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The reptile ignored the soldiers running for the alarm switches: he had no doubt that Griswold would be overriding any other alarms that were set off, and instead the Drakkaren charged straight ahead, stabbing his massive blade through another soldier who tried to raise his rifle, then slamming his weapon to the side, the body flying off his blade and knocking over a wolf who had been yelling and firing wildly only a moment before. Zerrex turned, then charged straight ahead, through a set of double doors and out onto a glass bridge, two enormous soldiers with machine guns staring in horror at the reptile for only a moment before raising their weapons â€" but it was a moment too long.

The Drakkaren speared Blackheart through the first with a snarl, ramming the sword through his stomach and into the wall beyond before he released the blade to snag the machinegun of the bull beside him, forcing the gun down as he began to fire to send the rounds into the floor before he struck the end of his muzzle with a hard butt of his head, the bull staggering backwards and releasing the pressure on the trigger. Zerrex immediately grabbed him by the arm and throat, then spun and hefted the bull over his head before slamming him down into the ground, one of his horns cracking off as his skull collided with the hard steel below.

He spasmed, blood coming from his muzzle as Zerrex drew Blackheart free of the other soldier and the wall behind him, the canine falling lifelessly to the ground before the reptile kicked open the double doors they had been guarding, the steel banging loudly against the walls beyond as Zerrex strode into the main bridge, naval crew immediately beginning to yell and run for other doors, hitting switches as the alarms continued to blare above them, someone shouting: "The alarm code's been overwritten with something else, I can't override or even sound the alarm from here!"

"Shit! They must be after Lord Malthus!" shouted a burly rhinoceros who was currently at what Zerrex guessed was the helm of the ship, his hands locked on a large steel wheel as he jerked his head towards the panicking security soldiers in blue armor. "Get down there! No guns, engage him in close range!"

Other sailors were charging at him with stun rods, but Zerrex easily batted most of them away with hard swings of the sword, not caring whether he inflicted lethal or nonlethal wounds â€" either way, anyone he struck stayed prone afterwards. He looked slowly around the massive room, at the staircases on either side that led up to the control station that stood on its little tower at the rear of the room, at the monitor above the double doors he'd kicked in that took up the entire wall, twisting with the curvature of the ceiling and walls and displayed images so vibrant it was more window than anything else, and at the control panels and panicked sailors lining the room as one of the soldiers in blue leapt down with a stun rod... and Zerrex easily shifted and swung his sword straight out, chopping him into two halves at the waist.

The other three hesitated, and then the rhino shouted something almost incoherent, and they began to run down the stairs: Zerrex, on the other hand, began to charge upwards, and the two coming down the right stairway immediately tried to back up before Blackheart lashed out and tore through one, sending him flying off the staircase before the other was slammed backwards onto the landing.

The last soldier continued down the stairs and simply fled, followed by several sailors as Zerrex stepped up onto the control tower, and the rhino turned to him with a snarl... but his eyes were insane with fear as he picked up a stun rod from nearby, trembling violently as he hissed: "Stay away, stay back... you... you can't do anything..."

Zerrex swung his massive sword hard into the controls of the ship, and a new alarm began to blare as the main wheel sparked and fell off before the rest of the computerized controls simply seemed to explode, circuits popping and wires melting. The rhino let out a cry of horror, then he swung the long metal rod at Zerrex's bicep... but the Drakkaren caught it, electricity sparking over his arm before some instinct kicked in, his hand glowing blue and suppressing the blue lightning as the rhino stared in horror. "Don't."

Zerrex tore the rod out of his hand, then struck the rhino across the face with the handle, knocking him sprawling. The Drakkaren snorted, then he looked at the monitor and paused as he realized other information was being displayed on it as well, muttering under his breath at the various nautical references he didn't understand before making a face as several holograms fizzled into sight, the ones on either side only some strange jumble of coded image, but the one in the middle a cruel-looking tiger's face, the top of some sort of ceremonial wear clearly visible as he said angrily: "Admiral? Admiral Vonnegut! Where the hell are you, respond?"

"The Admiral isn't here right now." Zerrex said mildly, then he glanced down at the rhino, making a bit of a face. I highly doubt that's the Admiral. He's probably somewhere else on the ship. "How can I help you, sir?"

"I can't see you, is there a problem with your equipment?" The tiger paused for a moment, then snorted. "No matter. An alarm is sounding and the troops are beginning to break up... should I be concerned?"

"No concern, sir. I'm sure it's simply a drill or a pointless attempt to stir up trouble aboard our ship... the Ophelia is impregnable, sir." Zerrex said calmly, trying to put a bit of pride into his voice but not all that sure what to be prideful about. "We're fairly certain that the uproar is centered around the rear of the ship, in any case."

"Alright." The tiger looked a bit more certain now, nodding and then glancing to the side. "What's your name and number, soldier?"

Zerrex paused for a moment, then he glanced down at the rhino and read off: "First Mate Lawson, sir, number 1-357-6229-A, at your service. Sir." The Drakkaren made a face, repressing the urge to curse himself with how sensitive the microphone seemed to be.

There was a long pause, and then the tiger nodded, saying coldly: "If there are intruders, I want them found quickly. I'll have my own personal guard assist if necessary and I'll have the Essence patrol the ship. I do not want any disturbances aboard this ship while I am on board. Please tell the Admiral that I wish to meet with him immediately."

"Yes, sir. I apologize on behalf of the crew, sir, and I'll double the detail to the area." Zerrex responded clearly, then he added: "And I'll contact the Admiral immediately as well."

"Very good." The tiger made a face, then the hologram vanished into another strange shape, and Zerrex snorted before tearing Blackheart out of where he'd buried it into the control terminal and turned, running quickly down the stairs as he felt a chill run down his spine, idly smashing computer terminals and small monitors as he passed before moving to the other side just to be thorough. That face... that had to be Lord Malthus, one of the members of the Republic Council... that explains the attack helicopter, but what the hell is he doing out here?

The Drakkaren shook his head slowly, frowning as he finished smashing in the last terminal, then he sighed and headed for the doors, before wincing and leaping away as six soldiers clustered together in the hall opened fire in a straight line, effectively barring him inside. The reptile winced, not even daring to peer around the corner... and then he shrugged and grinned a bit as he put Blackheart on his back and concentrated, and the shield of blue energy sprung into life over his left forearm.

It was getting easier and easier to manipulate energy as he was doing... and that made him both nervous and excited at the prospect of what he could learn to do, as he ran out from the corner and down the hallway, straight into a volley of gunfire that bounced harmlessly off the shield, before one of the soldiers turned tail and fled in terror, the others yelling and two of them only staring stupidly as the three left continued to spray bullets down the hall... and then Zerrex rammed through them, the shield shoving the soldiers out of the hallway before the reptile waved his arm on instinct, and the shield exploded in a flash of blue energy, blasting the soldiers into the hall.

They collapsed like rag dolls, stunned and stupefied, and Zerrex snorted quietly as he glanced around, panting a bit but still grinning nonetheless, his emerald eyes burning before a blast of automatic fire caught him in the side and knocked him sprawling, the Drakkaren wincing and then rolling to a crouch to glare at a squirrel who had evidently expected him to stay down, the rodent now only gaping stupidly at the fact he had only knocked minor wounds into the reptile's side despite the close range spray of bullets. Zerrex stood slowly, and the squirrel ran away, screaming in terror.

The Drakkaren muttered something under his breath, then rubbed at his side with a wince, heading over to the elevator and chastising himself for not being more aware of what was going on around him. He could hear more soldiers coming down the hall, but a moment later he was in the elevator and the doors slid closed... but it wouldn't move at all.

A moment later, a voice growled: "Passcode," before coughing and then grunting: "Oh wait, I see you on the camera. You work fast for a crazy fucker, even if I can see you got sloppy somewhere along the way. Give me a minute to activate the elevator, and then we can find out where the rest of your family is."

Cindy and Marina had found their way all the way down to submarine Hangar A, in the deepest regions of the ship, where it was lonely and cold. Every soldier they passed looked miserable, and there were mechanics here and there working on strange, headless robots with four arms, all of which ended in some strange sort of tool instead of a hand.

No one asked about the bags they were carrying, and when Cindy asked quietly if Marina was using her psychic powers, she made a face and shook her head, muttering back that that was the part that was freaking her out. They had walked right by a pair of soldiers guarding the doors, then Cindy had bumped into another and apologized, and he had just smiled and nodded sadly before wandering away.

The submarine itself, on the other hand, was problematic: they could open the hatch and go down into the small vehicle without much of an issue, and Cindy thought there would be more than enough room for them all as the stuffed the duffel bags under a terminal near the back... but the problem was detaching it. The control panels required someone from up on the bridge to first input an access code... and only then could the panels be accessed. Cindy certainly didn't know how to hack this level of technology... and she thought even Cherry wouldn't be able to hotwire the goddamn thing.

As they pretended to fiddle around with the pipes and other parts nearby â€" Cindy actually repairing a broken vent in the ship near the guards, one of whom thanked her profusely for getting rid of the stench of garbage that had been floating through the gap â€" eventually a stocky dog approached them with a small headset and a bit of a smile, saying dourly: "Here, command wants to talk with you, miss, about submarine repairs... it sounds like you might actually have a future and get out of this miserable place."

"Thank you, sir..." Cindy said with a smile, and Marina looked curious as Cindy slipped the headset on, turning away and speaking quietly into the microphone: "Daddy, is that you?"

"No, but you can call me that if you want." replied a rusty voice, and Cindy made a sour face as the general laughed loudly. "No, sweetheart, it's Griswold. Your father's here, too, though... he just made a mess out of the bridge. I understand you two are down in the submarine bay, are you?"

"That's right... but what the hell are you doing here, no offense intended, sir." Cindy asked mildly, but the wolverine only chuckled quietly before she added softly: "Thank you for helping us out."

"Tempus fugit, Cindy." The wolverine said dryly, and then he cleared his throat. "I just wanted to make sure you got down there alright... are you in hiding?"

Cindy snorted at this, shaking her head and smiling a bit. "Who needs to hide down here? It's dark, it stinks, and all the soldiers are miserable. It's derelict duty down here... I could be naked and covered in Hez'Ranna tattoos, and no one would care."

"Not true!" one of the soldiers leaned over, grinning and winking at her, the zebra licking his lips slowly. "I'd care a whole hell of a lot about you if you did that, if you get my drift. Show you some of my advanced interrogation techniques."

Some of the other soldiers laughed, and Cindy smiled contritely and even tossed a wink over to one of them before raising a hand, saying cheerfully: "Don't listen in now boys, this is a private call. I'll get around to talking to you after."

She turned away, and she could hear Griswold ranting and her father grumbling in consent on the other side of the line, so she allowed them to go on for a short time before finally clearing her throat and saying mildly: "Cherry and Mahihko are heading towards the front magnetic disc... by now, I expect Cherry's carrying some sort of explosive on her, and she'll probably set it for an hour and then bust ass to get down here. She thinks if we destroy the disc-"

"It'll cause a power backlash, that's right. Everything works in the Ophelia because it all depends on one another... listen, I'll get back to you, I'm going to try and contact her before she accidently kills us all." The general grunted, then he added dryly: "Nice talking to you."

With that, the wolverine clicked the button on the headset, then he tapped a few buttons on the control terminal, muttering to Zerrex: "Fucking kids today, huh? All they want is to stuff their pricks in some honeycake. When I was a kid-"

"Dinosaurs still roamed the earth." Zerrex muttered, and Griswold snorted before blowing a smoke ring at him around his cigar, the Drakkaren making a face. "Do you have to do that?"

"You should have more appreciation for this. Grown in Hez'Rannan fields, pure Ubuk tobacco." The wolverine said with a grin, then he reached into his pack and offered the Drakkaren a cigar as the holographic representation of the ship glowed, the front half slowly turning white as a loading bar spilled across the screen. Zerrex made a bit of a face at the wolverine's offer, waving it away, and then he growled: "Just take it."

Zerrex relented and took the cigar, rolling it slowly between his fingers, before the wolverine slipped his hand into his pocket and lit a match as he said into the headset: "Cynthia Blossom, Cynthia Blossom, please report as soon as possible to Bridge B."

Zerrex sighed a bit, then he allowed the wolverine to lit the cigar before sticking it in his muzzle and breathing in... then coughing and making a face, pulling it out of his mouth as he exhaled smoke, his eyes bulging. "Dude, this tastes like... dung!"

"Fuck it, enjoy a goddamn smoke with me." The general growled, and Zerrex made a face, putting the cigar back in his muzzle and glaring at the wolverine as he breathed slower this time, smoke rolling out his muzzle and nostrils, a strange lightheadedness rolling over him as the wolverine finally gave an actual smile: it betrayed his age, but somehow made him look less callous, less cruel. "That's better... see, there, it ain't so bad! Besides, old geezers like us, living in war... we're so close to death it'd be stupid not to light up once in a while, yeah?"

The Drakkaren made a noncommittal sound as he took an experimental drag on the cigar, and then he exhaled another long gust of smoke, saying mildly: "This isn't half as sexy as they make it look in the movies, you know."

"Yeah, it takes time and effort to get down a style." The general grunted, then he turned towards the panel as a button lit up, pressing it down and growling: "What?"

"What the fuck are you doing here?" hissed a voice from the intercom, and Griswold laughed loudly as Cherry added darkly: "And don't fucking call me Cynthia!"

"Yeah, yeah. Bitch all you want, but I'm here to help you. The big bad Captain Ravenlight is up here enjoying a smoke with me, too." The general added, and Zerrex made a face as he slapped his forehead.

There was a long silence... and then Cherry said mildly: "Take pictures. Lots of pictures. I wanna see that shit. But seriously, what the fuck is going on here?"

"Your boss can explain later," the wolverine said, not even realizing that he'd spoken the unofficial name Zerrex had picked up over the years in Baskin's Grove. "Now listen to me. Forget your current plan and move down to the submarine bay, Hangar A. I'll take care of the override for the submarines, and I've still got all the soldiers here confused and running around like their asses are on fire, thinking someone's at the other end of the ship. But it won't be long before they start scouring the Ophelia from stem to stern, port to starboard, so move fast so I don't get my ass killed before I can release the submarine lock." He paused, then added coldly: "This is an order, Cherry! The rest will be taken care of."

Cherry growled into the receiver, and then she grunted something and the intercom buzzed as she hung up, Griswold smiling slightly and turning towards Zerrex. The two looked at each other, smoking in silence for a few moments, and then the wolverine extended his hand, saying quietly: "It's been good to be on the field, today, Zerrex... Lord Zerrex, should I say? I know how they consider you in Hez'Ranna, after all."

"Just Zerrex, please, General." Zerrex said softly, taking the wolverine's hand and squeezing firmly, then shaking it twice and smiling a bit as he used the other to reach up and drop his cigar, before crushing it slowly under his boot, breathing a last gust of smoke before adding quietly: "Thanks for the help. And for the smoke."

"I'll see you down in Hell, Zerrex." The wolverine smiled, then watched as Zerrex nodded and headed for the side door he'd originally entered through, murmuring to himself: "Lad's too serious about all this shit. Needs to learn it's okay to lay back and fuck with yourself now and again."

Zerrex entered out onto the platform through the heavy door, and then the valve handle fell off and rolled away a moment before a heavy shutter fell, barring the General inside. Zerrex grinned a bit at this, turning towards the small side control room he'd originally entered through... and then a massive assault helicopter shot by, the Drakkaren grunting as the wind from the powerful blades almost blew him backwards before it turned around, and Zerrex's eyes widened as it launched a pair of missiles at him.

The reptile charged forwards past the control shed, and an artillery cannon behind him went up in a massive blast, shrapnel raining all directions and the explosion launching Zerrex onto the front deck with a grunt, skidding forwards along the steel tiles before he stared as he saw at least a hundred soldiers raising their guns and advancing on him from all over the several-hundred yard wide deck... and then the attack helicopter lowered a bit behind him, and the Drakkaren charged forwards as the double Vulcan cannons on the sides of the helicopter's body whirred into life and fired into the ground behind him, and several of the soldiers scattered before Zerrex dove to the side as the helicopter dived and then flew forwards before spinning around, the guns whirring down and Zerrex snarling as he straightened on the main deck, grunting as the massive copter halted in the air to hover, giving the Drakkaren his first real look at the machine.

It had two long, rectangular wings laden with all manner of missile launcher and gun system, and on the back of the helicopter were a pair of massive square containers Zerrex feared contained its ammo stock: from the size of the leviathan, it wasn't going to run out of ammo or weapons anytime soon. Ire, after all, always prided itself on overcompensation... and as soldiers hesitantly advanced, the voice of Lord Malthus boomed from the chopper, several of the soldiers falling over from the pure force of sound as Zerrex winced and twitched. "Zerrex Narrius! You are wanted by the Republic of Ire for crimes against the world and its people! Turn yourself over peacefully, or be destroyed!"

From under the nose, a large cannon extended and blasted a crater in front of the Drakkaren, the lizard's eyes widening in shock at the foot-sized hole in the plated steel... before he grinned coldly and looked up at the helicopter, creating a sphere of energy in his hand and tossing it as hard as he could at the vehicle ironically named ‘Essence.'

The sphere collided and the helicopter rocked backwards with the explosion, but a moment later it shot straight up into the sky with the aid of several miniature thrusters along the body of the massive war helicopter, and a group of brave soldiers charged towards the Drakkaren, firing bursts from their assault rifles. Zerrex snarled and leapt to the side, gunfire pattering off the steel and tearing through the air, and then he leapt towards the closest before ducking low as the soldier tried to shoot him in the face, swinging Blackheart off his back and literally cutting the soldier's legs out from under him, the fox falling with a scream before the Drakkaren slammed the sword down through his back, half-burying the massive blade as he rested back against it, bullets zinging off the metal and a few stray ones managing to find their mark on the lizard, but most of the missing as Zerrex took a moment to breathe and focus himself.

He rolled out from behind the buried sword, snagging the assault rifle from the ground, but only managing two bursts into a soldier before he ran out of ammo. A moment later, however, the Essence dropped out of the air and almost landed on top of him, Zerrex staring in horror at the fact he was inches away from the attack helicopter's nose before Lord Malthus started screaming and waving his arms around inside, and the Drakkaren leapt forwards and clung to the front of the war helicopter with a wince, the pilot jerking the control stick backwards even as both Vulcan cannons began to fire, tearing apart the soldiers that had been chasing Zerrex only moments ago and sending the lucky survivors fleeing in terror.

The helicopter shook left and right, Zerrex sliding along the front of the cone before drawing his combat knife and sinking it into the metal with one hand, the other punching into the armor plating and grabbing the edge of a metal sheet that popped partially upwards. He snarled as he began to lift himself upwards... then stared in horror as they soared upwards, the Drakkaren clinging tighter before wincing and flexing his muscles, trying to lock his legs around the nose of the cone as they shot forwards, Lord Malthus laughing inside and grinning cruelly at him as the reptile began to slide upwards along the face of the helicopter towards the whirling blades above.

Suddenly, they dived towards the sea, and Zerrex felt himself lurching upwards, one of his legs coming loose before he punched hard forwards into the window of the cockpit with a snarl, and the clear metal dented, turning black and cracking as the pilot jumped in shock, the helicopter jouncing and Zerrex falling off the nose... but heading thankfully downwards instead of upwards, as he snarled and tried to concentrate-

He crashed down behind the gigantic rail gun, landing in a crouch with his bad leg beneath him, feeling bones crackling and a howl of pain escape his muzzle... but he didn't care, as he leapt to his feet and sprinted for his sword. At the same time, he could hear the Essence roaring in behind him and the sound of the Vulcan cannons firing, before they halted and the Drakkaren threw himself to the ground out of instinct.

A moment later, a cluster of at least twenty missiles shot by and crashed into the deck and first tower of the Ophelia, a few unlucky soldiers who had come out to see what all the commotion was thrown into the sea from the force of the blast. The Drakkaren snarled, rolling onto his back... and then he stared in horror as the Essence dropped like a stone towards him, even as the thrusters began to spark-

The reptile created his shield of energy out of instinct, pushing both hands up into the blue, solid-feeling mass of energy, and the bottom of the helicopter smashed into it as the thrusters activated, scorching heat washing through the shield as Zerrex snarled, sweat and blood in his eyes before they widened as the shield began to crack... and then the helicopter rose upwards and flew away, the reptile sighing in relief and dropping the shield before rolling to his feet, looking back and forth as soldiers seemed to realize he was a living target and fled away from him instead of bothering to attack.

A few of them had dropped their weapons... and the Drakkaren ran over to the nearest, picking up the shotgun by the barrel and drawing it back as the Essence spun around for another approach... and this time, the reptile stupidly flung it towards the helicopter as it began to dive towards him, and it flew through the air before, to everyone's shocked stares, it bounced off the cockpit window and up into the rotor blades, the shells inside exploding as chunks of broken gun flew in all directions. The helicopter twitched again in the air, smoke rising from the rotors... but Zerrex snarled as it recovered a moment later and flew in a long circle towards the Ophelia's nose. "It wasn't enough... I have to hit it harder..."

The reptile spun around, limping backwards as he felt the pain in his body growing, panting hard, his lungs aching for air... and then the Essence slowly strafed through the air, almost sizing him up as Zerrex created a sphere of energy. The helicopter and the reptile faced each other, seemed to wait, both with weapons armed and ready... and then the Drakkaren threw the sphere of energy as hard as he could towards the vehicle.

The helicopter jumped with a controlled thrust from the jets on the bottom of the vehicle, the sphere narrowly missing, and then it responded with a pair of fast moving rockets. Zerrex's eyes widened, and then he tried to leap backwards, only to be caught by the explosion and hurled into the air with a cry of pain, even as he snarled and created a second sphere tinged with a strange, glowing darkness, throwing it towards the wing of the Essence.

It flew through the air, then touched the wing of the ship and blinked out of existence before a shockwave ripped through the helicopter, the wing falling loose from the vehicle before the entire ship went up in a massive blast of fire, the helicopter spinning wildly through the air and towards the first tower as Zerrex landed hard on his back, skidding over the deck and staring in horror as the Essence fell like a meteor towards the bridge, towards where he could see the general saluting in the window-

It exploded, and the entire front of the first tower went up in flames, metal raining down in a terrible hail as alarms blared and the Ophelia gave a terrible rumble. The ship listed slightly to the side, and something else shook inside the ship as Zerrex clawed his way to his feet, snarling and limping over towards Blackheart, giving one look to the debris of the tower before forcing his way to the control room as a mechanical voice spoke over the loudspeakers: "Warning. Warning. Permanent damage sustained to reactor core from energy overload. Please be advised that all lifeboats are to be deployed immediately. Containment of reactor has failed: minimum safe distance is one hundred and fifty yards from ship."

The voice continued to repeat as soldiers panicked, running in all directions as Zerrex shoved his way through the masses, and then an explosion shook the ship as the voice on the speakers became garbled, and Zerrex dropped into the lower halls before heading as fast as he could for the elevator that had brought him from their infiltration on floor four to floor two.

No one was bothering with him now, which was something he was both grateful for and disgusted by... but with the Ophelia about to sink, he suppose he couldn't really blame them, as he reached the elevator and waited beside it until it finally reached the floor he was on, and at least thirty soldiers flooded out, the Drakkaren staring like it was some sort of circus trick before slipping inside and hitting the button for the bottom floor.

The elevator dropped down, and Zerrex engaged the override at every floor he stopped at, not letting any soldiers on until he snarled at the ones he saw trying to crowd forwards into the elevator at the bottom, grabbing the first in line and shouting in his face: "Where's the submarine hangars?"

"Through the hatch in the room to the right!" he squealed, and Zerrex threw the badger backwards through the other soldiers clustered at the elevator, before stomping through the path he'd made, one hand still on Blackheart's handle just in case. He glanced to the right, then to the left, making a face at the simple down-arrow sign on the door before letting himself through and descending down the hatch beyond to the submarine hangars.

He glanced up at the sign, and then he let out a sigh of relief as he saw Cherry in her usual form but clad in the standard Irenic Military uniform, Mahihko in the same behind her and bouncing from paw to paw before he beamed at the sight of Zerrex, then it turned to a look of concern as the Drakkaren limped forwards. Immediately, however, Cherry grabbed the wolf's shoulder, beckoning to Zerrex and shouting: "The others are already down in the control room... come on, there ain't much time before this thing blows!"

She paused, however, as Zerrex staggered quickly over to her, then he made a face as she quickly slid under his arm to support him, helping him over to the submarine hatch as she asked quietly: "So where's Griswold? Because we can't wait long."

"He won't be joining us... the helicopter crashed into the secondary bridge and blew it to pieces." Zerrex said quietly, and Cherry blinked a few times before gritting her teeth. She halted as Zerrex lowered himself into the hatch... then she threw off a quick salute, glancing upwards through the massive warship as the lights began to flicker. Fuckers... we'll get ‘em back for you, you old ass.

She shook her head, then followed quickly down, closing the first hatch behind her before dropping the rest of the way into the actual submarine as Zerrex limped over to sit down at one of the side chairs, letting out a breath of relief as Cindy glanced over her shoulder, then nodded to Marina. The youngest daughter pulled a lever, and a circular shutter spun closed, locking into place as something else thudded above, and Cindy smiled around at them all before Zerrex gave her a grim smile in a return and a thumbs-up.

The submarine shook, then dislodged from the bottom of the massive warship, dropping down into the sea, and part of the wall seemed to become transparent, creating several windows into the deep, dark sea beyond. The magic of clear metal... Zerrex thought ironically, breathing softly as they continued to sink for a few more moments... and then the submarine hummed and began to vibrate lightly, the single powerful turbine on the back of the ship kicking into gear.

They hummed quickly through the water, backs on the Ophelia as the massive warship continued to sink, several flatscreen monitors on the ceiling of the submarine showing them the view from behind as Zerrex made a face at the sight of the gigantic warship going nose-first into the sea... and a few moments later, the entire world seemed to rumble.

The Ophelia, the mightiest warship ever built and one of the few remaining Juggernauts designed by the Hez'Ranna military, groaned like a living thing as it continued to sink for a few more moments... and then deep inside its bowels, several of the magnetic discs that had dislodged from their place due to a power surge began moving at an insane speed in reverse inside their mounts, pushing themselves further out of place as electricity crackled over them all before they simply exploded, and with them went the power generator, the heart of the machine.

The blast sent half the ship rocketing into the air and disintegrated the other half of the warship, fire and energy alike expanding in a terrible sphere that obliterated even the water around the ship, creating a perfect, deep dome in the ocean for a moment before water flooded back into the wound: at the same time, massive waves rolled in all directions, the little submarine battered by the undersea currents and hurled further ahead towards Lunis as its family crew yelled and rocked and fell over each other inside the vehicle, while even the heavier ships ahead fought not to overturn and sink in the terrible storm.

But in the end, all that was left of the Ophelia on the surface of the water was a few chunks of metal and shipwork... and then the other half of the gargantuan ship crashed down and through the waters, sinking almost immediately towards the depths of the ocean to be lost forever from the world above.

Only an hour after the Ophelia had sunken to its watery grave, the small submarine slowly rose up beside a small, abandoned steel platform built into the high cliffs that surrounded Lunis. The hatch opened, and Zerrex was the first to climb out with a gasp of relief: the air in the submarine had begun to quickly grow stale and thin, since the vehicle was obviously meant for short-range scouting and quick underwater battles more than anything else.

The reptile jumped out onto the platform, and Cherry hesitantly stuck her head out a moment later, asking mildly: "Do you see anything, Boss?"

"You're the one who can see the future, not me." Zerrex replied mildly, looking over his shoulder at her, but then he shook his head after scanning the cliffs for any signs of life, making a bit of a face. "Nothing I can see... there's not a lot of places to hide on these cliffs even if you could fly up them: I can't see any caves or plateau formations at all. Actually standing here now, I can see why Narrius couldn't take this place by force..."

The Drakkaren walked slowly forwards as Cherry hopped out of the small craft, the others crowding onto the platform as the Drakkaren quietly touched the rock face, looking up the almost ninety-degree cliffs and then shaking his head a bit: they seemed to stretch for miles and miles towards the sky. A pause, and then he glanced down towards the end of the platform, where an oversized lift system had been installed between a framework of girders climbing up the side of the smooth stone: currently, it was down... but the absence of life and the faint stains of blood that even the waves lapping over the platform hadn't been able to wash away worried the reptile.

"Marina, do you sense any life nearby?" Zerrex asked quietly, as his youngest approached him and grasped his arm gently. He made a bit of a face when she shook her head after only a moment, then he grunted a bit when Cindy held up his cane and held it out to him. "Cindy..."

She glared at him, and he gave up arguing, rolling his eyes and taking the tripod cane instead, his other hand resting on the revolver still holstered at his side... and then Cherry made a sound of disgust and shook her head slowly, muttering: "This is such a fucking obvious trap, Boss. Maybe we should stop and think about this..."

"Our submarine is floating away." Mahihko interrupted meekly, before Cherry could continue her thought, and the group turned to watch with horror as their vehicle drifted slowly away from the docks, water spilling down the hatch from the waves pouring over it before it began to slowly sink... and a moment later the wolf ducked his head with an embarrassed blush, mumbling: "I... I didn't think..."

"Yeah, obviously." Cherry said morbidly, and then she waved it off with a sigh, the wolf blinking a bit as she skipped the lecture in favor of looking at Zerrex seriously. "Look, okay. We have no way out of here, but it's not like we had either the air or fuel to get us going anywhere else, I do realize that. Still, we shouldn't... okay, right, go over there, see what happens."

"I'll make you climb that wall up to us if you keep being a bitch." Zerrex said mildly, as he stepped carefully onto the lift platform, Cindy and Marina following. For a moment, Mahihko made a face, looking from Cherry to the male lizard... and then he scrambled quickly over to Zerrex as the female huffed before mumbling something and following last onto the platform.

She turned towards the control panel without bothering to wait for a command, pulling the simple lever... and a moment later the lift shuddered before it began to rise with a low hum, cliff face passing by quickly as they rose high into the air. Zerrex felt a wave of illness roll through him as he noted the height they had already achieved and the fact that still the top of the cliffs were only a hint of line just under the clouds.

A few minutes later, the humming began to wind down, and the lift locked into place at the top of the cliffs... and Zerrex stared, his anxiety over the heights forgotten in the face of the smoking wreckage atop the cliffs. He walked slowly forwards, looking back and forth at guard towers that had literally been melted by some terrible heat, and an archway that had originally been part of a massive wall that surrounded the immense city had crumbled away, skewed on an angle and surrounded by broken pieces of concrete and a steel door that had fallen off its hinges.

The rest of the Drakkaren's family followed him slowly, Mahihko making a face as he whined low in his throat at the sight of the dead, twisted bodies on the ground, and Cherry said quietly: "Smell that? Sulfur, brimstone, and the slightest hint of copper... that's the smell of a demon, and a bigger one at that. The ones from the Abyss end up leaving that smell behind when they exert certain abilities... or if they've just come up out of the Pit."

"The demon's right," said a cold voice, and Zerrex looked up in surprised before Cherry hissed as her body automatically shifted to her demonic form, drawing back at the flash of golden light that shone from above the broken archway, and dirt and stone pattered down above... but Zerrex snarled, pushing forwards into the light and covering his eyes, and the voice added in a softer tone: "Interesting..."

A moment later, and Zerrex was looking up the form of an angel, and he let out a soft breath at the sight of the mouse: his features were handsome and calm, his eyes a brilliant blue, his fur albino white and from his back extended two enormous feathered ivory wings... but the similarities to the angels as described by religion ended there.

The mouse did not have lower legs: instead, it was almost as if he had mechanical replacements, his knees feeding into strange, silvery steel, the metal slightly-curved and feeding down into feet with a pair of large, hooked talons and a long, curving spike on the heel of each. The rest of his legs were hidden, however, by a pair of pants that seemed to slip under these terrible boots.

Furthermore, the Drakkaren noted that the mouse wore no shirt, but only a vest that was made of a dark-grey duraflex material and overlaid with metal plates over the shoulders and chest... and it seemed almost as if spring-clips had been built into his forearms, and Zerrex's eyes settled on these as he stepped slowly forwards as the mouse uncrossed his arms and flapped his enormous wings, floating into the air and hovering, his arms wide... and both the black-plated .45 on one arm and plain-looking combat knife with an extended handle on the other clearly visible. "Lord Zerrex... I thought you were told not to come here."

"Who are you?" Zerrex asked mildly, looking up at the angel, and the mouse smiled a bit as he shook his head slowly, lowering his arms to his sides and continuing to hover with slow flaps of his wings. He heard Cherry starting forwards with a snarl, perhaps compelled by some deep-ingrained hatred from her time of Hell, and he looked over his shoulder at the others, snapping: "Stay back, I'll deal with him! There might be others!"

"I came alone." The angel said mildly, but then he nodded a bit, a look of distaste crossing his features. "But alright, Lord Zerrex. I have your name, and you shall have mine: I am Sir Francis Delacroix, Captain of Lord God's Royal Vanguard, from the 13th Rank of the Seraphim. And as I stated before... you shouldn't be here. You were warned... this place is fallen, and the Corruption is spreading over it... soon Hell's forces will claim all the souls here and distort this city towards their own ends: leave now, and you may yet live to fight another day."

"I'll live and fight my way through here, Frank. Now go away, we're busy: there's a long march towards the center of the city and I don't have all day." Zerrex muttered, and he reflected it was probably not a good thing that he found it harder to get along with an angel than with a demon, as he stepped forwards-

The quality of the light changed as he heard more than saw the movement, and then Zerrex swung his cane forwards as Francis swung out with his handgun, and the angel and Drakkaren snarled at each other, the reptile's muscles bulging and the angel's arm trembling as he tried to push back against the reptile... before he pulled the trigger of his handgun, and a blast of white light shot from the barrel with an echoing bang, the recoil enough to dislodge him from the reptile as Zerrex leapt back, wincing from the burn along his arm where the beam had brushed him as the angel rose his handgun, only to find Zerrex had already trained his own massive rusted revolver on the angel. "Can you... dodge a bullet?"

Amazingly, Francis smiled coldly, then he let go of his handgun, and it retracted back into place on his forearm, holding his hands out after a moment and Zerrex slowly relaxed his aim as the angel said softly: "Zerrex... please. Do you really think you can take on an angel in battle? I'm of the highest order, and in charge of defending Heaven from Hell... if I can take on a platoon of rampaging demons, I'm fairly certain I can take on you."

The Drakkaren snorted, then he holstered his revolver, tossing his cane away and steadying himself as Cherry began dragging the others over to the side of the area while catcalling and yelling, apparently greatly anticipating the fight. "It's a fight of Captain against Captain, then." Zerrex said softly, and he leaned forwards a bit, flexing his powerful body and cracking his neck with a wince, then his eyes narrowed on the mouse, automatically sizing him up as he drew Blackheart off his back. "Tell you what though, Frank. If I kick your ass, you're going to be the laughingstock of every world and alternate dimension out there."

"Pride is a sin, anyway." Francis responded, then he flicked his right arm, and the knife popped out into his handgun, a blast of fire shooting out of the blade and transforming the weapon into a sword of white flames, the angel taking the weapon into both hands and raising it slightly, and then he frowned at Zerrex's wide grin. "What?"

"I'm just glad you look like you actually might be a challenge." the Drakkaren said softly, and Francis snorted... but the reptile could see a gleam reflecting in his eyes. "I'll try my very best not to kill you, I promise."

"I think I'm the one who will have the difficulty there." Francis responded calmly, and then his body tensed, his wings raising before he propelled himself forwards, swinging down hard with his flaming blade as Zerrex countered with a hard upwards swing, and his eyes widened in shock as the massive sword glowed blue upon colliding with the angelic weapon, and instead of being chopped in half, easily deflected the sword upward.

Immediately, he snarled and lashed downwards as Zerrex swung his blade around his head and chopped mightily downwards in a straight-down slash, their swords colliding above their heads and Francis feeling a moment of triumph before his eyes widened in shock as one of Zerrex's knees swung hard up into his gut, causing him to grunt and lean harder forwards into their clashing blades even as his eyes bulged, before Zerrex lashed out with a hard side-kick to the mouse's kidney.

The angel grunted, staggering backwards as the Drakkaren dragged his sword down to point towards the sky before shoving it straight forwards, knocking Francis backwards before a final hard, simple boot to his stomach sent him sprawling backwards... except before he hit the ground, he simply vanished with a flicker of light and reappeared several feet back in a crouch, panting hard and snarling, and Zerrex narrowed his eyes, a chill rolling down his spine. Teleportation? That could cause some problems.

But the moment the lizard's guard relaxed slightly, the mouse brought his left hand up, his gun snapping out into his hand as the angel quickly fired off several shots at him, the Drakkaren snarling as he twisted the flat of his blade to block the beams of light, the lasers of holy energy bouncing off the sword and going wild before the Drakkaren ducked on instinct, swinging his heavy sword around in a half-circle to attempt to cut through the angel as he heard the flurry of wings behind him...

And then he glared up at Francis, the mouse seeming to weigh nothing as he landed easily atop the flat of the massive sword, his talons squealing against the metal as he aimed the gun at Zerrex's face, saying coldly: "It's over. Surrender, Zerrex, and turn back. You fought hard but you can't win."

"There's a mistake." The Drakkaren said mildly, and then he threw himself to the side, Francis cursing as he half-fell before his wings shoved him backwards through the air, the mouse blasting off a volley of shots towards the lizard, but the reptile created a shield of energy in front of his body and the shots were simply absorbed into the blue energy.

Zerrex straightened, the shield vanishing from existence as Francis landed on his feet. He held gun in one hand and sword in the other, the mouse's head lowered and his eyes closing in concentration for a moment as Zerrex readied himself... and then he leapt backwards before vanishing, and the Drakkaren cursed as he heard the rustle of wings above him before a pair of metal talons clamped onto his shoulders and he felt himself hefted into the air.

A moment later, his body swayed as the angel twisted and threw him upwards, the reptile's world spinning before one metal talon collided with his stomach, sending him flying through the air with a pained grunt before he let out a yell as a volley of white lasers hammered into him, leaving deep sears along his body and in his chest before the angel teleported and flipped onto his back to smash both feet into the Drakkaren's back, sending him flying high into the sky.

Zerrex's eyes bulged in agony, snarling as he saw the mouse appear high above with both hands now on his sword, the flaming blade point down and ready to pierce the Drakkaren's body... and then Zerrex threw his arms out, and his own wings burst into existence, shirt tearing to tatters on his back as he roared and his wings propelled him suddenly upwards in C, Francis gaping in shock as the Drakkaren cocked Blackheart back, the blade sizzling with energy as his emerald eyes burned down into the mouse's sapphire before he slammed the flat of the blade down as hard as he could.

The angel fell from the sky like a white comet, hurtling down through the air as Zerrex's wings fizzled out of existence a moment later, the Drakkaren falling after him with a wince as Francis crashed into the ground and lay prone. Only seconds later, the lizard landed in a half-crouch, grunting in pain as Blackheart bit into the barren cement... and then he straightened slowly and replaced the sword on his back as Francis twitched a bit, panting hard and half-buried in a small crater in the cement, his body steaming lightly as blood dripped out of his mouth. "Incredible..."

"Not really." Zerrex said quietly, then he wiped at the burns and gouges on his chest before offering a hand and pushing the tip of his boot into the angel's kidney, muttering: "Get up, you big baby. I don't want the death of an angel on my hands on top of everything else I've done."

"I can see why so many people hate you." Francis replied after a moment, then he grunted and winced, pushing himself slowly up and out of the ground before glancing at the Drakkaren's hand, and finally gripping it, allowing the lizard to haul him up to his feet as Cherry continued to yell and dance around the battleground, the mouse rubbing at his head slowly and murmuring: "Can you please shut her up?"

"Lose your challenge, live with the consequences of the fight." Zerrex replied mildly, but he rose a hand and waved at Cherry anyway with a bit of a smile, noting that even Cindy looked impressed and pleased... whereas Marina and Mahihko were dancing around with Cherry, apparently quite taken with the aggressive celebrating methods of the demoness.

The two stood for a few moments, and then Francis grunted and rubbed at his neck, rolling his shoulders as his body ceased to smolder with the strange steam, seeming almost as if he'd stabilized himself somehow. He glanced over Zerrex for a few moments, then said finally: "You're a strong warrior, and the things some of the other angels have said about you may be true... but I'm disgusted to say that unfortunately... demons tend to be far superior to angels in terms of their combat ability. Even if you can defeat me, you may still be no match for the horrors that have gathered in that city."

Francis looked towards the broken gates for a moment before he shook his head in disgust, then he nodded to the reptile before flapping his wings once, flying into the air and crossing his arms as he said dryly: "I have to go and make my report to Heaven, that you've passed the trial and gained entry into Lunis... but again, beware. There are terrible things loose in this world that never should have been... and even though even we in Heaven hold some demons as our allies..." A glance over to Cherry, who stuck out her tongue at him in reply. "A friend of a friend in Hell is never to be trusted."

With that the mouse flapped his wings once, and then simply vanished, the air flickering for a moment where he had been... and Zerrex made a face before looking over at Cherry and asking crossly: "Do you have to embarrass me in front of every single supernatural entity we meet?"

"No, just most of them." Cherry replied cheerfully, rubbing at one of her horns before bounding over with a wide grin, flailing her arms. "But fuck, Zerrex! Do you know who you just kicked the ass of? Stop and think for a minute, go into that wide thing of memories you stole outta my skull!"

"So what, he was just the Captain of the Vanguard, right?" Zerrex responded mildly, but at the same time he could hear Cherry's voice overlapping his own in memories that didn't technically belong to him, and he blinked a bit, his head cocking to the side as he reached up and slowly rubbed a hand through his hair. I mean... what's so impressive about that? I've never much been a fan of angels, after all...

Sir Francis is one of the highest-standing angels in Heaven, Cherry... spoke the voice of one of the sisters now, sounding both quietly amused and somewhat surprised. I would've thought you'd have heard of him before... he is young, but valorous and strong: during a skirmish at the very Gates of Heaven, it's said he was responsible for the singlehanded destruction of several waves of the fiercest demons Hell had to offer...

"So what, are you trying to point out you just embarrassed me in front of a bigwig?" The Drakkaren asked mildly, and Cherry rolled her eyes a bit, slouching and looking irritable. She perked up a bit when the reptile added: "But I get what you mean... yet for some reason, I dunno... I just don't feel exactly proud of what just happened."

Cherry looked over him curiously, and Marina smiled a bit, glancing towards Lunis and speaking quietly: "There are greater obstacles to come yet, Daddy... especially if what he said was true between the strength of demons and angels. Besides, perhaps it's only because you didn't end up killing him and he was still able to stand at the end of your confrontation... you can be a bit bloodthirsty now and then."

"Just a bit." Zerrex nodded thoughtfully, then he paused as something gleamed and caught his attention from the ground, ducking and curiously picking up the knife that Francis had been using, tilting his head a bit as his eyes roved over it slowly. It felt strangely alive in his grip, crackling with an energy the Drakkaren had rarely felt in this world... and he shrugged a bit as he looked it over before glancing over at Cherry, making a face as she made grabby-hands for the blade. "You're a child."

He tossed her the knife a moment later, however, and Cherry promptly flicked her wrist with a grin, a blade of orange flames sparking into life as Mahihko yelped and covered his head, grasping at his singed ears as the demoness looked embarrassed a moment later, the blade of fire vanishing as quickly as it had appeared as she stuck the knife in her sidepack. "Whoops. I'll just put this away, then... that's probably best for now."

"Always finding new and inventive ways to cause trouble, aren't you?" Zerrex said mildly, tilting his head before he glanced slowly over the rest of his family, and he paused as he felt a chill roll through his body, something hostile seeming to touch at his mind before he added quietly: "But maybe we should get going... Marina, I think you should run some mental interference, just in case there's any psychics in the area."

"I can already sense them... they're interacting with some sort of computer interface, too, one designed to react to mental signals." The youngest female responded softly, then she glanced up to Cindy before adding quietly: "We're all scared. But we can keep pushing forwards through this."

"Thanks, Marina." Cindy said softly, then she blushed a bit as she looked up at her father before nodding to him, saying quietly: "We're all tired, Daddy, and the city is in ruins... I think we'd better find a place to regroup, like Cherry said earlier, inside the city. We need to find out what we're up against before we rush into things if we're getting ready to battle demons like Cherry, don't we?"

"That's a good point." Zerrex said softly, and Cherry looked both dubious and prideful as he kicked his cane up to his hand, spinning it idly once before shoving it down into the blackened earth and starting forwards into Lunis, his family following shortly behind.

The city itself was a war zone that had been ravaged by fire and terror: the earth crackled and many of the immense buildings half-fallen and lopsided, steel and concrete littering the ground with broken cables and corpses. The world itself seemed like it had become warped, as they stepped into what had been a technological paradise first taken down by Narrius, then turned into a gigantic factory before it had finally been torn apart by what seemed like a thousand raging gods.

Zerrex made a face as they passed a tower that had somehow been torn out of the ground and lifted straight into the air, the long support rods that formed the foundation creating an awkward web that it now sat on, leaving a gaping pit in the earth... but that had somehow been one of the least-strange things they had seen so far on this trip, and they had only been travelling for a few hours now at the very most.

They had found a working subway that had taken them to ‘Bermuda District,' but it had taken them a while to clear the stairs leading out of rubble... only to find themselves entering a building that had fallen on its side through a window, stumbling their way through debris, furniture, and bloodstains before Cindy had finally kicked down a weak chunk of wall, and they'd made their way back out into the streets as Cherry reminisced about Cindy's earlier barge through another wall that had gotten in her way back at the train stations, until Zerrex finally told her to shut up.

What the Drakkaren found unsettling was that they hadn't seen any demons... figures had scurried away from them, but Marina had identified them as people, and from the bits and pieces of broken thought she'd picked up from those in hiding, she was able to tell them that the demons were apparently sticking close to the center of the city, which the Drakkaren was rather sure they were starting to approach. And as night's falling, too. Isn't that just a wonderful coincidence?

He glanced back and forth, grimacing a bit, then nodded towards a back alley between two broken steel towers, murmuring: "Let's see if we can find somewhere to rest for an hour or so before we start getting into more combat. I think we're all tired after the events on the Ophelia today."

The others nodded a bit, and they slipped down the alley and through a side door into what had once been the lobby of an expensive office tower, but was now just a room full of broken chairs and metal. Zerrex righted a chair as he walked inside and then sat down in it with a sigh, Cherry propping herself up on the reception counter and crossing her legs primly as the others stood, looking around at each other awkwardly.

It was silent... there were no birds chirping, no bugs scuttling, no nothing. The only sounds were distant ones, of terror, explosions, and what could either be gunfire or someone throwing rocks against one of many available metal walls... and then Zerrex grimaced and shook his head slowly, sighing a bit as he rubbed at his bare chest and wished idly that he'd packed a spare shirt. "Marina, do you sense anything?"

The youngest concentrated for a few moments, narrowing her eyes... and then she shook her head slowly, murmuring: "At least a klick away, but I can't be certain what's going on. It's more vague images than anything else, although-" She halted, then her eyes widened as she stared at the ceiling, whispering: "Above us. Hunting us... barely sentient lifeforms. Their minds are different from ours... demons."

"Suit up." Zerrex said calmly, and then he checked over himself, glancing over to Cherry as Cindy and Mahihko both quickly went through the duffel bags as the Drakkaren continued to speak: "We outfit for the situation and leave the rest of our equipment here: as much as I don't want to say it, Cindy, I need you to load up with heavy weapons. Mahihko, long range and at least moderate firepower: Marina can take the lighter weapons, and she'll keep the orb safe. Which leaves you and me as the frontrunners, Cherry."

"Awesome." Cherry grinned, her sharp teeth gleaming as Cindy gave her own odd smile, her eyes focused and narrowed. "Fuckin' right, Boss. Too bad we don't have some serious artillery on us..."

"Want to bet?" Cindy straightened, holding up a massive anti-tank rifle made of blue plated steel, complete with an underslung shotgun attachment for close-range confrontations as she slammed a clip into the six-foot-long rifle, then slipped an extra shell into the breach, Cherry and Zerrex both staring as the female shouldered the enormous 1.52 caliber weapon, looking dryly amused. "While Marina was ‘working' on the submarine, I went to look for any equipment we could use and the kind soldiers on board the ship directed me down to the weapons locker. I emptied out one of the duffel bags and filled it up with this... and this."

She slung the rifle onto her back, then ducked again and pulled out what looked almost like a hi-tech shotgun... except Zerrex recognized the small cylinders lining the bandolier in her other hand as grenades. "Hi-Impact, Low-Blast grenades... and this nice beauty here-" A gesture with the almost, small, streamlined snub-nose rifle that fit easily in one of her hands. "-loads five of them at once. Apparently it was designed for taking down BADs and other combat enhancers while not harming those around you."

"Fuck her, I want that." Cherry said greedily, walking towards Cindy, but then she made a face when the female stuck out her tongue and strapped on the bandolier, before reaching back into the bag and digging out the matching black holster for the grenade launcher, strapping this on to one long leg. "Come on, bitch, that thing was like... made for me!"

Cindy only rolled her eyes, however, then added a telescopic stun rod to complete her arsenal. The others switched and secured their own armament as well, and Mahihko blushed a bit as he increased in size and muscle bulk, his body masculine and now over seven feet tall, with thick muscles over his limbs and chest stretching and tearing the fabric of his far-too-tight uniform. On the other hand, it did give him the body and strength necessary to easily carry and use the drum-loading machine gun currently gripped loosely in one hand, so Zerrex could overlook the fact the wolf looked like a porn star, even if Cherry was drooling a bit every time her gaze rolled over him and the lupine's crotch. We're dysfunctional. And we'd all be thrown into the brig in the military.

The group spread themselves out in a narrow circle, Zerrex pulling his huge sword off his back, Cindy standing with her stun-rod held ready and sparking, Cherry with her whip out in her hand and Mahihko and Marina both aiming their respective weaponry at the ceiling... and a moment later the youngest female said sharply: "On your three and nine, Zerrex!"

The Drakkaren turned immediately to the left as Cherry stepped beside him, their backs pressing together as the rest of the group broke off into a triangle formation, the ceiling above shuddering and sending down flakes of dust and rock before it crashed inwards in several spots, and strange, chittering creatures crawled out â€" the upper half mostly wolf, Drakkaren, whatever mortal being, but the lower halves all buglike, elongated abdomens with pairs of massive, scythe-like legs. Zerrex snarled as one of them lunged at him, surprisingly fast, and his eyes noted the enormous claws the half-wolf, half-bug had a moment before the Drakkaren cut it in half with a single downwards stroke, the body crunching and spray blood and green goo over him.

Cherry laughed as she snapped her whip upwards into one of the creatures, then gracefully half-spun to the side, dragging the deadly chains in the same direction to tear through another two monsters, squeals and hisses filling the air in a terrible cacophonic chorus. Her eyes strayed for a moment to the others in their little family as she drove a metal boot into the head of one of the bug demons â€" watching Mahihko screeching as he emptied round-after-round into the thronging horde of monsters that was pouring from another gap in the ceiling, Marina pulling out another handgun as she coldly fired bullets through skulls and chests, and Cindy using the rod and her bare fists and feet to lay waste to the creatures in front of her, snarling as she easily dodged claws and scythe-like arms with ease.

Zerrex grunted as he forced his way forwards, swinging Blackheart in a simple back-forth slash pattern before cocking the massive blade back and slamming it into a particularly-large demon-thing, reducing its upper body to green goop and splattering its remains over many of the others, who screamed and began to flee back towards the ceilings.

The other monsters, too, fled, and soon the group was left staring around a room filled with carnage and body parts. Mahihko was rubbing slowly at a wound on his arm, and Zerrex found himself disgusted to find he was the only other person to carry a wound â€" a minor laceration, but he could tell by Cherry's smug look that the demoness was going to harass the hell out of him later for it. But after giving her a glare, she cleared her throat and crossed her arms, instead mumbling: "So uh... those things would be Beelzebub's minions, I think. Any of the Damned or Cursed who are sent down to Hell and sent into his circle become warped and twisted into bug-like creatures; it's the same with any other circle, the inhabitants become like the world they're in, you get it? Like... Beelzebub is also the Lord of the Flies and the Lord of Lies... so like... those things were obviously souls damned into his ring... and there's hundreds of other realms in Hell."

"Absolutely wonderful." Zerrex muttered under his breath, and then he shook his head slowly as he glanced over the group, straightening and replacing Blackheart on his back before saying calmly: "Alright. Everyone load up and prepare for combat. Current weapons and only the ammo you can and still move easily: we're going to move quickly into the city, since I have no doubt the demons are well aware of our presence by now."

The others nodded, and a few moments later they were back on the street, moving at a quick pace in a double-line formation with Zerrex heading the group, breathing a bit harder as they ran down the cracked highway, his eyes flicking back and forth as he kept himself tense and ready before his eyes focused on a T-shaped intersection ahead. A pause, and then he skidded to a halt, the others quickly sliding out to either side and readying their weapons as the Drakkaren found himself gaping at a massive, bulky bull that strode slowly into sight onto the highway from behind a building.

But there was no way it could be just a bull... it was massive, at least thirty feet tall, with huge, thick horns that curved forwards and inwards towards its nose, irises a terrible, burning orange and arms almost too-long for its body, the creature's body thick with impossible muscle and a long, whip-like tail ending in a small, chestnut tuft at the end of his tail, the rest of his body covered in short, bristly red hair. The giant was clad in a rusted solid breastplate and ragged cloth pants, enormous hooves sending up sparks with every stomp against the pavement, and he lugged a massive bardiche in his hand... and then Cherry cursed and quickly dragged Zerrex off to the side, the others following as Marina's eyes widened as well. "That's a Gigataur... Zerrex, keep your fucking head down, those things are-"

"Fire!" yelled a hoarse voice, and there was the sound of something charging up before a massive beam of white light shot down the highway from the other side, blasting into the Gigataur and sending it flying away as white motes danced around the enormous beam of light, the demon shrieking and flying backwards, crashing somewhere back down the left arm of the intersection, the ground rumbling loudly for a few moments before the massive beam wound down, fading quickly from sight as the reptile motioned to quickly head across the street, ignoring Cherry's pleading look, before she fumed and quickly followed after them, her form changing at the same time to leave her in a more-natural looking body.

Zerrex rounded the right corner, tossing a glance over his shoulder to see the Gigataur half-buried in the ruins of an office building, smoke rising up from the ruins before he returned his eyes ahead of him, and he made a face as a cadre of soldiers in silvery uniforms immediately all rose assault rifles at them... and Zerrex rose a hand, saying quickly: "We're here to act as support and shut the Black Hole, on the behalf of Hez'Ranna!"

The soldiers hesitated, and Zerrex glanced over their gear: rifles with lengthy, rectangular barrels and some sort of glowing keypad on top, a few of them with underslung grenade launchers attached to the bottom... and they all wore helmets with a small visor that went over one eye that he was rather sure had some sort of identification lock-on system. They all seemed confused, one of them lowering his rifle hesitantly and looking up at their apparent boss, a soldier in the same uniform but with a golden helm and matching plates over his shoulders.

He was seated in what could almost be a bulldozer... except that instead of a shovel, there was a massive generator in front of the machine, cables going back and forth from the engine to the rewired control panel to the massive cannon covered in electrodes, fuses, and ending in a deep hollow with a sphere inside from which electricity still sparked around as the huge weapon continued to gear down.

The leopard frowned a bit, leaning forwards on the controls before his eyes widened a bit, looking up in shock as the Gigataur stirred at the end of the highway, then slowly shoved itself slowly out of the broken building and back to a standing position, most of its armor, clothing, and even its coarse hairs burnt away and leaving the gigantic creature standing nude, covered in tarry black wounds through which white streaks of pulsing scar stood. It roared, and Zerrex snarled as he turned towards it, the soldiers behind him panicking and quickly fleeing in the opposite direction even as the leopard yelled: "Reattach the power couplings, recharge the ion cannon! You idiots, wait!"

"Cindy, Marina, help him out. Cherry, Mahihko, you two are with me." Zerrex said coldly, as the gigantic bull-demon strode forwards a few steps down the street, shaking shrapnel from its mane as ash and charred flesh pattered down from the creature's body, which was quickly healing over. I can actually watch the burned flesh rotting away to make room for new... flesh, skin, and even hair... it's faster than Vampire, sure, but I bet it weakens just like Baskin...

The Drakkaren started forwards, shouldering his greatsword as Mahihko immediately followed behind with a wince, and last in line shuffled Cherry, flickers of memory from Hell coming back and fighting against the terrible chill that ran through her body at the sight of the gigantic monster, as it snarled and blew smoke from its nostrils, hooves stomping down the ground as its massive body swayed back and forth, tossing away the broken handle of its polearm as its glowing eyes locked on Zerrex.

"He's insane..." breathed the leopard, only staring stupidly despite Cindy's shouts for his attention, before Marina grabbed her older sister and dragged her around to the other side of the machine, where several fuses had popped out of place and half the cables were hanging loose. "He... he can't... no one can, they just don't die no matter what you hit them with, they can kill thousands before they even take a breath..."

Zerrex, however, was continuing to stride towards the giant, ignoring Cherry's protests and Mahihko's whimpers of fear: all he could focus on was this next fight ahead, a slow, cold grin spreading over his features as he said calmly over the others: "Cherry, flank him. Mahihko, aim for his eyes and head. I'm going in to see if I can bring him down to earth."

"Goddammit..." Cherry muttered, but she nodded after a moment and made a disgusted face, but it was more for herself than the Drakkaren leading the attack, her fear fading even as the Gigataur flexed and roared, the sound mighty enough to make them all wince a bit as the surroundings rumbled. What the fuck is wrong with me? I'm acting like a pussy... this isn't Hell, this isn't some world where I randomly can't defend myself, and I'm not being dragged into battle by some fuckwit who doesn't know his shit from his food. This is the Captain... this is the Boss. Whatever Zerrex says... "I'll do. I'll draw its attention so you can go in with a direct attack."

Cherry flexed a bit, her body shifting automatically back to her demonic form, her eyes flashing with blue fire as she snapped her whip once... and Zerrex grinned over his shoulder before she sprinted to the side, curving in towards the Gigataur's right as she shouted: "Hey, retard! I'm down here, motherfucker, or are you having trouble seeing me from way up top?"

The giant thing turned towards her, snarling and raising a hoof, but Cherry easily dodged backwards despite the monster's surprising speed, and then she deftly ducked under a hard punch, the skin of the thing scraping against the tips of her horns as it snarled. It swung its arm to the side, turning at the same time... yet Cherry danced between its legs and struck her whip hard into its crotch, the hook catching on the inside of its thigh and tearing a chunk out of the cloth fabric of its pants.

It roared in anger, spinning towards her and starting to reach out... before its eyes caught sight of Zerrex sprinting forwards, his massive blade still resting across his shoulders but held tight in both hands, and it hesitated for the briefest of moments as it tried to decide its target; a moment that Zerrex immediately took to leap towards its leg, slashing Blackheart into its shin with a grin of triumph-

And the blade simply bounced off, Zerrex staggering backwards and looking stupefied as he clung to the sword with one hand and wildly waved his other to try and keep balance, the Gigataur grunting and leaning forwards a bit... but that was all, before it slapped the Drakkaren away with tremendous force, the reptile landing on his back and skidding several feet down the road. He winced, grabbing his head, but then kicked to his feet with a snarl, brushing himself off and clenching Blackheart tighter in one hand as he started forwards again at a brisk walk, muttering: "Wonderful. I didn't hurt it, but on the other hand it didn't hurt anything but my pride. Let's try this again, but with spirit this time, Zerrex."

The Gigataur stomped forwards, a grin spreading over its muzzle as it watched the reptile approaching, before it grunted and swatted irritably at Cherry as the demoness ran in close, the sharp chain whip lashing into its body and then its hand, before it seized the chain and dragged Cherry up into the air by her weapon. It blinked stupidly as it raised her to head level, the demoness aiming one of Zerrex's .52's at its face before she fired several times, and the bull-demon roared and tossed her away as it grabbed at its head, snorting and stomping around in a circle as blood ran down from its nose. It hissed, turning around... then glanced over its shoulder as Zerrex charged and kicked one enormous hoof backwards.

The reptile immediately leapt upwards, landing neatly on the creature's heel before he jumped up higher, reversing Blackheart and roaring as he stabbed downwards into the enormous beast's back... and this time the sword tore a hole into the monster, blood spurting out around the Drakkaren as it whinnied and staggered forwards, arms lashing back and forth as Zerrex forced the sword's blade deeper, his muscular arms bulging as he grit his teeth in exertion â€" whatever the demon might look like, its hide had the consistency of hardened steel under his boots. A moment later, it straightened, and Zerrex kicked off its back, ripping Blackheart free in one swift motion before the thing turned around, its fist catching him in midair and then slamming him down into the ground.

The Drakkaren gagged, his eyes bulging in agony as he was crushed down into the concrete with enough force to shatter it like thin wood beneath his body, his limbs spasming outwards and Blackheart flying from his grasp, before the giant reared back and rose one enormous hoof with a furious snarl... but a moment later, it staggered backwards, giving the reptile enough time to crawl to his feet as it covered its bleeding face again, several bullets bouncing uselessly off its huge hands as Mahihko emptied the rest of the sniper rifle's clip at the demon's head.

The Gigataur was distracted for the moment, snarling at the wolf and then letting out a loud, furious roar, the earth seeming to tremble as blood and drool flew from its huge, fanged maw, flinging its arms wide as it prepared to charge... and then Cherry leapt up onto its shoulder, snapping her whip down around the monster's throat and hooking the claw at the end onto one of its horns. It gagged violently, lurching back and forth as it tried to shake Cherry off, girthy fingers unable to pull the small chain links loose as it began to bite through its hard flesh, the demoness roaring with the exertion as she shoved both feet into the giant's back and yanked as hard as she could.

A moment later, however, it leaned suddenly forwards, and Cherry leapt free from the monstrosity as it clawed at her in midair uselessly. As it concentrated on the demoness, it missed the sight of Zerrex running in and curving around behind the creature, the Drakkaren drawing back his sword in mid-stride as his muscles flexed with power.

He grunted, and then his sword blazed with blue energy before he slashed into the back of the giant's knee, and the Gigataur howled, back arching as it fell to a kneel as Blackheart cleaved through most of its leg before leaping away. It groaned loudly, then twisted and threw itself forwards, and Zerrex stared in shock as the massive arms and hands of the things slammed down on top of him even as he tried to leap backwards.

It knocked him to the ground, and then both hands of the gigantic bull-demon shoved down on him, pinning him into the concrete as it rose over him, nothing but muscle and roaring fury, orange eyes burning with pure hatred down into the Drakkaren's own emerald. He tried to move, but he was unable to even wiggle, the pressure on his chest growing ever heavier as he wheezed for breath, drool falling from its jaws before it began to lean down, apparently intent on simply eating him.

A huge hand clamped on one of its shoulders, ending in terrible, vicious claws... and Zerrex stared before the Gigataur was jerked up to a sitting position by what was unmistakably Cherry... but a greatly-changed, even further demonized version of the female, as she laid a single punch into the thing's face and sent it skidding down the street and into a building with a loud groan as Cherry roared and flexed, a crazed grin on her muzzle before she glanced down and winked at Zerrex, grunting for him to get up... but for a moment, Zerrex could only stare.

Her height had increased to at least twenty-five feet... and her demonic body had gone from lithe to gargantuan with bulk and muscle that was almost comparable to the Gigataur they were currently facing. Her fins had turned black and grey, glinting like steel and jagged as a sawblade, lengthened and forming a deadly Mohawk on her head, between horns that had thickened and grown outwards even further. Similar fins had sprouted along the outside of her forearms as well, razor-sharp and stained with blood: whether her own, symbolic, or from some older battle, Zerrex had no idea, but the effect was the same nonetheless: they only added to her fierce appearance, much as the huge black spikes on her back and along her long tail did.

As he stared, she seemed to shrink back a bit, looking almost embarrassed... and then the Drakkaren finally pulled himself out of the concrete with a wince before turning towards the Gigataur as it climbed to its own hooves, hissing at them... and he muttered: "Gods, if I knew you could do that..." A pause as the bull-demon stumbled, and he leaned forwards a bit, picking Blackheart up with a grin as he added quietly: "Cherry. It's weakened. Grapple it and hold it just for a moment."

Cherry nodded beside him, then she spread an enormous pair of leathery wings, roaring at the fellow demon before she leapt forwards, both clawed hands lashing out in a downwards rend, and the Gigataur shoved its own hands upwards, catching her and gripping her hands tightly, the muscles of both titans flexing as they battled with pure strength alone, leaning forwards to try and shove one another back... and then Zerrex charged forwards between Cherry's legs and leapt upwards, bringing his sword in an upwards rend along the stomach of the Gigataur, the creature lurching backwards in shock as Cherry forwards its arms down at the same time, and a moment later Zerrex twisted in midair and shoved Blackheart through the bull-demon's throat.

It spasmed, staggering backwards as Zerrex landed in a crouch between the two creatures, Cherry shoving it hard backwards before standing protectively over her master and commander with both hands raised gamely. The Drakkaren looked over his shoulder, his eyes focused on the blade still buried in the Gigataur's throat as blood spurted from the terrible wound, the monster stumbling backwards and into a building... and finally, it released a long whine before falling forwards onto the ground, blood spilling out of its neck as it quickly shriveled and rotted away, dark smoke flowing up into the sky as the demon soon turned to bones and ash.

Zerrex slowly stood, breathing hard... and then he smiled up to Cherry, holding a hand up and then wincing when she gave him a high-five that almost knocked him sprawling, causing the enormous demon to cough and look lame as he glared up at her invertedly. He rolled his eyes, then strode over to the dead remains of the Gigataur, idly kicking in the skull and sending pieces of dusty, suddenly-ancient bones flying down the street before picking his massive blade out of the broken remains.

When he turned around, he was facing an embarrassed-looking Cherry who was quickly slipping her weapons and gear back on... but she was still naked, her clothes torn to pieces by the sudden transformation. The Drakkaren stared at her, and she huffed a bit, looking almost sheepish as she mumbled: "Fuck off. I saved your butt back there, Boss. You owe me whatever I want later on, got that?"

"Fair enough..." Zerrex glanced over her, then watched as her body changed a tiny bit, leaving her female in appearance but otherwise sexless: no vagina in sight, and no nipples on her large breasts. He paused as he looked her over again at this, then he added mildly: "You look almost like a PG-rated female assassin character from a video game or a B-movie."

"Fuck you." Cherry said disgustedly, and they glared at each other before a smile twitched at Cherry's mouth, and a moment later they were both laughing, stepping forwards and hugging each other tightly in the glow that sometimes came after defeating a particularly-tough foe. A moment later they quickly pulled apart, however, and they glanced over each other lamely before they both glanced down the street, where Mahihko was still staring, slack-jawed, and the Lunis soldier on the massive sci-fi gun was flipping out as Cindy and Marina shouted things up at him. "Oh wonderful. Looks like I'm not being overlooked by fag-boy, there."

"Fag boy?" Zerrex asked mildly, then he started down the street, watching as Mahihko scrambled up to his feet and listening to Cherry fall in step beside him with a slight smile. "How do you figure that?" A thoughtful pause. "And... what the hell did you do, there? I'm trying to sort through those memories I got from you but I'm getting nothing but haze... I don't think the mind reading thing worked properly."

"Yeah, didn't you already point that out, captain obvious?" Cherry asked dryly, and Zerrex muttered something under his breath before she continued in a more serious tone: "But to your first question, he's wearing skintight pants to show off his goodies, and he doesn't seem to be doing it for either of the cute girls currently haranguing him down there. But as to the bigger question, well..." Cherry smiled a bit, halting and then waving Mahihko away when he started to come over, and the wolf looked curious for a moment before wandering down to where the other girls were attempting to drag the leopard off the gun, looking down and apparently sizing up her words carefully. And that's a rarity... how much did Hell really change her?

"You see... I... this is my ‘rest' form, I guess you could say, but because of my background..." Cherry hugged herself a bit and glanced down for a moment, stumbling on her words before continuing quietly: "Because of what I did in life, too... because of what we did together... I have a body that can reflect both my sexual sins and perversions, and in that much larger form, one that reflects hatred, darkness, and wrath."

Cherry smiled a bit, glancing up at him and blushing a bit before touching the collar she had always worn, and Zerrex reached out and gently traced the ‘II' on it with his fingers, gazing into her eyes at the same time before he smiled faintly in return and said softly: "We'll have to talk more about this and whatever other secrets you've got later, Cherry... but for now, we have to keep moving, in case more things like that Gigataur show up. But I'm not afraid, if that's what you were thinking." A pause, and then he added in a gentle, teasing voice: "You've gone a bit soft on me, huh?"

The female snorted at this, then knocked his hand away before strutting ahead of him, raising her muzzle arrogantly as Zerrex rolled his eyes with a bit of a grin. Overacting, what a surprise. "Like shit! I'm still the fucking toughest bitch around these parts, asshole, and if you wanna spar right now, I'll prove it to you, Boss!" She winked, spinning around and beckoning to him, before she paused and ducked a moment before a bullet flew into the space where her head had been only a moment before.

The leopard stared, dropping his handgun dumbly, and then Cherry whirled around, flailing her arms and shouting angrily: "Hey, asshole! Who the hell just took down that giant fucker and- hey, is that thing working?"

Cherry immediately toddled over to the modified vehicle, peering at it curiously as Cindy muttered something about ADD under her breath as she fixed a few power cords on the huge weapon, and the leopard blinked before shrinking back as the demoness looked up at him, Zerrex following a few moments later, giving his own interested glance over the device. "It's... it's an ion laser. It generates a concentrated beam of positively-charged particles and-"

"Boring." Cherry muttered, then she leaned up and grabbed the leopard by the front of his uniform, jerking him rudely out of his seat as Mahihko winced and Zerrex just sighed, dropping his head in his hand. "So, look at me. I'm a demon. A succubus." A pause as she leaned forwards, leering, and then her eyes flickered and the leopard spasmed suddenly, his jaw dropping dumbly as she added softly: "And I could easily enchant some ass like you to cream his pants and adore me as his mistress if I wanted to." A pause, and she dropped the leopard on his face, walking away with her hands held in the air and muzzle high, saying cheerfully: "But I'm not going to, because I'm currently on your side, helping out and bringing justice to the universe with my mighty powers and transformation ability, much like-"

"Shut up." Zerrex said dryly, shoving the female aside, then he held a hand out to the leopard, saying softly: "We're here to help, honestly... and yes, she's a demon, but she's on our side and she won't cause problems." A pause and a glare over at her. "Will she?"

"None at all." Cherry immediately held up her hands, coughing and then awkwardly walking away down the street, rubbing at the back of her head and muttering about something under her breath. The leopard watched her for a few moments warily... but finally took Zerrex's hand, and he hefted the soldier up to his feet, the feline staring stupidly at the ease with which the reptile had lifted him up.

Zerrex glanced over the soldier in front of him, idly brushing a few bits of debris off his chest before he asked the leopard casually: "So are you going to order your soldiers to stand down from wherever they're likely aiming at us in hiding? Either way, I'd appreciate it if you'd speed us on our way, but I'd rather do so without-"

"This is stupid, Daddy." Marina muttered, walking up by the Drakkaren and tugging at his arm childishly, tossing a glare at the leopard before her eyes flicked up to the lizard, meeting his as she continued in his mind in a cold voice, Let's just kill him and leave. They'll never trust us... he's a soldier who was brought up under the Irenic regime, and with Cherry being a demon, he thinks we're all not mortals now. He's scared and the moment our backs are turned, he'll call out his strike team to chase us down... come on, I know you can feel the Black Hole, just like I can. It's not far from here at all now.

Zerrex shifted uncomfortably, then he glanced back to the feline, making a bit of a face as he pulled lightly away from Marina: her thoughts came more in images than it did her voice these days, and it was uncomfortable to receive a summary that could've filled a short story in less than a second, to say the least. He also hated that she made sense... but I'm not going to start killing pointlessly, at least not mortals. We need all the help we can get. "Mister..." A pause as he waited for the leopard to speak his name, but he didn't, instead continuing to stare at Zerrex like he was a monster. "Soldier. We're going to continue into the city... things are going to get messy, so I think it's better if you don't try to follow, for whatever reason."

The Drakkaren nodded, looking down at the leopard... and then he sighed and patted him on the shoulder, then winced as the feline fell back against the enormous cannon machine, looking terrified. Zerrex muttered something under his breath, then shook his head and motioned for the others to follow as he started down the street opposite the massive ion laser, Cherry quickly falling into step beside him as Cindy sketched a curtsy politely to the soldier, offering a hesitant smile before she left with Mahihko and a sour-looking Marina to quickly catch up to the pair walking ahead.