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"Fall back into double line formation, Cherry at the head of one column, Cindy the other." Zerrex instructed absently over his shoulder, and the others nodded, the group shuffling itself around as Cherry made a face â€" not at his words, but at something else. "What is it?"

The demoness paused, then shook her head as they passed a narrower side street... and Zerrex stopped, staring around the corner as she muttered: "Looks like I don't need to try and explain... that."

The street had been reduced almost to rubble by some tremendous force, along with several of the buildings that had once lined the road. Pieces of metal, cement, and overturned vehicles lay in ruin inside the enormous crater, and the other end had what looked like a narrow pass some great, terrible creature had carved with its passage leading up through what was otherwise sheer, forty foot cliffs of stone and metal bulwark to the street beyond. Zerrex shook his head slowly at the sight, not wanting to know how or why such a strange crater had formed... before he glanced to the right, and muttered quietly: "Come on. We can pass by on the right, through the ruins in that lot... it doesn't look like it'll be too hard to navigate."

The others nodded, forming a single file line behind the reptile as he led them carefully around the high cliffs that had formed in the street, the Drakkaren stepping over most of the rubble and shoving aside larger girders and chunks of free-standing wall until they reached the other side, and then he half-fell, staggering forwards as part of the roadway gave out beneath his feet.

He flailed a bit, but only a few rocks pattered down into the pitfall from the street, the reptile breathing a sigh of relief but moving quickly away from the edge anyway, just in case. The others followed, and then they once more resumed their walk deeper into the town, trying to ignore the strange creatures that skittered back and forth around the street, but made no move to engage them.

Once they reached another intersection, however, things changed, as the Drakkaren's sharp eyes caught a crackle of black lighting in the air a good distance away, before his body tensed and his instincts whispered something to him... and a slow look up towards the rooftops of the buildings that surrounded the relatively-untouched square where the streets met, and Zerrex caught sight of a hulking figure on the first, framed in red against the black smoke rising up to the sky.

He drew Blackheart off his back immediately, as it leapt down from the high building, and the others pulled out their own weapons before four bull-demons crashed to the ground around them: perhaps not even the size of the bull that Cherry had been teasing with the other sailors, but different, somehow scarier â€" they were, without a doubt, minotaurs, from the different slant of their horns, the different bulk of their bodies... and the fierce fangs inside their maws as they roared and charged without further ado, quickly joined by a swarm of the terrible half-bug demons that had been their introduction to the demons that had overtaken Lunis.

Zerrex snarled as he leapt for the first minotaur, the bull drawing its massive bardiche back before swinging down in a crude overhead chop, and the reptile spun to the side, the polearm whizzing by to bite deep into the cement. It grunted, half-staggering forwards, and the Drakkaren quickly swung down, cutting cleanly through the metal pole that connected into the head of the huge, curved blade... and without hesitating, the minotaur shifted the now-pole and smacked him in the face with the butt of the weapon, blood flying from Zerrex's jaws as his eyes bulged in surprise.

Mahihko, meanwhile, had his back to Marina, his rifle dropped in favor of a lever-action shotgun, wincing as he pumped shells into the bug creatures swarming towards them while the dangerous psychic waited for the minotaur facing them to come close, drawing its weapon back with a roar â€" and she easily shoved it backwards with a telekinetic blast as she held a hand up, and as the bull demon flew away to crush several half-bugs under its bulky body, the halberd it had been using flew out of its hand and landed neatly in Marina's, the female grunting in surprise at the weight before grinning as she shifted it to both hands, idly tossing another glance at a bug that had almost snuck up on her to crumple its body inwards like a tin can.

Cindy was also dealing efficiently with her enemy, leading the minotaur off to the side as it slashed back and forth with the bardiche, dodging easily as it inadvertently slaughtered bug after bug that drew too near, before she leapt backwards into the clear space between the other embattled members of the group, raising her grenade launcher and blasting a round into its chest, the blast staggering it, before she took out its leg with another round, sending it crashing to the ground... but it quickly got back up to its hooves with a snarl of fury, staggering forwards to swing hard down in an awkward overhead slice, chest and leg smeared with its own blood... and Cindy caught the pole of the halberd with one hand, her muscles flexing as she held it in place with the blade only a foot or so away from her head, the minotaur snarling furiously, eyes alive with dumb hate... and then Cindy leveled the grenade launcher at its face and fired, most of its head exploding backwards as she made a face at the gore that splattered everywhere, the minotaur's body falling backwards.

Cherry, too, had dealt effectively with her minotaur, but in a different form: it was kneeled stupidly in front of her, breathing heavily, its weapon fallen aside and one of Cherry's hands tied lightly in its mane between its ears, the thing looking up at her with stupid obedience... and Cherry leaned down in front of it, smiling slightly as she whispered a few words in another language in its ear, and it quickly nodded, snarling and standing up before charging towards the bug-demons, many of them immediately drawing back in terror as several unlucky others were seized in its huge hands to be crushed down into nothing but blood and green goo. The weak-minded are the easiest targets to dominate... now I know exactly what Marina meant by that...

Marina, on the other hand, had grown tired of playing with her prey, the minotaur staggering backwards with a dumb growl from an almost-teasing telekinetic shove, and now she drew back the halberd like a spear, concentrating for a moment before throwing it hard forwards, and a moment later it glowed purple, firing like a rocket and ripping through the minotaur's stomach to spear it to the building behind it, the bull-demon letting out a weak whine before it slumped forwards. A moment later, its corpse was consumed in flame... and then Marina snarled as a bug-demon grasped her shoulder, claws tearing into her scales as it leaned in close, screaming, before Mahihko yelled something and its head was blown off from a single handgun shot, the female whirling immediately on the wolf with a furious glare as goop splattered over her face and muzzle.

Zerrex, meanwhile, had dropped Blackheart in favor of disarming the minotaur with a kick, muttering under his breath as he slapped its muzzle back and forth with the end of the pole before spinning it around and striking it hard in the gut with the butt of the weapon, the thing seeming almost stupefied by the flurry of the Drakkaren's attacks as he moved gracefully around the creature at the same time. Finally, the reptile spun the pole around his body and over both shoulders as he swayed back and forth, looking strangely calm as the minotaur tried to follow his movements a moment before he struck it firmly between the ears, and the creature collapsed to its knees before falling backwards, gaping dumbly and a bit of blood trickling from its maw. Zerrex snorted, then tossed the pole away, returning his gaze over the others as he called dryly: "Is everyone alright?"

"Super-duper." Mahihko mumbled, covering the black eye that Marina had given him and sulking as the last of the bug-demons retreated with screams of terror, before he made a face and glanced over to where Cherry was teasingly running her hands through the last minotaur's hair, speaking to it in some strange, sibilant language as it looked up at her with adoration. "I think I missed a page somewhere."

"Surprise, surprise." Zerrex rolled his eyes, making a face as he wandered over and wondering idly how to dislodge Cherry from her pet. Well, I guess she is a succubus, right? And that's what they do best... although I am admittedly surprised she hasn't started banging it yet, since it looks like her type... "Cherry, may I ask what you're doing?"

"I uh... know what this looks like." Cherry held up her hands, grinning a bit and looking lamely around at the others, before attempting to look serious as Cindy walked over to Zerrex and began to try and poke at his bloody muzzle, the two Drakkaren muttering at each other. "Uh... but... yeah, so I completely lost my train of thought there."

"Shut up and hold still!" Cindy grumbled, and finally kneed Zerrex in the crotch, causing him to grunt and lean forwards, breathing a bit harder as the others stared. "Fuck, you're so hard to take care of... but alright, you're fine. Another good hit like that and you'll end up with a broken jaw, though."

"Another hit like that and I'll end up with a broken groin." Zerrex mumbled, then he sighed as Cherry rose a finger, making a bit of a face. "Yes, Cherry, you can actually break your groin. Now before you make any sexual remarks, can you please tell me what you're doing with that thing? Because you aren't allowed to bring any pets into the house, unevolved, demonic, or otherwise, after that fiasco we had with the unevolved dog."

Cherry sulked a bit, then muttered: "Fine, fine. Then just bring Marina over here to read his mind, I'll order him to drop his mental defenses and let her." She stood up, looking gloomy, then kicked at the dirt as the minotaur looked after her tenderly. "You're a bastard, you know that?"

Zerrex rolled his eyes a bit, then he crossed his arms and looked at her flatly for a few moments until she raised her hands and said something to the minotaur. It nodded immediately as Marina strode over, then she looked at Cherry for a few moments, the demon frowning and opening her mouth, before simply gaping as Marina turned to the minotaur and said something in the same language, which made it smile a bit. "Dude, what the fuck! Since when can she like... like..."

"If you paid more attention to her, maybe you'd know." Zerrex said mildly, as Marina grasped the minotaur's horns gently, kneeling in front of it and locking eyes with it, the Drakkaren watching with quiet interest. She's not just going to read its outer thoughts... she wants to dig as deep as she can, by that positioning. "As long as someone else nearby speaks it or understands it, Marina can talk the same language as anyone around her, by ‘borrowing' their memories, so to speak." A glance over at Cherry, adding under his breath: "So maybe you should be more careful about what you say in the future about her."

"Yeah, I'll be keeping that in mind." Cherry muttered, then she watched as the minotaur winced and groaned, before Marina drew back and nodded a bit. "Are you done?"

"Bitch." Marina muttered, then she glared at Cherry, looking as if she was about to punch the demoness in the face: a move that might have gone particularly badly at this point. "You aren't the strongest here, you're just a tantalizing whore. Now send him the fuck away, I got what I need... the Black Hole's about twelve blocks away, just over a mile or so, but there may be other ambushes along the way. We'll need to be prepared for anything."

The demoness made a bit of a face, and then she sighed, turning and stroking the minotaur gently under the muzzle before Zerrex tapped her lightly on the shoulder, and she looked at him curiously as he said mildly: "He might be useful still... tell him to scout ahead of us, roughly fifty feet. He's a big, heavy-looking creature â€" with his bulk, he'll be able to stop and let us know where there's a trap or the rubble's shifted. The closer we're getting towards the Black Hole, the worse the state of the ruins, it looks like."

"See, that sounds like a great idea to me!" Cherry said casually, but she turned a glare on Marina, tapping the end of her muzzle before adding with a glare to Zerrex: "And if he survives, he goes through the Black Hole instead of us killing him?" A pause, and she rubbed the back of her head a bit, muttering: "I dun wanna kill him. He's my first successful capture in battle. He has... sentimental value."

"You're such a romantic, Cherry." Zerrex smiled slightly and gently flicked her under the chin, and she muttered something at him before he nodded. Cherry smiled, then said something cheerfully to the minotaur... and a moment later the Drakkaren was struggling to breathe, flailing lightly at the giant's chest as it lifted him off the ground in a tight hug.

It put him down after a few moments and everyone had gotten in their laugh, the reptile pale and out of breath... and then he nodded and reached up to pat the minotaur on the shoulder, mumbling mindlessly, but the minotaur gave him a cheerful look and returned the slap firmly, almost knocking him over as he felt his head reeling. Yeah. That's strong. I hate Cherry.

A few moments later, they had armed him with a halberd from one of his fallen kin â€" Zerrex asking aside to Cherry if he was really fully trustworthy, and Cherry looking insulted before admitting if they tried to make him do something he really didn't like, he might break loose from her control â€" and now he was walking down the street a fair distance ahead of them. One advantage it did have was that demons cleared the way for him... and Zerrex caught snippets of Cherry's memories floating by in his head as he let himself unwind a bit, things about the rank of a minotaur in Hell and, awkwardly, how many Cherry had slept with. I'll focus more on how they're mostly officers for now, though... I can bother Cherry later about the other stuff.

Three blocks down, the minotaur stopped and waited for them, then said something to Cherry with frown, and she nodded before relaying to Zerrex: "We have to backtrack a bit and go down a sidestreet..." She paused at their looks, then snapped her fingers, creating a spark of fire that leapt down into the â€" too undamaged, too plain... Zerrex thought â€" street, then shot back and forth, setting several hidden patterns in the ground alight and burning them into white, ugly stains that covered the street. "Those are binding runes. It's done in inverted angel warped for demonic purposes... instead of trapping demons, people will be stuck inside that huge circle."

"Alright." Zerrex paused for a moment, then gently pulled Marina forwards, resting his hands on her shoulders and asking softly: "Do you see them?"

"I even see the ones still hidden..." Marina murmured quietly, looking almost entranced as a strange calm entered her voice, and Cherry frowned a bit. "See... they're in a different color, you can faintly see them if you look hard enough at the very center of the circle... yes... yes, Father, I can remember this pattern easily. It's already etched into my mind."

He nodded with a smile, then patted her shoulder gently, murmuring: "Good work." A pause as she turned around, looking up at him with a bright smile, and he relented, giving her a quick hug as well â€" the minotaur seemed to take this as the sign that he had earned another hug himself, however, and pounced on Zerrex a moment afterwards before the Drakkaren winced and countered by hefting the bulky bull-demon into the air this time, the minotaur staring as Cherry guffawed and began walking back down the street.

On their way back, however, they ran into a group of zombies that formed a solid barrier across the street... and a moment later, black lighting struck the ground in front of them, before turning into a dragon who stood a head taller than Zerrex, his eyes hollow, empty black sockets in ancient, gray scales, one of his horns cracked and his neck rotted away near the throat, but the rest of the terrible creature was hidden from view by a dull red robe with a golden sash tying it tight around his middle, his hands hidden in the folds of the wide arms that were crossed over his chest. Immediately, Cherry bristled and snarled, as the minotaur cowered backwards, and the creature said in a cold, soft voice: "Cherry... long time no see."

"Ezekiel." The demoness bowed her head forwards politely, then rose both hands and both middle fingers, adding mildly: "Get out of our way and take your toys with you."

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Ezekiel replied, then he looked up to the left and right of the group, and half-bugs swarmed over the building, screaming and chittering as they glared down at the group hungrily, Zerrex snarling and immediately pulling Blackheart off his back... before staring over his shoulder as a massive wall of flame tore up from the earth to block their escape with a simple rising motion of the dead dragon's hand, and he tensed, a chill rolling down his spine. This is out of our league... "The Plasmids are hungry, after all... and you know I've never been one to deny them a snack, since they always leave me a crisp skeleton behind to raise and add to my collection."

Cherry snarled... then dark lightning cracked behind the row of zombies, before becoming a portal through which a terrible coldness emanated... and a moment later a figure stepped through, clad in full battle armor that covered him from head-to-toe, made entirely from large leaf-shaped plates that left small spikes jutting out here and there over his form, but left not even a joint uncovered by metal that bent and shifted easily with his movements. Upon his head was a helm that wrapped around his entire skull and locked into a protective collar around his neck, and covering his face was a terrible, featureless mask that sloped downwards to his chin with two holes cut in the blue and gray steel for eyes. Not a part of him was uncovered except for those holes, from which burned terrible red light... and then a cold voice spoke, saying irritably: "Ezekiel. Leave your minions to take care of these interlopers... I need you to come with me and help repeal another attack from the Princess. We're far behind schedule as it is, and I don't want to waste yet another millennia in a stalemate, unable to move my troops out of Leblanc Castle."

"Yes sir, Prince Az'Iriel." The dragon turned around and bowed slowly, then the zombies parted to allow him to pass through towards the rift, the demon prince known as the Warlord vanishing into the portal as Ezekiel said quietly over his shoulder: "You're lucky this time, Cherry, but that luck won't last forever. I'll kill you for the trespasses of your ancestors soon enough."

"I'll be waiting." Cherry said dryly, and Ezekiel snorted as he turned and vanished into the swirling dark vortex, which flickered with lightning before closing behind him... and then the female grinned, visibly relaxing as she muttered: "Now, what kind of idiot uses pyromantics around a pyromancer?"

As the swarms of bugs approached from both sides and the zombies began to stagger forwards, Cherry turned around to face the flames, then her muscles flexed as she grunted with effort, before spinning around and dragging the massive fire wall with her, bugs screaming as they were engulfed in the enormous firestorm as it passed by, then setting the zombies alight before finally dragging the storm to the other wall, the bugs immediately trying to flee but popping like frogs in the blaze before Cherry let out a breath and the fire wall puffed out of existence, slumping to the ground before wincing as Cindy shouted irritably: "You did it again!"

The charred zombies were still walking forwards, but the others quickly peppered the group with gunfire, Zerrex holding Blackheart loosely in one hand as he drew out his own revolver to aid the others, each shot knocking a massive hole in the body of an approaching undead creature.

The confrontation didn't last long, as the other zombies finally began to succumb to the flames covering their bodies, leaving only a few burned carcasses behind... and Cherry grinned a bit as she got back to her feet, wincing and rubbing at her head as the minotaur walked over to her and asked her something... and she blinked, looked up at him, then laughed and slapped his shoulder firmly as she replied. Marina frowned at the two, but Zerrex disregarded the exchange in favor of the greater question lurking in his mind: "So who the hell is Ezekiel? And..." he broke off, but the same needless question burned in everyone's eyes as they focused on Cherry.

She shook her head slowly, then finally looked over to Zerrex with a bit of a smile. "To the other thing... yeah, that was the Prince. Ezekiel is one of his most-trusted lieutenants... the real scary thing is that he's not nearly as strong as some of the other higher-ups or the Gigataurs who work for Az'Iriel, but on the other hand... well, you saw him." Cherry shivered a bit, making a disgusted face. "To think that in Hell I almost hit that. ‘Cept then he took his robe off while we were chatting and I saw he was all bone and no boner, if you get my drift. The fucker's what we call a Jumper... many years ago he was killed in Hell, and he wasn't strong enough to reincarnate, but he was powerful enough to remain floating around in Hell as an evil spirit, instead of going... wherever you go after you're actually killed in Hell."

"I thought you couldn't die, though?" Zerrex frowned, tilting his head, and Cherry made a face, raising a hand and making a see-sawing motion.

"It's tricky." she said finally, rubbing the back of her head slowly. "It requires a weapon forged specifically for killing demons or angels, or a particularly-powerful magical spell or incantation... at least usually, it's fuckin' complicated. It's mostly forbidden, but Ezekiel told me it was because he lost a duel with my grandfather, during which his body was completely destroyed." she paused, then said softly: "He tried to Jump from his current corpse into me, but I fought him off and ran... he's just an evil spirit who tries to take over whatever body he can, living or dead... and he stays inside you until you've rotted away to nothing, and then he finally moves on to someone else, keeping all the powers he's gained over the years, which includes a vast array of necromancy, unfortunately. His control over the undead is unrivalled, except for two other demons: some high-rank in Az'Iriel's army and some ancient demon who's been sealed away for billions of years for some transgression." Cherry paused and then blushed, quickly spinning around and striding through the corpses, the minotaur following after her rapidly. "Come on, we got a long way to go... and we definitely don't want to tangle with the Warlord at the portal, so we should really close that thing double-fast."

"Yeah." Zerrex nodded a bit, musing to himself as he stepped carefully through the charred remains of the zombies and followed after Cherry, turning down the side street as he slipped Blackheart on his back so he could reload his revolver. He avoided asking any questions as they moved along, much as he wanted to, his eyes roving slowly over the demoness as she looked down in quiet thought herself. What are you, Cherry? What are you hiding? Why are you scared to tell me all this... because I'm starting to think you resisted a bit during the mindreading that Marina did...

"I don't want to be what I am." Cherry said quietly, as they turned down another street... and now, despite the fact they were still nine blocks away, Zerrex could see the massive Black Hole at the end of the street, strange demons roaring and screaming as they danced around it, fighting a small resistance group. Enormous panels surrounded the Black Hole, sealing it in... but minotaurs were hacking at the support pillars with broken blades, trying to bring them and ignoring everything going on around them.

The Drakkaren glanced over at Cherry, and she smiled a bit at him, nodding and saying softly: "Eyes front, Zerrex. You don't know what's going to come from down there... but I guess introspection is better saved for later, huh? We got a job to do." She straightened a bit, then looked over at him and smiled, adding quietly: "Race you, Boss. Last one there has to do laundry for a week."

"Deal." Zerrex reached out a hand, and they shook firmly, eyes meeting... and then the two turned, Zerrex pulling out his sword and Cherry her whip as they charged down the long stretch of road towards the Black Hole, still almost a mile away. The others groaned, Mahihko lagging behind... and then he yelped as the minotaur scooped him up and placed him firmly on his shoulders, the wolf staring in shock before the minotaur mimed a shooting motion... and the wolf grinned stupidly, pulling out his handgun and holding tightly onto one of the bull-demon's horns as it barreled past the others to try and catch up with the two leaders.

A Plasmid demon leapt out in front of Zerrex, screaming... and the Drakkaren chopped it in half before leaping up on top of a car as another leapt at him, more of them and other strange monstrosities pouring out of the buildings around them as Cherry laughed, her joy and cruelty returning to her features as she danced between a Plasmid and a zombie, cutting the head off one and kicking in the chest of the other before leaping forwards and charging down the street.

For a few moments, she gained the lead on the Drakkaren, then her precog picked up the sight of something ahead of her, and she skidded to a halt as a massive worm tore out of the ground, its head that of an enormous, grinning rat skull, connected to the maggot-white body by green vines covered in bloody thorns that wrapped all around and pierced through the demon's body. It leaned forwards, then the jaws fell open and it unleashed a gout of flame that Cherry blocked with one hand, looking disgusted with herself. "Fuck you, Boss! How'd you know?"

"The cars are all lined up like something big passed between them, and the ground's all cracked and humped!" Zerrex called back, glancing over his shoulder as he continued to jump along the ruined cars that lined the street... and then a massive hand shot out of the building he was passing and sent him flying across the street to crash onto his back, skidding painfully into another building before he stared as the brick and steel seemed to come alive, two huge hands reaching out of the ruins and crushing the car he'd been on like paste before a terrible, headless beast pulled itself free, a long tail made of sparking cables connecting into the thin, log-like body, and between the shoulders of the thing, an enormous eye opened and stared at him balefully. "What the hell is that?"

"It's ugly, that's what." Cherry muttered, as the worm finally ceased its attempts to cover her in flames, and then she snarled before staring as the minotaur charged by, swinging its bardiche out as it passed and almost cutting the worm in half in the middle, causing it to scream and fall over, convulsing madly on the ground. "What the fuck?"

Zerrex grunted as he rubbed debris from his hair, standing up as the strange building-made creature crawled forwards... and then the minotaur carrying Mahihko sprinted past, and the wolf fired several rounds into the thing's eye, causing it to explode, the monster immediately squealing as it fell apart almost immediately, leaving only a few long, fleshy veins behind it.

The Drakkaren stared dumbly at this, then Cherry caught up to him as more of the eye-things crawled out of the buildings and even out of cars, forming into strange, terrible monstrosities that encircled them... and they exchanged a disgusted look before sprinting after the bull-demon, Zerrex slapping one of the eyeball things out of his way with Blackheart almost idly as Cherry pulled out the twin .52s, covering the Drakkaren as she fired precise shots into the eye creatures as they ran past, reducing them all to dust, junk, and dead flesh.

"They really are demons..." Cindy panted, lagging a bit behind the others with Marina before she straightened and grunted, punching a zombie and then staring as its head flew off, glancing down at her bloody fists. "Maybe I got a bit of that from Daddy, too."

Marina muttered something, picking up a car with her psychic powers and slamming it into one of the interior pillars supporting a leaning building behind them, then she grabbed her sister's wrist and dragged her forwards. Cindy could only stare as the building behind them groaned loudly... and then the tower collapsed, crushing a swarm of Plasmid demons and effectively blocking two more worm demons that had been slithering over the ground towards them. "Although now that I think about it, you're far more demon than I am."

"Thank you." Marina said sincerely, and Cindy made a face as they continued quickly past the dead worm and up the road towards the rest of the group, mostly ignoring the other demons that were forming a larger and larger mob chasing after them, however slowly they moved.

Zerrex and Cherry, meanwhile, had overtaken the minotaur, and the four were continuing quickly towards the goal, their eyes locked on the Black Hole â€" and this one was indeed massive, even though now they could all hear... and feel... the effects of the psychic impairment panels that surrounded the enormous portal. It was burning and sparking with purple energy that every so often lashed out in a bolt that struck one of the panels... but was always easily deflected, making the Black Hole shudder in its place even as several more minotaurs leapt out of it... and Lunis soldiers were screaming, firing madly and many of them wearing BADs, and he could barely make out someone yelling to get out of the way as dead bodies fell from even the rooftops...

Here, there were less minor demons, as Cherry had called them, and now they were getting into real monsters: minotaurs who were even clad in ceremonial armor and helms, and strange lizard things with saber teeth and spikes jutting from their backs and long, twin tails. The latter wielded thin swords and hissed as bullets pounded into them, but they seemed to shrug off all but the largest of rounds, leaping towards their aggressors and swinging their blades wildly. Worms were circling around the battleground as well, and Zerrex made a disgusted face batted away another one of the eye creatures... before two of the gigantic, rat-skulled monstrosities rose up in front of them, roaring and both blasting a terrible gout of flame down towards them.

Immediately, Cherry stepped in front, one hand up as she snarled and redirected the flames into the sky, and the minotaur took the middle, Mahihko spinning around as he dropped his empty handgun and unshouldered his rifle with a snarl, leaning back as he tried to aim through the flames passing only a few feet ahead of him. At the back, Zerrex lashed hard outwards with Blackheart as the eye creatures swarmed towards him in all sorts of unnatural forms, some coming forwards as massive hands and others as spiderine beasts with spikes at the ends of their thin legs, the reptile concentrating more on holding them back as the minotaur aided him with hard stabs of his halberd, before Mahihko fired two precise rounds down the throat of one of the creatures, the monstrosity gagging and immediately retreating towards a hole in a building, the other ceasing its barrage of flame to hiss loudly in the direction of its former partner.

Instantly, Cherry danced backwards, lashing out with her whip in one hand and a .52 in the other, the female grinning coldly as the minotaur and Zerrex stepped immediately forwards, the reptile swinging hard into the creature's stomach and severing it almost in half as the minotaur crushed in the rat skull, the worm screaming before it fell silently backwards... and then Mahihko leapt off the minotaur's back and the four exchanged nods, three running forwards and the wolf staying behind as he blasted out the eyes of the strange, self-built monsters, his sharp eyes gauging the distance of and danger that Cindy and Marina were in.

Near the portal, Zerrex slammed Blackheart home into a minotaur's waist, then he pulled hard to the side with a grunt, disemboweling the creature as it whined loudly and clutched at its guts before falling over... and meanwhile, Cherry's minotaur â€" easily identifiable by its mostly-bare body and rusty halberd â€" crushed two of the lizard creatures into the ground with one hard swing to the side, before he stepped firmly down on the skull of one of them, a Lunis soldier staring at him from the ground with pale, shocked features before the bull-demon walked quickly onwards towards another harried group of soldiers. Cherry, finally, was making her way around the portal, ducking under swings from lizard demons as she made her way towards a pair of skeletal monstrosities in tattered robes, who were raising the corpses of the dead to fight once again as unfeeling zombies.

Cindy and Marina reached Mahihko, and he quickly shouted over the chaos behind them: "The others are going to draw the attention of the demons... we're supposed to stay back and wait for the minotaur dude to jump in the portal after they've caused enough ruckus, then-"

"Throw the stone, got it." Marina said quietly, touching the small sack tied around her waist, and then she snorted, saying quietly: "Every demon in Lunis is coming here. Despite the psychic repressor, I can hear the message, loud and clear in my head... Cindy, go help the others. Mahihko and I are capable of holding the scum and waste behind us back."

Mahihko blinked in surprise as Cindy frowned... but then she nodded, unholstering her grenade launcher and reloading it quickly before muttering: "Good luck," and heading quickly into the battleground, firing at a minotaur who was about to finish off a Lunis soldier on the ground. The wolf turned to Marina... and she snorted and looked away, mumbling something under her breath before he shrugged and reloaded his own rifle, dropping down to a kneel and firing into the crowd of demons approaching behind them.

Marina drew a handgun, turning to the side to fire several rounds into a swarm of Plasmid demons that had overtaken the building despite the soldiers that had once been on the rooftops... and surprisingly, a few moments later the two were joined by a pair of Lunis soldiers wielding large-size assault rifles, aiding in keeping them back as one of them shouted: "I don't know who the hell you are, but I do know you assholes are crazy! And I have never been more glad to see crazy in my whole damn life!"

Near the portal, Zerrex paused for a moment as a lizard monster fell to the ground a few moments after his arm struck the earth, his emerald eyes searching over the buildings and the area... before they widened as he caught sight of a Gigataur stomping towards them down another street, this one at full health and carrying a gigantic flanged mace. And the last one we barely took out while wounded... A pause, and then he caught sight of their minotaur friend under siege by another, who was quickly forcing him back towards a swarm of Plasmids coming down the wall with repeated attacks from a warhammer in either hand. Goddammit...

The Drakkaren charged over the ground, something compelling him to help out the demon despite his expendability â€" but something twinged inside him that wasn't coldly military, and the reptile leapt forwards, kicking off the skull of a lizard creature that slid into his path before bringing down Blackheart in a mighty rending slash that almost cut the armored minotaur in half from top to bottom, the creature spasming wildly before the bull-demon Cherry had enchanted spun around and slashed his halberd through the bug demons behind him, sending them shrieking and scattering.

It panted and nodded to Zerrex with a smile... and the Drakkaren grinned slightly as something clicked in his mind, and he muttered: "You aren't even enchanted anymore, are you?" A pause as the bull-demon simply tilted his head... and Zerrex shook his head a bit, unable to contain his amusement as he jerked his thumb at the portal. "You better get out of here."

The minotaur nodded with a grunt, then it ran quickly for the portal, pausing for a moment to look over its shoulder at Zerrex, then at Cherry... and then it turned and charged towards the Black Hole, trampling several zombies beneath its hooves before it leapt into the dark sphere and vanished. On the other side of the portal, Cherry grinned a bit as she saw the disappearing hoof... and then she turned back to the draconic skeleton she had in one hand, raising it in the air before slamming it into the ground with all her strength, shattering it as she yelled: "Hey, assholes! I'm over here, come and get some!"

Marina's eyes narrowed as she saw the demon vanish through the portal... and immediately she broke away from the group, tearing the bag off her belt before throwing it hard at the portal... and it bounced off some invisible wall, the air rippling before Marina caught the bag in a gentle telekinetic hold, narrowing her eyes as she realized the psychic repressors wouldn't let it through. But how strong are they?

She rose her other hand, and she felt her first attempt repelled, before a sword caught her arm and she snarled, her eyes burning with fury as a lizard demon hissed at her, jaws opening wide... and Marina caught the falling Hollow Stone without bothering to look while lashing out with her mind at the lizard thing, slamming it into the dirt. A cold grin spread over her features, and then other demons approaching to flank her halted and stared as the lizard thing shrieked in agony, its limbs slowly twisting off before it all but exploded into a splatter on the ground, and immediately even the minotaur that had been approaching fled in terror as Marina felt rage, pride, and hatred building inside her, turning all the psychic fury she had built up onto one of the repressors and now simply attacking it with her mind instead of attempting to grasp it.

Sparks flew as it exploded, bending and distorting as Lunis soldiers yelled in terror... but as the Black Hole rippled and began to swell, Marina shoved the Hollow Stone forwards with her mind and the bag finally flew into the portal. A moment later, it trembled... and then even the Gigataur that had just entered the ruined area was knocked off its feet by the explosion of force that emanated from the Black Hole, the panels surrounding it exploding in bursts of light and thunder as dark energy shot in all directions out of the wilting sphere, the rip in the fabric of space and time melting quickly inwards before simply vanishing from sight, leaving behind only a few sparks of dark lightning before those too vanished.

Demons and soldiers alike stared in shock as Zerrex slowly picked himself off the ground... and then a terrible wailing rose up in the sky as the ground cracked apart, zombies falling silently to the ground with the strange eye monsters to rot quickly away to nothing, as the bug-demons went insane, attacking whatever was closest to them. Minotaurs yelled in their strange demonic language, several of them running after lizard demons that were quickly fleeing the area, and the Gigataur charged after the minotaurs, trying to roar orders to them before Zerrex swung Blackheart out into one armored shin as it passed by, tripping it with the flat of the blade and knocking it sprawling onto its front. It snarled, immediately climbing to its feet and picking up its massive club as Cherry and Cindy joined him, Mahihko carefully pulling Marina to one side of the battleground as several Lunis soldiers joined him, watching as Zerrex said coldly: "We might as well take care of one last problem while we're here."

"That's right." Cherry grinned as she quickly shrugged off her equipment, tossing it aside into a pile before closing her eyes... and her body bulged terrible, shifting and growing rapidly until she reached her full, gargantuan form, hissing as the Gigataur snarled and flexed, its eyes locking on her. "We might as well."

"Oh Daddy... you're always ready to go up and beyond the call of duty." Cindy muttered, but she was smiling too... and the three readied themselves as the Gigataur roared... before it died down to a whine as a golden light shone over it, and the three were joined by an unexpected fourth, Zerrex unable to suppress his look of surprise and amusement as Francis faded into sight, a new knife in his holster but a longsword now gripped tightly in one of the mouse's hands, the blade burning with golden fire as he looked down over them all calmly... but the reptile could sense the smile in those stony features.

"This isn't like the last one you fought... this is Commander Blackthorn of the minotaur brigade." The angel said clearly, flapping his wings slowly as he hovered above them, his eyes locked on the Gigataur as it grinned cruelly... and Zerrex had to admit, it seemed both larger and more intelligent than the last one they'd fought. "He's taken the lives of many angels... but as Heaven has taken an interest in you and permitted me to aid you... I thought I would give you a hand in this matter. Once he is dead, this strange city will be liberated from demonic control... and you should have little trouble cleaning up the warring gangs of demons left behind."

Before Zerrex could reply, Blackthorn leapt forwards, swinging his gigantic club downwards... and the Drakkaren grunted as he leapt backwards, bringing Blackheart up defensively, but recognizing that no matter what he did, a direct hit from the mace would likely squish him in one hit. Cherry, however, managed to slip just to the side and step firmly down on the neck of the huge weapon, and as the Gigataur rose a fist to punch the gigantic demoness away, Cindy brought up her grenade launcher and fired two shots directly into his face, the monster staggering backwards with a roar of pain.

Immediately, Francis dived down, his flaming sword biting through the demon's armor like butter as he cut through his shoulder before spinning and snapping the sword outwards, and part of the giant's helm and one of his horns fell to the ground as well, the Gigataur spinning around with a roar of pain and humiliation as he snatched at the angel... but the mouse flew high into the air, firing several shots from his handgun into the monster's face. The blasts of light energy barely fazed the monster, however, but distracted it long enough for Cherry to get close and wrap both her arms around its throat, trying to pull him backwards to throw him to the ground as Zerrex and Cindy circled around to either side of the monstrosity.

But Blackthorn was smarter than he looked: immediately, he snapped an elbow back into Cherry's kidney, causing her eyes to bulge as she grunted in pain, her hold loosening... and then he leaned hard forwards, jerking on her arms at the same time to heft her up onto his back, headbutting her with the back of his skull before he roared and threw her high into the air, Francis staring as the demoness's massive form hurtled towards him... but he quickly teleported upwards as Cherry flipped over, regaining her composure and shrinking her body down to her usual size, forgoing her monstrous form for the speed of her lither one as her wings unfurled and she hovered by Francis, shouting and holding out her hand: "Gimme that fuckin' sword!"

The Gigataur picked his mace back up, swinging it around in a half circle the moment his hands grasped the long handle of the weapon: the result was that he managed to knock Zerrex sprawling on his back, but Cindy ducked under the weapon, firing a lucky grenade that went into the Gigataur's ear. It howled in agony, grasping the side of its head as its ear was left hanging by a few threads of flesh, blood splattering down before it stumbled, wincing and swaying, balance lost completely. Zerrex jumped up to his feet, taking the opportunity to run forwards and slip around its back as it half-fell and vomited a pond's worth of foul-smelling gunk, and the Drakkaren's eyes watered even as he leapt onto the creature's armored back and then onto its horn as it straightened, drawing Blackheart back as the Gigataur looked back and forth with a groan of pain... and then he stabbed hard down into its eye, and the groan turned to a scream as it dropped its mace once more, grabbing at its face and shaking Zerrex loose.

The reptile winced as he fell towards the demon vomit, feeling like puking himself as his boots splattered in it before he quickly ran away as the Gigataur fell to all fours, crawling around and roaring as it tried to search him out, apparently pushing through the pain for the chance of causing any to the mortals it could find... and a moment later, Cherry flew down with the fiery sword she had wrestled free from Francis, coming in from its now-blind side and then lashing the blade cleanly down to tear through the back of the Gigataur's neck.

It spasmed... and without fanfare, fell forwards into its own vomit and died, body quickly beginning to rot away to leave only bones, blood, and empty armor behind. Zerrex, meanwhile, took the opportunity to turn around and dry-heave himself, before making a face and wiping at his muzzle as he did his best to ignore the smell around him, Cherry flying down towards him with a cackle before halting and landing a short distance away, folding her wings up and mumbling: "Wow, fuck, you stink."

"Set me on fire or something." Zerrex said dryly, and then he winced as Cherry shrugged and pointed at him, immediately dropping and rolling around in the dirt as his pants caught aflame. A moment later, he sprang up, opening his mouth to yell at her... and then he paused, brushing at his smoldering clothes and muttering: "I wasn't serious. But thank you. The smell of burnt pants is far superior to the smell of Gigataur puke."

"We made quick work of him." remarked Francis, as he landed nearby, then cleared his throat and held out his hand. Cherry immediately slapped it with a stupid grin, and the angel looked at her flatly before she sighed and handed over the sword. He tapped the flaming blade with one finger gently, and the fires went out before the weapon vanished from sight, the angel adding dryly: "Be glad I'm not asking for my knife back as well, foul spawn."

"Spoils of war, you grape-juice drinking tightass." Cherry shot back, then she crossed her arms before frowning and looking around for Cindy. "Where's Books?"

"She's tending to your youngest, who overexerted herself a bit earlier." Francis said softly, and Zerrex looked up in concern before the angel smiled a bit, reaching over and touching his shoulder gently. "Don't worry yourself, Zerrex. She'll be fine... but she has a terrible power indeed. I've never seen such force and hatred mixed together..." he shook his head slowly, murmuring quietly: "She is a great threat to both Heaven and Hell... and to even existence itself."

The Drakkaren glanced down a bit as Cherry immediately snorted, grabbing Francis by his vest and hauling him off his feet, a look of something akin to terror crossing the angel's features as she snarled: "Listen to me, motherfucker. Don't you ever, ever, talk about my little sister like that, you got that? Or I'll break your fucking face, and I get the idea that even a shithead like you knows that I can. So why don't you fly off like the fairy you are and go fuck yourself with-"

Zerrex shook his head once, and Cherry blinked as she looked over to him, putting down the angel as he said softly: "Stop it, Cherry. It pisses me off, too..." A pause, and he made a face before rubbing the back of his head slowly, looking down and continuing quietly: "But it's unfortunately true. None of us could stand up to Marina for very long... and Narrius did terrible things to her in the labs, locked away in files Albatross still can't decode. We can't... pretend she's not dangerous. But I love her, all the same... and I'll protect her and stand up for her as best I can. So let's not get into that subject, Frank."

The angel looked at him for a few moments, then finally he made a face and nodded, adding dryly: "It's Francis. But I and a few other angels are going to be cleaning the city of filth..." A pause, then he looked around the area in distaste at the demons who had clustered together in little groups, most of them shivering in fear. "It shouldn't take long.

"Zerrex... you and your family have done a great thing here, though. You have shown a strength I didn't believe any of you had and a valor that matches any angel I've met, despite the fact you act more like a demon and are undoubtedly destined for Hell." Francis said mildly, and Zerrex rolled his eyes a bit at the last, looking across at him flatly, the angel matching his eyes seriously. "But do not overestimate your power... and let go of the idea that this was your fault, or it will be your undoing.

"I have to go. Take care of yourselves and send my best regards to the other members of your little family." The angel nodded to them, then leapt into the air and flew into the sky, vanishing into the smoke over the rooftops as Cherry exchanged a look with Zerrex.

"This sucks. Officially." Cherry said dryly, then she shook her head slowly before patting the Drakkaren on the shoulder, nodding past the minotaur vomit to where several soldiers were gathering. "Go ahead and check on the others, I'll talk to the demons ‘round here and see if they'll go peacefully or if we have to kill them all."

Zerrex nodded in return, unable to resist a small smile as he said mildly: "Just like any other military operation, huh?"

"Hey, what's the difference between demons and mortals, really?" Cherry grinned back and winked a bit, striding backwards before adding: "And pick up my gear before someone fucks with it, huh?"

The Drakkaren rolled his eyes as Cherry turned around and strutted away, Zerrex picking up what he could find and making a face at the damage done to his .52s: at some point during the battle; the Gigataur had apparently stepped on them, from the hoofprint in the pavement. They were a bit squished now, but at least looked repairable... but they were the one heirloom he actually liked. Mostly because Narrius never used them but treated them as art...

He also found her whip, and he rolled this up tightly, remembering how Cherry had shown him to without cutting himself and concentrating on this... before blinking as a Lunis soldier ran up to him and patted him on the arm. He looked up... and winced as he found himself surrounded by staring troops in battle gear that ranged from plain uniforms to full-body BADs that doubled as heavy-duty armor. He winced as he cut himself on the whip, and then he stood holding it in one hand and the .52s on the other, asking dumbly: "What?"

"How'd you tame that demon? And like... our entire army's killed one Gigataur, but... but it took four of you guys to mush him down! Was that guy really an angel?" babbled one recruit, apparently voicing questions for the group as the others nodded and stared... and Zerrex laughed a bit, wincing and feeling a bit trapped. This is worse than the demons...

"Daddy's just got a certain aura about him." Cindy said mildly from the other side of the group, and then she smiled a bit as Mahihko and Marina came out of the cave, the wolf rubbing slowly at a cut on his chest and Marina looking a bit tired and bruised, but otherwise fine. "We'll take questions later... for now, we'd like to know where your base of operations is and what the relative damage to the city is."

Zerrex smiled a bit at this: Cindy really had grown up a lot over the years... and then he winced as Cherry shouted cheerfully from the other side: "See, these fuckers ain't so bad! They promise to halt their attacks and even clean up so long as you don't, you know, pop a bullet in their skulls."

Incredulous looks followed as Cherry led a small parade of minotaurs and lizard demons behind her, all of them with their head bowed and hands clasped in front of them, not a weapon on any of them â€" not like they need one, really â€" and in complete submission... and then someone said in a strangled voice: "But... they're demons! They killed and looted us, half the city's been reduced to rubble because of them!"

"They're soldiers, and should be treated the same way you treat any other enemy soldier." Cherry replied coldly, cracking her knuckles a bit as she glared at the group of Lunis soldiers, causing them all to wince backwards and shuffle uncomfortably... a trick Cherry had always been good at, long before she'd become a demon. "Besides, much as they rampaged, they were under strict orders to... and if you think a reprimand is bad from your commanders up here, you should find out what a reprimand is like in Hell."

Mumbling and muttering ensued, and then Cindy said mildly: "Why don't we discuss it back at base? At worst, you have a bunch of prisoners to lock up and force to do menial tasks for you." A pause, and then she added quietly: "And who knows? It might scare Ire enough to get them to back the hell off."

That got a favorable response between the soldiers, who tossed indecisive looks at one another... but finally, one of the soldiers wearing BAD gear stepped forwards, his gold and gray armor gleaming despite the scars of battle on it as he took off his helmet to reveal a ferret who looked around at them all solemnly. "Despite the losses we've endured, I'm inclined to try and be a bit... understanding, for now, if I may use that term. Soldiers, fall into a double line on either side of the prisoners, and let's take the rest of our guests home."

The worst thing about the walk was that it wasn't the most awkward one Zerrex had ever been on: back in the Goth Legion, he'd led more than his share of prisoners â€" including children â€" to a slaughtering ground or prison camp, sometimes even while in disguise. Once or twice he'd even had conversations with them as he pretended to be another prisoner, only to find out everything they knew before they were to be executed... or worse. And that was probably one of the crueler things Zerrex had learned over the years; when it came to death, there was always something worse that could happen to you than a quick few gunshots to the head.

The demons were quiet, though: the mix of thirty-two minotaurs and lizard things â€" Swamp Spines, that's the slang for them... I remember that much from the memories I got from Cherry, at least â€" walking in a column of four by eight. They didn't make any sort of move to attack the soldiers who walked on either side of them, and Cherry didn't even bother to heckle them as she fell into step with Zerrex near the front of the column, Marina, Cindy, and Mahihko taking the rear of the group in case anything happened.

It was an hour's march, but any complaints Zerrex might have had were lost as they approached a military guard post with two massive pillars generating some sort of purple force wall, and after a quick conversation, it was turned off and they were permitted to pass into what Zerrex thought was almost like the Untouchable District had been in Uroboros: a massive, shielded area where the town was still in excellent condition, even though a tow truck was currently dragging the bullet-riddled corpse of one of the Death Worms down the street. But it was a beautiful, bustling metropolis nonetheless under a domed forcefield that had the slightest tinge of green to make it visible.

Their procession went straight down the highway, vehicles and pedestrians both halting as they were soon joined by a pair of military trucks outfitted with enormous turrets on the back, Zerrex making a face as these were initially pointed at him and Cherry... but several vulgar yells from the demoness and a quick explanation from the ferret heading their group to one of the trucks got that little issue corrected, although Cherry continued to fume for a while. Zerrex made the mistake of consoling her... and she immediately noticed he was limping, and slipped him against her to help him keep up with the fair place, muttering about his pride and his stupidity.

Soon, though, their courses diverged: a military unit lead the demons down towards a processing facility â€" I really, really don't like the sound of that â€" and Zerrex and his family were brought around to the front of a massive military complex that, like every other building Zerrex had seen, was mostly built towards the sky. The difference was that this building took up a block of Lunis by itself before it towered up towards the top of the high dome shield... and the ferret smiled at the incredulous looks it earned, saying easily: "We have to bar roof access when the shield is up... otherwise people would be getting some rather nasty burns from stepping out onto the rooftops."

He led them inside, dismissing his soldiers at this point, and they were greeted in the lobby by six soldiers in BAD gear Zerrex didn't recognize: not only did they have the full armor, they also had a pair of small cannons on their shoulders and large metal blocks on one forearm, containing Gods-knew-what. Wonderful... can this get worse? "I'm going to have to ask you all to disarm and place your equipment in the chest by the scanner."

Zerrex made a face as he looked at the two scanning systems in the middle of the room, which was otherwise barred by a tiny divider Zerrex could easily slip over with an entrance for the soldiers to walk around... and he looked back at his family before glancing to the ferret, but he shrugged a bit. "Sorry. Regulations for everyone who's not in the Lunis military. I can't make any exceptions, even for you guys... as it is, I'm getting in hot water for letting the demoness in here."

"Fuck you all." Cherry said disgustedly, then she walked over to the enormous black crate that one soldier was standing by, kicking it open and muttering under her breath as she tossed her equipment inside, and the others did the same, Zerrex making a bit of a face as he slipped Blackheart and then his magnetic lock in with everyone else's weaponry. It was like putting a part of himself into lockup... and then one of the soldiers closed the crate and pressed a button on it, and the black metal crate locked itself before an energy shield sprung into life around it. They stared, and then Cherry voiced the question they all had: "Isn't that a bit like... overkill?"

The ferret shrugged, and then bowed them towards the scanner... which Zerrex promptly set off, a BAD soldier holding up his hand on the other side of the scanner and looking at him coldly through the transparent visor, a scanner in his hand. The scanner beeped at his boots and at his pockets, and Zerrex sighed a bit as a door opened and a few guards in plain security uniforms emerged, looking distasteful. "Sir, please come with us."

"This sucks." Zerrex voiced mildly, then he limped over to the room, where he was forced to take off his steel-toed military boots and empty everything out of his pockets before they scanned him from head-to-toe while he stood in front of a lead wall using some high-tech device with x-ray vision... and then he was finally permitted to put on his boots and limp out to join the others, Mahihko looking miserable as he held a small plastic bag in one hand that held every single piercing he had on his body... and the ferret was staring at the wolf with something like shock after likely seeing the sheer amount of piercings Mahihko had gotten in certain places of his body.

"Debriefing will be done on floor five with Commander Meyer. Please go there now." One of the BADs said coolly, as the ferret slipped through the security gate and approached them with a shrug. "Please be prepared to answer any and all questions and do not wander. Misbehavior inside the facility will not be tolerated."

"Sir, yes sir." Cherry said sourly, giving a salute... and when one of the BADs reached out to grab her, she snagged his wrist and twisted it around, several plates of armor popping off as the others immediately turned on their equipment and rose hands that were sparking with energy as the demoness snarled: "Don't talk shit to us, motherfucker. We've had a long day saving your country... and your strength comes from wearing a fancy metal briefcase. My strength comes from blood, sweat, tears and toil."

She shoved him over into the scanner, and it began to bleat loudly as the ferret rose a hand and shook his head slowly, the other BADs looking at each other uncertainly... and then the elevator behind them dinged open and a gazelle wearing deep blue body armor stepped into the room, waving away a pair of bodyguards in BAD gear as he idly adjusted the golden plates on his shoulders, asking mildly: "What's all the commotion about, Jeff? I just heard good news from outside, but all I'm getting inside the base are alarms."

The ferret immediately struck a rigid salute as Zerrex looked morbidly over at the gazelle, saying clearly: "Sir! Just a minor quarrel, sir, that's all... our storm troopers haven't taken too kindly to Miss..."

"Cherry." The demoness grumbled, huffing and then glancing over the gazelle idly, the male making a face as he rubbed at his chin slowly in thought at the sight of her. "Dude, these guys fucking suck."

His brown eyes slid from her to the troops lined up at the security booth beyond, and then he made a face at the fact half of them still had their armor active, hands glowing with white energy. "Why else do you think they're on this detail?" he asked mildly, then he glanced down at his own arm, sliding a metal plate back on one of the large vambraces he wore and tapping in a code on the hidden keypad beneath, the BADs in front of him immediately shutting down. "Never leave your armor running. For the next ten days, all six of you are working double shifts out here without your BAD gear. This technology is a privilege, not a gift, and either way you shouldn't be abusing it."

"Our apologies, sir!" the security team said clearly, and the gazelle waved at them distastefully before turning away, striding towards the elevator and catching the door before it could close, pushing it open and stepping inside.

Zerrex shrugged a bit as Jeff followed quickly, then he strode over himself as the gazelle smiled slightly and beckoned to them, only half-listening to the ferret's babbling as Zerrex and the rest of his family squeezed into the little elevator. It was awkward, with the Drakkaren towering over both Jeff and the armor-wearing gazelle... and then he said dryly: "So are you Commander Meyer?"

"I am indeed. I was just called down from my office to come talk with you." The gazelle nodded, as the elevator hummed upwards, before Mahihko almost fell out as the doors opened on the fifth floor, Cindy catching him and then gently pushing him out as the others followed, clogging up the hall for a moment to the irritation of several workers, before they saluted as Meyer strode out and led them down the right hall of the T-shaped intersection. "But funny thing. I'd received a coded communication from an old friend, Commander-in-Chief Albatross, telling me that a group was sneaking onto Lunis from Ire to assist with dealing with the Black Hole. I never guessed it would be a clutter of war heroes like yourselves."

"I'm no hero." Zerrex muttered, rubbing the back of his head, and Meyer laughed at this, looking over his shoulder with a grin before pausing at a door and quickly inputting another code on his keypad, and the door slid open a moment later with a loud beep.

"He said you'd say that. What a strange, strange world we live in... not half the world it used to be anymore." The gazelle remarked as he stepped inside, and the others followed into a darkened meeting room, the Commander idly hitting another button on the keypad on his arm to cause the fluorescents above to flicker to life. "But we live in an evolving and expanding world... the best you can hope for is to avoid the bad turns as much as you can."

Zerrex nodded a bit, glancing around the meeting room: low tech chalkboards on one side, facing a pair of clear glass touch screen computers on the other and a massive monitor on the wall that currently displayed the symbol of Lunis: unsurprisingly, an ivory moon. In the middle of the room, four long wooden tables formed a square, with roughly sixteen seats around it... and the group sat themselves down in the cheap plastic chairs, Meyer making a face.

"All the technology in the world and we still haven't figured out how to make a chair comfortable." Meyer muttered, and then he tapped a few buttons on the keypad on his arm, and the monitor on the wall flickered to ‘Status: Connecting...' for a few moments. Zerrex had enough time to think mildly that it was a lot like the satellite connection he had at home... and then the symbol of Hez'Ranna appeared on the screen before Albatross appeared, and the Drakkaren blinked stupidly as Meyer added: "You might as well talk to both of us at once."

"It's really early in the morning here, so let's do the short version of this, Meyer." Albatross said tiredly, then he sipped something from a mug slowly, the blue-scaled Dragokkaren looking exhausted but pleased nonetheless, dressed in his old military uniform instead of the ambassador's robes Zerrex usually saw him in. "I can't see you on screen, still. Do you just build things or do you actually make sure they work, first?"

Meyer grumbled something under his breath, then he glanced over to Jeff, saying mildly: "Go and find a techie to come up here and fix the damn camera, huh? It's been on the fritz all day."

The ferret nodded and scurried quickly off through the door, and Meyer tapped a button on his keypad, and the door clicked locked before Albatross yawned and said dryly: "You know, instead of going through this entire ruse, you could've politely asked him to leave."

The gazelle shrugged a bit, and this earned a look of approval from Cherry as he said over his shoulder to the group: "Sometimes you just don't wanna hurt a poor kid's feelings, you know? But hey, Albatross..." A glance back over to the monitor and a bit of a smile. "You didn't tell me it wasn't some ragtag group of freedom fighters you were sending it, but the real big guns. I hear they even took down one of those giant bull things!"

"Yeah, well, I know how much you love surprises." The Dragokkaren responded mildly, and then he grunted and shifted a bit in his chair, turning his attention to Zerrex with a bit of a smile. "And we just got word, Zerrex, that at least seven Black Holes have closed up, all over the world, along with the one you shut down. Whatever else, it seems that what you found works... and three more Black Holes were closed earlier in the week using psychic reflectors and..." A bit of a smile as his eyes roved over to Zerrex. "Old school magic."

Zerrex laughed a bit at this, shaking his head and smiling slightly before he leaned back in his chair, Marina laying her head on one of his shoulders as he said softly: "You never know what might work, huh? But I'm glad... what about the other Black Holes, any reports on them?"

Albatross shook his head slowly, looking almost solemn as he rubbed at his muzzle. "It's... well, it's not looking good in some other places." He admitted after a moment, then continued to speak quietly: "Lailland, across the sea, has reported mass demon surges... but they're a well-armed country and they've been able to hold their own against the weaker demons that have mostly been pouring out. Here in Hez'Ranna, we closed one hole... but the jungles around Uroboros and Tek'Kanna have been infested with demons." A pause, and then he added dryly: "Well, I guess that's not much different from the normal state of the jungle, anyway. Admittedly, half the corpses we've dragged out of there have been husks of demons eaten alive by the Great Mother spiders, and others trampled to death by Draybeasts... so it's not exactly like we're in trouble yet here.

"Ire refuses to release any information about what's going on there... but I'd like you to return to the Northlands and the Arctic, to find out if there's any news of demonic invasion in the warring empires. I also hear from the engineers up there that they've been able to shrink the Black Hole to a point where only the smallest of demons can crawl through, and they're quickly killed by a mix of the cold and military... they're taking no chances after a certain demon demolished about half the campsite." Albatross glared at Cherry at this, and the female blushed deeply, shrinking slowly out of her chair to half-hide under the table as the gazelle stared at her. "Fortunately, they contained the casualties and damages from that little misadventure, Miss Cherry, and snow is quite good for putting out fire. I suggest you show a bit of courtesy next time for the poor bastards who have to put up with evil things leaping out of the Black Holes all day and trying to eat people's faces off. They may be a bit scared of a succubus that cackles insanely as it flies up into the sky spouting fire."

"I was not spouting fire." Cherry mumbled, but then she quailed under Albatross's purple eye: the fact that he was one less an eye than most people somehow made him twice as intimidating. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry, fuck. I'll apologize to Killer and the bitch queen too, and everyone I accidently set fire to."

Zerrex sighed a bit as he dropped his head in his hands, rubbing his fingers slowly through his hair before looking back up at Albatross with a frown. "But... wait. So we know a good portion of Black Holes have been closed... have you managed to at least confirm how many there are in total?"

The Dragokkaren nodded back, glancing down to rifle through the papers on his usually-neat desk before he read off: "There are fifty-one Black Holes in total, thirty-five of them small in nature, fourteen of moderate size, and two of immense proportions." He paused, then glanced up and smiled dryly. "I bet you can guess what size of Black Hole you closed in Lunis.

"We made a map that I don't have on me... but I believe there was one other Black Hole in Lunis that was closed by whatever disruption you generated, and most of the other portals that closed were of smaller size. I do know at least one other Black Hole we closed ourselves was large, here in Hez'Ranna..." Albatross paused, then became more serious again as he knit his fingers together, now turning his attention to Meyer, who was only looking over the ragtag group curiously now. "Commander... I trust you're going to keep Ire in the dark on what happened here as long as possible?"

"No, I have a small microphone planted on my body somewhere so they can extort us into building some more weapons of damnation and kill these wanton terrorists." The gazelle said flatly, looking at Albatross with something between entertainment and irritation. "See, the real problem won't be me or my troops like Jeff, or the old-timers... it's those new assholes who are shipped out to Ire for training on how to use the BADs and defend Lunis. Do you understand that at all?" He shook his head slowly, looking disgusted. "Sending your soldiers to another country to teach them how to defend their own. What a wonderful way to slowly but surely take over another nation and use its people for your bidding."

The Dragokkaren nodded slowly, making a bit of a face before he glanced over to Zerrex, speaking softly: "Zerrex... I hate to put you in this position. But... but I want to ask you and your family, and all you know who are willing to do something for me... something that amounts to treason against the world and the destruction of an entire Empire. Before I ask, I want to know... would you be willing to turn on those who trained you, who taught you, who brought you up as a soldier? Would you be willing to risk your life and your family's lives, not for Hez'Ranna or Lunis, but for the world itself?"

"You want me to destroy the Republic Council, don't you?" Zerrex asked softly, and Albatross didn't flinch, only nodding at the calm tone of the reptile. For a few moments, silence spiraled out... and then Zerrex stood, placing his palms flat on the table as he lowered his head, speaking softly: "Ire didn't raise me, nor did it turn me into a monster... it was... being brought up by my father, Patriarch Narrius, that destroyed half of me. The other half, the good half... that came from the teachings of my uncle, which I learned the meaning of only after I discovered I had a daughter..." A glance over at Cindy, and he smiled faintly. "A daughter born because I had raped her mother one fateful night... but a daughter who still loves me as her father, and who I try to be good for, stay in the light for, even if that means giving into the darkness on occasion to ‘save the world,' or some other stupid, silly thing that I never really do for the world... just for myself and my family.

"I learned the teachings of Requiem too late in life, the... who..." He broke off and cleared his throat, looking up at the screen as Albatross watched him quietly. "Ire used me, then threw me away. Ire has tried to kill me again and again. And Ire has oppressed the entire world, using weaponry and its status as a ‘superpower,' even though it's only on top of the biggest garbage heap in this messed-up world. I don't like that, to be honest, but even though it's evil, that's not what compels me to do anything about it. What drives me is the way they've struck out at my family... and the fact that whether you argue about good or evil, right and wrong are not something to be quarreled about in academics, but solid facts. It's wrong... and I want to do what's right."

Zerrex grimaced as he sat down, blushing a bit at the impromptu speech and looking lamely around the room, but all eyes were still quietly on him... and a moment later he nodded a bit and said quietly, looking up at Albatross: "Yeah. I'll do it. But Ire's on the hunt for me, and they know I'm here..."

Commander Meyer laughed a bit at this, the gazelle smiling slightly as Zerrex turned his eyes to him curiously. "We've already arranged all that for you and yours... you'll be taking a Hez'Ranna-marked aircraft of Lunis make on a diplomatic mission to Kesteven. By the time Ire sorts out what the hell is going on, you'll be in the North and they'll be unable to do a thing about it, leaving you able to get to the Hez'Rannan embassy in the Northlands and take a car from there into Northern Ire at your own leisure, after conducting a little look-around the Empires up there for signs of demonic activity. That'll even help make everything look perfectly legit, too, which is a nice bonus."

"From there, we have a transport that will be ready and waiting to take your family into Ire itself, all the way to the capital." Albatross said softly, glancing over the group and smiling a bit. "Of course, you can get a night's rest if you want, and there's no great rush: everyone is standing by, ready to do their part when their part is ready to be done, all of us too-well aware of Ire's spy and information-gathering network. Take your time inspecting the empire of Lord Killer and the surrounding kingdoms: he's aware of the basic idea we have in mind and if you have faith in him, I'll do my best to have faith in him as well."

The Drakkaren nodded a bit, and then Albatross made a face before he sighed on the monitor, murmuring an apology before pressing a button under his desk and asking waspishly: "What is it? I'm in the middle of a meeting!"

"Sir, High King Churchill immediately requests a meeting with your lordship... Ire's ambassadors have arrived to negotiate a treaty on information sharing." a crisp voice spoke from an intercom. "The High King says that he is urgently in need of your presence, and wishes to inform you that a small naval group has been noticed illegally patrolling our waters, while the ambassadors' transport also appears to have a small military contingent of soldiers armed with BADs. He requests you to advise the military of possible invasion."

Albatross sighed, glancing at the monitor and miming shooting himself in the head, then he said dryly: "Bring the silent alert to stage two and send out two fishing boats to troll the waters in relative proximity to the ships. Lock down all sensitive areas and try to confine the ambassadors and anyone else from Ire or the related countries to public-access areas. And tell Lord Churchill I'll be there in a few minutes."

The voice offered a clipped thank you, and Albatross stood up, making a face as he adjusted his eye patch and said into the monitor: "Thank you all for coming to our brief debriefing. Commander, I'll leave the rest in your hands... and Lord Zerrex?" A pause as the Drakkaren looked up with a flat look at him. "Good luck to you and your family."

"Thanks." Zerrex muttered, and then the satellite connection closed out, the word ‘Terminated' rolling slowly across the screen, the reptile glancing now over to the gazelle, who shifted to put his feet up on the table. "Wonderful. I'm sure Ire's being very generous with their treaties and alliance agreements, too... so what are you going to do, Commander Meyer?"

"Well, if you want to stay here, we do have empty rooms..." A pause, and then a shrug as Zerrex shook his head. "Well, in that case, I'll have you taken to your plane and the shield lowered. I suppose you can sleep on the flight just as easily as you can in a room, huh?"

"Not so much, but I'm anxious to be on my way now..." Zerrex said mildly, glancing over the rest of his family, before he added: "But I don't think any of us would have a problem with eating on the plane, and... one or two of us could probably go with using the facilities."

Meyer smiled a bit at this, then he tapped a button on his keypad to unlock the door leading out to the hallway, tilting his head back and saying idly: "Bathroom's on the right, and I'll have the best feast I can dig up brought to you on the plane." A pause as they all stood up, then he winked and said softly: "Show those bastards why you don't play god in this world, huh? And send ‘em down to Hell for me; maybe their fat asses will clog up the portal leadin' down there."

"It'll be my pleasure." Zerrex said softly, nodding and smiling slightly as the others began to walk out, and he traded salutes with the gazelle before walking out the door, leaving the Commander to sit and relax for the moment in the meeting room in the sudden peace that had engulfed Lunis with the sealing of the Black Hole.