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Ruination... destruction. What's left of a great city is sprawled around him, and he stands in a field splattered with blood and blackened, shapeless bodies. Zerrex frowns, eyes narrowing... and then he looks slowly up towards the top of a massive steel girder, where a white-robed figure in a golden bird mask stands, his identity hidden from the world... but his large, feathered wings marking him as an angel. His hands glow with strange golden energy, and upon his feet are a pair of sandals... and at his side, a sword is tucked into his belt, the blade straight and double-edged, and smoldering with blue fire.

"Creature of the South!" the angel pronounces, in a voice that booms as it points at him. "You are filled with both darkness and Darkness... yet you fought your father, the Red King, the Red Beast, the Red Sunset... and now you stand here in the fields of slaughter... yet you look grim. Why is this, when you are yourself a monster all-but-borne from the brow of Wrath?"

"I don't like... I... destruction isn't... is..." Zerrex looked down, snarling a bit as he found he couldn't speak the words, wondering if he could only speak his truest, darkest desires in this strange vision... and then he looked up and said clearly, voice unwavering: "Because to destroy pointlessly, meaninglessly... is wrong. Because there was no need for this violence... because Hell's assault on this world is my responsibility to deal with."

The angel laughed, then shook its head slowly, shouting in return: "Pride reveals the silver tongue of a fool to only be worthless clay! This is the responsibility of those who now burn for an eternity in Hell, most of whom will be broken into foot soldiers for the Abyss's armies and turned against one another in slaughter; and he who set this chain of events in motion is the Red Beast. Yet you did fail, Southern Lord... in both reaching the generator and stopping these events from unfolding as they were written in the Prophecy, and much faith has been lost in you. We do not believe you are capable of saving the Mechanical Island you call Lunis, so turn back and prepare for other struggles in the days ahead."

Zerrex shook his head vehemently at this, gesturing angrily around at the field. "And let this happen? Hell no! I have the tools to stop Lunis, I-"

"I have fulfilled my obligation here. You have your orders." The angel interrupted coldly, and then it drew its sword, which burst into red fire, which turned into a pillar of bright light as the celestial creature held it skywards, and Zerrex yelled in shock, covering his eyes as rays that shone with all the intensity of the sun flared out in all directions and turned everything white-

"Ouch, you motherfucker!" Cherry yelled, and Zerrex blinked stupidly to wake up to her straddling him, holding his wrists against his chest with one hand and the other rubbing at her eye slowly. "You poked me in the fucking eye! That hurt, you shithead!" A pause, and then she blinked and frowned as Zerrex continued to look at her dumbly. "Dude. You okay?"

"Bad dreams." Zerrex said finally, and he groaned a bit, sitting up as Cherry shifted off him, continuing to look at him curiously as she shifted her hands out to grasp his shoulders and rub at them slowly, light filtering in from the hall as he rubbed sleep from his eyes with a mumble. "What time is it, anyway?"

"Eight forty-two." Cherry said after a moment, and then she made a face as she squeezed the Drakkaren's shoulders gently, asking in a softer voice: "You sure there's nothing bothering you? There's been some crazy shit happening over the last while, and we haven't exactly had much time to really sit down and talk about things lately."

Zerrex smiled a bit over his shoulder at her, then he nodded after a moment. "Yeah, Cherry, I'm good... thank you." He added quietly, then he sighed softly and stood up, muttering as he arched his back and it cracked loudly, a steady ache rolling through his body in waves. "I'm too old for nights like last night."

Cherry snorted at this, jumping out of bed and slapping the Drakkaren's ass firmly as she strolled by, saying playfully over her shoulder: "Dude, you'll never be too old for that... I'll be jumping your bones come your hundredth birthday and you'll be the one wearing me out." A wink, and then she slipped out of the room, hammering doors as she passed them and yelling: "Wake the hell up, people!"

Zerrex rolled his eyes a bit at her enthusiasm, but he couldn't help a smile from spreading over his muzzle at the same time, limping over to a side cabinet and pulling it open to reveal a menagerie of strange items inside: guns, swords, knives, and a few canes of all shape and size. The reptile muttered a bit as he checked over the latter, and then he gently picked up a full-steel one with a thick black body and the head in shape of a primal dragon of old, complete with horns and spines... then he put it back in favor of a plain-looking alloy one that was slightly taller but had a twisting silver design along the body. The real difference, however, was that the handle of the dragon cane twisted off to reveal a thin blade secreted inside the body of the pole... whereas the silver-twist cane turned into a stun rod when the right amount of pressure was applied to the right part of the handle, and everything but the insulated grip and roughly the foot below it would emit a high-voltage electrical charge upon contact with anything. Only by squeezing the handle again could the taser system be deactivated.

The reptile closed the doors of the furnishing, then he snagged a shirt from his dressed, putting his on as he stumbled out into the hall before wandering down towards the kitchen, watching as Cherry yawned and sat down at the table, the coffeemaker burbling quietly behind her. As he sat down at the table, Cindy and Mahihko came out of a room, the latter heading for the bathroom and the former walking sleepily over to the table, idly adjusting her white top and then sitting down beside Zerrex to yawn and then smile at him. "Hello Daddy... how'd you sleep?"

"Okayish... what about you?" He tilted his head, as Cindy nodded and made a seesawing motion with her hand as Marina came down the hall next, looking tired but then brightening as her eyes settled on her father. Instead of making for a chair, she plopped herself down in his lap, and he coughed a bit as she hugged him tightly around the neck. "Good... morning, Marina."

"Good morning, Daddy!" she chirped, then smiled and kissed his cheek loudly, Cherry covering her muzzle as Cindy looked at them with amusement and suspicion. "Do you want anything? I'd be happy to cook you some breakfast."

"That's okay." A glance over her, and Zerrex blinked before coughing as he realized she was wearing a black miniskirt and a tight halter-top. She's going to give me prosta-tot families if she keeps wearing stuff like this... it's like she purposefully shops for sizes that are too small for her. "Uh... everyone, we're... I'd like to be ready to take the train south this afternoon, so we'll all have to pack up a change of clothes or two and any personal equipment, as I went over with you yesterday..."

"Already done." Cindy rose a hand, and everyone gave her a sour look, and she shrugged tiredly, smiling a bit. "Mahihko is too, for a change. Don't worry, I'll deal with packing up all the weaponry, too, just like last time, while you guys are packing up your stuff... then I guess..." she yawned, and leaned back tiredly in her chair, rubbing at her head. "Ugh, it's too early to think about this crap. I still need to wake up, then I'll call you all losers."

The father figure of the family nodded a bit, making a slight face nonetheless at Cindy's organizational skills. Ugh. She makes us all look bad. "Alright, thank you then, Cindy. Since that'll take a while, I'll have Cherry go and legitimately rent us a truck, too." A glare over at Cherry, who made a face and stuck her tongue out, blowing a loud raspberry at him. "I don't want to attract any undue attention."

"You only attract bad shit when you're messy, and I'm a professional even at GTA." Cherry responded airily, waving a hand and then rolling her eyes upwards as she crossed her hands under her enormous breasts. "But you know, if you're scared and shit... I understand perfectly fine why you'd rather I spend a grand or so on a hauler when I could just as easily steal us a big ol' truck... but hey, I guess someone here has to be a pussy, and remind us about what's legal and what's not and shit..."

Zerrex glared at her, but Cherry only whistled a bit and tapped her hands against the table before jumping to her feet and strolling down the hall as the toilet flushed, and a minute later Mahihko came out into the kitchen, looking sleepily around at everyone before asking dumbly: "Why isn't breakfast being made? Are we going out this morning?"

Zerrex perked his head up at this... and ten minutes later, the entire family â€" minus Cherry, who had come out of the bathroom to an empty house and was currently obsessively checking every room in the hopes that her whole family was hiding under the bed â€" was walking down the street, Mahihko beaming brightly and supported on Zerrex's shoulder and bicep with his legs primly crossed, dressed in a little girl's sailor suit outfit complete with beret. The others had thrown on more casual clothes, but Zerrex had to admit that sometimes it was fun to pretend that Mahihko was either an overgrown six year old or simply mentally-defective, and he thought he'd earned a little treat for providing him with a nice little act of revenge on Cherry.

They stopped at a breakfast diner about fifteen minutes away, and Zerrex guessed it would take Cherry about an hour to seventy minutes to find them here... assuming, of course, she hadn't gotten any smarter over the last few millennia in Hell and she didn't get sidetracked by something shiny or pornography on the internet. In the end, however, the reptile's estimate was off only by a few minutes: it took Cherry seventy-two minutes to burst into the diner, just as the waitress was serving them their check.

A waiter stepped up to seat her, and she shoved him over, stomping past staring customers, then glaring at Zerrex before seizing Mahihko and throwing him over her shoulder and yelling loudly: "How could you kidnap our son and dress him up in those girl's clothes, you bastard! Today is my day and you know how sensitive he is!" A long pause that left everyone surrounding her in gaping silence, and then she turned away, Mahihko flailing on her shoulder.

It took fifteen minutes of apologies, excuses, and intimidation for Zerrex and his family to extract themselves from the restaurant without the police being called, and upon getting home, Cherry triumphantly held up a pair of badly-packed bags in both hands, so Zerrex punched her in her defenseless gut and then pulled the wheezing demon aside to yell at her about embarrassing him in public, as the others packed up and listened to the occasional sound of something breaking, before Cherry burst out the door and shot down the hallway, looking terrified as she scuttled out the door and past Cindy, who was stacking bags on the curb.

Zerrex appeared a moment later out the doorway, shouting and waving his cane as she ran down the street, and then he shot Cindy a deathly look as she covered a smile on the end of her muzzle with one hand. "What?"

"You and her. You two... really have something special." she said finally, and Zerrex mumbled something before heading back inside to pack his things.

By late afternoon, everything had been dealt with, and the five of them were crammed into the van Cherry had rented with their stuff packed behind them. Mahihko sat nervously between Cherry and Marina in the back seat, and Zerrex stretched out in the front as he discussed the plan for the next few days with Cindy, before he glanced behind himself to the others and said mildly: "Be good, kids, or we'll pull the van over and beat the crap out of you."

"You're a wonderful parent, Zerrex." Cherry muttered, rubbing idly at a large bump on her head. "Besides. You do realize that this means you've started a revenge war, and you should know by now there's no limits in a revenge war."

"Cherry, we're... how old, now?" The reptile asked morbidly, locking glares with her as she crossed her arms and huffed. "It's easier to just pull you aside and yell at you every now and then rather than... concoct some crazy scheme to get back at you for putting saran wrap over the toilet seat or whatever juvenile prank you've planned."

"Yeah, well, here's the first." Cherry grinned as they pulled onto the road, and Zerrex frowned a bit as she leaned in close to him, then whispered: "I stole the van, then I called in an anonymous tip to the police about it. Game on, bitch."

Zerrex's eyes widened, and a moment later he heard the sirens of a police car as Cherry cackled, earning her a terrified look from Mahihko and a furious glare from Marina, before the van lurched as Cindy muttered: "Screw this."

The van's engine roared as she stomped on the gas, and she shot through the stop ahead a moment later, the police car behind them immediately accelerating as Cherry squealed in the backseat, flailing stupidly and whacking both Marina and Mahihko with her struggles. "I didn't call in a tip, I didn't call in a tip, I was lying, what the fuck are you doing? Cindy!" A pause as even she winced at the turn Cindy took ahead, the female muttering as she worked the stick of the old-fashioned van, Zerrex scrunched down in his seat and looking horrified as they plowed through a fence and shot down an alley narrow enough that metal screamed against brick on both sides of the vehicle. "Cindy, fuck, you aren't me!"

"Shut up, I'm doing fine." Cindy muttered as they tore out of the alley and flew towards a lamppost, and she immediately shoved the van into reverse and spun the wheel to the side, the greater part of the vehicle's inhabitants letting out some sound of terror as the van spun backwards around the lamppost before she threw it back into drive, and they shot down the sidewalk, knocking a postal box over before pulling back onto the street as the police car shot into the intersection ahead, now joined by a military jeep as several other cars on the main road ground to a halt and immediately tried to reverse away.

The Drakkaren grit her teeth at the sight of the makeshift barricade of cars that were bumbling all over each other, along with the jeep and cruiser: being caught by the police was bad enough, but a military patrol would likely land them in another fight. So immediately, she spun the van around in a sharp U-turn, then shot down the road opposite, before muttering under her breath at the sight of another jeep driving into the intersection â€" except this one had a machinegun mounted on top and a soldier operating it. "This is harder than I thought."

"Cindy, please!" Zerrex babbled in the side seat, and then he stared as Cindy simply rushed the jeep, the gunner hesitating and then ducking back into the vehicle, the jeep hastily jerking towards the side of the road. The van shot by it, then twisted around the next corner and curled into another back alleyway, a terrified hobo leaping into a niche in the wall as Cindy squeezed the van between the squat buildings along this street, running down a fence and through a back yard and into an abandoned parking lot where a few moldering wrecks sat.

She slowed here, then pulled carefully back out onto the street, loitering gently along despite the sirens in the distance, and Zerrex looked into his rearview mirror to stare at the sight of the military jeeps in the background and the police cruiser sitting in a little circle at the corner, the drivers all yelling at each other before Cindy gently turned the next corner and resumed driving normally, saying pleasantly: "Let's turn on some music."

A click of the radio knob, and some scratchy classic rock started playing through the tinny speakers, and Zerrex slowly slumped in the chair as Mahihko and Marina both trembled, their bickering put aside to instead cling to each other as Cherry leaned forwards and mumbled to Zerrex: "Let's take revenge on her. We almost died at least a kajillion times."

"Agreed." Zerrex said tiredly, and then he closed his eyes dazedly as Cherry fell over on the others with a groan, rubbing at her head slowly, Cindy still humming cheerfully to herself. And I thought if I had her drive instead of Cherry we'd avoid the inevitable car chase... my nerves can't take much more of this stress, seriously...

The rest of the ride towards the train station wasn't difficult: at the station itself, Cherry and Zerrex argued pointlessly with a Dragokkaren conductor even bigger than both of them for roughly ten minutes about the exorbitant price he was charging due to the fact they were bringing weapons on board, both of them waving their NEWLAND identification and making vain threats until the conductor glowered at them and threatened to charge them per item instead of by the entire package. It left the two sulking as Cindy handed out train tickets, noting that it was a seven day journey to Port Hope, the closest they could hope to get to Lunis and where Albatross had a ship waiting to smuggle them aboard in eight days.

With forty minutes to kill, Cindy helped the train workers load their luggage, chatting idly with them, and Cherry and Zerrex went off to watch the government-controlled news in one of the terminals to find out what their explanation for the sudden zombie attacks across the globe were caused by. That left Marina taking care of Mahihko, who was quietly chewing on a chocolate bar as he looked at her bashfully every now and then, until she finally gave a sour expression and muttered: "No, I will not hold your hand. Aren't you a little old for all this kiddy crap you play, wolf? Not everyone finds it cute."

"You can really be a bitch sometimes, Marina." The wolf mumbled, and then he blushed and leaned away from her, dropping his chocolate bar and raising his hands as she stepped threateningly towards him. "I'm sorry!"

"Great." Marina muttered, then she pointed towards a small store at the other side of the platform they were currently standing on. "Go in there and get me a bottle of water." A pause at the wolf's pout and big eyes, and then he winced again as she glared at him. "I know you don't have any money on you, go beg some off Zerrex or just steal it. Here, I'll even make it easy for you."

She snagged one of the wolf's wrists, half-dragging him over to look through the window of the convenience store at the clerk inside, then she leaned down and muttered: "He's reading a nude magazine. When a customer enters a store and attracts his attention, he hides it for about half a minute, but then he takes it back out since most of them just go in to watch the news on the television or read the newspaper and put it back. He doesn't care which, if they leave him alone. Interest yourself in the TV for a few minutes, then just take a bottle of water from the rack and walk out. It's that easy."

Mahihko trembled, staring at her and trying to pull his wrist away â€" Marina's grip was like iron, and her hostility combined with her terrible psychic powers felt like it was making him melt away. After a moment of struggling, she shoved him towards the door and growled at him to do it, before she turned and simply walked away, leaving him to tremble violently and try to get himself under control. It's wrong to do that... but if I don't do it... then... then Marina will hurt me, and that will be a lot worse than getting caught...

Marina, however, had already lost interest in the wolf as she walked up to some business person in a suit, smiling at him and pointing at his unopened coffee, saying warmly as her eyes glowed: "You should give that to me."

"I sure should. Aren't you just the most beautiful girl I've ever seen?" The bear said dumbly, and then he held out his coffee and Marina smiled, turning and letting her miniskirt give him a flash of panty before she strode away, and the ursine stood stupidly in place for a few moments, his mind jumbled and confused as he stared at his open hand before slowly closing it, the warmth of holding the hot coffee quickly fading with his memory of what had just occurred.

Marina, meanwhile, strode over to a bench near the engine and sat down, frowning a bit as she watched the huge Dragokkaren conductor check over his watch with a grimace. She peered at him, and then he slowly looked over to her, before giving the female a flat look, saying mildly: "Don't even try it, missy-miss. I'm not giving you, the muscle-head, your father, or anyone else for that matter, any sort of discount on fairs, no matter what you had in mind on doing to me or however you wanted to butter me up. You aren't getting any of your money back, and you should stop pushing people around like that poor wolf I saw you heckling earlier, or you might just run into someone who pushes back, and hard."

"Just because you speak in long old-person sentences doesn't make you smart." Marina replied irritably, then she glanced over the conductor, at his spotless uniform with its many golden buttons and the silver pocketwatch he held in his hand, then her eyes glowed as she reached forwards into the Dragokkaren's mind. "You think you could push me around?"

He looked at her for a few moments, then he frowned, gritting his teeth and tilting his head to the side slowly, before his eyes widened in shock and he staggered, several people glancing over at him but apparently none concerned enough to help. A moment later, she drew back the mental stick she'd slowly been shoving into his mind, and he straightened with a grunt before looking down at the broken silver watch â€" his grip had tightened so much he'd shattered it, and Marina smiled coldly at him as he breathed hard.

"Marina!" Zerrex approached slowly, leaning a bit to one side as she immediately leapt to her feet, and she held the coffee out to him with a beaming smile. He blinked slowly, then took it with his free hand, murmuring: "Thank you... but Marina, please. I know you're bored and anxious, but..."

"Excuse me, but is this yours?" interrupted another voice, and the two turned to stare at a large security officer holding a terrified-looking Mahihko up by the ruff of the neck, the thickly-muscled Bengal tiger looking at him with distaste before touching the wolf's stomach with his nightstick, and Mahihko whined loudly, curling tighter into his little ball, one hand tightly clinging a bottle of water and his mouth smeared with chocolate. "He... it... was stealing candy from the confectionary across the platform. He also refuses to let go of this water bottle."

Zerrex glared at Marina, then he looked down at the coffee he was holding before tossing it aside, and Marina winced as if she'd been struck, watching as the Drakkaren hung his cane from one arm and pulled out his wallet, muttering under his breath as he pulled out a pair of tens and held it out to the guard. "For whatever he took. I'll deal with him." He grunted, and the security officer nodded before unceremoniously tossing the wolf at the reptile's feet, then taking the money and folding them into his pocket: where they'd likely stay, from the expression on his face.

"You take care now." he said, then turned away, unclipping his radio and muttering something into it as he strolled away: hopefully an all-clear signal. Mahihko, meanwhile, was sobbing on the ground in a little ball, and Marina looked down shamefully as Zerrex glared over them both.

A sigh, and then he shook his head, sitting down on the bench before returning his gaze up to his daughter, murmuring quietly: "When am I going to be able to trust you not to do things like this, Marina? Mahihko, whatever else he is, is a member of this family, and we don't use the gifts and abilities we have to help ourselves without regard for others..." A pause, and then he leaned down to Mahihko, adding quietly: "And you can't always give in to your urges, and just be a child all the live-long-day, except for mission time. I recognize you don't want that responsibility, but it's on you, Mahihko, to grow up and begin acting like a rational adult. What the hell were you doing in there?"

The wolf sniffled, then he sat up, exchanging a look with Marina as he rubbed at his muzzle before putting the water bottle aside, trembling and then whimpering: "Marina told me to steal a water for her... so I d-did... b-b-but I saw the c-candy and I was h-hungry and she s-s-scared me so I dropped my candy from earlier so I s-started eat-eating it and..." With that, he burst into tears on the ground, covering his face and falling over on the cold cement.

Zerrex rubbed at his head slowly, feeling utterly humiliated as passengers walked by, and then he sighed and reached down, gently pulling Mahihko towards him, and the little wolf leapt into his lap, burying his head against his chest and sobbing quietly as Zerrex held him, looking away and closing his eyes as he rocked the lupine gently in his arms. It was dirty, but it was the quickest way to calm Mahihko down... and as much as the reptile hated to encourage the little wolf's childlike behavior at times like this, he also hated the unwanted attention it was attracting from other people on the platform and the wolf's relentless crying.

Marina sat down on the bench beside him, looking down silently, and he didn't even need to speak to her to chastise her further: he could feel her mental fingers probing his mind, and he couldn't help but push at them gently with his own mind â€" even though he lacked any psychic ability, he was still able to make his will clear and nudge Marina's mental search backwards, and she quickly retreated from picking through his mind to only sit quietly.

After a few minutes, Cherry came over and grimaced at the sight of Mahihko being gently shifted out of the Drakkaren's lap to the bench: he'd cried himself to sleep, and it didn't take more than a look from Zerrex for Cherry to figure out what had happened. She shook her head a bit, then beckoned to him, and he nodded, carefully climbing to his feet and walking over to her.

The conductor was nowhere in sight, and Zerrex guessed he'd left sometime after Mahihko had started sobbing on his lap... but then Cherry nudged him, and then strode further down the platform together along the guard rail at the edge of the platform before Cherry stopped at the divider and sighed, rubbing her head slowly. "Boss, they're running security checks... Cindy told me after they checked her, the loading crew, and the luggage over. They confiscated some of our equipment and guns, and now they're searching for you and me, specifically. Cindy only escaped because she's been working with the loaders and they didn't bother to ask if she was part of the group or not."

"Wonderful." Zerrex muttered, shaking his head slowly, then he glanced over her. "You might as well go ahead and change your shape... listen, I'll find a place to hide on the train. Make sure the others get on as soon as possible, and I'll try and find you inside sometime."

"If they do checks at every stop, we're fucked, Zerrex... especially if they send crews to patrol and check out every passenger, and you know they will." Cherry shook her head, frowning and looking disgusted. "Fucking Republic my ass... this is just another petty empire. We're better killing them and hiding their bodies here..."

"Then they'll shut down the trains." Zerrex responded calmly, before he glanced to the side and watched as a security guard strolled absently past, before giving a grim smile. "See if you can sneak into the locker rooms and take the place of a security officer, or maybe that conductor. He's huge enough, after all."

"I'd rather have him as a fuckbuddy than an enemy." Cherry grunted, then she glanced towards the security officer before licking her muzzle slowly and closing her eyes, concentrating and shifting her body down to a lithe lizard, her clothes loose around an attractive, slender body with larger curves in all the right places, her scales becoming a shimmering blue. "I'll go grab a security guard and see if I can pack an extra uniform for you." A pause, and a slight grin. "You still remember how to change your body's size, right? Last time we were playing around with that, I only remember you changing the size of one part of-"

"Just go!" Zerrex grumbled, shoving her lightly, and she grinned and winked as the Drakkaren turned around, giving the faintest of smiles. Even in the darkest of times, Cherry always had her perversion and vulgar humor to fall back on... and then the reptile jackknifed the barricade and landed on the rails below quietly, carefully slipping around the train and down the side of the sleek body of the engine, before making a face at the sight of the conductor walking slowly down the rails with a clipboard in hand, jotting notes and grumbling to some jackal in a white suit.

Zerrex dropped down on his stomach and crawled into a gap between the wheels, making a face at how tight the quarters were beneath the train and slowly inching forwards, as the heavy boots of the Dragokkaren thudded past. "-so I do need some money for repairs... the hatch is loose and most of the locks are broken. Besides, with these security personnel on board, I'm sure more shit is going to happen... every time the Irenic Military boards my train, we end up with someone dying and a whole cabin needing repairs from unnecessary gunfire."

"Would you prefer the terrorists to blow up the train or derail it at a security checkpoint?" asked the jackal drolly, his voice clipped with the accent of another land. "While I recognize that you aren't a fan of Ire's military forces, perhaps due in part to your... heritage... you will obey them and do as they say. You're carrying a very valuable cargo in the storage compartment and the extra muscle will be appreciated greatly by the Company..." The boots stopped, Zerrex carefully crawled towards another gap in the wheels, but staying in earshot of the jackal and listening attentively. "And you will cooperate with every security checkpoint you pass through! With the recent disaster that's occurred, I expect nothing less than the best results from you. If this train is late for any reason, you can go back to handing out tickets, Sirius."

"Understood." Sirius muttered, and the jackal's footsteps faded quickly, before the Dragokkaren added once he was out of earshot: "Jackoff."

The heavy crunch of the conductor's boots disappeared in the opposite direction, and Zerrex wiggled himself out from under the train before resuming his quick walk down the side of the train, making a bit of a face at the design: magnetic locks meant the cars could be pressed almost end-to-end for maximum safety when walking between cars, and a extension-latch system beneath meant the compartments could pull apart at sharper turns and still remain locked together... and it also made the train cars a hell of a lot harder to sneak into. But just past the halfway point, Zerrex found a ladder resting against the side of a car that had been undergoing repairs, and he quickly climbed up it and slipped onto the roof, making a face at how open the area was and the fact that anyone milling on the platform would likely be able to see him.

He quickly slid along the top of the car, keeping himself as low as possible before noting the emergency hatch at the far end of the compartment roof. He made his way over to it, then grunted and jerked it open after several tries, wincing at the screech of bolts before he slid inside and dropped down to the floor.

He'd arrived in an empty passenger car with ugly white walls and plain seats: most likely one of the coach compartments. A pause, and then he flipped his cane over to grasp it by the end, using the curved handle to yank down the roof hatch by the red emergency handle on the underside of the door. It refused to lock into place, however, and the Drakkaren made a face before he heard angry voices outside, and he quickly turned around and shoved his way through the door and into the next compartment with a wince, slamming the doors he passed through behind him.

It was similar to the other car, except this one had bathroom stalls that looked almost like port-a-potties, the reptile making a face before striding over to one marked with a blue male on the front and hiding in it, closing the door behind him and locking it. He found it ridiculously cramped, and worse, it stank as he sat on the toilet, and he crossed his arms as he tried to stave off the realization that being huger than everything else had very, very serious disadvantages.

The reptile did his best not to shift at all, breathing quietly through his mouth as he heard people come into this car... and someone grumbled: "Check the stalls... might be some fucking kid. Shit, I didn't even realize the hatch was broken in that car as well..."

"Dude, screw it." mumbled another voice, footsteps moving impatiently back and forth. "You know what? Even if we find the punk, what the shit are we going to do? I ain't taking no one to the security teams out there, that's for sure... and Aztec would kill us all. Better to just tell Sirius we have a stowaway and fix the hatch."

"Third option: no one has to tell Sirius, and we just fix the hatch. There's going to be a security team searching the train, anyway... let them deal with anyone hiding on board." added another voice, and there was a grumble of consent from the others before they left the compartment, and Zerrex release a sigh of relief... then immediately choked on his next breath at the terrible smell and flailed his way out of the toilet compartment.

He headed further down the car, and a moment later the doors opened, a voice shouting: "Load up! Ten minutes to departure, everyone load up!" A pause, and then this message began to blare over the loudspeakers, and Zerrex mumbled under his breath before ducking into another toilet stall and locking the door as he sat hunched up atop the toilet.

Twelve minutes later, he felt the train lurch... and as it began to slowly roll forwards, the Drakkaren slipped out of the stall and then slowly strolled towards the front of the compartment, leaning on his cane and smiling a bit at people who squeezed past, trying to act older and more infirm that he was.

He slid into the next compartment, closing the door behind him... and immediately he was shoved against the door by a wolf in riot armor, his visor pushed up to reveal stern, haggard features as he barked: "Ticket!"

Zerrex winced and drew back against the door, then he slowly pulled his ticket from his pocket, murmuring: "Here it is... see? I was just stretching my leg..."

"Stretch this." The wolf struck the Drakkaren's bad knee with the butt of his rifle, then he shoved the body of the gun against Zerrex's neck, half-throttling him back against the wall with one hand on the stock and the other the barrel, people staring as he snarled: "We're looking for someone matching your description, old lizard... our orders are to execute on sight if the suspect shows any signs of resisting arrest." A pause, and he looked over his shoulder to a lion who was shaking down a couple near the front of the train. "Ericson! Come here, get this bastard's ID!"

The feline grunted, then strolled over, slowly rubbing his submachine gun as he grinned widely, saying teasingly: "Don't even think about trying anything, motherfucker... we've got training, we've got talent, we've got style, and you're just an old piece of shit who don't even got a gun to defend hisself with."

Ericson reached down for the Drakkaren's pocket as Zerrex remained passive, wincing at the assault rifle's steel body digging against his neck... and then he swung his arms hard upwards and leaned back against the door, the wolf's features shocked as his assault rifle was knocked flying over his head before the Drakkaren landed a hard palm strike to the center of his chest, knocking him flat on his ass before the reptile swung his other elbow up into Ericson's head, the lion groaning and falling over as his gun tumbled uselessly to the floor.

The wolf spasmed a few times on the ground, and Zerrex made a bit of a face as he stepped carefully over the lion to push the end of his cane gently under the lupine's chin, saying softly: "You'd better cool down, soldier... in this world, nothing's what it seems. You and your friend should just forget this ever took place, huh?" A pause, and then he added in a mutter: "And this is for that cheap shot to my leg."

The Drakkaren spun his cane around and slapped the wolf hard under the chin, and his head rocked as he let out a gargle of pain, clutching at his broken jaw and shuddering on the floor before Zerrex strode onwards, some people staring in horror and covering their children's eyes, and others clapping and cheering as the reptile made his way into the next car, only to immediately run into another security officer.

His bulging musculature barely fit into his riot uniform, and his black-tinted visor was down to shield his eyes, but the muzzle of a Drakkaren poked out from the helmet as he strode forwards cockily, a massive shotgun resting on one shoulder... and then Zerrex said mildly: "Cherry, I know it's you. I recognize the trademark sway of your ass."

"Shut up!" Cherry stormed immediately, and then the now-he cleared his throat, Cherry's voice becoming a lower, more masculine baritone. "Is this better? Don't answer that." A glance at a nearby passenger who was staring dumbly at them, and he snarled: "What the fuck are you looking at, bitch?"

The rabbit squeaked and hid under his blanket, and Zerrex rolled his eyes before Cherry cleared his throat, mumbling as he leaned in close and patting the golden symbol of Ire on his left breast: "I doppelganged a sergeant... it was the highest-ranking officer I could get, the commander of the operation always has two lieutenants at his sides at all times. Ninety percent of the passengers on this train don't like Ire, though, I can tell you that from some of the shit I've had thrown at me and the remarks behind my back. I tell you, it was so much more fun when I could just set shit that pissed me off on fire, that was the good ol' military..."

"Except there wasn't anything remotely ‘good' about it..." Zerrex reminded him, looking over Cherry mildly. "But fine then, ‘sergeant,' can you at least tell me where the others are?"

"Two cars up, in cabin D." Cherry responded promptly. "I got you guys a private room to try and keep the tension level down. I'll be along to join you as soon as I can dig up enough information and find an excuse to get away from the others... there's fourteen soldiers total." Cherry paused as another security officer entered the room, then shoved Zerrex hard against the back door, shouting in his face: "Yeah, well, next time I see you, asshole, I'll break you in half! Now get the fuck back to your seat!"

"You suck." Zerrex mumbled out the side of his muzzle, then he brushed himself off and did his best to slink away from Cherry, dragging his leg a bit more and grasping his side as the other soldier who'd just entered the compartment grinned, then strode past the reptile, shoving Zerrex over onto a couple and kicking him once for good measure, the Drakkaren grunting in pain and glaring after the zebra before climbing to his feet. "I'm sorry... please excuse me." He murmured, then frowned a bit as the horse he'd landed on stared at him stupidly, his wife flushing from beneath the veil she was wearing and hiding her face. "Do I know you?"

"No, no... not that I know..." the horse shook his head, trembling a bit, and then he offered a weak smile, and Zerrex put it off to nerves, striding away and making a face. As the lizard left the compartment, Timothy Lyon swallowed and then wrapped an arm around his wife as their son peeked over the chair in front of him with a snarl. "That was..."

"Let's kill the fucker!" Robert Lyon hissed, adjusting the bandana he wore around his head with one hand as his torn leather vest half-slid down his emaciated arms. "I'll kill him with my bare hands, Dad! I'll tear him apart!"

"Quiet, Robbie." Timothy murmured, holding up a hand to him before glancing over to his wife, squeezing her gently and saying softly: "You see, darling? I told you the time would come when we'd have our revenge... and it's been many years, but I don't think any of us would forget his face, no matter how deformed he has become. We'll speak with the commander when he does his routine patrol of the compartments and the eager military folk will surely not only take him into custody, but kill him."

"As long as they do it slowly." Susannah looked down, her eyes flaring as she remembered Zerrex storming into her office, only to do terrible things to her... a rape so vicious she hadn't even told her husband the full details. "He must suffer for what he did to all of us... for what he did to our beautiful town."

Meanwhile, the Drakkaren was trying to place the face of the horse... he could swear that he'd seen him somewhere before. After a few minutes though, he gave up, making a face as he walked into another compartment and then checked cabin D in the narrow hall between private rooms in this luxury car and grunting as he found it lost before muttering through the paneled wood: "It's me."

Immediately, the door opened, and Zerrex was hugged tightly by Marina for a moment before she pulled him into the car to sit on the bench beside her, the door automatically sliding closed and Marina locking it with a glance. He glanced dumbly across at Cindy, and she made a face, shaking her head slowly as her hands expertly reassembled a handgun. "Things are getting bad already... we might have to hijack the train and just hope they don't short the rails anywhere. I wasn't expecting security to be so tight."

Zerrex nodded slowly, putting his hands on the table between the two benches in the cabin and glancing around to note a small cabinet... and not a whole lot else. "We can keep switching trains, but until they find us, I'm sure they'll be blanketing every checkpoint and stop. Plus I already had an altercation with a pair of soldiers, but I don't think they'll be reporting what happened to their commander... they seemed more like pirates than security personnel."

"I'm pretty sure they're PMMs." Cindy said quietly, and the male frowned at this. Private Military Mercenaries? If Ire's paying people to look for us, it means they've already got all their soldiers deployed somewhere else... or they want us eliminated with as little government involvement as possible, which is very bad news. "Did you see their weaponry? Most of their guns have been modified, and their equipment looks like it was bought at a scrap barn. Stretched Kevlar vests, ratty black uniforms, old, clunky helmets without a muzzle covering or shielding to block telepathic commands... and they kept looting passengers."

"They also haven't been given clear orders on how to handle you or Cherry, if they find you..." Marina added softly, then she frowned a bit, shaking her head slowly. "But the Commander is unreadable. Whereas the others, the PMMs are all in costumes to pretend their Irenic Military, their Commander is in state of the art BAD gear and he seems very strict about procedure. He gave the conductor, Sirius, a lecture, since he's apparently safeguarding some special cargo for the railroad company he works for."

Zerrex sighed a bit, rubbing a hand through his hair and muttering quietly: "This is getting more and more complicated... and I'm sure they'll shut the train down once we reach a military checkpoint to do a ‘random search' of the entire thing, top-to-bottom. Even Cherry might get caught, even if they don't know who the hell she is. You think they'd be more concerned with the Black Holes than with trying to capture a pair of ex-military like us..."

He watched as Cindy nodded a bit and loaded a clip into a .45 handgun, and then she tucked it into her belt as Mahihko quietly played with a .357 revolver, the wolf looking out the window as he spun the cylinder quietly with one hand, murmuring: "Time's passing so fast..."

Twenty minutes passed... and then a heavy knock at the door sounded and a voice shouted: "We're conducting a search of the area! Open up immediately!" A pause, and then a mutter through the door: "And hurry the fuck up about it, so I can get this over with before anyone wanders through."

Zerrex reached over and unlocked the door, and Cherry immediately jumped inside, closing the door behind the now-himself and glancing over them all, making a face and adjusting his helmet a bit. "Thank God for shitty equipment. Look, I have to be quick: have you guys figured out these dudes are PMMs yet?" A pause, and then he scrabbled in his pocket before tossing a crumpled piece of paper onto the table with a small knit badge of a phoenix. "The Red Sun PMM, to be exact. They were supposed to have been officially disbanded, due to certain tactics they used, but apparently someone put Humpty Dumpty back together. The Commander works for Ire and- shut up!" He pointed at Cindy, glaring at her as she opened her mouth to speak. "Let me talk, I've got like, thirty seconds!

"Fuck! But... shit, where was- right! The boss is none other than Baskin himself, Boss." He made a face, and Zerrex's muzzle wrinkled in disgust as Cindy looked at him curiously. "Plus some motherfucker on board tipped him off that you dudes are here... listen, I'm going to go and tell them I found something suspicious in one of the cabins, and I want you to let yourself get caught, got it? They'll take you to Baskin and we'll kill the motherfucker. The PMMs we can burn afterwards. I gotta go."

With that, Cherry left quickly, and Zerrex made a face before shaking his head slowly as Marina said urgently: "You don't know what they'll do you, Daddy! You can't let them take you hostage!"

"Zerrex, please, who is this guy? You can't go, you should hide!" Mahihko added, looking across at him with big, scared eyes, and the Drakkaren gave a faint smile before shaking his head a bit and sitting back, the wolf slumping quietly against the table as he trembled with true fear at the idea of losing his mentor.

The reptile sighed softly, then he looked across at Cindy as Marina rubbed slowly over his shoulder and bicep, and the female's eyes questioned him: he gazed back, then spoke quietly what he could remember of the days long past. "Baskin was one of the ‘examiners' for what was all the way back then Project Scarecrow â€" a group of one hundred people with special powers, which was eventually cut all the way down to ten. Few of the exams were fair, and many resulted in injury, even death: it didn't matter, though, because everyone who took part in that ‘experiment' was killed anyway if they failed a test... but we were just told they were ‘sent off the island,' like some sick reality TV show.

"Emmanuel Baskin was one of the physical exam trainers. He too, possessed strange abilities: in his case, he almost rivaled Vampire in his ability to regenerate wounds â€" but the key word is ‘almost,' there." A bit of a smile, glancing over Cindy and Mahihko, then to Marina at his side. "He had to have a moment of rest to let his body heal... and as I remember, it drained him considerably and left him slow and stupid after so long. Even if the BAD armor accelerates his healing ability, I'll kill him without much problem... and then we'll deal with the PMMs and we'll dump them off the train whether they're corpses or captured alive the soonest we get. We'll just have to hope we won't have to repeat this process at every checkpoint."

The others nodded slowly, then Cindy shook her head quietly. "I have to agree with the others, Daddy... I don't like it. In a closed environment, he'll have a major advantage with the BAD on..."

"I'll be alright." Zerrex said softly, then he made a bit of a face as he grabbed the crumpled paper and PMM badge on the table, shoving them into his pocket for later as someone pounded at the door and shouted something angrily. "Well, here we go."

A moment later, there was a clank, and then the door was torn open, the Dragokkaren conductor shoved aside as two soldiers stepped forwards, one of them the wolf from earlier, who looked furious enough to kill the Drakkaren here and now. The other canid, however, nudged him with his shoulder and muttered: "Calm the fuck down."

"Fuck off... Zerrex Narrius, you're under arrest. If you resist, you will be met with deadly force." A glare, and then the wolf stepped forwards and struck Zerrex hard in the face with the butt of his rifle, the Drakkaren's head snapping to the side with a grunt of pain, and rage pulsed not in his head but from behind him as the wolf whispered: "Go on... make my day and resist, you piece of shit."

He rose his gun again to strike, and the other PMM put his arm out, shaking his head quickly and then snarling: "The Commander wants him alive! Stop it right now Luke, or so help me I'll put a slug in your pussy leg!" A long pause as the two glared at each other, and then Zerrex slowly stood, quietly motioning at Marina behind his back to calm down, and after a moment, the sensation of boiling rage began to dull out.

The Drakkaren picked up his cane, and immediately Luke tore it from him, saying curtly: "Fucker can't be trusted." A pause, and then he backed slowly out of the cabin, motioning with his head for Zerrex to follow before he took the lead, and the other canid and, strangely, Sirius followed last, the huge Dragokkaren conductor glowering as Zerrex limped down the compartments.

He was led all the way to a mostly-empty storage compartment where Cherry and two other soldiers stood at attention... along with the two lieutenants and the old horse that stood between them in the BAD outfit, a long cape swirling around his body but leaving his black and white armor clearly visible. He smiled a bit as Zerrex stepped into the room, followed by the conductor and the other soldier... and then immediately raised a magnum revolver at the Drakkaren's head the moment he had a clear shot, and the reptile snarled, sidestepping and reaching out to grab a horrified Luke, twisting the wolf into his way as he half-ducked behind him, and a bullet blasted apart the lupine's head a moment later.

Baskin cursed, and then Zerrex snatched his cane from Luke's spasming hands before throwing the dead body into the horse, knocking him to the floor, the gun falling from his hand as the PMMs went into an uproar. Both lieutenants immediately stepped forwards, raising their assault rifles... and Zerrex leapt towards the one on the right, using his cane to strike the barrel of the gun downwards before striking him in the neck, crushing in the unprotected larynx of the soldier and then using him as a shield as the other lieutenant emptied several bursts into his once-compatriot.

Zerrex kicked the body towards the other soldier, but he jumped out of the way... and Baskin, too, was climbing to his feet with a snarl. That left three PMMs as well in the empty compartment that had only a pile of suitcases in the back corner and had to be at most thirty feet long and a dozen wide to deal with... without even mentioning the unknown quantity that was the conductor and Cherry. Six to two. Fair odds.

The number of enemies was severely reduced a moment later as Cherry blasted a shotgun round into the back of the closest PMM, splattering his innards over the wall opposite, before the now-he spun around, working the pump on the assault shotgun before blasting a faceful of shell into the PMM across the room, and he fell with a scream. The last PMM tried to shoot Cherry, but the male barely twitched to the side, the bullet flying past and loudly ricocheting off the metal side of the train.

At the same time, Zerrex had rushed not the lieutenant who was currently firing bursts at him, but instead Baskin, leaping forwards and striking hard down with his cane... but the horse had already managed his feet and input the activation code on the BAD, and he blocked the strike with both arms before sending out a surge of energy that sent Zerrex staggering backwards, the horse rasping: "You know, I've waited a long time for this..."

The Drakkaren readied himself as the lieutenant who had been targeting him hesitated, then decided to switch targets and go for Cherry instead, and Zerrex turned his full attention to Emmanuel Baskin as he gripped the handle for a moment, almost massaging it before electricity flickered over the end of his cane, a small metal prod extending from the rubber tip as he muttered: "Holding a grudge will kill you, you know."

The Commander snorted at this, then he leapt forwards, and Zerrex swung his cane around in an easy upwards arc, electricity sparking off the glowing arms of the horse and sending him staggering backwards, before he laughed rustily and held up a hand, firing a short burst of energy that washed over Zerrex and sent him staggering backwards, cutting through his scales like small knives. "Everything dies eventually, so what does it matter? I'm supposed to bring you in alive, but I have no qualms about telling them how you had to be ‘put down' for the safety of everyone on board..."

Zerrex shook his head quickly, snarling a bit as he rolled his shoulders as he tried to shake off the dazed feeling running through his body, before he stepped quickly forwards and swung in hard at one of Baskin's knees, but the horse leapt backwards, leaving twin ripples of force in the air before he kicked off the wall behind him in a dive towards the Drakkaren... and Zerrex immediately spun almost gracefully to the side as he cocked his cane behind him, before slamming it into the horse's gut and sending the old, brown-haired stallion crashing into the shutter door that led to the outside world. He collapsed in a heap at the edge of it, then slowly sat up, panting hard and snarling... before his eyes bulged as the door tore off its hinges behind him, pinwheeling his arms as one of his feet lifted off the ground, before he managed to slam it down and stand straight with a triumphant: "Ha!"

Then his eyes widened before Zerrex's cane bounced off his face, and he fell with a scream out into the field they were passing through, and the Drakkaren dived forwards, catching his cane before it could get sucked out into the rapidly-passing fields beyond and grinning a bit, then he winced and covered his head as something strong grabbed his feet and dragged him away from the edge. A moment later, he sat up... and stared as Sirius grimly offered him a hand, a gun in his other one as Cherry stood beside him, the still-he grinning but speaking in his real voice as he leaned against the Dragokkaren: "Big boy here doesn't like being bossed around."

Sirius blinked and jumped away from Cherry as if shocked, and Zerrex laughed a bit as he sat up... before he made a face at a high whistling in the air, muttering: "Right. Of course it's not going to be easy."

Sirius frowned, but Cherry quickly threw her shotgun down and picked up a rifle from the ground, Zerrex standing slowly and half-leaning on his cane as Baskin flew back into view, looking only a bit beaten up, blue and white energy bursting from his boots in a terrible lightshow and propelling him alongside the fast-moving, his arms raised as behind him, city ruins faded into almost scenic fields and mountainside.

Cherry fired a blast into the horse, but a translucent shell flickered into bare visibility around him, and the bullets were thrown wide by some sort of defense mechanism a moment before he returned fire with two blasts of energy. Zerrex cursed a bit at this, dodging one and slapping hard with his cane at the other, and it sparked with blue electricity that repelled the ionized sphere and sent it backwards to smash into Baskin, knocking him spinning off course with a scream of protest from the machinery he was wearing.

Seeing her opportunity, Cherry immediately rose her rifle and fired again: not at his body, but this time at one of his boots, and the bullets collided, the boot hissing and plasma bursting out of it like blood before it simply exploded in a terrible blue nova, and Baskin was thrown forwards with a shriek that carried even over the wind, for a moment flying ahead of the train before twisting around and crashing into one of the cars behind them. A moment later, there was a massive explosion, and Zerrex grunted as the train was rocked by the force, the lights of the vehicle flickering wildly for a few moments before things settled, leaving only a quiet burning behind... and then the conductor covered his head with a groan and he ran towards the back door of the compartment, throwing it open as he cursed angrily in Hez'Rannan.

Zerrex and Cherry traded a look, and then the Drakkaren muttered: "I'm not leaving him to possibly get eaten by the vengeful spirit of Emmanuel. Let's go back and check out what happened."

Cherry nodded, and Zerrex took a moment to turn off the electrical current in the cane before limping forwards as the now-he asked curiously: "By the way, did you get a chance to read over the note I gave you? It's something about Emmanuel's plans... but if there's any pieces left of his stuff, maybe we can salvage some information."

The Drakkaren nodded a bit, then he made a face as he stepped into the next cargo apartment, watching as Sirius shoved his way through the disorganized heaps of suitcases and crates with a fire extinguisher, blasting small flames here and there before stopping at a hole that had been knocked in the roof and soaking it and the area around it with the chemical foam, muttering something under his breath. A sigh, and then he tossed the fire extinguisher away and grabbed his head, before he looked up at the others and grimaced. "You know, this is the one day I need things to go right. I'm supposed to be bringing a big shipment of some sort of cargo to the docks within a week, and if I fail, I'm going to be demoted all the way down to janitor. Do you know how hard it is for a Dragokkaren from Hez'Ranna to get a job in Ire? Even Drakkaren have an easier time, because they don't resemble those big, hulking clones.

"Sure, I get it, times are tough. But I was trained as an engineer and trains are my specialty. I built this goddamn train, I know the design inside out, I know the capacity and the engine statistics, and yet I'm not even allowed to work on it with the mechanics!" A grim smile as he crossed his arms, then he continued to vent: "And they don't even know that I did serve in the war... I said I was already in Ire, but I lied: I came here with a regiment of the Patriarch's troops after I was drafted from prison, where I was serving time for smuggling in illegal technology and drug cargo from the other islands nearby. I was put in charge of designing barricades, blowing up enemy barricades, and tending to everything from bridges to the war machines, and if I ever told anyone who works at the station that, the Irenic Military would pick me up and I'd end the day in a bodybag, dead if I was lucky.

"Yet here I am, trying to bow to the wishes of the Irenic Military while transporting likely-illegal goods for my boss, and now the train's not only overloaded, it's even more broken-down than it was to start with and I've got to deal with the fact that I've just helped two criminals kill a brigade of soldiers and a commander wearing one of those newfangled BAD suits." He finished in a mutter, then he rubbed his head slowly before adjusting his cap, glancing over Zerrex slowly and then narrowing his eyes a bit as the two other reptiles continued to simply stare at the gigantic Dragokkaren. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing... Sirius, right? I'm Zerrex." The Drakkaren extended his hand, and Sirius looked at him for a few moments... then finally waded his way back through the luggage and shook once, his grip uncertain. "This is Cherry... she's... he's... a bit special."

"Master of fuckin' disguise, bitch." Cherry said promptly, and the now-he grinned up at the Dragokkaren, winking and adding playfully as he touched the other male's chest gently. "If you ever wanna screw around-"

"I'm married." Sirius said flatly, and he brushed Cherry's hand away, giving the now-him a distasteful look before returning his eyes to Zerrex, as Cherry huffed and muttered something before leaving. "Why don't you tell me what's going on, Zerrex? Why the hell are you on my train, and what the hell do these Ire goons want with you?"

The Drakkaren made a face, shaking his head slowly as he turned and walked into the empty cargo compartment, Sirius following him before the smaller reptile said softly: "Do you remember the disaster that happened yesterday?"

Sirius started a bit, then he nodded slowly. "You mean those... those things they claimed were an attack from Hez'Ranna?" He made a face. "Yeah. I had to kill a few before the military finally decided to step in."

Zerrex got an abrupt image of zombies crowding forwards as Sirius stood in jeans and a sweaty white tank-top, crushing in skulls with a baseball bat, and Zerrex frowned a bit, asking dumbly: "You ever been in a horror movie?"

Sirius frowned at this, looking confused, and Zerrex quickly shook his head, raising a hand and mumbling: "Nevermind, it's not important. But we heard that something much worse is happening in Lunis..." A bit of a smile. "You could call me a special ambassador of sorts for Hez'Ranna... and I heard from a very reputable source that Ire locked down the island and there's something very bad going on there. I... I think we have the tools to stop it, but first we have to get there."

The Dragokkaren nodded slowly, then he glanced out the wide-open doorway at the plains they were quickly passing by, muttering: "But that doesn't answer my other question... what about the military action? They even checked Aztec over at the platform, and he's the owner of almost every railway line in Ire, public and private."

Zerrex nodded back, then he made a bit of a face as he saw a soldier fly by, Sirius staring for a moment before the Drakkaren sighed a bit and glanced over at the Dragokkaren. "We used to be in the military... and I have no idea why they're coming after us, but on the other hand, to be honest, we have worked with Hez'Ranna on a few... ‘paramilitary operations,' so to speak. But I should go get Cherry under control before she starts too much trouble."

"Weird faggot he seems like." A pause as Zerrex gave a wide grin, and the Dragokkaren frowned a bit. "What?"

"You have no idea." The Drakkaren responded with mild amusement, and Sirius shrugged with a grunt before turning away. Zerrex did the same, heading back through the compartment rows before pausing at the horse family, the youngest glowering at him like an angry child â€" and that too brought back memories. "You know, I swear I know you."

The oldest opened his mouth, and then the kid snapped: "Fucking right you do! You're the bastard from that shit-town who caused all the trouble for Apple Villa!"

Zerrex's eyes widened at that name, and then he narrowed his eyes, that squeaky voice familiar too... and then it snapped into place, and he leaned in close, gripping both seats and causing all three horses to cower as he growled: "You're the Lyon family, aren't you? Those slavemasters who were operating sweatshops for some big corporation..." A pause, then he grinned a bit, reaching under the veil and stroking under Susannah's muzzle teasingly. "How you doing, babe? Did I leave... silly of me, how much permanent damage did I leave? Is it like a narrow hallway or a wide tunnel now? But I guess you're the one I should be asking that... Tim, right?"

A glare at the stallion, and the horse shuddered, unable to even speak... before Robert drew a knife out of his shirt, only to be absently backhanded over in his double-seat by Zerrex, the knife falling uselessly out of his hand as all three of them stared at the lizard, watching as he grimaced and straightened a bit, brushing himself off. "Well, you're all old losers by now, just like me... and I'll make you a deal. So long as you keep your mouths shut about me, I won't do what I did to your wife..." A slow gaze over them as the Drakkaren licked his muzzle slowly. "To all of you... father, wife and son."

A pause as the door slid open, and Cherry stepped into the car, looking at Zerrex curiously before his eyes slid to the family, and the Drakkaren added with a growl, jerking his thumb at him before the family could even start flailing for who they thought was a security officer: "And he'll help. I have all sorts of connections in the military." A pause, and then Zerrex straightened as Cherry walked over and put a hand on his shoulder before raising a finger to him as he finished: "Leave me alone and I'll leave you alone. That's the best way to go. Otherwise, your whole family will regret it."

With that, the Drakkaren turned, following Cherry into the next car as he made a face: the past just had such a horrible way of always popping up where it was least wanted. Then Cherry leaned up beside him, muttering with one hand half-covering his muzzle: "There are three soldiers on the roof of the train that I can't get to... there were four, but one of them wanted to report a ‘missile attack' at the back of the train, and I think the other three are just standing around nervously until he comes back. What do you want me to do?"

"See if you can lure them over to the hatch... wait, was he one of the guys you tossed out the train?" The Drakkaren asked mildly, and Cherry grinned stupidly, rubbing the back of his head slowly.

"No, uh... he's stuffed in a toilet that I broke the door on. But do those things ever stink up to holy hell, too." The demon made a face, and Zerrex nodded, muzzle wrinkling in distaste. "The two I sent flying by I got up near the engine... there's way more space between the compartments there."

"Alright..." The reptile mused, rubbing a hand slowly through his hair. "But like I said before. If you can, bring them inside to a car that's not so crowded and deal with them there. If you can't... uh... have them all crowd around you for a ‘mission report' and then throw them all off the train somehow."

Cherry grinned again at this, his eyes lighting up. "I so wanna do the latter option." A grunt as Zerrex grabbed his arm, glaring at him. "What?"

"Cherry, if you litter the countryside with bodies, someone's going to find one, and one of the enterprising young lads down at Ire's Central Command is going to link it to this train the moment they get the report from the local police or military," the Drakkaren said reasonably, motioning with one hand and looking dryly amused. "Or worse, a scouting drone will find the bodies and we'll have to fight off an entire military checkpoint and then somehow convince Sirius to continue helping us when his whole train empties out. These people might not like the Irenic Military very much, but I think they hate being stuck in a crossfire even more."

The now-male grunted something under his breath, looking pleadingly at Zerrex, and finally he sighed and nodded a bit, and he leaned up to quickly kiss Zerrex's cheek before bounding happily off. The reptile made a bit of a face, then he began to walk down the hall before a small kangaroo looked up at him from beside his sleeping mother, asking curiously: "Mister, are you gay?"

"Uh... no." Zerrex said pointedly, then he and the kid looked at each other before Zerrex reached out and poked his nose gently with one finger. "Poink."

With that, he continued on, making a face to himself at the people aboard this train, before sighing as he finally reached the old cabin, knocking on it and mumbling through the wood: "Hurry up and let me in. I'm sore and want to sit down."

The door flicked open, and again Marina seized him in a hug, this time quietly swaying with him on the spot as Zerrex hugged her back after a moment, then coughed and allowed himself to be dragged over to sit beside her, Cindy smiling at him with obvious relief and Mahihko looking childishly-happy as he clapped his hands together. "Zer!"

"What, did none of you expect me to come back alive?" he asked mildly, and as Mahihko shook his head wildly, he turned his attention to Cindy, tilting his head a bit. "What kind of armament do we have? I'm pretty sure there's a military checkpoint coming up, and they'll probably want to do a car-to-car search. I'm relatively certain that I can get Sirius, the conductor, to let me hide in the back with the luggage, but..." A pause. "Hey, is it common for conductors to ride along with the train? I thought they just sat around with their watches and stuff. The guys with the big funny steam hats are the ones who operate the train, right?"

"You read too many children's books." Cindy smiled slightly across at the Drakkaren, and he rubbed the back of his head, looking embarrassed, before she paused thoughtfully. "But no, it's not really that common these days... except Sirius looks like he's doubling as muscle for this trip. But the engineer is the one who runs the train, that's right: most of them just wear plain uniforms these days, since trains like this one run off power cells like everything else."

Zerrex nodded slowly. "Alright... but yeah, he did mention he was carrying some sort of special cargo to the ports. I'm thinking it's either weaponry or drugs, since he doesn't know what exactly he's toting either... he says he never bothered to ask. He said he was an engineer for the Hez'Ranna Military during the Great War."

"I wonder how many of his things we blew up." Marina muttered, then she glanced out the window, apparently bored with the conversation before smiling and turning to her father, wrapping both of her toned arms around one of his large biceps, saying cheerfully: "Let's go get some food, Daddy! I'm sure they're serving up something in the dining cart!"

The reptile wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea, but he eventually submitted to Marina's exuberance and the growling of Mahihko's belly, and soon found himself frowning at tiny, bite-sized sandwiches that tasted a bit like the mush unevolved pets often ate. Mahihko was gobbling them down, though, and that somehow reinforced the reptile's distaste for them, and he put his down, figuring it wasn't bad etiquette since it was still in the plastic wrap that seemed to surrounded every morsel of food on board.

A few moments later, however, Cherry barged into the car and grabbed him, then dragged him off through the next few cars â€" posh first class compartments that looked more like converted, on-the-rails restaurants than anything else, complete with attendants in uniforms and round tables between comfy-looking bench seats. People stared as Cherry barked and yelled randomly at them, while still dragging Zerrex in tow... and then the Drakkaren found himself being pulled through a car for the crew that was lined with bunks and a few horrified-looking rail workers, before Cherry shoved him over onto a bed and he glared around at the other people in the car, shouting: "Get your asses out of here!"

The crew workers scatted in both directions, and Cherry grinned widely, leering over Zerrex before a pillow hit him in the face, the Drakkaren muttering: "What the hell do you want, Cherry?"

"Fine, fine, no sex." A pause, and then another wide grin. "But you have to admit, last night was damned good." Before Zerrex could respond, he dropped to one knee, the reptile staring before looking relieved as he bent over and pulled out a uniform. "It's one of the higher-class duds... looks like stretchable, shaping fabric, so you shouldn't tear it putting it on, and the vest is Duraflex. I know you don't like helmets, but I did find one in your size, and you only have to wear it until we get through the checkpoint..." A bit of a face as he glanced over the reptile mildly. "You know what? Maybe you should size down to attract less attention to yourself... and unfortunately, you'll have to ditch the cane."

"Yeah, good idea." Zerrex sighed a bit, then paused and looked over Cherry meditatively. "Why aren't I just changing in the cabin?"

"Because carrying this uniform around was a bitch and I had to hide it somewhere so people didn't get suspicious!" Cherry retorted, then paused and motioned around at the cabin with a frown. "Besides, ain't this shit cool? Dude, we so have to storm the kitchen car after this, it's right through here... and past that is the engine! It's all great stuff."

"You suck." The Drakkaren rolled his eyes, then he sighed and tossed his cane over to Cherry. "This sucks."

Ten minutes later, Zerrex was checking over the assault rifle Cherry had picked up for him somewhere, his body reduced in size to some seven-feet and seven-inches high and the clothes and vest fitting snugly. A moment later, Cherry shoved the helmet on him, and the Drakkaren made a bit of a face: it was a bit loose, and with the visor down it blinked with all sorts of weird digital readouts the reptile just found distracting... before he glanced over to Cherry as he asked: "How's that all feel?"

"Fine, it's fine." Zerrex said absently, adjusting the helmet a bit before pushing the visor up and glancing over at the other male, testing his weight on his bad leg and then trying to walk normally: it seemed strangely ironic that it felt like it was harder than running... and also hurt a whole lot more. "But I'm going to fall down if I have to keep this up for long... besides, I thought I could just hide in the cargo bay."

"Yeah, ‘cept they'll be suspicious at the military checkpoint if they don't see at least two of us standing guard on the cargo door." Cherry said reasonably, although the statement made no sense to the Drakkaren whatsoever, before the now-he paused and added: "By the way, you still have that paper and shit I gave you?"

"You know, you keep asking me that, and I still haven't looked at it." Zerrex made a face, patting his pockets before sitting on the edge of the bed with a grunt, reaching down and picking up his pants to fish both the crumpled paper and the PMM crest out of his pocket. The latter he transferred to the pocket of the uniform he was wearing, and the former he took a quick glance over before looking up at Cherry mildly. "Are they for real?"

"Seems like it." Cherry muttered, shaking her head slowly and then giving a dry smile to the reptile. "I mean, I guess they were right about my heritage after all, and maybe about you with that fucker Narrius was... except I don't really see how that was going to help them win the war against Hell."

Zerrex nodded slowly, muttering under his breath and shaking his head slowly as he returned his eyes to the form and the line that had caught his attention. Take the following subjects prisoner for examination and determination of demonic factors present. If unable to take subjects alive, termination is authorized: in this instance, take only a small sample as dictated by the MRH... this is ridiculous. "You think they just want us out of the way?"

"Or because we have connections to Hez'Ranna, yeah." Cherry replied, then he coughed and nodded to the reptile. "Come on. We have to get back to the cargo doors... I figure we can keep the soldiers from inspecting inside by telling them some shit about how there's an ‘interrogation' going on inside. Just keep your hair back under the helmet and your visor down."

Zerrex nodded, then he followed the now-male towards the back of the car, keeping his pace as regular as he could manage: thankfully, Marina apparently caught the edge of his thoughts as they entered the room and only gave him an idle glance before going back to her food, and Mahihko barely noticed the two troopers walking by, still busying himself with the gourmet table as a few attendants arranged new plates of food that had been brought from the kitchens.

It was another twenty minutes before the train slowed and halted, the hiss of steam rising up from the tracks as Zerrex glanced out the window at the military checkpoint: a small military base standing grimly on a dirty plateau with the lights of a city shining in the semi-darkness beginning to set outside, searchlights roving back and forth over the train from the towers on either side of the tracks equipped with cannons and snipers. The tracks themselves had been raised on a small bridge mechanism to prevent the train from moving any further forwards, and a heavy steel gate stood between another two towers ahead of this: every possibility had been taken into consideration during the construction of this system.

The Drakkaren guessed that twenty soldiers came on board in total from the dark shapes outside, and a few pairs of soldiers were walking up and down the train before a small detail of guards strolled down the compartment, a few of them shoving passengers around before a soldier with red stripes on his shoulders came to the front of the pack, pushing back his visor and looking from Zerrex to Cherry measuringly, one of his eyes a glowing red ball. Cybernetic enhancement... "At attention."

Zerrex and Cherry both snapped off salutes, and the cheetah put his eyes behind his back, continuing to speak in a smooth voice: "My soldiers are currently conducting a search of all the cars and the cargo... but we were told a security detail had been dispatched to capture two possible threats to the Republic. You two are the only soldiers I've seen so far, however... care to inform me to the reason why?"

"Sir!" Cherry said immediately, his voice strong and clear. "We successfully captured the targets and placed them into custody. The rest of the military team is in the following car, conducting an... interrogation, sir."

The cheetah looked over them both, then he nodded slowly and smiled grimly. For a moment, he seemed to reach for the door, in which case Zerrex knew they'd have to either try and divert him or worse, if he kept pushing forwards, likely take on an entire military section and somehow get the train moving again. But thankfully he simply nodded, then said breezily: "Please send Commander Baskin my regards."

He turned away, and Zerrex and Cherry both snapped off another salute and a prompt: ‘Yes sir!' as he left, before resuming their stance at the doors... and ten minutes later, there was the loud grinding of machinery outside before the train began moving again, and both of them relaxed, Cherry muttering: "Now we just need to figure out what the hell to do at the next platform."

"It's obvious they're going to just send another team in to cover the train..." Zerrex made a disgusted face, shaking his head slowly. "And we also have to deal with the fact we'll have at least an hour layover before we leave from the platform. You saw the schedule: and once we have to start changing trains, we'll be in even more serious trouble."

Cherry made a face... then he brightened. "I know! What about Sirius? We can get him to smuggle us onto another train or some shit like that!"

"Cherry..." Zerrex made a face, giving her a flat look. "I don't think he's all that anxious to help us out. His main concern seems to be for his cargo and keeping his job, not us or the Irenic Military. We could probably tell him that the world will end if he brings his cargo to the port, and he wouldn't give a crap."

"Then we'll appeal to him through what he cares about." Cherry said, poking the end of his own muzzle knowingly, and Zerrex gave him a flat look. "Come on, let's find him and talk to him. I have a good idea, here."

"That's what I'm afraid of." The Drakkaren muttered, and he resignedly took off after the male as he pranced away, apparently not caring about the stares he got from the poor passengers as Zerrex rubbed at his helmet, shifting it uncomfortably around on his head. This never turns out well.