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Act IV: The Divine Comedy

Narrius closed his crimson eyes, rubbing slowly at his forehead as he stood in the main hall of his Estate. He had been busy in the conference room, giving orders to his other units overseas... when some idiot commander had phoned up about needing to lock down the city and set the gates to aggressive-defense mode, which meant the one-warning rule would be in effect. As in, the gates would give the first person there one warning, and any further attempts to enter the city or even get too close would be met by automated gatling gun fire from the half-hidden turrets in the gate archways. The only people permitted to pass in and out would be military who had already had their genetic imprint coded into the gates and who carried one specific gene that only the special detectors set up at the gates would pick up on.

And, foolishly, Narrius hadn't recognized that his son would likely have the same goddamn gene as the other soldiers did, because he happened to be related to him through blood. Marina had it, after all... and it was the Narrius family legacy, the genetic imprint that existed in every member of the Narrius family.

He sighed to himself, shaking his head in disgust before looking down from the balcony he stood on overlooking the expanses of the hall below, where Alone was fidgeting nervously and badly-dressed in rumpled clothing - he'd actually dared to answer the call while busy humping one of his girls, which had earned him a few severe reprimands and the loss of his privileges for a week, along with the large bruise on one side of his face that Black Requiem had given him on his entrance into the Estate. His naked paws had tracked mud onto the red carpets as well, and the maids were already attempting to clean this up quickly.

Black Requiem himself stood behind Narrius, his arms crossed, lurking in the background and glaring distastefully down at Mengele with his ruby eyes. The latter was sitting happily on his ass on the carpet, looking around at the expensive, lavish décor and the armed Enforcers that stood silent guard at either curving staircase that led up to the same center island: then two more staircases led up from here to a large walkway that went around the entire front hall. Off this walkway were two balconies, one of which Narrius stood on right now, both of them at the opposite end of the hall from the entrance doors.

Finally, the Patriarch said slowly: "I want you to find Zerrex. Alone, take three squads of your Untrained, scan the jungle area outside the city. Bring two Unseen with you as well... do two complete circles of the area, and then report back to me."

"But that'll take until morning!" Alone whined, and then he screamed and fell over when a furious snarl broke out over Narrius's face and he slammed a hand down into the railing hard enough to shatter it, electricity ripping deep, charred gouges along the wood.

"Then I suggest you get to work!" he shouted, and Alone squealed again and turned around, clawing at the carpet and tripping over a maid on the way to the door, whacking his head off it with a yelp before he shoved them open and ran off into the night. Narrius gave a disgusted snort as Mengele laughed loudly, then the Patriarch turned his eyes on the doctor with a snarl. "And you, get your worthless ass to the genetics labs, start control-collar testing on Gorgon and get the other Unseen up and running!"

Mengele stood slowly, smiling and spreading his arms: today, he was clad in a fur shirt - not wolf this time, but some other animal - and a plain pair of military pants, with his tattered lab coat hanging around him...and now one of his hands had become completely wolf-like as well. His body seemed to have filled out somewhat with muscle as well... and one furry, clawed moccasin tapped against the ground as he said pleasantly: "Ninety percent of your Unseen are dead from massive muscular degeneration that mutated into necrotizing fasciitis. That's a disease almost immune to drug therapy... and the radical reversal procedure usually just delays the spread of the illness. The only known treatment still, even after all our medical breakthroughs, is amputation; or flesh genetics tampering, but that usually results in tumors or petrifaction. And you'd be surprised how many people would prefer death over being turned to stone.

"Even the Blind Girl is dead. She's a pretty statue in your courtyard now, right? And she possessed her powers naturally, was the one genetic model you built the other Unseen off of, true? So I cannot rush the mass-production of the other Unseen until I find out just how and why her natural immunities and body resistances morphed from positives to... definite negatives." He paused, then added mildly: "Of course, if you still want me to, I can just pop the next batch of a hundred or so Unseen out... but I'm fairly sure they'll all be dead between three to five years from now. Increasing the power of their immune and muscle systems seems to have sped up the process, not delayed it-"

"I get it." Narrius said softly, his eye twitching, then he forced a cold smile. "And what about your pet project? You called it the Family?"

Mengele shrugged, looking back at Narrius mildly. "My pet project is Godsmite. It's a terrible weapon, but it's my personal box of sin... I can't stop myself from working on it, much as I'd prefer to be working on a disease that only targeted and killed you." He paused after this blatant comment, then continued casually: "But they're coming along well. Stage four physical bodies right now, stage zero brainwaves. They're 'empty containers,' so to speak, and they'll be perfect beings once they're completed... but I still have the issue of injecting souls into them.

"As you know, the growth process I've been using would be called 'occult science' by people in the old days... because I prefer to create physical bodies, then inject them with a person's soul or memories or energy by using specific genetic memory blueprints and your now-worthless Empty Ones. I don't like your clone-soldiers... they all have the same memories, same functionality. I want these to be different... which is why I want to seek permission to use the souls of certain special individuals once the bodies are completed. I'll also need four Empty Ones for this purpose or another soul removal and replacement technology. Energy, being energy, is extremely difficult to extract, after all... I can't just transplant their brains or use a syringe."

Narrius looked down at him coldly... then he nodded slowly and said mildly: "They have to be programmed to obey my commands, however, Mengele. And if I find you've tampered with them at all, to obey you or others, or they're not as combat-worthy or are damaged in any other way-"

"I know the drill." Mengele said tiredly. "Tyrant gets all the fun, gets to play with the toys I build. You're like a child emperor." Then he paused, adding mildly: "By the way, that reminds me. When am I supposed to operate on Marina?"

Narrius's face went from irritation, to anger, to a cruel smile, as he tilted his head down at him and asked contemptibly: "Can't you ever rise above your pathetic drives, Mengele? You say I'm the one who gets all the toys, but you're the one always asking to play with them and building new ones, rebuilding the old, and touching up everything you can." He paused, then glanced down towards Marina's room: the doors of which were currently locked and guarded by two elite Enforcer Commanders, both of them massive giants equipped with the best weapons available. "A week or so from now and the fetus will be developed enough to remove from the womb and placed into a genetics tank. Then you can do whatever you like with Marina, but I do wish for her to eventually be turned into another breeding queen."

"Of course." Mengele said distastefully. "To produce more useless soldiers for your equally-pathetic army, so you can watch them kill each other and get blown up by the enemy." He rolled his eyes, then turned and walked away, flipping a wave to Narrius. "I'm going to go cut myself because at least I'm proud of being such a whiny masochistic bitch, and I don't have to make up reasons like, 'my army sucks even though they're all clones of me.'"

"I didn't give you leave to go." Narrius snapped coldly, and the two Enforcers guarding the doors stepped in front of them, barring the half-wolf's progress. But Mengele just smiled coldly to them both and brushed easily past their leveled weapons, knowing that they or Narrius wouldn't dare harm him at this stage... and waving a single raised middle finger at Narrius as a means of farewell without bothering to turn around.

The Dragokkaren snorted in disgust... then he looked over at Black Requiem and said coldly: "Take over on guard duty and send those two out with platoons of elites, have them comb the city. Make sure you pay special attention to Necropolis and the military sectors... Raves may attempt to get as close as possible to me and attack during the night, when he thinks I'm asleep."

"Sir." Black Requiem rumbled, then he suddenly froze in place. Narrius looked up at him with a frown... before snarling as the giant's hands suddenly locked around his throat, hissing and arching his back, red eyes bulging in shock as the black-scaled Dragokkaren rasped: "Why... did you wake me up... brother... why did you..."

"Fuck off!" Narrius snarled reached up a hand to slam into his former younger brother's side, before discharging an electrical shock into him that immediately made the giant slump docilely again. He then waved a hand angrily at the soldiers that had started to charge up from their posts, yelling in a ragged voice: "Get back to your fucking positions!"

They did so immediately, with more haste then they'd moved to save Narrius, as Black Requiem's body melted slightly, droplets of water forming and raining down to the floor, seeming to melt like wax... and then Narrius snorted and swept up one of his sleeves to reveal a keypad. He tapped a few buttons, then reached up and grabbed Requiem's slowly-dissolving body, this time releasing a horrible, emerald jolt of electricity that travelled over Black Requiem's body. The creature stiffened immediately, his melting body immediately assimilating itself once more into the form of the dark-suited, dark-scaled, crimson eyed Dragokkaren... and Narrius looked up at him coldly, saying softly: "Don't lose control of him again, or the next time I shock your body, I'll leave all your bits and pieces disconnected."

He hit a button on his arm computer, then slid his sleeve back down as the giant kneeled and bowed his head respectfully... but when Narrius turned and walked away, a look of pain flashed over the features of the dark being, and the crimson eyes flicked to sapphire for a moment before once more glowing red.

Zerrex had the strangest dream, as he snored quietly under the flickering, dull light in the broken but incredibly comfortable mattress: he dreamed that he, Cynterra, and Mercury were in a green field, and the two females were dancing through a floating mist of golden flower petals and blue butterflies... but once Zerrex tried to draw close, to join them, it was all whisked away, and instead he was standing inside a large, glass cube... like a security box for prisoners too dangerous to let sit in the witness box in court, because they may kill... or be killed by others.

He blinked, pressing against the glass wall in front of himself... then frowned as a judge's bench came into existence across from him, but large enough to sit three people. And then, behind it, he saw himself... or rather, three of him come into existence. It didn't take much more than a single glance, however, to realize that they both were and weren't.

The one on the left was Ravenlight, in full combat armor, sitting with his arms crossed and looking disgusted... the one on the right was the being he'd called 'Good,' but in the center sat a figure he didn't recognize. It almost reminded him of the strange, despairing Zerrex he'd met inside the twisted world of the Dark Path inside himself... but he looked somehow crueler. The only real similarities - other than the obvious ones of body - were the black leather trenchcoat... and the painful sadness in his eyes.

Then the center one straightened and picked up a gavel, slamming it down and saying in a cold voice: "Conscious Walker. We are the three Psyches... and we have many names you can call us by. Darkness, Neutrality, Light; Good, Zero and Evil; Night, Dusk, and Day; Death, Life, and Birth. But I suppose you'd prefer our namesakes... as you are Zerrex, we are all Zerrex, but at the same, we have different names. Like you, I too, am called Zerrex... you already know Ravenlight... and last, we shall call simply Zer. Names have far reaching implications... as do the way we address each other."

Zerrex nodded slowly, looking across at the other Zerrex... at who he decided must be the Cold part of himself. The part he had been told he represented... before the three judge-Zerrex looked at each other, then back at the main reptile, Good frowning sadly and Ravenlight grinning coldly as he spoke next. "Looks like someone hasn't been keeping up with himself... or rather, isn't treating his different pieces with enough care and compassion. Ever since Drake moved in, we've been... a bit more active, a bit more aware, and a bit more able to influence you... and it seems that now all three of us have separated from you, the conscious Zerrex, and we're here to implement a few rule changes."

"Sorry." Good blushed a bit, rubbing idly at the top of the bench and glancing down quietly as he played his claws along the surface. "Ravenlight's been pissed off ever since you and him fought, and Drake killed him... he says it was unfair-"

"Fuck right it was unfair!" Ravenlight said righteously. "Isn't that right, Boss? Don't I deserve a second go at this bastard, especially after he hasn't honored our deal to get him called Captain Ravenlight even once?"

"Fuck off and shut up." Cold said blandly, giving Ravenlight a death glare, and the evil Drakkaren paled and clamped his jaws shut: obvious Cold was the strongest part of him... which didn't really surprise Zerrex. If he had to guess, they'd each inherited one of his characteristics, too... and his best guess would be that Cold had his willpower, Ravenlight his skills and physical strength, and that left Good with the trappings of mental and emotional essence he had, which... wasn't too much. It would sure as hell explain the way they all acted, though.

Then Zerrex paused... before glancing up quietly, his emerald eyes flashing and causing the glass box he was standing in to distort, and then melt. The three psyches looked at him with surprise... and then the reptile said softly: "You three are forgetting one crucial element. You belong to me... you all make up parts of me. And unless we work in concert, we aren't getting out of here alive.

"Maybe you don't get it, but I'm made up of all three of you... and yeah. I've recognized for a long time that my personality gets a bit jagged at times, that I'm really screwed in the head. Almost a different personality for every different mood... which is where I guess you three come in." His eyes narrowed as he glanced from Good to Cold to Ravenlight... and then he smiled slightly. "But you forget something. I've already reined you all in once. I can do it again."

"You didn't rein me in." Cold replied evenly, and then he snapped his fingers, and the darkness that they had been sitting in transformed into a clearing in an icy, snow-covered forest. "And this is different from a discorporate world created by Drake, this is your head, turning against you-"

Zerrex paused... then he shook his head and held up a hand, silencing Cold. And the effect on the other two was amazing, as they looked nervously at the center Zerrex, who reached up and touched his muzzle as if he'd been struck, his icy demeanor broken as the real Zerrex said quietly: "No, this is all... just a bad dream." He paused again, then smiled a bit and shrugged, adding: "To be honest... I'm not comfortable with it either, the fact that... you three are all inside of me. With knowing... that I'm really just a summative whole of three broken pieces of traumatized personality.

"A child who just wants to be happy, who never grew up because he never really existed to begin with... a dark, hungry animal who drowns himself in blood and lust to hide his despair over never having a father, and thus never being able to please the same... and a hard, cold... but broken being who is emotionless on the battlefield because he just wants to die... who cries into his pillow at night despite his cold exterior... because he's been betrayed so many times by everyone around him, by all the gods in the sky, fate and nature herself..." Zerrex said softly... and as he spoke, Ravenlight's eyes turned crimson before he vanished into motes of darkness, and Good shrank down to become a quiet child holding a stuffed version of himself as an adult, who smiled faintly before he turned into sparkling white wisps. It left Cold standing alone, his face twitching... but tears streaming down his face as he hugged himself, blood leaking from cut wrists as he clenched his eyes shut and tried to turn away... but he couldn't, Zerrex's hard emerald gaze locking onto him. "Who never wants to be seen as weak, but thinks he is.

"Apart, we're screwed up. A filthy monster, a suicidal, emotional wreck, and a retarded kid." Zerrex paused, then he turned away and began to walk through the forest as the snow melted... but instead of becoming spring, time reversed itself into autumn, and the Drakkaren added mildly as Cold dissolved behind him into blue energy: "That's where I come in. Together we can fill in each other's weaknesses. But apart, we'll be killed by the first person who comes across us."

Then he smiled a bit as he found himself walking towards a glassy pool in the center of a large clearing, and everyone who'd ever mattered to him was there, smiling and waiting... but the moment he stepped into the field of tall grasses towards them... his eyes snapped open and he woke up to the sound of banging.

The Drakkaren sat up with a grunt, as he heard loud noises... just outside, in the aqueduct, and he cursed under his breath before looking quickly around for a hiding spot. Then he winced as he heard a loud, rumbling voice say to check the maintenance office, and he did the only thing he could: he rolled to the side, into the wall, and jerked the broken mattress up overtop his body, head twisted to the side and muzzle sandwiched between floor and bed as he winced and lay still, holding his breath and trying to ignore the moldy stench and feeling of some sort of bugs running over his body.

The soldier stood in the doorway, looking back and forth... then he shouted: "Room's clear, sir! No sign of the suspected interloper or Lady Cherubim!"

A masculine, loud grunt... and then the door slowly closed. Zerrex began to slowly count to a hundred as he heard the footsteps retreating... but after about forty-two, he couldn't stand the feeling of bugs crawling under him anymore and he rolled quickly free, gasping and slapping at his back as he hopped to his feet and pranced around the room, making a disgusted face. He almost kicked over the shotgun - which likely would have set it off - but managed to narrowly avoid alerting the entire freaking neighborhood by stumbling to the side instead, and landing heavily on his tailbone with a grunt of pain, grabbing his ass and mumbling: "I think I broke it."

I think you're just an ass yourself. Drake muttered in his head. Now come on. We're getting better at this whole communication thing through practice and you're not getting nearly as stressed anymore, but that doesn't mean I actually like talking to you. It's around seven in the morning... you'd better start your preparations and hope that another unit doesn't come back to check in around here.

"So you're a clock too, huh?" Zerrex muttered, and Drake mentally scowled before responding with a bad-natured fuck you. The reptile yawned, slapping at his back again lightly and mumbling about touchy demons, then he stood up and wandered over to the shelf with the handguns, deciding he'd start slow for now with breaking down the guns and making sure everything was in order, before actually moving around to planning tonight... but there was already a worm of anxiousness and even excitement in his body. Tonight... I finally see my family again...

The best and worst feeling the Drakkaren had, however... was happiness; he was happy that the time of the battle had already rolled around, even if he may have been rushing things slightly... but he had never exactly been the most patient of creatures. Of course, he was also happy with the prospect of seeing his family again... but even the other prospect on the table, that today could very well be the day he died... maybe he was even happy with that, too.

He had lived a long life... and much of it miserable. His childhood had been nothing but a mess, his teenage years one mental war after another, until he joined the army so he could throw himself in a physical battlefield... and his whole adult life had been spent fighting enemy after enemy, because it was so goddamn easier to beat down something than think it through. A physical enemy you could demolish, and crush, and kick on the ground when it begged for mercy or snap its pathetic neck when it tried to crawl away... a mental enemy just tore you up inside, and you couldn't do anything to fight back but lay in bed and try to sleep to run away from it for a little while.

Even after he'd 'freed' Baskin's Grove, even after Marina's birth, he'd been trapped in his own private mental war; a war that came back to him on the darkest of nights, or any time he spent alone or had to listen to the tears of either daughter. Call it whatever you wanted... but it had meant a lot of faked smiles, a lot of long, silent walks out to the woods, a lot of hard sex with Cherry and a lot of trying uselessly to find hobbies he could do. But he was a misanthrope to the extreme, one of society's rejects... and Zerrex grinned a bit to himself, recalling his past frustrations with amusement: something he was rarely able to do, but the mood today, the sheer joy of walking towards impossible, almost certain death... it was twisted, but it made him feel ridiculously positive.

As he ejected the clip from a handgun to check the number of bullets in the magazine, he tilted his head back, his hands going about their business on their own, like they'd always been able to do. It was when he tried to order them to do something that he got in trouble... like after Cindy had suggested that he try to find either a part time job or some sort of interest to keep himself occupied.

He tried to start with simple things, like, say... reading. But Cherry would always come by, make fun of him while he sat staring dumbly at something like Chaucer or Milton, and then steal his translation notes. The worst had been when he'd been working on the Divine Comedy, fuddling through one of the more common translations and writing notes to himself on words that he didn't understand... Cherry had wandered in, peered at him for a little while like he was an interesting animal in the zoo, then snagged his book and he'd had to chase her through the house while she'd run through the house, cackling. Marina had only been a few months old at this time... and their antics had awoken her from a nap, which had caused Cindy to chase both of them out of the house, furious, and locked them out for the entire night. The two had ended up sitting on the stoop of the house, looking at each other lamely, Dante's 'Inferno' laying in tatters between them.

Next, he'd tried building models, but he often refused to follow the instructions... which led to him creating mutant tanks and planes. Out of frustration, he'd often take these outside and smash them apart, or he'd smear glue all over himself by mistake... which would lead to all sorts of other nasty problems. Cindy had finally put a stop to that when he'd left the glue out on the table and Marina had tried to eat it, still just a baby.

Puzzles had been his third attempt at a hobby... but he had a bad habit of losing pieces. Often, these pieces would later have to be extracted from baby Marina's mouth, and then Cindy would rail on him, telling him furiously that she wasn't a dog, and he'd whine that he knew it, he didn't give her the pieces to chew on, and she'd ask him how the hell a baby who couldn't even crawl yet got a hold of the puzzle bits, then. That had left Zerrex dumbfounded for the longest time... until he'd come across Cherry giggling stupidly and giving Marina various odd things from around the house to chew on, and he'd loomed over her until she had finally paled, and then he'd... taken her outside to 'have a friendly chat' with her. And that had been the last time he'd tried exploring his love of puzzles.

The reptile laughed a bit as he shook his head, smiling slightly as he looked down thoughtfully, now piecing a second handgun that he'd already broken down back together as he murmured softly: "I said that guns and knives and stuff were my hobby... and Cindy had always been so damned adamant that my hobby and my old work shouldn't mix. Nothing to do with shooting, taking care of battle equipment, etcetera... but I think she just wanted to bring out the romantic in me..."

After that short argument, he'd relented, as always... and it was never really arguing with Cindy, it was him making faces as she out-reasoned him, cornered him with logic, and then beat on his head with her fists - sometimes literally - until he backed down, since he couldn't bear to raise a hand to his daughter. He might dominate and be their leader in all things... but when it came to the social equities and all that other crap, Cindy tended to be the one ordering him around.

She had, however, suggested either yoga or tai-bo... and Zerrex wouldn't be caught dead doing the former - especially after a nasty experience he'd had with Cindy a while back when she'd insisted on him trying some weird-ass yoga positions with her - and didn't even know what the hell the latter was. She'd told him blatantly that it was the same 'martial arts junk' that he always did, so he'd muttered and attempted it... been horrified by the fact it was more an aerobics workout with a funky backbeat and weird camera angles than anything else... and immediately decided to move on to something else.

So he'd tried... writing. Cindy had always encouraged him, and even Lone had attempted to peek at some of his work... which once resulted in Zerrex closing a window on him. Cherry, of course, just cackled and attempted to steal his pages so he'd spend more time with her... and Marina too often crawled over to claw at his legs and the papers on his desk. But it had been relaxing, and it had been something he'd worked hard for and gotten better at over the years... except that he'd just... lost interest one day. His family had turned into his main concern, after all, and after Marina turned three, she'd begun to gravitate from spending all her time with her mother to spending all her time with her father.

Before giving up on his search for hobbies, however, he'd also attempted drawing for... about a week. He'd been horrified to discover that Marina's pictures often turned out better than his own... mostly because hers actually looked like what they were supposed to look like. Needless to say, he'd stopped once he'd found this fact out.

So, all-in-all, it had come down to him basically sitting around and playing video games every now and then with Cherry and Marina. He felt like a geek for it, but Cindy had made a face and been forced to relent, even though she muttered often about how she really didn't like the content of the video games. Zerrex had muttered something in return about a certain bathtub incident between her, Marina and Cherry, and his wife-daughter had blushed furiously before walking quickly away. Cherry had blinked and looked at him stupidly, then asked if he'd been there... and Zerrex had sighed and promptly taken the chance to get a headshot in on her in the game they were playing, which caused Cherry to squawk and tackle him to the ground.

Zerrex smiled faintly, now piecing his revolver back together, switching the parts out for the eight-shot cylinder and smaller barrel as he murmured to himself: "Well, at least tonight I'll get to see them all again... Gods, but I bet Marina's grown right up..."

He laughed a bit as he looked down at the gear he'd set out on the cement floor, looking over it thoughtfully. He had three sidepacks if you included the small kit for the revolver... one flash grenade... he'd be taking in two handguns and several clips for each, stocked in one side pack, plus additional revolver rounds for the .45 and shotgun shells for the modified version... a kwaibar that he'd found under the shelf with a blackened steel blade... and Cherry's whip. It wasn't exactly infiltration gear... but it would have to do, and his first order of business once inside the enemy facility would have to be to procure some better equipment and some ammo. Possibly an enemy uniform, as well... and he made a face as he touched his hair, which had long begin to frizz out of the braid and was filthy, burnt, and generally just in a bad way.

He thought about cutting it off... then sighed and figured it would just grow back, as he instead fumbled at the knot at the end of the braid and let it fall free, closing his eyes and brushing it idly back, his bangs falling over his eyes as he smiled slightly to himself. Well, whatever. I can deal with an extra handicap, right?

Of course you can. Drake said mildly, seeming ironically amused. It's not like you already aren't at enough of a disadvantage, of course. I wouldn't call you arrogant, I suppose... but you're sure as hell a cocky bastard.

The Drakkaren paused, tilting his head upwards... then he shrugged a bit and laughed quietly to himself. "Well, you know, if it's tied back, it doesn't bother me at all... I guess I just don't know how to tie it back so well." He rubbed the back of his head thoughtfully, then shrugged a bit. "And it's not like it'll get in the way that much... sure, it could mean some nasty-ass grabs from behind, but... you know..."

You're such a moron. Drake said flatly, then he paused for a long moment before saying mildly: Well, no matter what you decide to do with your hair, the plan stays the same, doesn't it? When do you plan to leave through the aqueduct?

"I'll go around... five, six? When dusk begins to fall... I'll run the operation at night." Zerrex said softly, then he paused and glanced at the equipment on the floor before smiling a bit to himself and laying back, closing his eyes and relaxing against the broken mattress. "And that means for the rest of the day I get to lay around... wake me up around four, if I'm not up already, alright?"

Drake mumbled something in response, but he seemed to be agreeing disagreeably. The Drakkaren smiled a bit to himself, then he closed his eyes and let himself relax and rest. It seemed only moments later that he was opening his eyes again, and sitting up to Drake murmuring: Good timing.

He nodded a bit; his own internal clock was surprisingly accurate, usually within ten minutes or so, and always early, never late. Then he straightened a bit, yawning and rubbing at his back slowly, before glancing idly at the rations on the shelf and deciding to eat a bit before he got around to suiting up.

After a short meal of dried meats he found on the shelf, the reptile wiped his hands idly off on the mattress, and then strapped on his equipment, rolling his shoulders a bit and feeling awkward with most of his gear strapped to his waist. He wasn't used to not having at least one bit of heavy-duty equipment thrown over his shoulders... then he shook his head a bit before figuring it was about time to head out, pushing through the door into the aqueduct as he checked himself one last time.

Then he made a face as he looked down at the sludgy water before sighing and dropping in, wincing as his bare feet plodded through the murk and he kicked at a crab that tried to rush his foot. It backed off, clicking angrily at him, before the Drakkaren turned his attention instead to the sluice gate in front of him. He looked back and forth for some means to operate it... then sighed as he saw the control lever had been removed, rolling his eyes before taking a step back... then lowering his shoulder and slamming forwards into the shutter.

It dented with a loud groan... and a second hard shoulder tackle knocked it free, sending it bouncing a few times down a passage full of... and Zerrex stared in horror, wondering how his day could get any worse as the crab behind him seemed to click almost cheerfully to the hundreds... perhaps thousands... that covered every wall and surface of the tunnel ahead.

Zerrex groaned to himself, then he winced: they literally covered the entire floor of the tunnel ahead, in some places stacked two or three deep... and the Drakkaren saw ones that had to be almost the size of manhole covers, clacking their huge claws and glaring at him with hungry, beady eyes. A good number of them were even on the walls... and Zerrex leaned into the passage a bit, peering at this and murmuring: "Damn. I didn't even know they could do that."

Then he winced as he felt something pinch his foot, before looking down in horror to see one of the crabs had strafed forwards and currently was busy clacking and clawing at his toeclaws. He winced, then kicked it away before making a face and wondering how exactly he was going to cross this death pit... before his eyes roved upwards to the piping along the top of the aqueduct, and he muttered under his breath. "Oh, great."

A few minutes later, however, found Zerrex swinging along at a good pace, his legs curled up to his chest, wincing as he moved over a frothing mass of crabs. There were just too goddamn many of them, and some of them were huge... and worse, some of them frigging tried to jump up to claw him, and often almost made it. He could also feel painful clawing at his tail every now and then... the Drakkaren had never been any good at manipulating that particular appendage, so he was only able to raise it so high out of the reach of the smaller crabs... but unfortunately, not the bigger ones.

Then he passed over a less-active group of the strange hard-shelled creatures, before he frowned and looked down, carefully lowering his legs... then dropping into the dark water, crunching many of their bodies under his feet as he reached down and picked one up. It was dead... a long time, from the stench - thankfully and horribly, dead and rotten crab didn't smell too much different from living and happy crab, but Zerrex thought the reek in general was rancid - before he tossed it down, making a face. It was charred... which meant someone had been cleaning at least one section of the ducts out, likely with a flamethrower unit of some sort.

Since their bodies hadn't been completely incinerated here, however, he guessed they were either killed from the water boiling, or the tail-end of the flames... and a lot of flamethrowers had a hell of a long reach, so the reptile thought he was still safe yet. Well, as safe as he could be in a crab-infested, dark tunnel in enemy territory... and then he shook his head before carefully continuing on: a few minutes later, he was no longer stepping on whole crab carcasses but likely broken bits of the later, that crumbled easily under his feet... and then moving through a disgusting, burned sludge that almost made him want to take back to the pipes.

But the tunnel was lightening, and he could see what looked like one end of the aqueduct ahead... and after a few more minutes of sloshing through muck, he emerged into a cleaner patch of water, curling his toeclaws to try and get the sludge out from between them as he stepped into a small, lighted area. The Drakkaren hefted himself up with a grunt from the trench, then quietly squelched to the much-cleaner door of what was most likely a maintenance office before cracking it quietly open a nudge and peeking inside.

Armed Dragokkaren security guards were inside, all with headsets, a few sitting in front of monitors, and two of them standing guard... except one looked like he was asleep on his feet, leaning back against a wall and snoring with his cap over his eyes, and the other had his rifle hanging from a strap around his neck as he played on his cellphone, either playing a game or text messaging someone. Then he muttered a curse directed at his apparent girlfriend, and Zerrex decided it was probably the latter, as he gently closed the door before glancing quickly around for security cameras and then peeking around the corner.

One camera was sweeping rustily back and forth... it would be fairly easy to slip under, but it sped up every now and then, making the sweep unpredictable. No problem for him to get under it... but if it sped up at the wrong time, it would catch him running up the stairs he was trying to head towards. Drake, however, muttered that this was the wrong stop... and Zerrex made a disgusted face and replied in his head: I am not wading through what's most likely sewage for another half hour... besides, I didn't think the offices would actually be guarded. That's a pretty serious team, even if they seem a bit lame.

Fine. But don't blame me for where we emerge. Drake muttered irritably, and Zerrex frowned a bit before shrugging to himself. He'd figure it out on his own... then, as the camera began to span back the other way, he quickly slipped underneath it. A pause, and then as it swept away from the stairs, he reached up and held it steady, causing the gears to strip and the camera to spark a bit before staying still, locked on the wall opposite.

Then the reptile turned and sprinted to the end of the hall and up the stairs, hoping he wasn't leaving any visible tracks behind but not daring to look as he came to another short hallway at the top, ending in a ladder and a closed manhole covering. Zerrex made a face at this... then he quickly climbed up and hefted the lid to peer outside into an empty, blackened tunnel.

It was empty, however... and the Drakkaren mumbled a bit of thanks for this small favor as he shoved the manhole cover aside and climbed out before quickly replacing it and looking around at what seemed to be the wrecked end of a tunnel, where some powerful explosion had taken place. Concrete was either blackened or torn entirely away, reduced to debris and junk here and there... and even what looked like an old train platform had been partially disintegrated, the windows on an empty guard booth blown in.

A few more moments passed before Zerrex realized where he was, as he hefted himself up to the remains of the platform... then he snorted and shook his head slowly, murmuring quietly: "Full circle, huh?"

Except this time you're attacking, not running away. Drake responded, then he laughed dryly. Well, you can say your thanks to Mengele then, if he's in his office. But just keep in mind you weren't the only genetics project here... there could be all manner of nasty tricks waiting for us inside, along with Mengele himself.

Zerrex nodded in return, then he walked forwards and pushed through the door, following the plain concrete passage back into the genetics facility where he had first woken up... and more specifically, Mengele's personal office.

The good doctor wasn't in today, however... instead, the office was silent, and Zerrex looked back and forth before pausing and deciding to search his desk on a whim. There were all sorts of science files, and Zerrex browsed quickly through these... but everything was in terms and codes he didn't understand, or had nothing to do with the project at hand. The Drakkaren thought idly about shredding the experiment papers, but figured there were other copies stored elsewhere... Mengele didn't seem to exactly care about the state of his records, either, from his cluttered desk. He did, however, find a silencer that fit nicely on one his plain handgun, and a few boxes of bullets, but he decided to leave the latter.

The Drakkaren looked back and forth as he quietly slid out through the door... but he couldn't hear anyone, as he carefully slid forwards along one wall. He was completely unfamiliar with this facility... had no maps or details of anything... and he only knew that somewhere there was a heavy freight elevator that would take him up to what had once been the Hellabos mansion.

He carefully rounded a corner, then paused at a door and carefully opened it, then peered inside. It was a private bedroom for one of the scientists... and he couldn't help but decide to check it out, slipping inside and closing the door behind him. A quick perusal of the things found it was the female's room... and he found nothing interesting except a well-kept vibrator. The reptile coughed as he peered at this for a few moments, shaking it back and forth curiously, then he shrugged and hid it back in the drawer before looking down and picking up a clipboard of names and information. There was detailed info here on all sorts of nasty genetic experiments they'd been doing here... but this facility's specialty seemed to be the design and maintenance of the Empty Ones.

After their creation, it seemed they were almost immediately shipped out of Hez'Ranna and sent to back up different units of soldiers and to absorb prisoners and severely-injured soldiers. The Drakkaren made a face at this, then he flipped to the back pages of the clipboard, which contained information on the Unseen as well: another 'product' of this facility, but it seemed that the old ones he'd known - including the Blind Girl - had already died. The version he knew had two codenames: Seers and Martyrs, because they had been gifted with the ability to see through almost any substance and predict enemy attacks... and because they had all died within five years of their creation, except for the Blind Girl... who'd lasted until a few years back and then apparently turned to stone.

"Good riddance, bitch." Zerrex muttered, then he shuffled through the papers, glancing over the stats for the new 'battle-ready' models of the Unseen, who would apparently not have the nasty tendency of keeling over dead, but also wouldn't possess the same powers or abilities as their predecessors did. The Drakkaren decided he'd halt their production, too, if he got the chance... and then he checked the only other connecting room - a bathroom - before heading out into the hall... and frowning at how quiet it was.

Only one patrol of soldiers passed him, and these were rookies Zerrex didn't think he should have even bothered hiding from: and all he did was slide carefully into a niche in the wall and wait for them to pass, apparently too absorbed in whatever they were talking about to actually perform their duties properly. The Drakkaren frowned a bit at this, wondering what the hell was up: he'd thought all of the beings Narrius deemed 'weak' or 'improper' would have been destroyed and removed from his army by now... before he realized that Narrius indeed couldn't run personal checks every day. Furthermore, the army would have to let in anyone who passed their do-or-die tests for the clones... and despite the fact they all looked relatively the same, they still seemed to have distinct personalities.

It was a curiosity the Drakkaren might have to interrogate a scientist or two about... and then, as he was about turn down the hall to where it intersected with another, he froze and quickly spun back behind the corner as he heard a familiar voice and footsteps walking by.

"Did I say... 'yes, go ahead and implement the beta trials,' or did I say 'wait until I get back and look over the results from alpha?'" asked Mengele irritably, as two sets of footsteps - no, three... there was a third, but he was quiet - and then Zerrex heard him snort in disgust, cutting off someone else as he added darkly: "After the last team's incompetence, I was hoping that this time around, I'd get a group of people who can actually do something. But it seems I was wrong again on that account... all of you are stupid lapdogs to an even stupider tyrant who thinks he has a science degree with a double-specialty in genetics and biowarfare because he can make up a few pretty theories."

"I'm sorry, sir!" babbled one, a high-pitched female voice that grated on Zerrex's brain and made him wince. "It's just, we're all nervous, and, and well, I'm still just learning how to properly control this body... it's been years since I was alive, sir, and you must have some sympathy for how hard it is when you yourself were-"

"I was able to control myself in a week." Mengele said dryly. "But I guess I can also piss standing up, which is something you can't do." A pause, and Zerrex could almost feel the half-wolf roll his eyes in disgust and him make some... wide, theatrical gesture. "Yes, I'm calling you inferior because you're a female. Just like fuckhead over here is inferior because he's a shitting lizard."

"Please don't insult me." said a cold, mechanical voice. "It is rude. I don't enjoy it. If you continue to act this hostile, I'm going to put in for a transfer. And as the only psychologist in Hez'Ranna capable of training the Empty Ones..."

Mengele laughed, and there was a sound of rustling, screams, and then a single gunshot before mister calm and serious was on the floor, his voice broken with baby-like sobs... and Zerrex imagined he was curled on the floor at Mengele's feet. The visual itself almost tempted him to look... but he settled for just listening close as the half-wolf said soothingly: "Oh, get up and stop your fucking bawling. It just grazed your leg." A pause, another gunshot, more screams. "See, now that's a shot to the knee!"

"Bastard!" screamed the other male who had spoken before, his voice suddenly high and squeaky with anger and terror. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

There was a long pause, and then sobbing apologies and murmuring, begging for mercy... before Mengele sighed; the rustle of his luger being holstered followed this, and then he said contemptibly: "Pick yourself up and have some dignity... or crawl on your belly like the scum you are to the medical bay, I don't care. But you're right, I do need you to train the Empty Ones... but keep in mind you are not irreplaceable. If you continue to frustrate me, I may... for instance... take one of your better trained creations, have him suck out your soul... and then work with a version of you who I'm sure will be much more happy to cooperate. Until, of course, his one-year lifespan runs dry."

They have a lifespan of one year? But what about Lone? Zerrex frowned a bit, glancing down, before looking back up as more muttering followed, and then there was the sound of someone being carried away as Mengele sighed, before he apparently followed them down the hallway, still yelling and cursing them. A few moments later, heavy combat boots thudded after him... a personal escort, it sounded like, purposefully kept at a distance. The Drakkaren smiled a bit at this old trick, waiting a few more moments... then he carefully made his way forwards and peered back and forth down the hallway.

There were two guards standing at one end by a heavy security door with a retinal scanner and a pair of cameras mounted in the corners... and they also looked as if they'd been equipped with some extra scanning equipment, too. The guards, at least, were as relaxed as the others... and down the other way, Zerrex could see the end of the procession, and Mengele conversing with two huge, black-armored Dragokkaren who looked very different from the others: they were calm, cold, and on guard. Then the reptile winced as he heard the footsteps of some other patrol nearby and his instincts yelled at him, but there was nowhere to duck here... before he looked up, kicked off the wall, and snagged a pipe hanging off the ceiling, jerking himself up and flat against the ceiling, twisting his head to the side with a grunt and putting his feet flat against the wall. Then he paused and looked down stupidly, realizing he had managed to leap at least twenty feet up with a single kick off the wall... and then further, that his goddamn long white hair was hanging down almost seven of those feet.

The Drakkaren winced as he heard the footsteps and voices drawing closer, locking one arm around the pipe as he snagged his long hair with the other hand and wrapped it quickly several times around his arm, before pulling that flat against his back to hold his hair up, sighing and mumbling under his breath. A few moments later, the guards rounded the corner, talking and laughing with each other... one of them wasn't even armed, just walking idly around in his uniform, even his side holster empty. And the other was holding his assault rifle upside down and in reverse, cradling it more like a child than a gun: rejects from other bases who could fight better than the others when it came down to it... but otherwise didn't seem to have gotten the point of the city being on full alert or the idea that a patrol required actually looking out for something.

Zerrex was beginning to get the very distinct feeling that this facility, despite being in Uroboros itself, had melted into a backwater base that was only still on the map and not a... shopping mall or something, because Mengele was here. Even just a few days ago, when he'd first awoken, he remembered the guards following protocol to the letter... but he guessed that ever since he'd escaped and the city had been placed on full alert, many of the bases had lost their elite soldiers to be placed on far-more important city patrols... and now the retards and the rookies were doing what they saw as busywork. Two fatal errors that Zerrex planned to use to his full advantage, as he grinned slightly to himself and slowly lowered his legs down from the wall, untangling his hair from around his arm as he landed smoothly and quietly on the floor in his bare feet.

He glanced back and forth, then slunk carefully around the corner and followed the patrol, moving slowly and keeping his back against the wall as he slid around a large outcropping that he hoped would keep him out of sight from the two other guards at the main door, should they look up. Then he paused as he caught sight of a doorway across from him... grumbled under his breath... and made his way carefully over to slip through it.

The reptile made a face at the humidity that hit him, and recognized immediately from the sound of pouring water that he was in a large shower room. There was laughter... and... grunting? He paused, stepping forwards down the short hall to peer around the archway... and then making a face as he saw a cluster of Dragokkaren gathered around two couples, the whole grip grinning, water pouring from facets above and the short walls unable to hide the sight of the two pairs screwing on benches in front of everyone else, as one of the soldiers held up a wad of cash in his hand and said cheerfully: "Odds are three-to-one on Pascal and Johanna both cummin' first! Come on, assholes, put down your money, huh?"

Zerrex could barely repress a laugh, grinning despite himself, and at the same time disgusted. Not by the betting and the sex - hell, he'd love to get in on some deviant behavior mixed with gambling himself - but by the fact they were all obviously supposed to be on duty guards. He carefully made his way past the shower room... and at the end of the hall, slipped through another archway into a locker room with only one slowly dressing soldier, who had a large bruise on his face and was muttering under his breath angrily: obviously a fun-ruiner. As he finished tying up his combat boot, Zerrex slid back around the arch and into the tiled hall, pushing his back against the wall and standing silent, and the soldier passed by him half a minute later without a glance in his direction, snarling at himself instead as he clutched his assault rifle too tightly. He was a shorter Drakkaren, probably even smaller than him... and Zerrex guessed he wasn't a clone but a soldier passed over from the original GA.

Then the reptile quickly slid around into the locker room, and the first thing he found - with a sigh of relief and muttered thank you to whatever he believed in - was a compression backpack. It looked sort of like a mutant pile of sewed-together pockets... and there was a surprising amount of room in it, as well. It would fit flat against Zerrex's back too, enabling him to move around fairly easily... and the Drakkaren spent another few minutes rooting through the various lockers before he found a strange pair of uniform pants with odd, flexible but tough material. It was like hard leather, except it stretched... and Zerrex immediately abandoned his current clothes to put these on, glancing down and unsurprised to see they looked exactly like the uniform pants he usually wore, and he didn't need Drake to point out that they were for someone with the same size-shifting ability as him... although he'd likely still tear the stretchy material if he went too big.

Finally, the Drakkaren found a pair of combat boots... and giggled like an idiot when he put a hand inside and found out that even though they offered perfect support, they were equally capable of the same strange expansion, seeming to almost unfold instead of stretch, however. The reptile immediately donned these as well... then he straightened as a feminine voice asked mildly: "Hey, pal, you want me to tie your hair back for you, too?"

Zerrex grinned stupidly, twisting his head to the side... and seeing the full unit of naked soldiers glowering at him. He coughed and rubbed the back of his head, then he rose his hands and said dumbly: "I'm uh, a new recruit and-"

"Bullshit." One of them grumbled, and a mutter went through the crowd before the rough male voice asked again angrily: "So punk, tell me why we shouldn't beat a shit like you up, huh?"

The Drakkaren paused... realized with something like horror for them that they had utterly no idea who he was... and then he shrugged and tossed down his backpack, coughing and cracking his knuckles idly. "Because you couldn't?" The group of Dragokkaren gave a rumble at this, some of them half-grinning as they looked up at the scowl of the biggest reptile, their apparent leader. "But you seem pretty sure of yourself, so why don't we make a bet? If I win, you can let me go and the pretty lady their ties my hair back for me, 'cause I can never do it myself." Zerrex blew her a kiss, and she blushed but grinned widely, letting her towel slip a bit down from her breasts as the other soldiers laughed and someone muttered something that earned him a hard punch from the muscular female.

"Fine, diehard, but if I win, we're gonna drag you into the little shower room over there and kick your face in before reporting you to the superiors. And the freak-bitch who runs this base is a little pissy, asshole." The Dragokkaren responded coldly, and Zerrex shrugged and nodded, looking ruefully amused.

"Yeah, so I've seen." He paused, then straightened and beckoned. "I'm ready when you are, big boy. Just don't hurt yourself or do anything stupid, huh? I'll teach you a lesson or two."

The huge Dragokkaren snarled, then he stomped forwards with a grin and threw a single, straight punch down, figuring his ten foot four of muscular bulk had a major advantage over Zerrex's slighter, smaller seven-seven... but then the reptile easily hammered the Dragokkaren's straight punch out of the air before simply slapping him across the face with a hard backhand slap, tilting his head and saying idly, as the crowd behind him roared with laughter: "Didn't I tell you not to do anything stupid?"

The Dragokkaren's brown eyes flashed, then he snarled furiously before lunging forwards, and this time Zerrex sank his first into his gut, causing his eyes to bulge as he wrapped his arms around his stomach, making 'hurk... hurk...' noises as he fell to his knees, his abs already bruising as he trembled violently. The crowd murmured... then Zerrex put a finger between his eyes and gently pushed him over onto his back, and the soldiers laughed and jostled raucously, someone shouting: "Pay up, bitches, pay up! Little brother just took out Captain Brock! Christ, what the fuck, dude?"

"Ain't you some hot stuff?" asked the female soldier, walking forwards and grinning as she winked. "It's just my lucky day, it seems... I won the bet in the shower room and now I win a bet with you." she paused and pushed her toweled body against his, wrapping her arms around his neck and able to look eye-to-eye with him as she winked. "Why didn't you come and check us out, huh, there, tough guy? It woulda been a show you woulda loved."

"I was uh... busy with other matters." Zerrex said lamely, reaching down to squeeze her hips through the cloth as the other soldiers laughed and jostled, before smiling slightly and glancing down at Brock as he groaned and began to climb up from the ground... then he laughed a bit as the female turned him around and began to play through his hair, closing his eyes. "That does feel nice..."

She slowly began to braid his hair, as he tried to ignore the catcalls and jeers from behind him, as she asked idly: "So what's your name, hot stuff?"

"Zerrex." he said automatically, then immediately cursed himself. But she snorted and laughed, leaning in to rest her muzzle on his shoulder lightly.

"Well, Zerrex, mine's Johanna. And I do declare, we've been hunting someone who has the same name as you." The Drakkaren said easily, and he heard a bit more of an accent slipping into her voice now as she finished a rough braid... and then Zerrex felt his hands being guided backwards as she added easily: "And here's another friend of mine..."

Then he felt a pair of handcuffs slapped onto him, and he felt horrified... before one of the Dragokkaren shouted cheerfully: "Newbie hazing!" Then the horror mounted tenfold, and Zerrex winced as he felt himself being propelled forcefully down the hall, terrified at what exactly they wanted to do to him... before they barreled directly into a set of uniformed guards and the tattletale with the bruise on his face, and chaos ensued as people began yelling orders at each other... then cursed at each other... and then it broke down into a brawl as Zerrex snapped the metal chain between his handcuffs and quickly crawled along the floor with a wince, through the legs of the naked Drakkai - unable to stop from leering upwards every now and then - before crawling through the archway and back into the locker room, snagging his backpack as the two groups of soldiers continued to shout and brawl, looking around for a means of escape and finally setting his eyes on a large vent above a row of lockers.

He climbed quickly up on top of the tall lockers against the wall, then pried it open and slid inside before spinning around and slamming the vent back into place, then grunting and twisting around in the large metal passage, crawling silently on all fours and breathing a sigh of relief as he made his way through the ventilation passage, mumbling to himself about idiot military before pausing as he reached an intersection. He tilted his head curiously towards the right... then coughed and turned, silently making his way forwards as he murmured: "You're kidding me."

He reached the end of the vent, peering out through the grating... and into a massive white room filled with what looked like genetic capsules containing the floating bodies of what he guessed were Unseen and Empty Ones. Then a soldier slowly patrolled by... but Zerrex could see a pair of wires coming down from his headphones and into a portable music player, and he was humming along to himself as he walked along. The Drakkaren rolled his eyes at this, then he couldn't help but grin a bit as he forced the vent cover out of place, then carefully replaced it and stood on what he guessed was a second-level walkway around a massive, open room.

Zerrex turned, deciding to admire the view in a moment as he turned and quickly jogged after the taller Dragokkaren soldier... but with a quick kick to the back of his leg, he solved this problem. The soldier fell to his knees with a grunt, but before he could make any more noise, Zerrex snapped his neck quickly and then gently set him down, looking around the room with a frown.

Where he stood now was at a corner of the room, on the metal walkway... and he could see that there were at least four levels to this room, every level set up the same way: the wall he'd made his way in through the vent was solid the entire way up... there were two sets of staircases at what Zerrex guessed where the northeast and southeast corners, protected by metal mesh fencing to leave only one way in and out... and most of the rest of the walls covered by genetics containers that leaned slightly backwards. Zerrex approached one of these slowly, then he looked into it to see the twitching body of an Empty One, its freakish form half-floating in some strange, green liquid inside the battery-shaped capsule: the walls of it pressurized glass, the top and bottom flat steel. Dark wires and plastic tubing went from the tops and bottoms of the capsule into the recessed whitewashed wall behind them, and they rested, leaning back on an angle, in heavy metal holders. Zerrex could tell they could be removed at whim, however... and with a glance out to the main floor, he noted a strange, empty tank where several currently-empty capsules sat. Their former occupants were wandering around the empty glass cage, looking stupidly at the teams of scientists observing them and the slowly patrolling soldiers and guards positioned at various points around the area.

The reptile could also make out a few empty gurneys... all manner of computers on the walls... and what looked like stacks of metal crates at the far end of the large, open room. The first level was apparently far different from the upper three levels... and then Zerrex winced as he looked around to see the other soldier who'd been patrolling on the other side of the room, walking closer and frowning as he began to raise his assault rifle. Zerrex made a face, then he bent down and pretended to inspect the body, shaking his head a bit as the soldier picked up speed and ran over to him, asking loudly: "Hey, who the hell are... damn, what happened?"

The soldier dropped down to a crouch as well, and the lizard immediately leapt forwards, seized him in a chokehold, and twisted viciously, snapping his neck as well and sending him down on his back. Then the reptile sighed and shook his head, muttering quietly: "They really are either too ingrained in protocol or just stupid..."

He turned his attention away, drawing his silenced handgun and making a bit of a face. It just seemed so damn insufficient... it felt like wielding a freaking toy. He sighed a bit, then decided to set up a small diversion, leaning against the rail to balance himself before taking aim at the furthest target possible and opening fire, the gun spitting instead of roaring and the scientist screaming and dropping down to cover himself as a few blooms of blood spread over his science coat... and, as expected, another scientist immediately left his post, along with a few soldiers, as Zerrex jackknifed the railing and then dropped to the floor below, landing heavily on another soldier and bringing the silenced handgun up to pound the last five bullets in the clip into the next nearest, sending the clone-soldier down with a scream as he clawed at his bloody face, falling backwards and spasming lightly on the ground.

Zerrex grinned as he ejected the clip and snagged another from his sidepack, running forwards towards the next soldier as scientists yelled and soldiers began to take up firing positions, before he leapt into the air as the Dragokkaren in front of him dropped to a crouch and raised his assault rifle, the lizard leaning hard to the side before he shoved both feet forwards and smashed in the face of the enemy, sending him crashing down in a limp heap, his assault rifle firing wildly as Zerrex smacked the clip into place before hitting the ground on his side with a grunt. Then he rolled onto his stomach, taking aim at another two guards who were already firing wildly at him, blasting their legs out from under them and sending them down in agony, crashing to the ground.

The reptile figured that'd take most of the fight out of them... then he snarled and winced, grabbing at his arm as he felt bullets tear by it, one or two of them managing to lodge in his scales as he rolled onto his back and then kicked up to his feet, half-aiming at the soldiers as he forced himself to slow his movements, walking instead of jogging as he fired randomly: one lucky shot took down a scientist, but now an alarm was beginning to sound, and Zerrex figured it was time for him to make his escape, as bullets whizzed around him and shouts filled the air, the enemies beginning to organize themselves.

They were still panicked, however... and Zerrex used this to his advantage he suddenly went into a run, shoving the handgun its holster as he grinned viciously and curved suddenly towards one of the Dragokkaren, who stumbled backwards in shock, firing a burst of bullets into the ground and almost knocking over his friend before the reptile slammed into him with a simple but effective shoulder charge, sending him flying backwards hard enough to crack the glass of the aquarium. The reptile grinned, then he easily plucked the assault rifle from the hands of his terrified friend before wincing as the Dragokkaren managed to punch him hard in the face, sending him staggering before a burst of assault rifle fire knocked him on his ass. He grunted in pain, seeing stars as his head rapped off the cement... but before they could either finish him or the Dragokkaren in front of him could tackle him, he threw himself backwards and fired a burst into the soldier, sending him down in a burst of blood and shattered armor before rolling to his feet and setting the rifle to full automatic, snarling and simply unloading into the glass aquarium as he strafed back and forth.

The glass wall shattered, and the once-trapped Empty Ones spilled out with surprising speed as the rifle jammed. Zerrex threw it away, then staggered as he took another round in the shoulder, cursing under his breath... but now the soldiers were distracted, opening up on the monsters instead of him and screaming in horror. The Drakkaren added to this confusion by yanking out his last stun grenade, pulling the pin, and then throwing this over his shoulder as he charged towards the doors, watching as the heavy security doors finally slid open and revealed a fully-armed, goggle-equipped battleline... and they were all immediately blinded and sent down screaming in agony as their magnification lenses all picked up the blast of the stun grenade.

The reptile didn't bother shoving past them: instead, he leapt into the air, then kicked off a stunned Dragokkaren to snag the railing of the second floor, spinning himself over it: but the flash had worked its magic on him too, and with his compromised reflexes and the damage to his body, he simply fell face-first onto the metal floor with no grace whatsoever, almost succeeding in knocking himself unconscious as his head throbbed. He grunted stupidly as he forced himself to stagger up to his feet, heading back over to the vent and quickly slipping back inside as gunfire and screaming erupted from behind him, joined now by a few other explosions that he hoped were the terminals going up, and then the furious yelling of who could only be Mengele Tstegi.

Zerrex grinned dumbly to himself as he crawled through the vent... paused and cursed himself for forgetting to put the grating back in... then figured it didn't matter anyway, as he quickly crawled his way forwards. His head ached, his vision was blurry, he was sore and bleeding from umpteen different wounds... but he could literally feel his body forcing the bullets out, which... hurt like hell... but he was glad that his enhanced defense mechanisms apparently had more uses than just thickening his scales. He made a bit of a face as he reached a grating, wondering if this was far enough or not... and then Drake said in his mind irritably: Nice show. Pointless, but really great. Idiot. But just keep going straight, then turn left at the last intersection.

The Drakkaren shrugged... but did as Drake said, crawling quickly through the ventilation shaft, then turning left when he could go forwards no further and making his way down to what seemed like another dead end. After a moment of testing the wall, however, he thought the metal had a bit of give to it... and then after some pushing, prodding, and finally a hard punch, the reptile forcefully tore a hole through the metal and found his way into a dark-lit elevator shaft.

Actually, he fell through, succeeding in giving himself a rather nasty cut on the leg and swearing loudly as he grabbed at it, wincing and trying to rub at his sore back at the same time from falling out of the passage and onto the top of the elevator... before his eyes bulged in horror as the elevator began to slowly ascend. He looked back and forth in shock as it moved quickly upwards, realizing that he'd likely be crushed against the ceiling... then he finally drew his kwaibar, prepared to cut the cable... before realizing dumbly there was no cable.

So instead, he simply threw the traditional sword off the edge, and it caught in whatever gears moved the elevator up and down with a loud scream of metal, the reptile wincing at the sound and then the curses of soldiers inside the elevator. He sighed with relief, looking up to see the doors only twenty feet or so above, before approaching the wall and slowly beginning to climb up it, thankful for the strange, bumpy shape of the wall that let him find excellent holds for his feet and hands.

It didn't take him long to reach the doors of the elevator... and the Drakkaren wedged his hands between them before forcing them open and pulling himself up into a plain, currently-empty hallway. He winced and grabbed at his head, then stared as his memories seemed to replay in front of his eyes, watching translucent ghosts of figures from the past run through the open vault door and into an imaginary elevator; the reptile clenched his eyes shut at a short burst of pain that filtered through his head... and then it was gone, and reality set back in.

Instead, he turned and walked quickly by the doors leading into the personal barracks... or what had once been Hellabos's PA barracks. Now he guessed they were just used by the General Army... and the Drakkaren wasn't surprised that once he ascended the stairs from the basement, the entire mansion seemed to have been refurbished into a military base. Fortunately, however, he was coming in from one of the guarded areas... so all the soldiers were facing away from him, which made it ridiculously easy for the reptile to kill them one-by-one without triggering any alarms, until he entered the main hall of the estate.

He peered through the doors, and then closed them quickly with a wince as he made out at least sixteen guards poised and ready, which made that way a definite no. Instead, he slid down a short side passage... stared at a window in the distance... and then a patrol of two soldiers rounded the corner. They looked at each other dumbly for a few moments... before Zerrex broke into a full sprint and the soldiers rose their weapons, one of them shouting: "Halt!"

Instead of stopping, Zerrex shoved both of them aside into the walls, stunning them, before stage-diving through the window and then letting out a yelp, having forgotten about the fact that the goddamn building was on a landscaped hill. He rolled a good distance towards the fence before managing to regain his feet and then turning that into a run, wincing at the spikes, the wrought-iron posts, and the electrified smoothwire - not to mention the bullets smashing into the ground behind him - before he leapt to the side and rolled as his instincts screamed a warning.

A moment later, a bullet smashed into the ground nearby, and the Drakkaren winced as he jumped to his feet and started running towards the fence again, this time moving in a random, zigzagging pattern. He'd forgotten about the goddamn snipers on the ledges, too... and then he rolled his eyes up in his head, groaned to himself about how utterly stupid this was... and twisted so he was heading towards the main gates instead before covering his face and simply smashing through them, snarling at the electricity that raced over his body as the lock snapped and the gates flew open before he staggered slowly and fell to his knees, breath rasping in and out, smoke floating up from his wounds and hair.

He snarled, emerald eyes flashing before forcing himself up to his feet... and then a sniper's bullet urged him on, ripping a tear down his cheek as the soldiers behind him gave chase: at least the two guarding the gates had been fried when Zerrex had inadvertently knocked the electrified metal into them. He snorted, then charged stupidly towards the first building he could see and made a sharp turn around it, shoving over a soldier who got in his way and then leaping a garbage can as he made his way into what was no longer a rich district, but a military zone.

After a few more minutes, he finally slowed to a halt, panting hard and slumping a bit as he grabbed at his aching chest, sitting down behind a dumpster and closing his eyes, letting his head fall back. He was pretty sure he'd lost the patrols... and he was in severe need of a moment's rest before he continued on. His whole body hurt... and he was beginning to think he'd gotten a bit rusty or underestimated these soldiers and their capabilities. Likely the latter... and he made a disgusted face as he looked at the wounds on himself, murmuring quietly as he continued to pant slowly: "I got too hasty... I should have taken the hint they were better armed and prepared than I expected once I found that maintenance office and all those dead crabs... and now they're going to be searching the city, not the military base for me..."

Don't be a bitch. Drake said crossly, and Zerrex frowned up at the sky as the dark nephilim shrugged in his head. So what? You screwed up, big deal. You're still alive, and you've shocked their forces, and probably caused some serious damage to a rather nasty operation. Alright, maybe you shouldn't have tried to play hero... but if it's any consolation, it probably seemed like a failed attack attempt on the genetics facility, so with luck they'll concentrate their forces there when your real targets...

"Are yet to be hit." Zerrex finished quietly, then he nodded and slowly stood up. He'd regained his breath... and he glanced up to catch sight of a fire escape above, before hopping quickly up and snagging the end of it, slowly pulling himself up before carefully making his way to the top of a building that had gone from citizens' apartments to private military rooms. It was one of the taller buildings in the area, and thankfully without a guard posted on the roof... and as he stood on top of it, he found he had a clear view of the entire area... or at least the places he had in mind to raid tonight.

The nearest looked like a museum that had been converted into a military base: huge spotlights shone up from the gardens surrounding it onto the face of the building, and a flight of grey cement stairs led up to a pair of glass double doors leading inside. The building seemed to bulge outwards, made almost entirely of twisting, various colored cement and black tinted windows, seeming to swell from the base with several large, curved pillars twisting up into the walls... and then mutating from the mix of classical past architecture into a strange, black box of glass and metal on the top, sitting like a dark spire or black crown upon the flat skull of some ancient being. A pause, and Zerrex smiled grimly as he realized that the gothic building indeed was vaguely skull-shaped... except it lacked a muzzle. Then he shook his head slowly, kneeling down and narrowing his emerald eyes: it was also well lit... and guards patrolled regularly through the gardens that surrounded it. Furthermore, the walls looked steep and tall from the road... the building was inset with its surrounding gardens into its own square base of stone, with only one set of stairs leading up to the front doors... and it took up what looked like an entire city block. He'd know more once he drew closer, and figured already it would be a bitch to get through, even if Cherry wasn't hard to find... but since Drake had identified this as the Breeding Center, he expected all manner of trouble once he got inside.

The Drakkaren looked back and forth musingly, then he paused as he noted a long drainage pipe that went down the front of the building: he used this to shimmy down, then crossed the street and slipped through an alley to halt in the shadows, looking across the road beyond to the stairs leading up to the Breeding Center. He now noted the strange devices built into either side of the concrete at the foot of the stairs, near the cold-faced guards standing at attention... and cursed under his breath. Some sort of alarm system...

It's probably a genetic reader. Looks for specific augmentations to a person's genetic code for verification... murmured Drake, and Zerrex grumbled under his breath before carefully slipping along the wall, staying carefully in the shadows. He knew that after the lockdown of the area was finished, they'd start doing sweeps and sending patrols through... meaning he had to be fast in getting from building-to-building in order to maintain his lead on the enemy.

And of course, the guards here were much more vigilant... and Zerrex sighed. He'd just have to make a dash for it... and he paused, kneeling under a balcony behind the relative safety of a cluster of garbage cans, then he checked his equipment for loose straps or anything that would make excess noise before standing, straightening, and silently sprinting across the street, then running a short distance up the wall before throwing his weight forwards and kicking up as hard as he could, managing to snag the ledge of the twenty-foot tall wall of concrete and jackknife neatly over into some shrubs.

He stayed low for a few moments, counting quietly to thirty... then stuck his head up out of the large ferns after hearing no click of gear or mush of boots. He winced a bit as he slid out of the shrubbery and brushed at himself, carefully walking forwards along the sidewalk but sticking to the green grass to avoid leaving any dirty bootprints or signs of his presence.

The reptile ducked behind a tree as a group of three soldiers on patrol passed... two with assault rifles, and one following behind at a slower pace with a shotgun. It was like he was in a whole different frigging world now, and it made him tense and unnerved. This area was too well-lit for his tastes from the spotlights below and the lampposts above... and the patrols way too well-trained, maintaining a constant pace and distance from each other, and murmuring quiet codes into their headsets every now and then, or pausing to resynchronize their movements with the other patrols.

Zerrex watched for a few minutes from his safe haven with the large tree in front of him and a cluster of bamboo all around this, effectively hidden from every side but still able to peer out... before he nodded a bit to himself. He had a forty-five second window between patrol units rounding the corner ahead, and his eyes had long settled on a specific point of entry that he wanted to use, a vent in the side of the building. The problem would be getting there silently, not even getting out there, since he'd already noted where he could successfully shimmy up to the location, but stealth infiltration was not exactly his strong point.

Then the first patrol was leaving his line of sight, and Zerrex winced before pushing free of the bamboo and running towards the nearby support pillar, spinning around so he was at the 'back' of the curved stone support, away from the Breeding Center, before quickly shimmying up it and halting in a squat on the flat top, wincing a bit as he silently edged his way towards the building and pressed his back against it. Since he was above the lamps, the light up here was dull and he'd be much harder to see... but he wasn't up high enough to reach the vent yet. He'd have to climb the twisted and 'artsy' side of the building.

The Drakkaren decided to wait for the patrol currently making its rounds below him to pass... and then he turned and began to quietly climb the wall of the building, wincing at what he was doing and muttering to himself about not looking down. There was no lack of holds, at least... and then he found an easy ledge to shimmy across to reach the steel grate covering the shaft. He paused, waited for a patrol below to pass as his fingers whined about how sore they were getting, then he easily tore it off - muttering as he felt the sharp edges of the vent tear into his fingers and leave shallow cuts - before tossing it in the air to seize it by the edge, ready to toss it... then sighing. Cool as it might be, and great for a temporary distraction... no matter how far or hard he threw it, these soldiers would likely figure out what he'd done too damn fast to risk it. So instead, he slipped inside the building, twisting the vent cover on an angle to drag it inside with him, since he couldn't refit it without risking it falling off on its own.

The reptile murmured softly to himself as he crawled through the vent, relaxing a bit: at least infiltration here had been successful. He paused and glanced down at his hands, and winced at the small stains of blood he was leaving behind. Although it's not going to be too hard to track me, once they figure out I'm inside... but for now I just have to figure out where Cherry is...

He paused as he reached a grating in the floor... then looked ahead and made a face as he realized that these squares of open grate continued down the length of what was likely an entire hallway. So he could either make sliced cheese out of his hands and knees by attempting to crawl over the sharp grating and probably fall through at some point... or just let himself carefully out now.

He decided to go with the latter, sliding silently out and dropping to the floor, landing in an easy flexed crouch and glancing back and forth with a frown, as the sound of him hitting the floor echoed up and down an empty hall. Zerrex straightened slowly, looking up and down the grey halls of what seemed almost a prison, amazed there were no guards, and at the same time confused by the murmurs coming from the different-sized, heavy steel security doors set along the hallway.

The Drakkaren finally approached one that was built more for someone his height, then stood on his toes to peer through a narrow, barred window, to see a pair of eyes peering back at him before something slammed itself against the door. He blinked and winced back as he realized it was a female of his same species... but she was all but drooling, looking almost animal as she mewled and clawed at the door, panting quietly as her mutters became more distinct. "Please, come in here with me, come on inside, you big strong soldier, let me please you, let's please each other, come and fuck me, I need it, I need it..."

Zerrex frowned slightly, then he shook his head and silently walked onwards, the raised voice from the cell dying down and the female ceasing to batter herself against the door. Sex-toys, insane slaves or nymphomaniacs... it made no difference. They'd been twisted again for the pleasure of the soldiers, at his best guess... but then again, this was the Breeding Center. Yet Zerrex had his doubts somehow that these females restrained in these cells were used for 'breeding,' but more likely just rough sex. "Probably a 'treat' for good little soldiers..."

He looked back and forth as he approached an electronic door at the end of the hallway, frowning a bit at the empty guard spots... then wincing as he halted in front of the door. There was a button he had to press to open it... which meant it would slide into the wall when he did and the absence of handle - or even any sort of crack - meant he couldn't exactly force it open a crack, either. Which would have set off some internal alarms, anyway...

The reptile rubbed at his head slowly, then hit the button and carefully peered through the doorway into the next hall... but a quick check of either side of the corridor and around the corners of the doorway revealed it was just as empty as the other hall had been. The lizard made a bit of a face, rubbing the back of his head slowly. It didn't make sense, with the well-trained guards posted out front... why would they go so far to protect the facility from the outside, but leave the inside bare?

Zerrex sighed a bit, shaking his head slowly, and then he walked slowly forwards into the sterile white hall, looking now carefully for any signs of battle or attack. Then he heard a toilet flush ahead of him, cursed as he looked frantically back and forth for some means of escape... and then a massive Dragokkaren emerged from a room above, wearing only the plain, traditional loincloth and rubbing idly at his face with his wrist, yawning... before his eyes widened as he turned towards the Drakkaren.

The reptile, on the other hand, was staring up at this new adversary with horror: he had to be at least twenty-two feet tall, muscular, powerful, a perfect idol for his species. He had a moment to wonder stupidly if this was some master plan of Narrius's... before the goliath turned to him and then suddenly dropped to a kneel. Zerrex wondered dumbly what the hell was going on, as the Dragokkaren bowed his head, and then he looked up with an awed smile. "Lord Zerrex?"

"Uh... yeah?" The Drakkaren replied slowly, looking at him - Gods, the giant was able to look down at him from a humble kneel, what the hell? - and keeping his body tensed and ready in case of any sudden movements: he figured at best he'd just run through the ten foot door he'd entered from. The place back there only had twenty-foot high ceilings... and he doubted the huge Dragokkaren could slip through the shutter door.

Then his apprehension was washed away by shock as the Dragokkaren's smile stretched wider, and he said warmly: "Queen Cherry has told us to be expecting you... she long prophesized you'd awaken and return to the world, and once you did, she told us that within the week you'd make your move. So all of the loyal children have been so anxious to meet you, our godfather and the mightiest of all noble lords..."

"Um. What?" Zerrex asked stupidly... and then the Dragokkaren stood and laughed, smiling warmly and clapping his hands together, looking down at him brightly like an oversized child before cautiously extending a hand. Zerrex immediately recognized that taking that hand would be a serious tactical error... but he couldn't help from reaching out at the childish expression on the giant's face, his mouth going dry and his body trembling a bit as he blurted: "Can you take me to her?"

"Right away, Lord Zerrex." The giant said quietly, then he turned and began to jog down the hallway, and the much-smaller Drakkaren winced and sprinted to keep up. It was tempting to shift his form upwards... but as they approached a smaller pair of double doors, the Dragokkaren closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment before his body shrank even in mid-movement, the reptile moving without a stumble until he was half his original size - still a good few feet on the Drakkaren, but nothing as spectacular as before as the two reptiles shouldered their way through the double doors and then stopped in front of an elevator with a camera and automated turret.

The Dragokkaren bounced a few times, waving into this... and a tiny red light on the camera flicked blue, as the large, automated machine gun beside it whirred and lowered from the ready position. Behind them, the doors swung closed... and then the larger reptile blushed and dropped Zerrex's hand as he hugged himself, smiling down at the reptile and saying embarrassedly: "My apologies if I startled you at all, Lord Zerrex... but many of the older elites are imbued with the ability to shift and compress our body sizes at will, for infiltration purposes. My natural height isn't exactly something that would fit into any area of the civilized area, yes? But now with you here... we won't have to worry about the war anymore, will we?"

Zerrex met the shining eyes of the Dragokkaren with a faint twinge of sorrow, before he said softly: "There'll always be war, I think." He hesitated, recognized the look of 'you: savior' in the eyes of the larger reptile, then felt himself give in and sigh inwardly as he murmured softly: "But at least we can put an end to this one."

"My brothers and sisters will be so happy." The Dragokkaren said softly, then the elevator doors clicked open, and Zerrex stepped inside with him before the reptile looked up and said clearly: "Queen's Chambers, Black Box level. Passcode is 15015372."

"Passcode correct. Authenticating voice... verifying." replied the elevator computer, as the camera in the top corner that the Dragokkaren was facing made ticking noises, zooming in and out of the large, masculine figure. "Voice and image confirmed as soldier ID 0002151."

Then the elevator shifted before beginning to slide upwards, and the Dragokkaren turned to smile at Zerrex wonderingly, looking as though he wanted to reach out and touch him again or just drop to his knees and worship. It made Zerrex wonder two things... what the hell Cherry had been telling them... and how exactly had she broken the programming that all these clone-soldiers had to go through? He paused, and added a third mental question: This guy doesn't look or act like the others... but he mentioned something about the older soldiers, meaning he's an... older model? That's disturbing to think of and put into context... "So uh... what's your name?"

"2151." replied the soldier with a touched smile, and Zerrex felt a twist of pain and deep hate twist his gut: for the scientists, the military specialists, and especially for his father, who likely came up with this whole twisted system. They don't even have names... "Queen Cherry says she hates our names, though. She promised that if we all get out of this, she'll name every one of her loyal children... living and dead."

He nodded firmly, and Zerrex couldn't help a faint smile; it meant that a lot of them would be getting weird-ass names and things like 'Bob the XXI.' But he liked the idea... and he was both unsettled and amused by the fact that Cherry had been the one to come up with this apparently on her own. It wasn't exactly like the old Cherry he'd known... but he paused and reflected that... things had certainly changed as of late.

At the same time, of course, it was like her: she, who had respected him and honor enough to try and kill him before the other members of the Goth Legion could get to him and kill him by some less-savory means than one-on-one combat as equals. She hid it well, but she had respect for some people, even if she did like to spend ninety percent of her time being as much of an irritating bitch as possible. He paused and reflected, however, that this didn't exactly mean she was bitchy: just that she enjoyed her games and frustrating people. Not that she ever apologized when she ever went too far... but she did understand the concept of lines, even if she had to cross it a few times before finally backing off.

As the elevator rose, the Drakkaren bowed his head and thought quietly, feeling anxiety worming its way through his body; this wasn't exactly the way he'd anticipated meeting Cherry... before he smiled faintly and looked up at 2151, who was looking back at him curiously. "I think that's great... kid." Well... he does look younger than me... and if he's a clone, he can't be more than... seven? Crud. I wonder if having sex with these things is considered pedophilia. They're certainly... fully developed... "So uh... how much longer until we arrive?"

"Anxious, Lord Zerrex?" asked the Dragokkaren kindly. "So is Queen Cherry. She's been constantly talking about you these last few days. Even Fuhrer Mengele visited, you know, and that so rarely ever happens. He wanted to extract some DNA from our Queen and talk with her for a while about you."

Zerrex felt a strange touch of dark apprehension at this, nodding slowly, but before he could ask the Dragokkaren to go on, the doors slid open to reveal a long, red-carpeted hall, ending in a pair of double-doors guarded by a pair of cameras and two tattooed, massive Dragokkaren - two more twenty-and-some foot goliaths, both of these armed with assault rifles that looked like they belonged in antiaircraft batteries. One of them had a grenade launcher attachment on the bottom of his rifle as well, whereas the other had a large, long bayonet.

They both nodded and half-bowed to Zerrex, sliding one leg out respectfully, clad in only loincloths... and the reptile slowly stepped out of the elevator as 2151 smiled encouragingly to him, before the doors closed as the Dragokkaren stepped back. Then the reptile made a bit of a face and turned back towards the goliaths and what he expected was the entrance to Cherry's throne room.