and about to shoot the dragon.

            Time seemed to slow as suddenly the

ground by his leg erupted; out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure shoot

up from the soil, twirling their body around like a spinning top. A glint of

metal in the strange figures' hand alerted him to a weapon, but it was too late

for him to act, and the last thing he saw was the cold, hard, angry stare from

a pair of avionic eyes before a knife perforated his vulnerable throat, where

he had no armour. Eyes widening behind the lenses of his goggles, he fell to

the ground, pulling the knife free in the process, and lay there, bleeding,

dead in a matter of seconds.

            The figure that emerged from the

ground turned to Rikyuu and the others. "Looks like Volc was right to tell me

to come here," she said.

            "Tsume!" Rikyuu exclaimed.

            "Boy, are we glad to see you," said

Obsidian. "Your timing couldn't have been better."

            "It was damn lucky is what it was,"

said Tsume. "Mon dieu, if I hadn't shown up when I did, I might've been too

late." She shook her head. "But enough of that; I won't ask why you didn't just

use your powers so, explain it to me later; get going, head for the spot we

talked about in our plan, and I'll cover you while you get away."

            "All by yourself?" Rikyuu asked.

            Tsume grinned. "I'm never alone,"

she said, turning to face the remaining gunmen; only two were still alive or

conscious now, and they did not look happy. "The whole ground is my ally," she

said before stomping one of her taloned feet on the ground, sending a visible

tremor through the grass to come up beneath the two gunmen before exploding,

sending both of them airborne as the ground literally burst open like a balloon

and launched them off of their feet. "Now hurry!" Tsume called. "We have to get

to the spot!"

            "Okay!" Rikyuu replied, helping

Ayane to her feet. "Let's go; over to my car, hurry!"

            "But what about that EMP; won't your

car be dead?" Yurui asked.

            "I think the EMP was just a short

burst, otherwise their airship and communication devices would've been dead

too," said Ayane. "Rik's car should be fine; it was a good twenty meters from

the blast centre."

            "Right," agreed Rikyuu. "Now,

let's go!"

            Fishing his keys out of his pocket,

Rikyuu strode over to his car while Tsume fought the last two gunmen, killing

one of them with a throwing knife straight to the throat, the other one struck

by a similar knife to his goggles; he screamed in pain, indicating the knife

had found a mark, but didn't go down; a shallow wound to his eye, probably.

            She heard Rikyuus' car start up, and

knew she was good to go from there, but just before she burrowed under, a

gunshot broke the air, and she felt a searing pain shoot up her back, making

her cry out and grab for the spot that was hit; wherever the shot had come

from, it hit her shoulder, but nothing vital. Knowing better than to turn to

face her assailant, and simply commanded the Earth to take her below ground,

vanishing below the soil nigh instantaneously, faster than gravity wouldn't

made her fall if it had simply been a hole opening underneath her.

            Her attacker, the commander, now

back on his feet with his face bloodied and bruised from Obsidians' previous

attack on him, turned to where Rikyuu and his group had gone, spotting the

dragons' car peeling out of the parking lot at full speed and making a left

towards the highway, breaking every speed limit as it sped off up the road,

safely out of the reach of the third team for the moment.

            Commander Three swore loudly, and

again when he heard police sirens coming towards the hospital grounds. He

gathered up the survivors of his team whom Tsume had not slain, and ordered

them back aboard the retriever, carrying the one who was still unconscious, shutting

the door as the first series of flashing lights and squad cars sped onto the scene.

By then, the engines of the aircraft were powering up, whirring noisily as the

vehicle slowly ascended into the air. The police who had arrived first jumped

out of their cars, one of them using a megaphone to command the ship return to

the ground, but he was ignored.

            Several officers fired their weapons

at the ship, but the dense steel hull withstood the small arms fire easily and

the ship slowly flew away, heading off in the direction Rikyuu and his friends

had gone.

            The Commander ignored all hails from

home base as Rex demanded an update...

            ~~~~~

            Lighris' motorcycle sped out of the

garage after the lightning hawk made sure the wingstrap around his chest had

tightly, but not uncomfortably, secured his wings to his back keeping them as

small and stiff as possible as the wind rushed around him. The purpose of the

wingstrap was to keep his wings from being pulled open by the wind as he rode,

as the drag that could cause could pull riders right off of their motorcycles,

so by law, winged figures were required to wear one when riding motorcycles,

ATV's or motor tricycles; anything that didn't have a roof to protect them from

the wind.

            Lighris hated the wingstrap; it was

uncomfortable, and always left his wings feeling sore by the time he took it

off, but he'd had too many tickets for neglecting it already, and couldn't risk

another one or he would lose his license. He didn't believe he needed the

strap; he could keep his wings down with his own muscles, but, not wanting to

lose his license, especially for his motorcycle, he gave in and started using

the wingstrap.

            Pavan ran alongside him as they

raced up the gravel road, stirring up massive dust clouds behind them in the

process. "So, those fuckers who're after my brother are back, huh?!" Lighris

bellowed over the wind, still barely audible at the speed they were going, so

Pavan could only answer with a nod. "Well I'll show them what happens when they

screw around with my bro!" He revved the bike harder, shifting up to the next

gear, and pulled ahead of Pavan slightly.

            At the speed they were going, it

didn't take them long to reach the main highway. Just as they arrived at

pavement, a blue, speeding car went roaring past, but its brake lights came on

it and it screeched to a halt on the road. Lighris and Pavan proceeded onto the

road, the Wind Phoenix recognizing the car as Rikyuu's Subaru, and hurried up

alongside it; Lighris pulled up at the drivers' side window, which lowered, and

he peered in at Rikyuu.

            "You guys alright; you looked like

you were in a big hurry," he said.

            "We are," replied Rikyuu. "One of

the I.T.O.U.E aircrafts attacked us at the hospital, and it's probably

following us!"

            "Shit; let's go!" Lighris urged,

shifting his bike back into gear and revving it twice before letting go of the

clutch, popping a wheelie and taking off ahead, Rikyuu's car quick to follow,

and Pavan running up alongside the car.

            The wind phoenix looked at Obsidian;

she stared back, and after a second, she nodded to him, and after that, Pavan

turned and sped off, taking to the air and abandoning the road as he headed in

another direction, flying more than twice as fast as he had been running. With

his departure, Obsidian turned to the others. "Pavan is heading to let Brent

know what's going on too," she reported, letting them know she'd been having a

private conversation with the Wind Phoenix via telepathy.

            "Why Brent?" Rikyuu asked. "Is there

something he can do to help us?"

            "I don't know, but maybe Volcan is

worried the I.T.O.U.E might go after him next," replied Obsidian. "If they went

after Rikyuu and I, they could be looking to take hostages or remove potential

threats, trying to get under Volcans' skin. That could mean anyone could be a

target, most especially Volcans' friends."

            "What about his mom?" Ayane asked.

            "Degra's out of town," replied

Obsidian. "She's in British Columbia right now visiting her family; one of

those family is Joseph MacAingeal, who's one of Canada's greatest fighter

pilots and soldiers. If she's safe with anyone, she's safe with him."

            "Well, that's convenient," said

RIkyuu.

            "You think Volcan planned for that?"

Ayane asked.

            "Volcan's intuitive, that's for

sure," replied Obsidian. "I wouldn't put it past him."

            "You think he knows if we're going

to win this upcoming fight or not?" Ayane asked.

            "Nobody can predict that outcome..."

Obsidian replied darkly.

            ~~~~~

            "You're serious, the I.T.O.U.E are

back again?!" Brent screamed as Pavan

finished his explanation. "And you think they might come here?!"

            "Well Volcan thought so when we made

the plan," corrected Pavan. "Either way you might want to hide somewhere until

this all blows over."

            Brent nodded in agreement, already

feeling the urge to panic welling up in his body, even though the danger had

not even come yet. He paced around the room frantically, rubbing his chin in

thought, before he seemed to remember something and looked over at Pavan again.

"Wait... maybe I can actually help this time."

            Pavan gave him an incredulous look.

"No offense, Brent," he began, "but you is not exactly built for combat; you

run from shadows and you curl up in a ball when you hear a scary story. I can't

really see you being able to help us take on armed professional gunmen and big

bald Terminator ripoffs." As he spoke, he trotted backwards towards the door.

"Just find somewhere to hide and wait for us; for now, I have a schedule to

keept at an airstrip; got to fly!"

            Before letting Brent say any more,

Pavan was airborne, creating an updraft to carry himself up into the sky before

he soared off. Brent watched the Wind Phoenix depart with a look of scorn,

wishing Pavan had let him finish. But that scowl was replaced with a grin of

confidence as he looked back into the workshop to a tarp covering an unknown

object.

            "Not built for combat, am I?" He

asked. "Well I have something that soon will be, once I make a few more

adjustments to it."

            ~~~~~

            Volcan and Vinge stood waiting out

at the airstrip, going over the plan together one more time between themselves,

when they saw clouds of dust approaching from the front gate, two vehicles the

cause of them. One of the vehicles was a car, the other a motorcycle, ridden by

Lighris. They raced up the airstrip to where Volcan and Vinge waited in the

shadow of one of the old hangars -currently unoccupied.

            "You ready for this, Vinge?" Volcan

asked.

            "I've been waiting for this day my

whole life," the ice phoenix replied. "When the I.T.O.U.E comes, I will fight."

            Volcan nodded. "I'm glad to have you

with us," he said, honestly and with clear gratitude in his voice.

            "It is I who should be thanking you,

Volcan," stated Vinge. "My whole life, ever since that wretched day, I've been

haunted by nightmare after nightmare of that same incident; knowing your father

is dead is a pain that time can heal, but not knowing whether he is alive or

dead, in the hands of madmen, is horrifying; I want it to end, one way or

another."

            Volcan didn't like how Vinge said

that... it sounded as though he didn't care if he lived or died in the upcoming

fight, and though that would make Vinge all the more dangerous to the

I.T.O.U.E, the ice phoenix was forgetting someone of equal importance. "What about

your mother?" He pointed out.

            Vinge eyed him quizzically. "What

about her? She's alive, thanks to you, and I..."

            "The way you're speaking Vinge, it

almost sounds like you don't care if you walk away from this or not,"

interjected Volcan. "Don't put her through that; fight to win, and to live. She

lost her husband; don't make her lose her only child too."

            Vinge shook his head. "Trust me,

that is not my intention," he said. "I have studied the ways of the Samurai;

they had a saying in bushido. 'Go into battle determined to die, and surely you

shall live'."

            "'Go into battle, hoping to live,

and surely you shall not'," Volcan said in perfect synchronization with Vinge,

in such a way it was like they had rehearsed it, earning a look of surprise

from the Ice Phoenix. "Yeah, I've heard that fortune cookie bullshit before,"

said the fire phoenix, winking at him to show he meant no offense. "My clan has

a saying as well; 'go into battle with faith only in your brothers in arms and

the strength of your own sword arm, for only they can stop the scythe of the

reaper'."

            "Your clan?" Vinge asked.

            "I'm Celtic," replied Volcan.

"Direct descendant of the ancient MacAingeal clan, a clan over twenty-five

hundred years old -origins in Scotland, to be exact."

            "So you're a Scotch-Canadian?" Vinge

asked.

            Volcan nodded. "There's a little

Irish in there on my fathers' side, but yeah."

            Vinge nodded, satisfied with the

answer as his mind processed the words spoken by Volcan. He looked up as the

car and motorcycle pulled up alongside them, tires grinding in the dirt and

stirring up even larger clouds of dust as they skidded to a stop. He thought

about Volcans' words, about having faith in your comrades -your brothers in

arms, comparing it to his own teachings; Samurai were famous for usually

fighting alone against varieties of enemies, but Volcans' clansmen sounded like

they fought only as a unified force, working in unison instead of as lone

warriors in a field of battle.

            Vinge had always been alone, having

few friends and only his mother as company throughout his adolescent years.

Now, here was, preparing for battle alongside more people than he ever dared

dream would be involved in his life. He felt warm -not from the sunlight

heating his body, but a warmth in his heart, as if something that had been

missing from there had found its way back and returned to its rightful place.

            "Brothers, huh?" he whispered.

            Volcan approached the others as they

got out of the car, tapping fists with his brother before he turned to Rikyuu

and the others. "Everyone alright?" He asked. "Did the I.T.O.U.E find you?"

            Rikyuu nodded. "Yeah, they did. They

hit me and Yurui with an EMP grenade too; our powers are fried."

            "They cut your powers?!" Volcan

demanded. "Shit, there goes some of the plan."

            "Actually, the effects should only

be temporary," stated Ayane. "The nanotech in your body, Rikyuu, is powered by

your own physical energy, not by batteries like the remote I had for my

exo-suit, which also got fried; now I can't call it to me."

            "What do you need to summon it?"

Vinge asked.

            "A radio or satellite signal; I

programmed it to respond to either with the right frequency and voice

recognition," she replied. "The remote would transmit a recording of my voice

on that signal and summon the armour right to me, and then I'd be ready to

rumble." She sighed. "But now it's fried and I can't replace the battery."

            Vinge jerked his thumb towards a

structure at the far end of the hangars, with a satellite dish mounted on the

side, and a radio antenna protruding from the roof. "Could you use the control

tower?" He suggested.

            Ayane followed where the ice phoenix

was gesturing to, and rubbed her chin in thought. "Hmm... yeah, I could use the

radio tower or that satellite dish to transmit a signal on the same frequency

and just activate the armour manually." She nodded. "That'll work perfectly!"

            Vinge nodded, and reached into his

pocket to fish out his keys, removing one of them from the keyring and handing

it to her. "Do what you need to; we'll be okay while you prepare."

            Ayane nodded. "Thanks Vinge; you're

a genius!" She complimented before running off towards the tower as fast as she

could.

            A gust of wind rushed over the

group; they looked up, expecting to see one of the I.T.O.U.E airships, but

instead saw Pavan descending from above, front-flipping as he dropped down out

of the air and landed on his feet, another burst of wind erupted below him and

spraying the others with dust before he touched down, having used the wind to

slow his descent to a near-stop.

            As the others coughed the dust from

their lungs -Rikyuu even sneezed once until the cloud finally subsided, Pavan

stood posing dramatically. "Let's get this party started, eh?"

            "We're still waiting for Tsume,"

Volcan pointed out.

            A mild rumble was felt below their

feet, and very suddenly, Tsume exploded out of the ground, startling Pavan and

Lighris who she was closest to as she was launched airborne, twirled around

deftly in midair before she landed as gently as a kitten on the dirt ground,

holding out her arms as if performing a stunt for an audience.. Tucked under

her arm was small duffel bag. "Mrs. Claus has brought gifts this time," she

joked as she set down the bag. "Everyone been good?"

            Pavan chuckled. "Hey, that was

pretty good!"

            She knelt down by the bag and

unzipped it, reaching in and gently lifting out two objects. "Here you go

Pavan," she said before passing him a coiled, leather whip and a sheathed

sword.

            "What? How'd you get my whip and

Khanda?" he asked.

            "You always leave your balcony door

unlocked," Volcan pointed out.

            Pavan gawked at Tsume. "You broke

into my house?" He asked, feigning shock before he turned to Obsidian. "I'd

like to report a break & enter!"

            Obsidian laughed at him. "Seriously,

now of all times?" She asked.

            "Here ya go 'Sid," Tsume said,

passing Obsidian a pistol with a belt-harnessed holster, which she immediately

recognized as her service pistol for the police force.

            She blinked at the gun and looked at

Tsume suspiciously. "Where did you find that?"

            "Lockbox in a locker of your room,"

she replied, smiling.

            "And... how'd you get it?" She

inquired further as she took the pistol from Tsume and put the holster on the

belt of her jeans.

            "Picked the lock, of course,"

replied Tsume, smiling proudly as she took a few more items out of the bag,

including a belt of knives which she wrapped around her midsection, and a pair

of punch-daggers known as katars, which she wore on both her hands and gave a

few test punches with them.

            "...You and I will be having a

talking about this in private later, missy," Obsidian said, sternly, bit added

in a softer, though no-less exasperated tone of voice. "Still, thanks; I may

need it if they bring their disruptors."

            "Yeah... those are still going to be

a problem for us,"

            Volcan grinned at Obsidian. "Don't

worry about the disruptors," he said. "Vinge and I have planned ahead for

that."

            Before Obsidian could inquire as to

what Volcan had in mind, since she had not been present for their strategy

meeting they had made in preparation for this day, her ears suddenly twitched,

and both she and Rikyuu turned their gaze south, back in the direction of Unity

Falls, where the mountain range alongside the city could still be seen.

            "They're here," said Rikyuu.

            Everyones' expressions became

serious as they followed the gaze of the two dragons, seeking out the I.T.O.U.E

aircraft. When they couldn't spot them, Volcan squinted his eyes, mentally

activating his Infrared vision; his eyes began to glow a bright yellow, and

everything was now seen in an infrared spectrum to him; everything cold was

blue, everything warm was red, and in the sky he spotted three massive vehicles

emitting copious amounts of heat that made them glow like giant furnaces to the

phoenix.

            "Here they come," he stated.

"Everyone, get out of sight and be ready to move when the ships touch down."

            ~~~~~

            "Home

Base, we've tracked Skilerains and his colleagues to an airstrip a few

kilometers out of the city, but there's no sign of the rest of his group;

they've all vanished. We just see him, standing out on the airstrip out in the

open." Commander one reported. "I've

met up with teams two and three; we're currently holding position, awaiting

orders.

            "Just... standing there?" Rex questioned. A wave of concern washed over

him as he folded his hands out in front of him, considering the report; why

would Volcans' friends go to all the trouble they had to make their way out to

such a remote area only to suddenly forsake Volcan and leave him to fight Rex's

Retrieval Teams all on his own, when not even he could stand against so many

all on his own? Something did not seem right...

            "Proceed with caution; it smells

like a trap. One of you, stay in the air and do a sweep over the hangars and

control tower if there are any such buildings there, and make sure his friends

aren't waiting in ambush."

            "This

is Commander Three; I'll maintain air cover. And watch your feet; one of his

friends that attacked my unit at the hospital is capable of tunneling through

the earth; she might come up from right under you."

            "Roger, Three, and thanks for the warning. Two, you're

with me; we're going in."

            "Yes sir," Commander Two replied, hesitation in his voice.

            "Two," Rex stated, a tone of warning

in his voice. "You're about to complete your mission; I would think you'd be

more enthusiastic about it. Is there a problem?"

            "No

sir; just not good at showing my excitement is all," returned Two.

            "Good; remember what I told you

would happen if this mission failed," Rex stated. "Do not fail me again, any of

you, do you understand?"

            "Yes

sir..."

            "Good.  Now, all teams, proceed

with the operation, but remember; be cautious, and watch for any surprises."

            ~~~~~

            Volcan watched wordlessly as the

cloaks surrounding the airships were dropped; they knew he could see them and

that using their stealth technology was pointless now. Two of the ships touched

down, while the third remained airborne, strafing away from the first two

towards the hangars; Volcan watched that one for a moment, until he heard the

doors on the broadsides of the first two opening, turning his gaze back to

stare ahead of him.

            Out of the two rotary VTOL aircraft

stepped a dozen men, all of whom approached Volcan as stood, arms crossed and

his body still. As they approached, they could feel the heat coming from the

phoenix, and could see his eyes were glowing; they kept back at a safe

distance, never taking their eyes off of him.

            The leader with the red stripes

looked at Volcan, lifting up the goggles over his eyes and pulling down his

facemask so that he could see and speak clearly; beneath the mask was the face

of a feline, a common cat from the looks of it, with orange and white fur, and

bright yellow eyes. He eyed Volcan quizzically before he spoke. "Why haven't

you tried to escape?" He asked. "Surely you could have flown away before we

arrived."

            "One way or another," stated Volcan.

"I'm putting an end to this insanity today."

            "Insanity?" The cat returned.

"You're the one who's insane. Insane, and a monster."

            Volcan quirked an eyebrow at the

cat. "Did I do something to make me hate you?" He asked. "I don't think we've

met before."

            "We haven't," returned the cat. "But

people like you, with those over-enhanced abilities... you're a danger to all

'normal' people; people like you are a plague, and the I.T.O.U.E is the vaccine

that stops it from spreading."

            Volcan eyed the man for a moment,

his expression softening somewhat. "So... you guys... operate under the

assumption that my kind, namely super humanoids, are a threat to public

safety?"

                "You are a threat!" The cat barked again. "Your kind is a menace, and

a...!"

            "Plague, blight, outbreak, danger,"

Volcan interjected. "Yeah; I get it. You're afraid of me."

            The cat's face contorted in a

dangerous scowl. "I'm not afraid you, or your powers, but the rest of the

public is constantly at risk whenever you use them. You could go out of

control, or hit people in the crossfire, or even use them to take over the

city!"

            "If I wanted to do that, pal, don't

you think I'd have had my opportunity during the war?" Volcan asked, keeping

his voice level and his arms crossed. "I could have focused only on saving

other super humanoids like me; I could have overthrown the crime lords, taken

over their gangs and maybe even took over the city with all the chaos it was

under! But I didn't, because I am not the

evil monster you think I am, so why the hell do you insist on doing this?"

            "You exist; that's all I need," the

cat returned. "The I.T.O.U.E is nothing like a common gangster."

            "You're worse thang gangsters,"

retorted Volcan. "You take parents from their children, or in some cases,

children from their parents, so you can dissect them in a lab somewhere and run

tests on them, looking for ancestors-know what! What about that seems right to

you; if you want to protect the world from Super humanoids, focus on the ones

that are actually trying to put

people in danger! People like The Mana, for example, who actually did use their

powers for the wrong reasons!"

            The Commander only glared at Volcan.

"A typical sign of desperation," he stated. "Trying to justify your existence

with past incidents you've never been guilty of; you're trying to make yourself

look like you're innocent, but you're not. None of your kind are!"

            Volcan sighed in exasperation. "Well

trying to reason with you is a complete waste of time," he stated, closing his

eyes and shaking his head. "You're so brainwashed that even a hypnotist

couldn't change your mind." Reopening his eyes he glared at the cat again.

"Well..." he uncrossed his arms, balling both of his hands into fists, which

prompted all of the gunmen to aim their weapons at him. "If you think you can

remove me, come and try."

            "Commander Two," the cat stated to

the man next to him. "Go get the disruptors."

            "Why don't we just shoot him? He's

standing right there!" One of the men stated.

            "Can't you feel that heat radiating

from him?" The cat demanded. "He's heated up the air in front of him; he'll

melt the bullets before they reach him."

            "Then... why isn't he attacking?"

Another asked.

            "Nevermind; go get the disruptors.

We can't detain him while he's radiating that much heat, so we need to cut his

powers."

            "You aren't going to detain me at

all," stated Volcan. "And as for your disruptors, they aren't going to help

either."

            "Oh? And why is that?" The cat

asked.

            "Because the whole time you've been

pitching your monologue, fuzz-balls, my team has been smashing them." He

pointed past the gunmen, back towards their airships.

            The I.T.O.U.E troopers spun around,

turning back towards their aircraft, just in time to see one of their

disruptors crushed by an unseen force, upon the clenching of a purple, scaled hand;

the destroyed device fell to the ground, revealing the amethyst coloured

eastern dragoness standing behind it. The other one was smashed by a pink

hammer made of pure energy, held in the hand of a blue western dragon, who

hoisted it over his shoulder and grinned smugly at the shocked I.T.O.U.E

troopers.

            "You're all under arrest," Obsidian

called.

            The cat picked up a radio from his

belt and shouted into it. "Commander Three; get over here with your disruptor,

now!"

            "Aye,

Commander One; circling around... what the?!"

            A thunderclap split the air, and a bolt of lightning shot up from

behind the hangars as the ship strafed back towards open ground, shooting

directly through one of the rotors and sending the airship careening towards

the runway. The sound of it hitting the ground was deafening, and pillars of

dust climbed into the air, obscuring the vehicle from sight.

            The cat, or 'Commander One' as he

was called, spun around and glared at Volcan. "What did you do?!"

            "We planned ahead," returned the phoenix

"Compliments of my newest friend, whose father you thugs took away from him ten

years ago."

            A flapping of wings caught their

attention, and they looked up to see two more avians descending from above, one

of them, Vinge, landing near Volcan, the other was Pavan who landed at the

other end of the cluster. The ground trembled beneath them, and yet another

figure erupted from the earth, opposite to where Pavan had landed; Tsume had

been hiding underground the entire time, waiting for the right moment, and

stood with her arms crossed as two chunks of earth floated up alongside her.

Aside from Obsidian, none of the ever-increasing number of super humanoids held

any weapons in their hands.

            The cat mistook that for a flaw in

the part of the phoenix and his friends, and grinned confidently at him. "You

may have us surrounded now, but we're still greater in number and

better-equipped; you won't survive a firefight with us."

            Volcan grinned menacingly. "Tell me,

are all of those guns of yours made of metal?"

            "What's your point?" The cat, or

Commander One as Volcan had heard him called before.

            "That upward-shooting lightning bolt

came from my brother, dumbass; a lightning hawk. He's watching you from on the

roof of those hangars right now," stated Volcan. "One false move, he starts

flinging lightning bolts, and the metal of your guns will attract that

lightning."

            "You're bluffing!" The cat shot

back. "He could hit any one of you as well!"

            Volcans' eyes glowed brightly. "Are

you so desperate you'd be willing bet your life on that theory, pal?" He asked.

"By all means, make your move. But if you give up now, you'll be dealt with in

accordance with the law, not by us."

            The cats' face contorted with anger

for a moment, clearly at his breaking point, and he stood there, glaring

defiantly into Volcans' eyes for a moment, until he heard the sound of a weapon

hitting the ground at his side; the cat turned, just in time to see the

green-striped trooper, Commander Two he had been called before, relinquishing

his sidearm and drawing a knife from his boot, all of which he dropped to the

ground, kicking them away.

            "Two... what. Are. You. Doing?"

Commander One demanded.

            "What I should of done long ago," he

retorted before he pulled off his facemask and helmet. Beneath the mask was the

dark-skinned face of an African American man, his head bald except for a thin

goatee growing from his chin and above his upper lip. "And it's not Two; I'm a

man, not a number. My name is Kyle Darwinson, and as of now, I'm done."

            "You don't walk out on the

I.T.O.U.E, Commander Two; retrieve your weapon and execute these abominations,

now!" Commander One barked, turning his weapon on the defector.

            Volcan was quicker, grabbing the

front of the cats' gun and forcing its aim down to the dirt; it discharged, but

the bullets struck the soil harmlessly, and Volcan ripped the gun from the

cats' hand, gripping the other end of it with his free hand, before raising his

left leg and bringing the gun down over his knee, snapping it in two

effortlessly. Before throwing both pieces behind him, and punching the cat

across the face, sending him reeling and face-planting to the dirt.

            The other gunmen raised their

weapons and aimed them at Volcan, until the phoenix glared at the one closest

to him, his eyes glowing once more as beams erupted from his eyes and struck

the barrel of the gun held by the one closest to him, melting it and causing

the weapon to malfunction as the bullets were jammed in the barrel, until the

second round was put into place and fired as well; the tip of the gun exploded

as bullets covered in hot metal combusted from the intense heat, ripping into

the wielders' left hand and sending blood spraying all over the ground as his

hand was torn asunder by the shards of metal.

            The cat, after recovering from the

strike inflicted on him by Volcan, rolled onto his back, and aimed his gun at

the person closest to him; Vinge. Volcan noticed the oncoming attack too late

to stop it; all he could do was cry out to the Ice Phoenix, who turned and saw

the gun aiming at him...

            The shot rang out, but the bullet

never landed.

            A new figure had appeared in front

of Vinge, seemingly from nowhere, with a paw clenched around unseen object just

inches from the tip of Vinges' beak. The newcomer was a snow leopard with light

blue fur with gray spots, silvery hair, and wearing a pink shirt and dark blue

jeans.

            The leopard opened her paw, and from

her clenched fingers, a piece of metal dropped; a bullet, caught in midair and

never inflicting harm on its intended target. She stared daggers at Commander

One, her eyes shadowed by the front bangs of her hair, making her look all the

more intimidating,

            The cat stared back with a look of

horror on his face, watching as the falling bullet hit the dirt soundlessly.

"That's... impossible..." He said, his voice breaking.

            "Not for someone who can manipulate

time, buddy," retorted Volcan as he hauled the cat to an upright position,

holding him in the air. "And nobody...!" He punches the cat in the stomach once

for every following word he spoke. "Takes! A! Shot! At! My! FRIENDS!" On the

sixth word, his punch sent the cat flying, where he landed at the feet of his

troopers.

            The cat, despite the beatdown he had

just taken, sat up and glared at Volcan defiantly, but winced and grabbed at

his chest, growling in pain. "You're a lucky feline," Volcan barked. "If you

hadn't been wearing that Kevlar assault vest, all of your organs would be mush

right now, so do yourself a favor and stay down."

            "We're... not... out of this...

yet!" Adrian yelled before he touched something on his belt. Something that

caught Kyle's attention in a bad way.

            "No!" The turncoat pleaded. "Don't

activate them!"

            "Too late, traitor," Adrian retorted.

            Seconds passed, and nothing seemed

to happen, until suddenly, a deafening crash echoed from the crashed aircraft,

a crash so loud it made everyone jump. They turned their gazes towards the

downed craft, and saw a dent had appeared in its hull. A second crash soon

followed, and the door exploded from the hull, and went flying through the air,

crashing to the ground with an explosion of dust. Out of the crashed aircraft

stepped a pair of hulking figures, figures that were all too familiar to Volcan

and Rikyuu.

            But they were different, somehow...

their skin had changed to a reddish hue, and the colour of the 'goggles' were

blue instead of red like before, which somehow only added to their ominous

appearance. Beyond that they were largely the same; impossibly large human

bodies, with entirely cybernetic legs, forearms that ended in the heads of

morningstars instead of hands, and metal plates that covered their mouths,

noses and jaws.

            "Oh boy..." Volcan muttered.

            "Adrian, damn you!" Kyle barked.

            "Men, take them down!" Adrian

commanded. "All of them!"

            "All of you need to stand down!"

Kyle tried to intervene, but the men wouldn't heed his command, now that he had

abandoned the I.T.O.U.E, and raised their weapons.

            "Pavan!" Volcan barked. "Dust cloud,

fast!"

            "On it!" Pavan returned before he

broke into a sprint, picking up speed rapidly as he ran in a full circle around

the I.T.O.U.E troopers; he moved with such speed that the dirt was being kicked

up all along where he ran, until a cloud of dust was brought up, completely

obscuring the people inside of it. Some shot wildly, trying to strike down

their targets before they could get away, but none of their bullets landed.

            "Vinge; put up an ice wall; try and

trap them in there!" Volcan called.

            "Right!" Vinge agreed, and held out

his hands, focusing his powers into the palms, before thrusting them forward

and projecting ice at the ground.

            As he cast, the ground began to

freeze over, but with control, he kept it condensed to the width of a foot, and

slowly, it began to become taller. With some more control, and by running in a

circle around the dust cloud, the wall growing higher and higher until it was

easily eight feet tall. By this time, Pavan had already broken off from

stirring up the dust cloud; when the wall was up, forming a full, cylindrical

barrier that choked the dust cloud, and it wasn't until it finally dispersed

they realized they had been imprisoned in the ice.

            Shouting followed, as well as a gunshot

and a scream of agonizing pain. They were trapped, and shooting at the ice

would only endanger the whole group; ricocheting bullets would tear them into

pieces inside of such a prison.

            "Good job," said Volcan, before he

used his infrared vision to peer into the ice, quickly counting heads. "Hey...

there were eleven of them; I count ten!"

            Tsume glanced around, casting at

glance at the cyborgs first, but found they still had not moved an inch since

exiting the aircraft. They had formed a row, and become completely statuesque,

waiting for a command. She noticed someone running past then; the cat commander

had somehow escaped from the trap, and was now sprinting across the airfield

towards the downed crashed aircraft.

            The aircraft where a still

functioning disruptor lay waiting.

            "Guys; that cat's going for the last

disruptor!" Tsume called, alerting her friends.

            Adrian, hearing Tsume's voice, knew

that his cover was blown, and reached for his belt again, towards what Tsume

could only identify as a small control pad fastened behind the empty holster

where his pistol had been. He pressed another button, and the cyborgs began to

stir. Running past them, he continued on towards the aircraft while the

cyborgs, in perfect unison, took a step forward, their heavy feet sending

tremors through the dirt as they walked.

            "Incoming!" She called, warning the

others of the cyborgs, but they could already see the cybernetic monsters were

beginning to move.

            "Adrian's trying to get to the last

disruptor!" Kyle barked, retrieving his sidearm and taking aim at the cat.

He shot three times, but Adrian was too far away for

him to land an accurate hit with a pistol; the rounds flew wide of their

intended target, impacting the dirt around him but none of them even grazing

the commander. Volcan was about to pursue, when the footsteps of the cyborgs

caught his attention; the creatures weren't just lumbering towards them now,

they were running at them, taking

long strides that shook the ground with their thunderous steps. Another gunshot

filled the air, and one of them faltered, but kept going.

"Tsume; trip them up and then stop Adrian from

getting to that disruptor!" Volcan insructed.

"I'm on it!" She said, and turned on her heel,

sprinting at the cyborgs. Halfway towards them, she jumped and dove at the

ground, the soil and rocks parting like the jaws of a large animal, which she

plunged directly into and disappeared before a dust trail began to race towards

the cyborgs.

Oblivious to the Earth Phoenixes oncoming attack,

the cyborgs kept advancing, until a violent shock below their feet sent them

stumbling, tripping until they fell flat on their faces into the dirt. With a

moment bought, Volcan turned to Kyle.

"How far do those disruptors reach?" He asked.

"They have a total range of a hundred meters," Kyle

replied. "From the center of their activation through everything not shielded

against radiation."

"Anything you can tell us about these cyborgs?"

Rikyuu asked, watching as the cybernetic warriors started to get back up. "They

look a lot different than I remember."

"The Doc upgraded them," replied Kyle. "He didn't

say much about them; just about how they were stronger and more efficient."

"Probably worried I'd read your mind to find a

weakness," remarked Obsidian.

"Kyle, you know how those disruptors work; if Adrian

gets that one online you have to shut it off, so go help Tsume," said Volcan,

prompting the human to go sprinting towards the downed aircraft. "Everyone else

with me; we're taking down those cyborgs."

"Six of us against six of them?" Pavan questioned.

"Seven against six," a voice spoke, drawing the

groups' attention upward, where a figure descended from above; when they

touched down, everyone immediately recognized Ayane, as her head and tail were

the only things not covered by a strange exo-skeletal suit she wore metallic

surface. The strange suit fit perfectly to her form, showing every natural

curve of her body. Two firearms, held to her back by an unknown force, rested

against her shoulderblades, and in between them was what appeared to be a

rocket propulsion device, likely for sustained flight; similar devices could be

seen attached to the anklets of her boots.

            "What took you so long?" Lighris

asked, annoyed. "Suit stop for drive-thru on the way here or what?"

            "Took me a little longer than I

expected to contact it," replied Ayane, reaching onto her back and grabbing one

of her two weapons -a Designated Marksman Rifle, or DMR, a weapon designed for

assault or sniping purposes alike, able to switch between the functions of both

weapon types. "Plus, had to find the right weapons for this situation."

            "Alright," said Volcan. "Vinge, got

a plan?"

            "I do," replied the Ice Phoenix.

"Obsidian, Ayane, you two will work together; the cyborgs won't be susceptible

to telepathy so, 'Sid, you'll have to rely on your telekinesis and Ayanes'

firepower. Pavan and I will take the ones on the flanks, Lighris, Volcan and

Rikyuu, the rest are yours."

            "What about me?" Yurui asked,

insulted; she had been quiet this whole time, the others almost forgetting she

was there.

            Volcan turned to Yurui, eyeing her

sadly. "Sorry, Yurui, but I don't know how much you can do here," he said.

"Unless you can project your time field around the cyborgs to slow them down, this

is our field." He turned to her, looking at her apologetically. "I know you

want to help but your powers aren't meant for this kind of situation."

            She scowled at him, clearly hurt by

the idea of not being able to help, but she nodded in understanding, knowing

fully well that he was right, at least until Volcan perked up, and seemed to

have an idea. "You caught a round from a pistol; do you think you could catch

bullets fired from other weapons too?"

            She nodded. "I probably could,

yes... why?"

            "Go help Tsume," said Volcan. "The

gunmen on that crashed ship may still be alive; she may need you to watch her

back."

            Yurui smiled and nodded to him

again, and once he stepped back from her, she dashed off, her whole body a blur

as she charged across the field in the direction Tsume had gone to chase after

Adrian, leaving Volcan and the others to face the cyborgs, which were now back

on their feet and were once more on the move, advancing on the superhumanoids

again.

            He felt someone nudge him, and

turned to see Ayane holding out his morphing polearm to him, having apparently

retrieved it from where he'd left it. He nodded to her and accepted the weapon,

before facing his intended target among the cyborgs -the third one from the

right, and with a thought, the plain staff transformed in a flash of light,

turning into a Swedish halberd, a weapon with a small, sharp chopping blade and

a long, needle-point spearhead at the tip. He didn't know how strong the

cyborgs were now, but his instincts told him he'd need the penetration power of

that particular halberd design.

            "Let's go!" Volcan barked and

charged ahead, leading the others as they ran to meet the cyborgs in a direct

attack. His target in sight, Volcan made a mighty leap, flaring his wings out

and using them to glide as he leapt at the cyborg...

            ~~~~~

            Adrian reached the remains of the

half-destroyed Retriever, and peered inside, spotting the disruptor lying in

the corner, a little dented in some places but largely intact and very likely

to still be functional. If he could activate it, it would render the super humanoids

powerless, and from there the cyborgs would be able to easily destroy them. He

could not fail his mission now; if they failed, Dr. Rex would kill him. He

could not allow himself to die yet, not when their mission was incomplete; he

had sworn an oath to see it through unfailingly, but he'd only managed to remain

loyal to the cause, not ensure its success. That had to change...

            Just as he was about to climb in to

retrieve it, moment caught his eye. He turned his gaze to the side opposite

where the disruptor was, and spotted the crew, finally coming around after being

knocked out from the crash. One of them turned to look at him, one he

recognized immediately as Commander Three thanks to the coloured stripes on his

uniform.

            "One, is that you?" The dazed,

masked canine asked.

            "Good to see you survived," returned

Adrian. "All of you get up; we've got a job to finish! Help me unload the

disruptor and move it over to the battle!"

            "What battle?" Three asked.

            "The cyborgs are fighting those

freaks this very minute!" Adrian barked. "If we can get the disruptor into position

we'll eliminate them all for certain!"

            "Right...!" Three returned, and

pushed himself up with his hands. Suddenly, he looked past Adrian, his

attention grabbed by something behind Adrian.

            The cat turned, and there stood the

Earth Phoenix, Tsume. She stared daggers at him with her sharp brown eyes, the

katars on both of her hands glinting in the sunlight as she raised both of them

to a ready position.

            "I don't think so," she stated

firmly.

            Perceiving the threat, Three jumped

to his feet, drawing his sidearm and taking aim at Tsume. In response, she

ducked down under his shot just before he fired, holstering the katar in her

left hand and drawing a knife, which she threw at Three; the knife imbedded

itself in the masked dogs' visor, breaking through the plastic lens to plant

its tip in his eye; he screamed in horrid agony and fell back, grabbing at his

face in pain.

            Adrian lunged at Tsume, drawing a

knife of his own from his belt and slashing at her with it, which made her back

off instinctively. He followed it with a second slash, this one she blocked

with the protective wristguard of her katar, generating sparks as it slashed

across the steel. She retaliated by drawing the bowie knife on the back of her

belt and swiping it at the cat, which forced him to back away as well; she

sheathed the knife again and drew her other katar, noticing the KA-BAR knife he

now held and eyeing it closely.

            "USMC," she said.

            "What?" The cat asked.

            "You used to be a United States

Marine, right?" Tsume asked. "That knife is a favorite of theirs, and it's

still got the engraving on the blade."

            Adrian scoffed. "Is my jaw supposed

to drop from how you know your knives?" He asked with a condescending tone. "Everyone

knows that; maybe I killed a Marine and took it."

            "I'm just curious," she replied.

"You Americans always talk about fighting for freedom and liberty, and to bring

peace to the world, yet here you are, one of the best soldier platoons in their

entire military, trying to kill people who have never done anything wrong."

            Tsume shrugged. "Eh, whatever;

doesn't matter to me," she said, before she began to shift her feet from side

to side, keeping her katars raised defensively. "Not that it matters; either

way..." She reached forward with her foot and drew a line in the dirt with her

talon, giving the cat a challenging look as she drew her foot back to stand

properly. "Today, you get screwed."

            (Play 'Going Under' by Evanescence)

            "We'll just see about that you

little freak!" Adrian barked, and lunged at Tsume with a stab of his knife; she

blocked, he pulled back before she could counter, evading the stab she made

with her left hand, and slashed at her arm, but she evaded, turning herself

about and striking out at him with an inverted spin kick, slashing at him with

her talons. He ducked back to dodge, and was about to strike at her when she

dropped down onto her left elbow and continued to turn herself, slashing at him

again with the same foot; this time he did not dodge in time, and her talons

raked across his armoured chest, slashing through the surface but stopped by

the thicker kevlar weave below.

            Her foot caught in the fabric, and

Adrian slashed at her leg but she suddenly twisted around with such force it

caused him to stumble, putting her weight onto both of her arms, and with a

kick to his stomach with her free leg, she tore her talons free of his armour,

and rolled back from him, flipping back onto her feet and returning to her

fighting stance.

            Adrian regained his balance and went

for her again, stopping when he saw her moving to attack him again, jumping

onto her hands and kicking directly over her head with both feet, striking at

him like the stinger of a scorpion. Both feet hit his chest and sent him

stumbling back, and she used the rebound from her kick to return to her feet,

once more somersaulting to gain more distance.

            He started to charge; she holstered

a katar, drawing a knife from her belt and throwing it at him. He ducked under

the blade, and ran straight for her, aiming to put the pressure on before she

could redraw her katar; the rage on his face was apparent, though as to why he

was so angry, she didn't know, but didn't stop to wonder as she parried a slash

from him, and attempted to rake him with her talons again; he ducked under her

inverted spin kick this time, and stabbed for her leg. Tsume hopped off of that

one leg and dropped, catching herself on her hands and somersaulting away from

him.

            "Fucking bitch; hold still!" He

roared at her.

            "Oh yeah, right; next you'll be

saying for me to let you stab me," retorted Tsume, redrawing her other Katar.

"Don't blame me for your lack of skill... or speed."

            "I'll show you speed!" He barked at

her before going back on the offensive.

            The other I.T.O.U.E members inside

the crashed aircraft, including the one who had almost lost an eye to Tsume's

knife, were finally awake. Only three were left, however; the fourth, the pilot,

had not moved at all, and they assumed him dead. The three of them moved

towards the disruptor in the corner, one of them reaching for the activation

switch.

            A gunshot, and a bullet pinging off

the wall next to the gunmen, making them duck out of reflex before turning

towards the door. Behind their visors, their eyes widened with shock as they

saw who the shooter was, mouths agape behind their facemasks as they saw one of

their own members staring down the barrel of a Glock-21 at them.

            "Don't even try it, men," he stated.

            "Commander Two, what the hell are

you doing?!" The masked Commander Three demanded.

            "It's not Commander Two anymore,

Samson," stated Kyle. "I'm Kyle Darwinson, and as of today, I'm not with the

I.T.O.U.E anymore, not now, and never again, you got that?" He aimed the gun.

"Now, all of you, up against...!" He didn't finish before one of the men drew

their own sidearm and took aim at him, but the gun didn't fire.

The shooter turned it to the side, and noticed the

slider was locked back, and no bullet was in the chamber... nor was there a

magazine inside. "What the...?! But I loaded this before we left!"

"And I unloaded it in one eighth of a second,"

another voice spoke; a female one, coming from beside them, and they turned to

see a snow leopard, holding several, loaded magazines in her paws. "Looking for

these?"

Kyle pressed the barrel of his gun against Commander

Three's head. "Well, it's your move, Samson," he stated.

"When I get the chance, Two... I'm going to cut your

stomach out with the dullest blade I have," returned the canine.

Kyle lunged forward and bludgeoned the canine across

the face with his gun, sending him reeling to the floor. "Kiss my ass,

dickhead."

Back outside, the fight between Tsume and Adrian had

finally yielded results for both fighters; Tsume had suffered several minor

slashes on her body, one across the stomach and the rest on her arms and legs,

but they were shallow -barely even drawing blood, thanks to her tough skin, but

still visible. Meanwhile, Adrian had suffered some shallow stab wounds, his

armour the only thing having saved him from some deep, possibly mortal

injuries.

Tsume's gaze met Adrians again. "You're not too bad,

but I guess you don't know about Earth Phoenixes," she said. "Our skin is as

tough as leather, and bones as hard as granite."

"If it bleeds, I can kill it; that's all I need to

know," retorted Adrian.

"...Did you just call me an 'it'?" Tsume asked.

"Okay, now I'm going to tear your face off, asshole."

Once more, they came to blows, Tsume displaying her

incredible flexibility and agility with every attack, using her legs as much as

weapons as the katars worn on her hands; she fought using a combination of the

Capoeira martial art and Apache knife-fighting, her body in constant motion and

using the sharpness of both talons and blades for the attack. The technique

used by Adrian was effective, but lacking in the variety Tsume had, and her

fighting style was strange to him.

He went to attack low; Tsume banked to the right,

and twisted about, using her hands and left leg to support herself as she

clawed directly at his face with her right foot. He could not evade in time, and

her talons raked across his face, slashing across his nose, his eyebrow and his

jaw, narrowly missing his eye or mouth as they dragged through his face.

Adrian dropped his knife and screamed in agony,

falling to the ground and grabbing at his face. Blood leaked between his

fingers as he writhed in pain. Tsume stood up from the ground and glared down

at him, holstering both of her katars.

"Told you I'd rip your face off," she said, coldly.

"My teacher calls me a pretty flower..." She remarked as she drew her knife,

flipping it into the air before catching it. "But the prettiest flower

sometimes has the sharpest thorns."

~~~~~

Lighris ducked under the swinging arm of his

opponent, feeling the draft trailing behind the powerful morningstar hand, and

spread his wings as he flew up over the cyborg as it brought both fists down at

him; the lightning hawk twisted about in the air, folding his wings and

successfully landing on the cyborgs back. He placed his hands on the metal

face-plate of the cyborg, and pulled hard, as hard as he could; after ripping

off the cyborgs' faceplate to expose its deformed mouth, he leapt off as it

thrashed about, trying to shake him off. He landed behind it, and as the cyborg

turned to face him, Lighris cast a powerful bolt of lightning directly into the

cybernetic soldier. The bolt of electricity plowed through its teeth and began

to overload its internal circuity with immeasurable voltage, until the entire

body of the cyborg had burned to a blackened husk, and it fell to the ground

with a sickening crunch.

Lighris clapped his hands together, scoffing despite

his bruises. "Hey bro!" He called out to Volcan. "I thought you said these

things were tough."

"They are, but I never said they were graceful!"

Volcan called as he leapt over a cyborg and drove his morphing polearm, in the

form of a large spear, into the cyborgs' back, impaling it and severing several

key circuits; it fell limply to the ground, and ceased all movement after some

brief twitching. Just to be certain though, Volcan transformed his morphing

polearm into a poleaxe, and brought the axe blade down on the cyborgs' head,

splitting it like a ripe melon; it didn't bleed, but something clearly organic

was still present in its head and made Volcan wince when he heard it squishing

inside the skull. "Okay, that's nasty..."

Obsidian leapt out of the way of the attack of the

cyborg she faced, and thrust her hands forward as she unleashed a burst of

telekinetic energy, causing the cyborg to topple backward. As it crashed to the

dirt, Ayane leapt onto its back, pointing her gun at the back of its head and

firing point-blank directly into its skull. The cyborg flinched, but was still

moving, until Ayane put three more shots into its neck, the middle of its back,

and yet another in its head just for good measure, until finally it stopped

move. She leapt off of the cyborg, and exchanged a high-five with Obsidian.

"Yeah!" They barked.

It seemed the cyborgs were startlingly easy to trip

up, being surprisingly top-heavy and clumsy; Pavan readily demonstrated this

with his own fight. He easily outmaneuvered the cyborg chasing him, waiting

until its back was turned to him before lashing out with his whip, wrapping it

around the cyborgs' legs before he pulled with all of his strength, using both

legs and arms to generate leverage and sending the cyborg face-planting into

the dirt. With it down, Pavan drew his khanda and ran across the back of the

cyborg, using his momentum to cut into its flesh and drag his blade through its

body like a giant scalpel, slashing countless important circuits in the process

before, with a stylish backflip and midair twist, the wind phoenix chopped the

neck of the cyborg with his blade, decapitating it. "Ha! Too slow, mofo!"

Vinge ducked between the legs of the cyborg he

faced, freezing its feet to the ground in the process before tucking in and

rolling until he was back on his feet. The cyborg struggled to get loose; Vinge

opened both of his wings, and from his feathers, he began to conjure countless

ice projectiles, his eyes glowing as spikes of solid ice were formed in his

wings, and began to surround the cyborg until hundreds of them had it

surrounded from all directions. "The sting of a thousand wasps," he said before

he abruptly closed his wings and held out his hands, turning all of the ice

spikes to face point-first at the cyborg. "Is much stronger than the strike of

a single bear!" And with that, the spikes propelled themselves at the cyborg,

impaling every inch of its body with hundreds of puncture wounds; the cyborg

twitched madly for a moment, before falling limp to the ground, shattering some

ice spikes and digging the rest deeper into its body.

And finally, Rikyuu; he had conjured another large

hammer of pure energy, batting aside strikes from the cyborg before going in

with a low sweep, taking its legs clear out from under it -even denting one of

them visibly, before bringing the hammer back around and then hard onto the

cyborgs' chest, utterly crushing it with the force of the strike; sparks

exploded from the chest of the cyborg, and it never moved again.

Vanishing his hammer, Rikyuu dusted his palms with

several claps. "Well now, I guess those upgrades Kyle mentioned still need more

work."

"They were a little tougher than before, but still

slow and clumsy," said Volcan. "Still, not having my powers cut this time

definitely helped too." He looked around. "Anyone hurt?"

"Never even touched me!" Pavan barked, confidently

"Nor me," agreed Vinge.

"One of them did bop me on the head a bit but, was

using your powers at the time, Volc so, I was able to take it," replied Rikyuu.

"We're fine," Ayane spoke for her and Obsidian.

"So am I; got a scrape on the arm but, nothing

serious," added Lighris.

Volcan nodded. "I guess Rex will have to go back to

the drawing board for his upgrades," he remarked. "Let's call Gregory, and tell

him to come get the trash in the bin, eh?" He jerked his thumb towards the ice

cylinder where the rest of the I.T.O.U.E soldiers remained trapped. "Preferably

before that starts to melt."

"I'm for that," agreed Obsidian, nodding.

"I'll make sure that the prison stays intact,"

assured Vinge.

            Volcan nodded in thanks to Vinge.

"Hey bro, go help Tsume and Kyle with the rest of those gunmen in the crashed

ship, alright?"

            Lighris shrugged. "Alright,

whatever."

            ~~~~~

Rex fidgeted impatiently in his chair, eyeing the

screen of his terminal with contempt. The teams had failed to report in, and

were either unable to or refused to contact the doctor, which could only meant

one thing; they had failed, again. Rex felt he should have been concerned that

Volcan could have defeated his Retrieval Teams, or his new cyborgs; perhaps he

had overlooked something with their upgrades, something that did not make up

for their previous faults that allowed Volcan to defeat several of them even

without his powers.

"It seems that this phoenix is much more dangerous

than I thought," he stated. "I can no longer rely on my retrieval teams... I

must deal with this one myself." As he spoke, he reached forward to the

terminal and tapped several buttons, before bringing his fingers to the

keyboard, muttering to himself as he typed. "Project: Aerial Savior... Run...

diagnostic."

On the screen in front of him, numbers and letters

streamed across, while a wire frame image of something resembling a feral

wyvern appearing behind the lettering. Lines appeared on the wyvern, extending

down to different sets of lettering, forming boxes around them in highlight. He

ignored most of them; all of them were flashing green, indicating positive

results in the diagnostic.

It was the final words that appeared on the screen

that made him grin with anticipation.

"Status: READY

FOR MISSION."