FSE

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As the months gradually rolled by, Felister mostly ignored his guest. Ilek spent most of her time sitting at the kitchen table wearing a loose white gown that was more of a simple piece of fabric than any form of garment. The panther was unsettled by her lack of clothing and had insisted that she either covered herself or would have to leave. The fact that Felister had no actual way to remove the sorceress from his residence never came up; Felister wanted her covered, so she covered up.

When he left, the violet rabbit shadowed him like a ghost. She'd slip into a dimension that was like a two way mirror for reality. There, she could hide in plain view, unseen, unheard; there, she could watch without anyone knowing she was watching. Felister however knew she was there. He couldn't see her, or sense her; he just knew she was there. The panther didn't understand what her reasons for following him were, but he got the distinct impression that she meant him no harm or ill will.

After hearing reports of his prowess during the extraction mission, Felister endeavored to push his abilities back into those devastating realms. He trained daily, sometimes forsaking even hunger in order to complete rigorous training tasks he set for himself. When he felt that his own training was no longer aiding his abilities' development, he put in a request to be transferred to a more active post and received command of a small Special Forces unit.

Knights who excelled in the field were handpicked to join the Lancers, a collection of units consisting of three members each. There were a total of five units and each one was comprised of anthros with specific talents that complimented the other members of the unit and could cooperate with other units to accomplish objectives that conventional methods simply weren't good for.

For a short time, Felister's unit suited his purpose of furthering his abilities. But soon, that too resulted in no longer benefitting the production of his skills and the other two members of the team were left in his wake. His power grew in leaps and bounds to the point where working in the team was holding him back. For this reason he was granted a special class of his own and set on the human armies with only himself to hold himself back.

"That's the only way in, making you the only one for the task."

"Alright. When do I leave?"

"In two days. Nikita will be delivering some equipment at about 5am. She will drop you off before going to her next destination."

"Thursday, 5am; I'll be ready."

The rabbit eared panther left the office of his commanding officer with a slight frown. He'd been hoping for something more significant than a recon mission, but he was the only one suited for this particular task. With his astonishing power, he had a high chance of surviving the infiltration of the human base and being able to work alone meant he was easy to get in and out.

The base was somewhere between medium sized and large, boasting a high concentration of soldiers and a lot of armor. It was also a good distance behind the current border separating the two sides, and that meant they would be unprepared for a major assault. Felister's objective was simple enough, get in, find the information he was looking for and then get out. As he made his way home, the panther began to smile, he realized that he'd be causing a great deal of chaos on that base, as no one would be expecting any kind of large attack, let alone a large attack by a single anthro.

Ilek stepped out of her hidden dimension and into the kitchen as Felister walked in the front door. Sitting in her usual place at the table, she turned her head to look at him as he walked past, ignoring her presence as he normally did. She sat listening to his breathing as he finished writing a report in his study. It had been a small while now since the violet rabbit had stopped wondering why she was there. Ilek still didn't know that reason, but she no longer cared what it was. For some reason she found comfort in his presence and that was all that seemed to matter to her these days.

"Why do you hide?" Felister asked, later that night. "When I leave and you follow me. Why do you conceal your presence?" The panther looked across the kitchen table at the violet rabbit as he placed his fork on his empty plate.

"I do not wish to distract you during important times." Ilek replied, avoiding Felister's gaze. "And would not your superiors question my presence as well?"

Felister stood up quietly and took his plate and cutlery to the sink where he rinsed them. Turning from the sink, he glanced at Ilek briefly before walking to the door. Before exiting into the hallway, he paused.

"If you wish to follow me unconcealed, you may." The panther said calmly before leaving the kitchen. At first, Felister had hated Ilek's presence in his home. He never looked at her and never spoke to her. But over time he got used to her and though he never really stopped disliking her, his hatred towards her softened and he eventually accepted her, to a degree. It was not her to blame for the loss of Tilly, it was that human who had tricked everyone. And now that Tilly was gone, beyond recovery, it was time to move on.

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"There's a blind spot in their perimeter by that hill at dusk." Nikita said as she pointed to a small rise in the ground. It was covered with large shrubbery and when the sun set it cast a thick shadow making it impossible to see small figures hiding within.

"Thank you, Nikita." Felister said to the lithe Cheetah.

"You're very welcome. Remember, if you are not here when I return to pick you up, I won't wait more than five minutes." Nikita's tone was soft and friendly but had an unmistakable seriousness to it. "Good luck, Exel Lancer Felister."

The air around Nikita distorted for a moment and when it cleared she was gone. Felister was left standing alone on a small dirt road that wound its way across the mostly flat landscape to the gates of the Yurakka base.

Yurakka was mostly open landscape covered by lush green grass, making it easy to spot most approaching intruders as they often contrasted with the ocean of bright green. The rabbit-eared panther had been left beside a large cluster of trees located several hundred meters down the road from the main gate of the base. It was early morning and visibility was low; standing next to the trees at such a distance, the human sentries would not have seen his arrival.

Not wasting time, Felister slipped into the trees and set up a simple camp consisting of a portable electric stove and roll-up mattress. From among the trees, the infiltrator watched the base and observed their activities, preparing for the imminent assault to take place in three days. With his presence hidden by the trees and a pair of high power binoculars at his disposal, Felister could clearly see the base and its occupants as if he were standing just outside the fence itself.

"There is a significant presence at this location." Ilek stated as she stood a few feet behind Felister. "They will likely pose a great challenge for you."

"That's good," Felister replied, "I want a challenge."

The days passed slowly as Felister observed the movements of the human soldiers. They were at ease but maintained a certain degree of readiness which could prove fatal if one were to attack recklessly. The soldiers patrolled the grounds of the base regularly, often in small groups of five or ten; occasionally they were accompanied by a jeep and/or tank. Other larger groups were often seen running exercise drills that were less methodical than the standard patrol routes and they often consisted of significantly denser numbers.

The base itself rested on a wide slab of concrete that was obviously not left over from past times. The Yurakka base was not just a left over location, it was an established stronghold. The road that ran past the trees led to the front gate of the base which opened up to the main courtyard where the majority of the troops could be seen hard at work on their daily duties. Beyond the courtyard were the main command buildings and barracks with the motor pool behind them. Though it would take several minutes to roll out any heavy armor to retaliate, Felister would be confronted by the main force of the base almost as soon as he launched his attack.

At dusk of the first night, Felister looked towards the small hill that Nikita had pointed out. The sun set on the uninhibited horizon behind it, looking directly at the base, and cast a shadow as black as Felister's fur that, as the sun lowered further, grew longer, almost reaching to the perimeter fence.

"So that's what they meant." The panther muttered to himself as he observed the growth of his ticket into the base. "The only way to get close enough without being seen and barely enough room for two." As Felister watched, the sun set and the density of the shadow was dissipated by the lights of the base and the moonlight above. "And it doesn't last very long at all; I'll have to move fast."

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The human sentry looked out from his post at the top of a sentry tower. He sat on a small padded stool with his weapon slung over his back and a pair of binoculars hanging around his neck. 30 feet below, the gate rattled as it opened to allow a small jeep to enter onto the base. As the jeep drove forward, the sun sank beneath the horizon behind it, casting eerie shadows across the ground in the void between night and day.

Felister moved swiftly across the road to the small hill where he blended perfectly with the extending darkness. Keeping low to the ground, he made his way forward with the shifting shadow, tracing small, intricate patterns in the air with his right hand as he moved. By the time he was close to the fence, only a handful of meters away, a small orange ball rested in the palm of his hand, its light catching the eye of the sentry.

The human stared at the small, bright dot that stood out amongst the blackness, seeming to pulse with energy. Then, as the sun finished setting and the shadow thinned, he saw the danger and turned to raise the alarm. As he reached for the siren attached to the tower, Felister thrust his hand forward and a large shockwave blasted outward followed closely by an intense explosion of heat.

The fence tore apart like paper and the jeep that had just entered the base rolled and bounced across the courtyard like a toy ball. The tower warped and crashed to the ground and the sentry lost all hearing from the deafening explosion. Felister had compressed a massive amount of hot air and then released it, directing it forward as an initial attack designed to demoralize and confuse the base's occupants. The concrete courtyard seemed to heave as the shockwave moved across it in an instant. Large cracks split the once smooth surface as the ground was shattered from the attack. Soldiers were swept off their feet and sent hurtling across the ground like rag dolls. The wave of heat that followed made all metal turn red hot, making the soldiers that could still hold their weapons drop them as their hands were badly burnt.

With the humans lying on the ground, their minds trying to figure out what had just happened, Felister ran forward, ignoring the injured soldiers, and made his way to the main command building. By the time he reached the door, several of the soldiers were starting to get back up on unsteady legs. The panther wildly opened the door and rushed in, he had to get inside where he wouldn't be so exposed.

The shockwave had shattered most of the windows and caused severe damage to general structure of the building. Cracks ran along the walls, broken lights, and cracked computer screens flickered erratically. The soldiers inside the building were not subjected to the full force of the blast but were still incapacitated to a small degree. Ringing filled their ears and their legs felt like jelly but they endured. As the door closed behind Felister, he heard the sound of the base alarm rise to a loud roar.

"Alright, let's get this party started." Felister muttered to himself. He started down the hallways of the large building, checking the signs on each door as he went. Ilek followed silently from her usual location. She watched as the rabbit-eared panther turned a corner and suddenly sent a wave of fire raging forward at three human soldiers that had also turned into the hallways at the other end. They screamed in terror as the flames latched onto their bodies, two of them turned their guns on themselves while the third ran screaming down the hallway, slamming into the walls as he went.

Drawing his katana from its belt, Felister slowed his pace to a fast walk. At one point, a soldier leapt out of a room just behind him and then lost both his arms as the panther turned and attacked with precise slices of his blade. The cries of pain went ignored as Felister turned and left the hemorrhaging man to his fate, a pool of blood quickly gather on the polished, light blue floor.

It took almost half an hour before Felister finally found the control room he was looking for. In that time, many other soldiers had fallen victim to either inferno or steel. Most were left screaming as they slowly died; very few were lucky to die instantly by the panther's hands. The base had recovered from Felister's initial attack by now and was beginning to attack him with more defined strategy, attempting to block his path with blockades and ambush him with large groups of soldiers. Inside the confines of the base however, they had little hope as their foe moved swiftly and had few exposed points to worry about.

The room he was looking for had several rows of computers and a large screen at the front. Most of the computers were useless as they were damaged by the shockwave but four were mostly undamaged and still quite useful. Felister stood at one of these computers, on the opposite side of the room to the only door, and inserted a small portable hard-drive that immediately began to download the entire data base. The black feline watched the screen as the download slowly progressed while outside he heard noises that told him soldiers were gathering to launch another attack on him.

Leaving the computer to finish downloading, Felister took a few steps toward the door and stood in the middle of the room, waiting to see what the soldiers outside would do. What they did was not what Felister expected. He heard four peculiar noises that were immediately followed by a very threatening situation. The soldiers outside had fired grenade launchers at the wall opposite the door and bounced four live grenades into the room. As Felister watched the grenades fly towards him his vision was suddenly obscured by violet fur. At that point, four small explosions filled the room, causing it to shake violently as many of the computers were blasted apart. The explosions seemed to wrap around both Felister and Ilek but did not touch them. When things were calm again, Ilek stood aside, turned and looked at the surprised panther. Not thinking about what had just happened, Felister turned to check the computer he was downloading the data from. It was untouched.

"You sneaky bastards!" Felister growled as he rushed past Ilek and into the hallway. Screams of terror and pain filled the air as blood and steel mixed in the blinking light of the corridor. When the soldiers lay dead at his feet, Felister grunted at them and then returned to the room to collect the portable hard-drive.

"Thank you." Felister said to Ilek without looking at her. "Why did you..." He left the question unfinished.

"I didn't want you to die." Ilek said simply. Her voice had a slight shyness to it.

Felister stood up, the hard-drive in his hand. "Would you do it again?" He asked the violet rabbit, this time looking her in the eye for the first time.

"Yes." Ilek said.

Felister thought for a moment then started forward. "Let's go."

Both panther and rabbit made their way out of the base. They backtracked to the door Felister had entered by and met little resistance on the way. Outside however, was a different matter.

The small side door that Felister had entered the base through was now surrounded by a large group of soldiers and three tanks. Mounted machine guns had been set up and portable defenses had also been erected. The Yurakka Military Base forces were set to unleash all kinds of hell on whoever stepped out of that door.

The rabbit-eared panther stopped when he reached the exit. "There's likely to be some kind of counter attack waiting for me out there." Felister muttered to himself.

"Go." Ilek assured him. Felister looked at her for a moment then blindly opened the door and stepped through. The door and most of the wall around it seemed to just disappear as the soldiers opened fired the moment they saw their target. The ground beneath Feliter's feet was torn up; small pieces of concrete were sent flying into the air along with dust and bullets. The panther winced at the deafening sound of the many guns and three tank cannons that continued their pounding. Within Ilek's protective shield, Felister remained untouched by their efforts.

When the assault finished and the dust cleared, the soldiers stepped back with looks of horror on their faces. Felister only grinned at them, a wicked, devilish grin. Then he punched his right fist upward, as if upper-cutting an opponent directly in front of him. Pillars of fire erupted from beneath the tanks, enveloping them completely and melting them into a pile of white hot liquid metal. The soldiers watched in terror as their fellow soldiers inside the tanks were subjecting to an unimaginable death.

When the pillars of fire died down, leaving no distinguishable signs of what once stood in their place, Felister raised his hand and held it toward the soldiers, his palm facing forward. Guns clattered to the ground as the demoralized soldiers fled in fear. Then, satisfied with the damage he had done, the panther made his way back to the small camp among the tress where he would wait to be picked up by Nikita.

"Thank you." Felister said once more to Ilek. Back at the small camp, amongst the trees, Felister turned to her again. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but why are you following me, why did you save me?"

"I don't know." Ilek said simply. She sat on a rock and looked at the ground in thought. "Before I was imprisoned, the bodies I inhabited, nothing of their prior host survived. Their bodies were twisted and corrupted, by my power, beyond any recognition of what they once were. But this body... it's different." Ilek looked at Felister. "This body is not natural, it holds its own power that seems to rival my own, if not surpass it. I don't understand how, but I think this body's desire for you lingers and that desire has now become my own."

Felister stood for a moment, his eyes distant as her heard Ilek's words. Tilly's love for him had survived and passed on to this malevolent being. The panther wasn't sure if he should be thankful that she had survived in even the smallest way or if he should be horrified that her love was now latched onto the being that had destroyed her.

"I think I know what you mean." Felister said after a few minutes. "We are not a natural race. Anthros were created by the eight gods in order to govern and protect this planet. It is probably that reason that..." Felister was unable to continue, but Ilek understood what he was saying.

"My race is indeed powerful, but against that of a god, we are still quite weak. I understand now why I feel these emotions I once never did." Ilek looked at ground once more. "The power inside this body is beyond my own. That power is what has allowed the prior host's-"

"Tilly! Her name was Tilly." Felister snapped angrily.

Ilek withdrew from the panther briefly before continuing. "That power is what has allowed Tilly's emotions to remain untainted by my possession. Because of that, her feelings and my essence merged and became one." Ilek looked at Felister. The panther saw an eerily familiar spark in her eyes; the same spark he used to see in Tilly's.