Chapter 60

Willbringer's Plea

30 Minutes Later...

Luso felt the Audi stop, and heard the engine shut off. Silva, Mick, and Symon got out of the car. After being sure no one else was around, Luso turned himself into mist, and slithered out of the trunk, reforming himself. After taking a deep breath, he looked around, seeing that he was standing in an old animal stable. Luso quickly uttered an invisibility spell and stepped out to find he was inside the grounds of a castle! Luso raised an eyebrow. This castle was not one of the local kingdom palaces. He assumed it belonged to a wealthy lord, as it did have the look of a private residence, quickly turning to follow Silva and the others, all of them walking up a set of stairs to a large entryway to the castle.

"Well, I wonder what Zarch and Uniko have cooked for lunch today?" Silva spoke, pulling a chain that opened the door.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure it's going to be delicious. That reminds me, I need to talk to Xen and Codec, see if the Audi's transporter computer needs any software updates." Mick said, smiling. Luso was now very confused, and suspicious. His metaphorical "What's-going-on-here?" antenna was fully extended. Uniko was also a cook in this order? Who was Zarch? For that matter, who were Xen and Codec?

After stepping in, Luso was grateful that the inside of the castle was warm. Silva then took off his chaps for a moment, and the next words he said sent Luso's brain into overdrive trying to figure out everything.

"I'm going to take off my pants, and just wear my chaps. I'd like to give Master Egad a bit of a show." Silva then snapped his fingers, manacles appearing on his wrists and ankles, as well as a collar on his neck!

Luso quickly covered his nose, feeling his blood pressure skyrocket as he broke out into a deep blush, watching Silva remove his chaps and pants, revealing a spicy, sexy thong underneath with red embroidery on the pouch! Silva's training with Galen no doubt served him well, and not just with strength and skill. The wolf's body was chiseled, ripped, shredded, with curves and lines that closely mirrored Galen's! Luso was entranced, he just couldn't pull his eyes away...

After Silva folded his pants, he put his chaps and cloak back on. Then, he walked with Mick and Symon deeper into the castle. Luso walked behind Mick, struggling to keep his eyes from looking over Silva's back and rear. The marble fox mage could already feel a bulge building up in his pants, his loins flaring up and throbbing with passion.

The throbbing in his loins only intensified after Luso rounded a corner with the group. They were now standing in a large common area, furnished with many sofas, love seats, and recliners, as well as some coffee tables and ottomans. A large screen known as a television took up an entire wall. Sitting on some of the fancy furniture were many different people, including three certain familiar individuals: Galen, Uniko, and Zhal! Galen was dressed in a thong like Silva, with nothing else on his body aside from anklet socks, fingerless gloves, and his amulet with a set of dog tags, as well as metal manacles and a collar on his wrists, ankles, and neck. Uniko was wearing a purple g-string with a high-cropped vest, along with arm bands and anklet socks of his own. Zhal was wearing a skimpy fundoshi, along with a small cape held up to his shoulders by leather belts around his shoulders, along with ankle socks and an athletic arm band. Like Galen, Uniko and Zhal also adorned manacles and collars. Then again, everyone in the room aside from Symon and Mick wore manacles and collars, as well as similar spicy outfits. Luso was now very suspicious.

"Anything new on the Galactic News Channel?" Mick asked, looking up at the TV that was broadcasting a news feed.

"Not really." Galen said, setting the remote on the coffee table. "They're still going over the incident that Bruce stirred up on Tarion III at the Grace Commerce Hub. Somehow, Bruce and his cronies managed to get away after we escaped. The authorities can't really do anything about it, though. Turns out, they had camera jammers on them, so they cannot be identified on the security feeds."

Symon sighed. "Bugger... I hope they find some other way of pinning him down in this mess."

"Agreed." Another voice said. Walking into the room was an orange fox with ruby red eyes, leading three wolves of different height, carrying some trays with food, and several kettles of tea. It was the red eyed fox that was speaking. "It still amazes me how Cailus and his men can manage to make excuses for everything they do."

"It still eludes me how they get away with it as well, Master Egad." The tallest wolf said, setting down the trays with the others. Everyone then settled in, seating themselves on the couches and chairs after getting themselves some tea. Luso leaned against a wall, observing the scene carefully.

"I hope Codec, Jet, and Xen managed to find some more info on their whereabouts." The short, blue-furred wolf said.

"Same here, Chaos." Mick agreed, taking a sip of tea. He smiled as he relished the flavor. "This is earl gray, if I'm not mistaken, Zarch?"

The tallest wolf nodded. "Indeed. I figured we could all use something with a bit of pep added in."

"Thank you." Symon said. "That's very thoughtful of you."

"I second that." Egad said. "Thank you very much, Zarch."

"Anytime, master. Anytime." Zarch said, sitting down with Chaos and the other wolf with red fur. "So, Hatred. You said you wanted to look over Mick's pistols, later?"

Hatred, the red wolf, nodded. "Yeah. I noticed the past few times when he has used them that the sound of the laser blasts seems... Off. I remember the sound from a while back when I used a similar blaster. A few days later, I tried using it again, and the entire thing blew up on me, burning my hand."

Mick sighed. "Well, I will admit I have not had a lot of time to look over my weapons, maintenance wise. I'll let you give them a look over later."

At that moment, more individuals walked in: two dragons, two Digimon of different species, a rat, fennec, a jackal, and another lion that almost looked like a double of Galen! If it weren't for the black fur and platinum-colored mane, as well as the scars on his face and body, Luso could have sworn someone had carbon- copied Galen!

"Well, bad news guys." The black lion spoke. "Me, Jet, and Codec combed through all the databases we could hack into that Cailus owns and came up with nothing. Bruce and company either secured their data in another server we do not know about, or they just relay their commands and updates over a method like telephone audio."

"It's alright. You all did your best." The rat said as they all settled down. "I guess we have no other choice but to wait until Cailus makes his next move."

"Thanks, Amon." Xen said. Everyone then settled in, watching the news feed. Amon settled next to Galen, while one of the dragons with black- and indigo-colored scales snuggled up next to Zhal. Both Galen and Zhal returned the affection, Galen rubbing the rat's burly chest gently, while Zhal draped an arm around the dragon.

Luso watched the scene as it unfolded, ending up with more questions than answers, struggling to put the puzzle pieces together. Hell, at this point, they weren't puzzle pieces: They were shards of broken glass that Luso was trying to assemble to get the full story! As much as Luso wanted to drop his cloak spell and interrogate everyone, he held back. After all, he could sense intense mana and magicka radiating off several people in the room, most notably this Egad character.

After a few minutes, Luso watched as the tallest wolf, Zarch, looked out the nearby window. His ears perked up, twitching occasionally as if the wolf was listening for something. His eyes shined for a moment, then his brows furrowed.

Hatred noticed Zarch's sudden personality shift. "Father? What's wrong?"

"Something isn't right..." Zarch looked out the window to the castle grounds. "...I sense a disturbance."

Luso then felt it too. A sharp feeling of anger, mixed with white-hot heat of an inferno. It was coming from outside, as if something or someone was getting ready to strike the castle and attack!

Luso watched as Zarch got some high-quality runes out of a pouch on his belt, casting them onto the table. What they read was not good news. An individual from the near past was coming for them, controlled by another individual intent on spilling blood!

Zarch then looked out the window again with the others, noticing something in the courtyard. He got up from the sofa and stood near the window. He let out a loud growl from what he sensed. "Chaos! Look over the security feeds. We have company in the form of hostile uninvited guests..."

Chaos brought up a holographic display from an armband he was wearing, looking over the security feeds. "Oh, crap!" Chaos exclaimed, seeing a WarGreymon, armed with several high-powered handguns and rifles on the feed with several heavily armed robotic drones at his flank. "It's Willbringer, and he's packing heat! I'm putting the castle security on Defcon-3!"

Chaos pressed a few buttons on the holodisplay. Strobe lights popped out of the walls, and a klaxon sounded off five times as the castle's guards mobilized! Several of the guards ran into the room, standing at attention with the Elite Gallery and Egad.

"Men, please escort Master Egad, Symon, and Jet to his quarters." Chaos said. "Do not let anyone past you unless it is one of us. Stay ever vigilant, and make sure the force field and counter measures in Master's quarters are active! Don't take any chances!"

"I'll go with them, to make sure Master and Jet gets to his quarters safely." Zarch said.

"Likewise." Codec agreed. "I will also remain with Master, just in case."

"Ditto." Xen agreed.

Zarch kneeled down, taking Egad into an embrace. "Once you, Jet, and Codec get to your quarters, lock yourselves in the Citadel Room. I promise, we will all do our best to be careful. You have our word."

Egad nuzzled Zarch gently. "I know, and I believe you."

"Good luck. To all of us." Symon said, taking Egad's hand into his.

With that, Zarch, Jet, Symon, and Codec ran off with Egad and the guards to take shelter in his quarters. Hatred then turned to the rest of the gallery. "Quick! Come with me to the armory! We will need to arm ourselves!"

The rest of the group then took off through the castle's halls to the armory, Luso running close behind!

They came up to the armory door, Hatred putting his hand on a scanning pad. The pad confirmed his biometrics, and the door opened. Walking in, they saw the walls lined with many weapons: Some were traditional arms with modern twists: Spears, Swords, Maces, and Warhammers. Some were equipped with various multiple functions, such as blades that could be electrified, heated, and even give off sonic vibrations to cut through metal! Along with that, there were more modern weapons in the form of various firearms, ranging from laser pistols and rifles, to blaster cannons, railguns, and even missile launchers!

Galen grabbed a multi-function greatsword that was nearly as tall as he was, strapping the scabbard onto his back! He also grabbed an automatic blaster rifle, strapping the holster to his back and sheathing the gun. Uniko grabbed a multi-function spear, as well as a semi-auto split beam dual-barrel sawed-off laser shotgun, strapping the holsters to his back and hip. Zhal grabbed a set of katanas, as well as a pair of semi-auto laser pistols, strapping the holsters to his back and thighs.

Chaos grabbed a laser sniper rifle, as well as a multi-mode kunai attached to a long chain. Hatred grabbed a multi-mode buster sword, as well as full-auto split-beam rapid-fire shotgun and a missile launcher as well.

"Tommy, grab anything you feel you can handle." The taller dragon with red and black scales said, arming himself with a two-handed warhammer, as well as a semi-auto railgun rifle. Tommy, the dragon with the black and indigo scales quickly armed himself with a long Nodachi katana, as well as a handheld full-auto blaster machine gun.

"I'm ready, father." Tommy said.

"As am I, love." Another individual, a BlackWarGreymon said after arming himself with a long Nagamaki sword, as well as a semi-auto handheld railgun, while Eli grabbed a halberd off the wall with two blaster uzis.

Xen grabbed a high-powered sniper laser from the armory, as well as a large war axe, while Mick grabbed a marksman laser handgun, along with a Tsurugi sword. The rat grabbed a laser gatling gun, as well as a double-edged cleaver sword that could separate into two blades.

"Alright. We're ready." Mick said.

"Very well." The rat said, priming his gatling gun. "Time to show the intruders the door, then the gate."

# # # #

Damion walked through the grounds of the castle, keeping an eye out for any hidden surprises that Egad may have put out for intruders. So far, he had only ran across cameras and sensor grids. He guessed Ryan, aka Egad saved fixed point defenses for serious matters. Either that, or the fox was just trying to play mind games with him.

After stepping through the grounds, he came across the castle's main entryway. The ten drones at his flank were standing by, awaiting orders while an eleventh drone stood beside him, under Cailus' direct control.

"Looks like we've found a way in." Damion said. "Are you reading anything from your mech's scans, Cailus?"

"Nothing I can detect, no." Cailus said. "It wouldn't surprise me if my brother had point-defense turrets concealed with materials that could fool sensor scans, though... Ah, looks like he's sent the welcoming committee. I'm reading eight life signs coming towards the door. They should be here in about five seconds..."

A short time later, the castle's doors opened. Standing in the doorway was Galen, Uniko, Zhal, Bishop, Gareth, Tommy, Hatred, Mick, and Xen. All armed to the teeth and ready for battle.

"Figures." Cailus sighed over his mech's speaker. "Ryan can't even find the balls to confront me face-to-face."

"I would hardly call you cowering behind a remote-controlled mech 'face-to-face' Cailus!" Mick sneered.

"It doesn't matter." Cailus was nonchalant. "I guess I will just have to plow through the lot of you to get to him... Though I will make sure to show Ryan all of your bloody corpses before I execute him, and make sure that the image of your battered, lifeless bodies burns itself into his soul before-"

"Oh, shut up already!" Hatred shouted in irritation, firing a quartet of missiles at Cailus' mech! The explosions from the warhead's impacts shattered the mech, blowing it's remains in all directions!

Hatred rested the missile launcher on his shoulder. "You were saying?"

Damion looked on at the totaled mech Cailus was controlling by remote. He then glared at Gareth. "Son, I hope your wolf friend realizes what he has just done."

Gareth looked at his father with anger on his face. "Just what has he done that is so horrible, compared to your misdeeds?"

"Simple." Damion spoke, drawing one of his rifles as he activated a beam katana in his hand. "By now, you know of the control chips Cailus used on Silva and Eli. Well... They are not the only one he's used those chips on. In fact, when you were about fourteen years of age, he implanted me with the prototype version of those chips."

Gareth's eyes widened, as Damion continued.

"It was during a doctor's visit, a week before your fourteenth birthday." Damion continued. "Only Cailus had set it all up. I was meant to walk in for a simple checkup, as well as a blood test. Instead, I walked into a trap. Cailus and his men were waiting for me in the exam room. They tied me down, gassed me with tranquilizer dioxin gas, and then implanted the chip into my left forearm." Damion held up his arm, tearing off the sleeve of his jacket to reveal a long, horrid surgical scar. "When I awoke, Cailus was in the room with his men. He told me of what he did, and that I now had no choice but to follow his commands, submit to his will. Though since I was fitted with the prototype of the control chip, there had to be a lot of patches. Not just to the software, but the hardware as well. This scar has been opened multiple times and sealed just as quickly. But it does not make me forget the pain... Nor the choices that I had no control over."

Galen looked over to Gareth. "That doesn't make sense. Why would Cailus want to use your father as a guinea pig for his control chips?"

"It's simple, lion boy." Damion growled. "My family, the Willbringer family... We are deeply embedded into galactic politics. My grandfather once sat on the GCOG high council, helping to manage and govern the united worlds of the galaxy, making and mending rules and regulations, keeping law and order. I am next in line for a seat on the GCOG council, after my father's term is up in five more years. Though once I have that seat, I won't be the one in control. As for why I have not attacked yet, Cailus has not yet given me the command. Instead, he has instructed me, through the implant, to tell you all these things. So you can know what to expect if you let me live. I don't know if you still care about me, Gareth... But I must ask you for this final request: Do not let me live. For I do not want to be used as a trojan horse, and have the galaxy be plunged into a dark age..."

Gareth watched on, as tears fell from Damion's eyes. He knew his words were genuine. Damion knew he was a puppet and did not want to live as one any longer.

"Please, son. Do what you must..." Damion said, his voice ringing with a begging tone.

Gareth, now knowing the truth, was hesitant. He remained rooted to the spot where he stood.

"Please..." Damion begged, then he let out a loud grunt, clutching his head as he dropped his rifle, falling to his knees. "Gareth! You must...! You must strike now! I can fight Cailus' control, but I can't do it for long...! You must strike me down!"

"Father!" Gareth shouted. "No! Don't let him take control of you again! Fight him off!"

"I... can't!" Damion threw his head back, letting out a painful roar as veins popped out across his body. "I can't hold him off...! I can feel his teeth on my neck, his fingers on my spine! You must finish me! You must kill me now, or he will have me kill all of you!"

"Dad...!" Gareth chocked out a sob. "I can't kill you! Not that I now know the truth! I can't!"

Damion hunched over, his breath starting to fall into a steady rhythm as his tears fell to the ground below him. "...You've always made me proud, Gareth. Willbringer, or Jaren... Whichever you choose in the end... You bring both names, and the bloodlines associated with them undeniable honor..."

Damion's breathing finished stabilizing. He then stood up, raising his head to look at the coven, his eyes no longer their usual shade of emerald green: They were now colored a crimson, blood red, Damion's face expressing psychotic glee.

Damion then picked up and raised his rifle, aiming straight for Gareth's chest.

"Now... Die!"

Damion pulled the trigger, the beam rifle unloading a single concentrated shot of high-impact energy, flying in Gareth's direction at the speed of light!

Only the shot did not connect with its intended target! Instead, it collided with some sort of energy barrier that absorbed the blast!

"I don't think so!" A youthful voice shouted form that direction. With that, the barrier erupted into bolts of electric energy, flying in each direction that engulfed the grounds in a lightning storm!

Materializing from behind the quickly vanishing barrier, was a fox in a mage outfit, fur colored a marble two tone of grey and black. His eyes were engulfed in electric sparks, glowing a bright blue with magical energy! The lightning bolts that singed the castle's grounds returned to the mage's hands, then quickly flew back out in random directions again!

"Luso?!" Silva gasped. "What the hell...?!"

"I don't know who you are, or who this 'Cailus' character is. Nor do I know everything that is going on right now, or the events that have transpired leading up to this moment... But I will make one thing clear to you and Cailus, Damion Willbringer: As long as you are under Cailus Foxmoore's control, you are a threat to everyone around you, a danger to all... A danger that I cannot allow to continue."