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The male Drakkaren, meanwhile, hadn't encountered much in the way of resistance: scientists usually ran screaming or peed their pants upon seeing him, and the few he'd interrogated - generally following the tried-and-true method of seizing them by the collar or throat and slamming them against the wall, lifting them up above his head, and yelling questions at them while he kept the other hand on his sword - had only told him that the Patriarch had been in the central control room until some time ago, but then had left without any word of where he was going. The only thing he knew for sure was that Narrius spent a lot of times in the genetics labs and what he called 'the shrine,' which was another biogenetics lab on one of the upper levels. Zerrex decided to make these different spots a priority to check... at the very least, he'd be able to wring some more information out of the scientists who stood there.

Even though there was no keycard system to speak of on the ship, everything ran on AI, and there was a definitely pecking order amongst all the soldiers and scientists that determined who they could fraternize with, and who they were to avoid even being seen passing in the hall unless absolutely necessary - and these rules of class order were followed absolutely. For instance, scientists and soldiers almost never comingled, except during routine personnel checks for illegal or illicit activities... mostly because whereas all the scientists were terrified into obeying Narrius, the soldiers were almost all loyal, and if not to the Dragokkaren for his ideals, then for his remarkable power and cruelty. But to everyone here, he was the cruel god of his own great Paradise...

And I guess that sorta makes me an invading devil... cool, I'm Satan. Zerrex thought mildly, giving a bit of a grin as he walked down the hall towards an elevator. He paused, however, to glance up at a camera... then he stepped backwards, and made a face as it followed his movements. A sigh, and the Drakkaren walked forwards again towards the elevator... paused in front of it and hit the button... then frowned when it refused to move.

This one had a heavy rolldown shutter instead of sliding doors, as well... so it wasn't exactly like the lizard could pry it open as easily as the other ones. He thought he might be able to force it up nonetheless... but with the camera watching him, it'd be too easy for the enemy to send up a squad of shock troops to wipe him out with concentrated gunfire from the very elevator he was trying to open.

He shook his head a bit, then instead decided to find a different route, turning to the left and pushing the double set of metal security doors he found there open, making his way easily through them and down another hall. He could see another set of doors at the end of this one... before he frowned as he found himself passing not solid steel walls but instead clear glass or thin clear metal. A glance up, and a frown as he noted the title: 'Paradise Electronic Testing Facility' above a set of glass doors.

Zerrex pushed his way through these, into a sort of airlock that was filled with strips of anti-static cloth that he easily made his way along... then he pushed through another set of double doors and into a room with walls of glass and wood, designed with a narrow walkway around the top, then a set of steps that circled the room leading down and into the a central testing area, where a large, plain metal hub sat; it was little more than a scratched metal cube... but when the Drakkaren approached, he heard a familiar cackle that made him step back in surprise; a moment later, a holographic projector flicked into life and the word 'ULTIMA' appeared.

The white block-letter word flickered a bit, then vanished, and in place a metallic Dragokkaren head appeared, the metal mouth twisted into a grin before it said tauntingly: "Well, if it isn't a little bug called Lord Zerrex? It looks like you've wandered into the wrong part of the facility!"

"Yeah, because this is so threatening." Zerrex said drolly, motioning around at the room. Before he could continue on, however - he had some great lines about tin cans planned out, since he'd been half-expecting something like this - the bottom step around the central lab pit slid suddenly backwards and walls of titanium nearly a foot thick shot up from the trenches in the floor and locked into place, trapping the Drakkaren in a prison with only a meter or so of empty space between the wall and the roof. It made the Drakkaren pause and wince as he looked around... then he muttered: "Okay. Maybe this is just a tad bit threatening."

"Let's see if you can get out of this, little failure child!" The homicidal AI system chortled, and Zerrex made a face before snarling as four slots opened in the ceiling at each corner of the room, and strange black tubes descended from these, spewing a noxious yellow gas into the air. The Drakkaren immediately ducked and took a deep breath, snarling, and Ultima cackled. "We'll see just how long you-"

Whatever he was about to rant on, Zerrex wasn't interested - instead, he grasped Blackheart off his back and stepped forwards, slamming it viciously down into the cubical terminal as the yellow, toxic gas rolled over his body, making his scales feel like they were crawling off his body and his eyes burn. Ultima screeched, his voice distorting... and then a shutter in the middle of the ceiling slid open and a black, sleek gun slid out, this one covered in electrical wires and with a long barrel that ended in a spherical tip.

It revolved back and forth, then Zerrex leapt backwards as he heard a loud buzzing sound a moment before it fired a thin laser of plasmatic energy, burning a hole into one of the titanium walls before whipping downwards and towards the Drakkaren, cutting a deep black gouge through the wall and floor that boiled and twisted the metal around the edges of the deep cut it left.

The reptile threw himself backwards immediately, wincing as he felt his muscles not responding properly in this goddamn toxic yellow haze... and then the laser snapped in a circle towards him, and the Drakkaren did the only thing he could, spinning his sword upwards and using the flat of the blade as a shield: amazingly, the concentrated beam of plasma bounced off the sword and hit the wall opposite, and Zerrex stared at this before making a quick twisting motion, causing the laser hitting the wall opposite to jerk and leave a deep, circular scar.

Zerrex could feel his body starting to weaken, the gases affecting him despite his held breath, his lungs burning... and he made a last-ditch attempt to free himself, leaping to the side before running towards the wall as he slapped Blackheart onto his back and then dived into the middle of the black-scarred hoop in the metal wall. His weight and strength combined, the weakened metal stood no chance against him, the Drakkaren's body smashing a hole through the heavy wall before he hit the ground and rolled a few times, gagging and coughing, taking whooping breaths as he scrambled up to his feet.

Netted mesh shutters dropped over the doors, as the metal walls began to descend into the ground, the black pipes vibrating as they began to spew more toxin into the air, the plasma cannon revolving madly and scouring deep cuts through the metal and leaving blackened burns over the glass. Zerrex, however, had no intention of heading for the doors: instead, he ran towards the nearest glass wall, covering his face with his arms and simply charging straight through, the glass shattering outwards as the reptile barreled forwards and then through another wall as well, Ultima's angry screams filling the air.

The Drakkaren broke through another glass wall, small cuts covering his arms and body... before he almost tripped on the metal trim at the bottom of the last wall he'd mashed his way through and staggering into an empty hall with a grunt, coughing and hacking as he slowly brushed fragments of glass out of his ivory hair. He sighed a bit, slumping and wincing... then he shook his head quickly and looked back and forth, before his eyes widened as he heard an elevator ding open, and a group of soldiers wearing biohazard armor and carrying - Oh shit.

The two in the front line raised weapons that could only be flamethrowers, with long black tubes connecting back into a set of black tanks and a plain metal backpack into which a variety of black pipes connected, as well as a harness that fit over the chest of these special soldiers. Zerrex immediately made a horrified face at these soldiers... then leapt quickly back through the hole he'd made in the tempered glass as they unleashed a pair of massive, conical fireblasts down the hall, the reptile feeling the intense heat pass only feet away from him and cursing as the glass already began to grow spiraling, deep cracks from the sheer power of the flamethrowers.

The flame units halted their attack for the moment, and Zerrex snapped his gun out of his holster, bringing his huge gun up and pounding a few shots off into the soldiers... but their silvery full-body suits were horribly deceptive, one of the gas-mask wearing soldiers staggering backwards but the rounds catching in whatever thick armor was beneath the silver fabric of the biohazard/thermal suit.

One of the others brought their flamethrower up... and Zerrex winced before simply emptying the rest of the clip, barely taking the time to aim as he snarled and blasted a barrage of bullets into the three: one lucky shot, however, smashed through the fuel tank of one of the forwards soldiers, and the biohazard troop let out a yell as he staggered back and forth, flames alighting along the back canister before his fuel tank exploded, the Drakkaren stumbling backwards and covering his face against the flash and heat as the glass walls shattered, small fragments of metal and glass scratching along his scales as the enemy soldiers were engulfed in a conflagration and boiling shrapnel.

Zerrex grunted, placing a foot back behind him to steady his body... then he straightened a bit and rolled his shoulders, ejecting a clip that was either empty or mostly-empty and slapping in his last, making a disgusted face before he slid the handgun back into his holster. He rolled his shoulders slowly, then stepped carefully through one of the broken glass walls and made a face at the slowly-burning bodies of the dead soldiers, then he glanced up at the burning elevator and sighed, feeling disgusted. Great. Now I need to find another way down...

A pause... and the elevator dinged, the sliding doors trembling uselessly as the open, burning carriage began to descend... and Zerrex turned his head away with a wince as a body that was half in the passage and half in the elevator was crushed to a gory pulp between the floor and the roof of the mechanism.

The lizard shook his head slowly, then paused, glancing back up at the open elevator past the chemical flames that were eating the floor... before making a face and running forwards, at the same time creating a hook of dark energy and then diving over the all-consuming flames and through the cracked-open sliding shutter of the elevator, into the empty shaft. At the same time, he slung the hook out on a rope of dark matter, snagging the wall with it and then swinging his body forwards hard, arching his body and slamming his feet into the wall as he grunted and then smiled slightly, his body flexing as he lowered himself slowly, thankful for two things: one, that there were actually lights in this long passage, and two, that there were large white numbers painted on the wall, letting him know what floor he was on and where the hell he was going.

The reptile paused every ten meters or so to stop, create another hook of dark energy, snap it into the wall, and then dissolve the former claw back into his body before lowering himself easily again. It added a few moments to his movements, but it was better than suddenly having to smash his way through a door and lose a long-ass string of energy, which would make Drake complain and cause his own energy stores to suffer.

At floor five, the Drakkaren paused. One of the scientists had mentioned this to him... and the reptile swung himself backwards before planting his feet against the ground, touching the dark rope in his hand to his waist, and the energy formed a belt around his body, freeing up both his hands. He twisted upside down, arching his back and keeping his legs slightly-curved so he stood on his nose in midair, then he clasped his hands together before drawing them apart, leaving thorns of dark essence on his fingertips and palms before he grasped the sliding doors of the elevator.

The reptile grunted and flexed before slowly pulling these apart and open, his thick arms bulging slightly with exertion as he forced them several feet apart... then he placed his hands on either side of the doorway, shoving himself backwards as the dark string of energy automatically lengthened; the next moment, he swung forwards, flipping his body backwards as the dark string dissolved into essence that quickly retreated into his body.

He revolved twice through the air, then landed easily on his feet in a half-squat, arms out in front of him, and the Drakkaren paused as he found himself standing in a long, sterile hall, with glass walls on either side of him. He frowned a bit, straightening and looking back and forth... before he noted an airlock leading into one of the genetics labs, and a group of scientists standing inside with clipboards, clustered around some sort of empty capsule and taking measurements with all variety of instruments...

Zerrex carefully opened the door, then, before the airlock could activate, he forced himself through the next door with his shoulder with a grunt and into another glass-walled hall. A pause, and then the Drakkaren carefully made his way to the left and through a plain door into the room where he had seen the scientists, wondering if he should make some attempt to hide behind a metal gurney and then figuring he'd just look like an idiot - particularly since there was sorta a giant sword on his back and he was at least two feet taller than any of the scientists.

They were all clustered around some test subject in a biogenetics capsule... and when Zerrex slowly approached, he frowned, emerald eyes flashing. It was the Blind Girl... the bitch who'd first led him here, who Marina had told him had been one of the group to kidnap her... but the once-deadly female was only laying in the capsule, covered in electrodes and with scarred, branching cracks all over her body... and a stump for one arm. She was also drooling stupidly, her jaw partially agape... and Zerrex wondered just what the hell had happened to this half-succubus bitch.

Then the reptile stood, drew out a needle from the rear pack on his belt... and easily walked up behind one of the scientists and stabbed it into the back of his neck, causing him to instantly crumple to the ground as the Drakkaren cut into his spine, paralyzing him and sending him down to flop. The other four scientists immediately spun and stared in horror, as Zerrex snapped his handgun out of his holster and blasted a round into the head of another, before looking at the last two - Two... I thought there were more than that... - and then took aim in their general direction with the huge .60 caliber magnum weapon, the scientists immediately raising their hands in terror as Zerrex asked calmly: "Are you going to give me the information I want, or am I going to have to blow your kneecaps off and go searching on my own?"

"We'll tell you everything we know!" babbled one scientist immediately, paling and looking terrified. "Just please... please don't shoot us, please don't-"

"There you are!" shouted a mechanical voice, and Zerrex glanced up in surprise at a camera mounted into the wall: immediately, one of the scientists took the chance to try and make a mad dash for the exit, and Zerrex snarled before aiming low and blasting a round at his leg.

The round went wild however, maybe only narrowly scratching his coat at worse and just causing the scientist to shriek before he ducked around a corner and charged away. The other scientist, however, was ducking and covering his head, all but crying as Ultima said angrily: "Get the hell out of there, Lord Zerrex! You aren't sterile!"

"Yeah, sorry, my testicles actually work." Zerrex snapped out, then grinned stupidly, amazed he'd actually thought of a proper quip in such a short period of time. There were a few clicks of anger from the machine... but then the Drakkaren casually took aim at the scientist crouched on the floor and calling: "Tell me, nuts-and-bolts, what's a bastard like you doin' in a clamshell like this? And exactly what do you do here, keep the rest of Paradise runnin' and regular?"

"Bastard!" screamed the AI program, and then the terminal in the center of the room flickered and Ultima's machine-head appeared, the robot snarling at Zerrex furiously. "What the hell are you talking about?" A pause, whirring clicks, and then a furious growl. "Stop insinuating things about me! Get out of that facility... get out of there! Or I'll kill your little friends!"

Zerrex paused, then he smiled slightly and glanced over at the hologram with mild amusement. "Yeah. I'd like to see you try, you little robotic bitch." He paused, then turned his gun from the scientist to aim at the terminal, firing a few rounds into the top of it and causing the hologram to flicker out of existence, then he turned his attention instead to the scientist, steamrolling the snarls and clicks of the machine as he asked clearly: "Exactly what the hell are you doing here?"

The Dragokkaren looked up at him, adjusting his glasses and trembling as he said meekly: "We... we work on the Patriarch's genetic experiments... this specific facility is dedicated to researching the Unseen and the Blind Girl... and restoring them to full functionality..."

The white-haired lizard nodded a bit, but he didn't really care about that, although it was filed away for later examination. He shook his head a bit, then asked clearly: "Do you know where the Patriarch is? And what's the 'shrine' that I've heard about?"

The scientist trembled... but a wave of the gun in the Dragokkaren's direction caused him to whimper and cover his head, then babble frantically: "The Patriarch is... was... he was at the control center when the facility got hit... but we heard that he's going to activate the Forbidden Tree and the Apple of Eden... no one knows what they are except for the sublevel scientists in the rear power core of the facility, but... but I do know about the shrine! It's where Narrius is keeping his Family, his special group of copies and the brain of the old head scientist from Uroboros, Dr. Tstegi..."

"Mengele?" Zerrex frowned and snarled a bit at this, instinctively touching the swastika tattoo on his bicep, before he barked: "The hell are you talking about?"

The scientist squealed in terror at this, looking up at Zerrex with bulging eyes as he fell over onto his ass, holding up his hands and babbling in terror: "No, no, please don't hurt me! Don't kill me! It wasn't my idea, it was the Patriarch he... he used Dr. Tstegi's DNA and information taken from his corpse to clone his brain back into existence, he... he needed someone who could complete Godsmite as fast as possible and it was too hard to decipher the genetic coding... please don't hurt me!"

"Goddammit... what level is it on? This one?" The Drakkaren asked coldly, and then he spun and headed quickly for the nearest door when the scientist nodded, tucking his handgun away. It looked like he had another stop to make after all... and he definitely was not liking the sound of what exactly this little shrine of Narrius's appeared to contain. Not only some sort of special clones... but also a copy of Mengele's brain itself.

The Drakkaren made his way through the airlock, then walked quickly down the hall, glancing back and forth before pushing his way through a set of doors and almost into a group of Super Enforcers on patrol: immediately, they reached for stun rods, but Zerrex stepped forwards, slamming a flat palm into the throat of one and crushing in his larynx, causing him to gag and fall over as he snapped his other foot out and tripped the other with a low kick to the enemy's heel.

Another Black Rogue leapt at him, attempting to tackle him to the ground... and Zerrex reached out, snagging the collar of the Dragokkaren's armor and using his momentum to his advantage as he turned and slammed the Enforcer face-down into the ground on the other side of his body, causing the giant to jounce once. Then the Drakkaren staggered, wincing with a curse as another of the soldiers stabbed into his back with the rod, sending electricity jolting over his form as he attempted to leap away, but then was grabbed by another of the Super Enforcers.

He felt himself hauled off his feet, as stun rods descended towards him in quick slashing motions... and immediately Drake's dark essence roiled up out of his body, the top half of the creature forming from Zerrex's chest and seizing one of the Dragokkaren, easily throwing him through the glass wall before both Drake and Zerrex convulsed in pain at the feeling of the stun rods shoving into the dark essence: a moment later, however, Drake grinned and then dissolved into a whirling, dark cyclone above Zerrex's chest that sucked both of the Super Enforcers forwards, hurling their weapons away and then tearing their arms from their sockets.

Then Drake dissolved as both Super Enforcers staggered backwards, clutching at their arms... and Zerrex fell to the ground, catching himself on one hand before kicking forcefully up and snapping his legs around the head of one as he stood in a handstand with one hand, then twisting to the side in a vicious scissors that slammed the Dragokkaren into the solid floor and snapped his neck.

The other soldier stumbled backwards with a snarl of agony, as another of the Super Enforcers began to climb shakily to his feet... and Zerrex immediately threw out a hand punch into the cheek of the latter, knocking him sprawling and senseless before the lizard jumped up and snagged the twisted arm of the other Super Enforcer. He twisted and popped the arm of the soldier back into place, causing it to squeak like a little girl before continuing to spin it violently in the same direction, now tearing it out of the socket the other way and twisting it up to the center of the Black Rogue's back, causing him to shriek as he paled, sweat rolling down his face as his eyes bulged with agony.

Zerrex shoved him into the solid steel wall, and the Dragokkaren shuddered, grunting and twisting back and forth uselessly, his other hand clawing into the wall as Zerrex growled: "Listen up, soldier! If you wanna make it out of here alive, you gotta talk and give me the information I'm looking for... where the hell is the rest of your unit, huh?"

"Like I'll tell you..." The Dragokkaren gasped... then he shrieked a bit when Zerrex tore his already-shattered arm up a bit higher, his eyes bulging in his sockets as he wheezed: "You'll have to kill me, you son-of-a-bitch... there's no way I'm going to tell you anything!"

The lizard smiled slightly at this, tilting his head forwards and muttering: "Is that a challenge, soldier? Because I don't like to torture if I don't have to anymore... brings back too many memories, makes me a bit too excited." A pause, and then he reached up and firmly rapped the soldier's head into the wall, making him grunt and then half- fall forwards, before shrieking and catching his balance when Zerrex didn't let go of his limp arm but instead tore upwards.

"Okay, okay!" The soldier clenched his eyes shut, nodding against the wall and panting raggedly, flushing and trembling as he muttered: "The... the soldiers are mostly deployed... only a skeleton crew is working the base, and most of the soldiers are... busy loading the cannons and in the hangars and barracks, preparing for the next attack... Narrius said not to engage unless we found you, he's sending special patrols and strike teams through the building... the rest of the soldiers are all at special locations, guarding the power grids and generators and different weapon systems..."

Zerrex nodded, smiling slightly at this... then he gently grasped the back of the Dragokkaren's skull and slammed his head into the wall, knocking him unconscious and sending him down in a heap. He murmured a bit of thanks and an apology, then turned his attention instead to heading down the hall quickly, pausing to check doors every now and then before halting as he stood in the doorway of a control room.

The Drakkaren peered at the various monitors in the dimly-lit room... then he stepped towards one of the control consoles and tapped a few buttons on the terminal. The screen flickered... then, a moment later, the block letters of Ultima appeared onscreen and the lizard made a disgusted face as the speakers shouted angrily: "No guest pass! No registration! No permission to... oh, well, if it isn't Lord Zerrex? Well, don't I have some pretty things to show you..."

Zerrex frowned at this... then he made a disgusted face as every monitor flickered to show a live feed from a camera of his family in the midst of a combat, rolling his eyes a bit and muttering: "Get to the point... this isn't exactly the most stressful of things..."

"Just keep watching..." Ultima jeered... but Zerrex had already turned and slipped out the doorway, and Ultima's voice shouted angrily after him: "What are you doing? Come back here, come watch your family get butchered!"

"Right. I'll get right on that." The lizard muttered, feeling completely unmoved by the fury of the AI system or its self-assuredness... and then he smiled slightly. Watch them die? You obviously don't know my family...

In the genetic lab the reptile had just raided, the two scientists - Zerrex had been right in thinking there was a problem when he only noted two, since a third had quickly hidden under the metal gurney, which turned out to be not-so-dumb of an idea after all... that, or the lizard had just been too distracted at the moment - were working busily, one of them rapidly entering commands on a control terminal on the side of the open genetics capsule and the other busily attaching a prosthetic arm to the Blind Girl's stump, locking a circular clamp around it and using special bolts to lock it into place.

The Dragokkaren worked quickly, one of them wiping at his pale forehead as he panted a bit, hammering in commands and muttering under his breath as he glanced every now and then at the monitor, which displayed another three females that were obviously with the Drakkaren who were fighting their way into the enemy hoard. They were down on the first sublevel already, below the hangars and making their way towards the main generator... and if they got there, well... they could cause all manner of damage and even knock Paradise from the sky.

A few moments later, however, lights shone in the capsule and sparks fizzed over the body, before three long needles descended into a row of small holes on the metal bicep, injecting a strange, clear liquid. At the same time, five other needles dropped on the other side of the Blind Girl's prone body, injecting their contents into her hip, three into her abdomen, and one just above the elbow.

Then they slowly drew back... and the Blind Girl suddenly stirred before screaming loudly and straightening in the capsule, sitting up and panting harshly, then snarling furiously in her rasping but still-somehow-soft voice: "Where? Where!"

She had never been good with words, but both scientists were busy laughing, amazed, as the furious female jumped out of the capsule, her burnt eyes glaring back and forth, showing her metallic outlines that could even see the natural iron in the bodies of the Dragokkaren scientists and thermal figures of their body heat... before she looked down in shock at one arm, and memories flashed back to her of everything that had happened. She grabbed her head and shrieked in pain... then looked up and snapped her hand down, a long, metal plate in her forearm popping up and a foot long, double-edged blade popping out... which she immediately used to slashed the throat of the nearest scientist, sending him down in a bloody spray.

The other scientist screamed and fell backwards... then the Blind Girl reached down, snagging his collar and jerking him up as she looked into his eyes with her own dead ones, snarling... before her eyes widened as she turned slowly to look at the monitor, and the figures parading around on it. One of them she recognized above all the others... and a twisted grin spread over her features before she looked back down at the scientist trembling on the ground in front of her, reaching slowly down... then ripping one of the arms easily off his lab coat and letting the blade in her mechanical arm slide back into his hiding place, as she slowly tied the torn strip of cloth around her eyes in blindfold.

She smiled coldly down at him, then turned, her body shifting gracefully back and forth despite the tears and scars all along her scales... and she easily snagged a roll of bandages off gurney as she passed it, wrapping a few strips of the cloth bandage around her bust and crotch before tying both of these off.

She had a special target in mind... a target who was currently cackling as she wielded an oversized machinegun against her shoulder, firing like an idiot into the air as she, Cindy and Marina made their way slowly forwards through the surprisingly-thick hoard of enemies. They had found a set of steps leading down past the hangar... and had spent a good ten minutes wiping up enemy infantry, and another... Gods knew how long attempting to hack the control terminals between fits of some female AI program bitching at them about not having the proper access codes or authorization. Finally, they'd brought up a digital map of the facility, checking the entire facility over and Cindy muttering about how it would've been great if they could've sent this to Zerrex somehow. It illustrated everything... from some secret power facility in the back to the main generator in the front core area; the latter they were currently relatively close to... and it would be the perfect target - if they blew it up, Paradise would list in the other direction... and the rear generators likely wouldn't be able to hold up under the strain, damaged as they already were.

Now they were slowly making their way across a short but wide bridge, Marina now wearing a backpack that contained a warhead - Cherry said she knew how to manually adjust the timer for the explosive charge, so they could use it as a makeshift explosive to take out the generator.

The bridge, however, had been guarded by two platoons of Super Enforcer, all of these armed with high-grade weaponry... but Marina had provided a shield against their bullets for herself and Cindy while Cherry easily slid back and forth between medium and heavy arms fire, at the same time returning burst for burst, her accuracy stunning as always. Cindy, meanwhile, was sticking to using Marina's rifle and taking accurate, deadly headshots, while the last female focused only on holding up a shield to avoid dispersing her concentration too widely.

Then the last Super Enforcer went down in a burst of blood as Cherry trailed a burst of bullets up the center of his chest, before the female snorted and threw the heavy rifle she'd been carrying off to the side, looking at the others as Marina took her rifle back from the middle sister of the trio and she called cheerfully: "Come on, little girls! We gotta get our asses movin' faster! Zerrex is probably gone and killed the whole rest of the army by now!"

The others nodded... before Marina's head snapped up and she froze, Cindy immediately stopping herself and then dropping to pick up a shotgun and hold it up against her shoulder, taking aim at the closed electronic shutter ahead of them. Cherry's grin also faded as she too felt the strange disturbance and turned towards the sealed doors that closed tightly but jaggedly... and for almost a full minute they only stood, looking at them quietly before they finally slid open, and the Blind Girl stepped out, smiling coldly, her ragged, bloody blindfold tight around her face as she said in a scintillating, gentle voice: "Cherry."

Cherry slowly grinned... then she jerked her head to the others, saying coldly: "Go on, little kids. We adults have to have a little talk, lady-to-lady... I'll meet you at the core power generator." Then, when the others didn't move, she barked: "Move!"

The two younger females flinched a bit, shocked out of their stunned daze at seeing this scarred phantom of the past... and then both quickly slipped by the scarred and damaged Blind Girl, Marina and Cindy both giving her looks of terror as they passed into the other room. But Cherry was still only grinning ruthlessly, her teeth bared and glinting in the light as the heavy shutter closed behind her sisters.

The two stood, facing each other, and Cherry shrugged off her heavy bolt-action rifle and cradled it in her arm, working the bolt several times and ejecting the single round left in it, before she held this up with one hand and said easily: "Look, bitch. We got a score to settle, don't we... and I guess we should do it fair and square. But this time, we play to the death... no prisoners, no mercy, no shit like that." A pause as her eyes glinted, and her scales slowly seemed to ripple, as she growled: "But don't think I'm gonna be easy shit, either.

"So here's the deal." Her eyes narrowed at the still smiling Blind Girl, hating that patronizing look on her face and wanting to wipe that off her features, maybe even bend the bitch over and rape her with her new toy... but even sexual thoughts were aside for now. This was an enemy who had actually defeated her... and furthermore, humiliated her and hurt Marina. This was more than a matter of personal pride, it was more than revenge, it was all about retribution and proving that she deserved her title of the Boss's best. "I'm gonna load this shell into my rifle, and then I'm going to blow your head off. If that fails, I guess I'll just kick your ass the old fashioned way... so what do you have to say to that, huh? You seem lots more talkative than before, you dumb bitch."

The Blind Girl only laughed quietly at this... then stretched her arms out, and bowed tauntingly, not lowering her 'gaze' from Cherry... before her hand suddenly snapped down and a foot-long blade shot out of her wrist, and the deadly female sprinted forwards. Immediately, Cherry's hands went to work, slamming the bullet into the chamber - twenty feet - working the bolt to load it - eighteen feet - and raising it to her shoulder - fifteen feet. Then she fired a single shot... and as expected the Blind Girl swayed her body backwards, throwing both arms out above her head like a ballerina, arching her back exquisitely... before her smile twisted into a snarl of surprise as the bullet ricocheted twice off the outcrop of the wall and then the metal above the closed shutter.

She barely twisted to the side in time, the bullet ripping a short scar down the side of her skull, sending out a splatter of blood as her blindfold was torn away from her face, the Blind Girl snarling as she forcefully swung her body upwards, righting herself and swinging her metallic arm forwards as she leapt towards Cherry... but the other femme fatale grinned ruthlessly as she swung the butt of the rifle forwards, the blade sinking into the stock and Cherry using that to guide the strike harmlessly away, as the Blind Girl seized the barrel of the weapon... before grunting as Cherry brought up a foot and thrust-kicked her in the stomach, knocking her backwards onto her ass, blade tearing loose from the rifle and sending up splinters.

The hermaphroditic female grinned coldly, tossing the gun aside for now as she instead reached down to grasp the handle of her whip, snapping it lightly, almost teasingly at the Blind Girl... but the Drakkaren didn't so much as twitch as she slowly got to her feet, looking both contemptible and disgusted: a surprising combination, Cherry thought, for someone who had just been beaten down. Again, they stood, glaring at each other... before the scarred female charged in once more.

Cherry snapped the whip forwards in a hard horizontal strike... but the Blind Girl halted and ducked under this, before twisting her body to the side and tilting her head up, the whip snapping down and barely scratching by the breasts of the female: immediately, Cherry revolved her whip, spinning it in front of her in a vortex motion that left a thin cut in the already-scarred female's stomach, causing her to hiss before she seized the whip with her mechanical arm, metal scraping on metal as the Blind Girl glared across at Cherry furiously with her dead eyes.

Cherry snapped the whip futilely, grunting in surprise at the strength of the Blind Girl's not-real arm... before her eyes widened as the female charged forwards and attempted to pounce on her again, bringing her bladed arm back and then swinging in as the chain whip rattled with her movement. Cherry snarled furiously, then dropped on her back, bringing up both feet and kicking the Blind Girl hard into the air... before snapping the whip in a hard downwards arc, and the Blind Girl let out a sharp cry as, still clinging to the weapon, she too was slammed into the ground, barely able to save herself with her other arm from crashing down onto her head.

She landed heavily on her back a moment later... and then Cherry dragged the whip back, and the scarred female spasmed as the chains caught beneath her tore a long trench of scale and flesh from her back, hissing and convulsing. She attempted to roll to her feet... but Cherry was too fast, smashing the whip down onto her, and the Blind Girl shrieked as she attempted to cover her face, the female shouting furiously: "Down, down, down! Stay the fuck down, bitch!"

Again and again she smashed her whip down into the Blind Girl's body, the heavy chain links ripping swathes of scale and flesh, shattering bones and tearing up the female's body as she screamed and spasmed... until finally her arms dropped to the side and she moved no longer, her metal arm twitching a few times, her body covered in her own blood and a thousand small gouges, a hundred deep cuts, and tens of what looked like lethal trenches that bled vigorously. Cherry snorted in disgust at this, then she picked up her rifle and placed it back into her shoulder holster as she wrapped the chain whip at her side, spitting on the corpse of the fallen foe and murmuring: "Ain't so tough when you aren't showing off for your boss, huh, bitch? That's for humiliating me..." A pause and a hard kick to the female's side, causing the body to twitch and spasm. "And that's for stealing Marina from us, you sightless whore."

With that, Cherry continued towards the end of the bridge... then stopped in front of the shutter, closing her eyes and bowing her head. Behind her, the Blind Girl had silently risen up to her feet, a mess of blood and gore, bits of her insides leaking out through the deeper tears... before Cherry looked over her shoulder, focusing her rage and fury like Marina had taught her into that sharp arrow and meeting the dead eyes of the female, before she felt a crack in her mind like the string of a huge bow being released.

The mental blast struck the bloody female, and she screamed in agony as her eyes exploded in their sockets, the white, dead matter splattering out from around her fingers she grabbed at her face, staggering back and force and shrieking in agony, stumbling into the railing of the bridge... and then falling over and into the deep darkness and whirring gears below. Cherry heard a thick, sickening crushing sound... and the screams died away to the faintest of gurgles from the death-pit of machinery below, the femme fatale kissing the back of her hand and then tossing a two-fingered salute over the edge of the bridge, wincing at the pain in her head as she murmured: "And that, you little bitch, is for messing with the Boss. Adios."

In another region of the floating fortress, Zerrex had found what he was looking for: Narrius's shrine. When he stepped into it, it was like stepping into some kind of terrible hell for the Drakkaren, with its mixed beauty and artistry... and the six capsules in the center area of the biogenetics research facility, all of them containing a copy of Narrius that was completed to one extent or the other. He looked at these with disgust, examined these curled, sleeping demons closely... and then a faint voice from the back of the room murmured: "I didn't want to see you again... this shouldn't happen."

Zerrex glanced up at Mengele's voice, then his eyes settled on a brain that was floating slowly in a small back portion of the facility. He looked at this for a few moments, then nodded slowly and said gently: "Our battle is done, Mengele. I just need to ask you a few questions."

The brain seemed to twitch a bit, the bit of spinal cord hanging down from it wagging lightly back and forth and then trembling, as if the good doctor had been trying to shake his head... before he whispered: "I'm sorry, Zerrex. But I can't answer those questions for you: this last part of me has been connected directly into Paradise, and even now both myself and the AI Ultima are synchronizing. I cannot let you sink Paradise... any more than I can permit you to destroy Godsmite. I am truly sorry."

Before Zerrex could argue, the six genetics capsules beside him slowly began to descend into the ground, as a clear metal shutter closed in front of Mengele's brain and the wrought-iron dome above split into two halves that slid smoothly away, no less than eight heavy machine guns descending all around the Drakkaren as the reptile snarled and looked around in horror. Then, to make matters worse, the reptile felt a shudder go through the floor before it began to spin rapidly, making it impossible for him to move around properly as he fell to his knees.

That left him with one choice... and Drake cursed at him furiously before Zerrex created a dome of dark energy completely around his body, clenching his eyes shut as the guns began to fire and feeling bullets pounding into every side of the shield of dark essence and bullet casings raining down from above, only to jump and jitter on the spinning floor. Drake yelled in his head, as streamers of dark energy flowed up the flow of bullets like ivy, filling the room and then clogging the barrels of all eight guns, causing them to explode as their rapid fire was interrupted.

Then the dark essence collapsed to the floor and slowly began to flow back to Zerrex's feet, as the Drakkaren panted harshly, his head pounding, his body aching: he wouldn't be able to use another trick like that for a long time now, with how bad his body was hurting. In his head, Drake was only a static-choked whisper now... and then this faded away to nothing as the machine Zerrex was on suddenly whirred to a halt.

Zerrex fell over... then vomited, a bit of blood coming up with whatever he'd eaten last, his claws digging into the floor; the combination of sudden motion, sudden halt, and using up all of the energy he had left in his body was too much for his stomach to bear. And he could hear a cruel AI voice laughing at him, and then Ultima taunted: "I've already called for a backup team, Lord Zerrex! You may have won the battle, but you're trapped in a cage, too weak to even beg for mercy..."

"Not like I'd do that anyway..." Zerrex wretched again, then spat and rubbed at his muzzle and nostrils, sneezing a few times to try and clear the crap from them, then spitting once more and finally forcing himself up to his feet. He made a disgusted face, feeling his stomach wrench again... then once more fell over when he tried to take a step forwards and Ultima quickly joggled the platform.

He hit the ground hard on his side, grunting in pain... and Ultima gave a long donkey laugh as Zerrex decided to crawl instead, panting harshly, his body aching. He'd severely underestimated the defense systems here, as he stared at the floating brain... before he forced himself up to a crouch and grasped the shutter with a grunt, muscles flexing as Ultima teased: "What, you think you have the strength to move that?" A pause, and then the floor began to spin slowly again, dislodging the lizard and causing him to fall back on his ass with a grunt, the machine saying idly: "Well, just to make sure you can't..."

Zerrex panted quietly... then he closed his eyes and let his body slump forwards, ignoring the cackles from above as he forced himself to calm down. His body trembled violently with stress, and his head pounded... his mouth tasted like crap and blood... but goddammit, he wasn't through yet, was he? Never... never...

The floor continued to spin, and Zerrex continued to just lay there, letting his body relax despite his twisting stomach... almost permitting his tiredness and pain to overtake him and bring him into a faint... before smiling a bit and lacing his fingers together as he remembered the supersoldier he'd fought in the temple, then forcing himself to a kneel. Using Death Focus would be suicide... but for every shadow there burned a light; and even though this worked on the same basis, it was a parallel technique.

Zerrex concentrated, forcing his body to tense up now, shoving away the rest of the world even as the floor began to spin faster, emptying his mind as he instead felt the flow of his body's energy. This was his greatest weakness... but he'd been working so damn hard on developing it... and he had the will; everyone had always told him he had such a strong damn will, and this is where that came in extra-useful.

Everything shook... and then Zerrex's muscles flexed and bulged, the Drakkaren's emerald eyes snapping open, focusing now only on his objective. He knew what he had to do... and he knew that he had to do it despite the pain and strain, as he jumped up to his feet, taking huge steps over the floor to avoid being dragged around by the spin before throwing his shoulder into the clear metal shutter.

"What the... stop it!" Ultima shouted in a mix of what sounded like fury and terror, and Mengele's brain twitched violently in the clear capsule it sat in, jerking back and forth as Zerrex fell to a kneel and felt himself jerked around in a circle again, timing himself before slamming his shoulder forwards again in a hard butt, smashing the already dented shutter and this time causing it to rock violently in place against its tracks. "Stop that!"

"Make me." Zerrex muttered, as he spun around on this crazed carousel again, before slamming himself bodily once more against the heavy shutter, and this time it clanked loudly, a crack forming along the top of the clear metal as the reptile half-fell, half-staggered backwards, snarling as the floor began to pick up speed again... and then diving bodily at the shutter on this time around.

He smashed into the shutter, and then fell flat on his stomach with a grunt... but the entire right side of the clear metal gate fell off its tracks and twisted inwards. The Drakkaren grinned at this, managing to get to a kneel, and then diving through this hole; he didn't entirely make it, however, landing with a grunt and then a yelp as his legs were dragged into the metal shutter, before he dragged himself forwards with just his hands as he rose his legs quickly, wincing in pain and then glancing down to make sure his feet were still attached, before sighing and standing up testily, and wincing as he looked down at the blood leaking down from his shins, a long tear in his lower limb.

Then he glanced up towards Mengele's capsule, and looked at the brain that was currently twitching violently back and forth inside the genetics pod before he stepped forwards and tapped a finger on the glass. The brain trembled again, then Zerrex glanced down at the control terminal as Ultima screamed various profanities at him from the hidden speakers in the still-spinning room, and his finger settled on a button labeled: "DIS/SERVE" before he muttered: "I wonder what this does?"

He pushed it... and the brain in the capsule spasmed before the room behind Zerrex immediately ceased to spin: the shutter attempted to withdraw as the other broken machinery did, the capsules pushing their way back out of the floor as Ultima's voice was silenced as well. Zerrex basked in this for a moment... then glanced up as various images appeared on the capsule, and Mengele said in a tired voice: "Thank you. Having Ultima out of my head makes me feel a lot better."

"I'm glad." Zerrex said quietly, looking at the grey matter of Mengele, then asking as gently as he could: "I have to know about some projects of Narrius's, though, that you might have some information on... and I have to put you back to rest." A pause, and then he added softly: "I'm sorry."

"I understand. The mind is a dangerous thing, after all." Mengele said ironically, and Zerrex didn't know if the doctor had actually meant to make a pun out of his own terrible situation or had just said the first thing that... well... came to mind. Then he paused, before the brain seemed to sway up and down, almost nodding as he murmured: "Godsmite is nearly completed... ninety-nine percent, I'd say. Mein Fuhrer Narrius had me working hard on it, giving me some added incentive whenever he deemed necessary... and admittedly, it was like an addiction for me, as well. My will has been removed... I can't make anything but the most base of decisions by myself any longer. I have no wish to live on, especially like this, just a brain in a tube, and worse... used to bring a terrible 'peace' to the world through destruction..."

"Yeah..." Zerrex glanced down for a moment, rubbing at his head and feeling horribly awkward, before he sighed and forged on ahead, asking plainly: "Look, there were also another two projects I've heard mentioned... they were called the Forbidden Tree, and the Apple of Eden, I think."

Mengele laughed harshly at this. "Oh yes, how could I forget..." A pause as several bubbles floated up from the capsule and that tail of vertebrae twisted a bit, before he said calmly: "They are the launch components of Godsmite... on its own, the virus is a gas, but very-short lived, and very short-ranged. Narrius, however, developed a weapon based on the idea of using a much-more powerful, much-more resistant type of hazardous material to protect and transport Godsmite...

"I'll be short, since we don't have much time, and you can figure out the rest on your own." The once-wolf said briskly, and then the brain bobbed a bit. "The Forbidden Tree is a launch system... a massive rail cannon. It is, however, extremely fragile... and extremely hazardous for Narrius to carry onboard Paradise with him. Have you noticed the lack of weaponry on Paradise? That's because all it's supposed to do is serve as a shield for the Forbidden Tree, the rail cannon... and for the Apple of Eden... then, of course, protect the Patriarch and whatever pets he decides he wants to live with him in his 'new world' from being infected with Godsmite, since the plans to launch it before its completed."

"What?" Zerrex frowned, tilting his head as he looked at the different graphs on the capsule's surface. "But Cindy and I... when it mixed with some gene, it created a vaccine, didn't it?"

The scientist laughed faintly and the brain bowed forwards in the capsule. "Yes... except the initial phase of Godsmite also is nearly impossible contract, unless you have contact with the blood or saliva of the infected. It also has a ninety-nine percent mortality rate... but the next phase of Godsmite is a hundred percent lethal. It's a perfect contagion...

"Listen to me, though, Lord Zerrex. There's little time left... the Patriarch is already going to the level five sublevel to arm the Forbidden Tree and prepare to launch the Apple of Eden... and the Apple of Eden itself is a specially-designed depleted uranium rail with a plutonium core. It's immensely radioactive... and when Godsmite comes into contact with it, the virus will mutate and bind with the radioactive particles the same way they do in cold nuclear explosives. Except instead of dragging them down or killing them, it will cause the virus to mutate.

"The rail is going to be fired into Ire, at the famous Tempest Mountains... the explosion will be devastating, will likely ruin the entire country... but worse, the nuclear winds will mix with the thermals that keep most of Ire warm the entire year round, and the virus will be spread by the weather network over the entire world. Because the virus is only ninety-nine percent complete, I have no idea what exactly will happen to the infected... but it will not be pleasant.

"Stop staring, and no more questions!" Mengele suddenly barked, and then the brain seemed to right itself, bubbles floating up through the capsule as he said clearly: "You have to kill me now. You can figure out the rest on your own, Lord Zerrex, you're smart enough for that, and even if you aren't, it doesn't matter. Bad things will happen if Narrius gets to combine Godsmite with the Apple of Eden... you have to stop him before then. And when you bring down Paradise, be careful... the rail will go up with the explosion. Godsmite is unable to react or combine with an active nuclear explosion, but the virus may still be scattered through the wreckage and whether you're immune to the contagion or not, the effects will still be unpleasant. Now kill me and get your ass out of here before Narrius's Seers show up."

Zerrex nodded a bit, then he drew his handgun before pausing and tapping the swastika, murmuring quietly: "I understand, Dr. Mengele Tstegi. Thank you... I won't forget you." Then he rose the .60 magnum and fired three times into the capsule, blowing apart the brain floating inside and shattering the pod, clear liquid spilling out as alarms went off and the projected images faded out of existence.

Then the reptile carefully slid through into the other room... and snarled furiously at the other capsules, feeling a sudden roll of rage as he shouted furiously at the floating, feral-looking Dragokkaren: "Like you scum are any better!"

He rose the gun, pounding at least one bullet into every capsule until he clicked on empty... and then he ejected the clip, realized he had no other spares... and tossed it away with a snort as green liquid and spasming, malformed bodies spilled from their glass prisons, a few of the more developed ones hissing and scrabbling weakly at his boots as the reptile passed, but Zerrex ignored these fallen freaks of nature - even the corpses he merely stepped on or over, knowing that these dolls, these puppets of the Patriarch deserved no respect. Then he shoved the electronic door open and stepped into the hallway before glancing down the hall... and snarling as he saw two Unseen walking towards him, an elevator door sliding closed behind them. Strangely, his first thought was on how many damn elevators there were in this gigantic facility... before one of them dropped to all fours and loped forwards on them as the other snarled, revealing deadly hooked teeth, the claws on its fingers sprouting larger as it charged forwards with a growl.

Zerrex immediately tensed his body, then reached out and snagged the wrist of the one Unseen as it attempted to pounce him with an animal roar, twisting to the side to smash it into the wall... but the Dragokkaren's limbs twisted almost backwards, feet and other hand colliding with the wall hard enough to leave dents before it kicked off, breaking free of Zerrex's grip as it grinned viciously and spun its limbs back down, all fours slamming into the opposite wall of the hallway. Then it launched itself forwards, the Drakkaren barely ducking the second pounce as he began to turn... before his head was seized between the hands of the second Seer.

It immediately began to crush in his skull, the Drakkaren flailing and letting out a snarl of agony as he grabbed the Dragokkaren's wrists, holding the back for a moment... then reaching down into his rear kit and pulling out a needle and stabbing this savagely through one of the wrists of the Dragokkaren. It hissed in agony, staggering backwards, and Zerrex spun, kicking back as the standing Unseen seemed to glare at Zerrex through its blindfold, one hand hanging limply and the long needle buried entirely through the middle of its thick wrist, other hand grasping the thick arm of the Dragokkaren just before this as blood trickled down the plain steel needle.

The other Dragokkaren was on all fours behind the first, snarling and growling, almost frothing as it twitched and jerked, muscles seeming to thicken and bulge larger with every movement... before it charged towards the wall, kicked off this, and then twisted its limbs around to smash from the ceiling down towards Zerrex: immediately the reptile slashed his giant sword in a vicious overhead swing, but all four of the Unseen's limbs immediately snapped forwards and seized the flat of the blade, clasping the huge sword between feet and palms as it fell down into its back and grinned savagely, holding the huge sword above its body as Zerrex snarled furiously.

Zerrex tried to yank the sword from its grips, but couldn't... and then the other Dragokkaren dived at him over the blade, and Zerrex leapt backwards with a snarl, releasing the sword. Immediately, the Seer smoothly flipped, catching Blackheart in one hand in a move that was both graceful and terrible, before swinging the huge sword down in a straight cut over its shoulder as the standing Unseen landed on its feet.

Zerrex's eyes widened... and he immediately swung a hand out, smashing his forearm into the flat of the blade and earning only a shallow cut as the sword was sent crashing in the other direction, the Unseen stumbling awkwardly. Immediately, the Drakkaren saw a chance to strike, leaping forwards and kicking off the thick, bulky arm of the huge Dragokkaren as he reached one hand up to wrap around the neck of the almost eighteen-foot giant, almost dislodging the shoulder armor the scarred behemoth wore as his other hand snared a single long needle from his rear pack and he stabbed this through the junction of shoulder and neck, just above the collarbone.

The giant groaned and staggered backwards, dropping the weapon and clutching at the wound as Zerrex kicked off its body, and it fell over its own partner, the other Unseen hissing on the ground before pulling free from beneath his compatriot, and quickly charging towards Zerrex. This time, however, the reptile simply kicked the creature in the face, knocking it onto its back: before it could once more do its trick and twist its limbs in reverse, however, Zerrex leapt forwards and simply stomped both feet down onto his chest, and the Unseen let out a loud gasp, arms flailing... before it slumped and died.

The other Unseen was struggling to its feet, gasping and panting raggedly: if Zerrex had to guess, he'd say he deflated one of its lungs. It snarled at him, then staggered forwards and tried to swing in with a swipe of its ragged claws... but Zerrex spun into the arc and reached a hand up as he closed his eyes, seizing the underside of the giant's muzzle as pressed his back against the bowed body of the huge Dragokkaren. For a moment, they stood like that, the Seer's arm still outstretched... before Zerrex slammed the elbow of his other arm into its stomach, knocking the wind from its other lung, before reaching up and slamming his hand into the underside of the Dragokkaren's jaw as the jerked down on his muzzle at the same time, causing the neck of the giant to crack painfully.

Whether it had actually broken the vertebrae or not didn't matter, as it stumbled backwards before falling in a crumpled heap, and it jerked as it tried to breathe, but found itself unable to... and Zerrex ignored the dying, suffocating creature as blood leaked out its mouth, blindfold falling back to reveal its burn-scarred white eyes, broken jaw gaping stupidly as it jerked uselessly against the ground. Instead, the Drakkaren picked up Blackheart... then headed for the elevator and tapped the call button.

He waited for a few quiet moments, ignoring the sounds of the Unseen bucking on the floor - the monsters had done so much to his family that he had no wish to alleviate the suffering, particularly of these two; from their scars and tattoos, he guessed they had been Narrius's personal, many-a-time-modified bodyguards. Then the doors of the elevator clicked open, and Zerrex paused at the single Super Enforcer who was standing in the carriage.

The Black Rogue stared at him... then screeched when Zerrex snagged his throat and simply threw him out of the elevator, stepping in past him as the giant Dragokkaren rolled a few times down the hall. Then he hit the button for the lowest available floor - SB1 - and twiddled his fingers in a little wave as the doors closed, even as the soldier attempted to get his assault rifle off his back and take aim at him. Then he was descending in silence, and the Drakkaren sighed, resting back against the wall as he crossed his arms and thought quietly of what Mengele had said.

Tempest Mountains... a nuclear rail... and Godsmite has a whole different phase. Narrius outplayed us again... He shook his head slowly; it was horrifying. But the worst part? He wasn't surprised... because the bastard was always at least two steps ahead, until the very end. He was smart, confident, and powerful... and he wouldn't be like any opponent Zerrex had faced before. I need to kill him this time, though... I need to beat him so he can't put this plan of his into play. Because as crazy as it sounds... it just might work.

After all... the Tempest Mountains took their name because of the constant almost-tropical storms in the area; it was a love-nest for any kind of weather watcher, because of the way the air currents mixed and mingled there and always provided a comfortable, warm atmosphere, no matter what the temperature was in the surrounding area. It was where it was said all of the world's winds gathered and came from. It was also a prohibited area... only special equipment could be used there, and only after scientists or other personnel passed a special health check.

And even if it didn't work... the nuclear explosion would undoubtedly cover most of Ire in a radioactive cloud of death... and with a virus that sounded like it would be able to infect any and everyone who it came into contact with once it had combined with that deadly treasure that should have been left alone forever in the Earth? It didn't matter if the winds spread it or not... the panicking people, the few who survived Narrius's inquisition or who had prospered would go to all points of the globe and spread it themselves... and it wasn't exactly like the bastard would have a problem with telling his own soldiers to walk through that toxic haze with prisoners, pick up the virus, and then ship them all to different areas of the globe.

It meant that at all costs, he had to stop the ambitions of the Dragokkaren... and to do that, his daughters would have to succeed in knocking Paradise from the air and he'd have to succeed in killing Narrius. Both extremely high tasks... but the Drakkaren grinned coldly as the elevator doors pinged open and he stepped out into what looked almost like a waiting room, except there was no one currently at the reception desk.

There were, however, a pair of Super Enforcers standing guard at the door... but these were quickly dispatched. A moment later, Zerrex stepped through the door, Blackheart's gleaming blade dripping blood onto the floor behind him as he carried a huge assault rifle easily in both hands onto a long, narrow catwalk that seemed to lead into some other sort of watch tower, stepping into an open, pitfall area full of bridges and girders and black darkness, and the terrible sounds of grinding gears and clanking machinery. Here he was, stepped into a lower Circle of Hell, the Hell of Eternal Labor... and looking down beneath him... he saw Narrius walking slowly across the bridge below, followed by half a dozen Black Rogues.

Zerrex snarled... and without thinking, he leapt off the bridge, over the darkness that wanted to gobble him up and sailing down towards the other catwalk, at the same time snapping the switch on the rifle to fully automatic and shoving the stock against his shoulder as he opened fire on the soldiers below, bullets pounding like deadly rain into Super Enforcers and those not immediately killed panicking, grabbing at their rifles and looking up even as Zerrex came down and hit the ground on the other side of the bridge, landing in a crouch; immediately, he rolled onto his stomach, head high, and he emptied the rest of the rifle into the enemies before they had a chance to return fire.

He slowly stood, the assault rifle dangling from one hand... and all that stood between him and Narrius now were half a dozen corpses. The ruby eyes of the Dragokkaren and the emerald eyes of his 'failure' son clashed, both of them glaring at each other as Zerrex's hair swayed around his face and the long cape Narrius wore twisted a bit as he turned to face him fully.

The Dragokkaren was clad in a duraflex and fiberglass breastplate, with plain black armors that fit smoothly over his shoulders and shifted with his movements... a black leather belt with a plain silver clasp, upon which was holstered some sort of silver gun with an oversized barrel, and what looked like a pair of steel cylinders were tucked into special holders on his belt beside this, a third standing empty. One arm had a tight black vambrace around it that looked almost like a black manacle, and attached to this was some kind of computer control board... and he wore plain black uniform pants that were neatly tucked into black metal greaves. Lastly, he had a long black cape on, that hung down to his ankles... and he looked at disgust with Zerrex, clothed in his ripped uniform before he tilted his head and snorted. "You're a disgrace."

"You're a piece of shit." Zerrex said clearly in return, and Narrius's eye twitched as the Drakkaren reached up and tore his shirt off, shrugging off the remnants of his ripped clothing and then pulling Blackheart from his back, the last few bits of dark cloth rolling away on a breeze caused by a nearby, massive turbine that suddenly kicked into gear, in the middle of a thick support pillar of concrete.

Drake was strangely silent, still... and then he murmured softly in Zerrex's head: Be careful... I've never felt so much power... so much hate... the very conflict between you two is almost enough to crack reality around us...

On either side of the bridge, shutters slid open, and Super Enforcers began to pile out... and Narrius smiled coldly as he said idly: "Looks like you have a job to do, Raves... why don't you come find me once you're done? By then I'll have killed the rest of your family, too, so you can have a nice little cry over them and then I'll kill you too."

"You're a coward." Zerrex said clearly, as Narrius turned to walk away... and the Dragokkaren halted, giving an obvious twitch as Zerrex looked at his back, then grinned slowly, holding his arms wide and shouting at his back: "Getting your cronies to do the work for you, when I'm right here! When you've been crowing for me to come find you, you run away, just like always, Dad. But you could never deal with me, could you?"

Narrius's body trembled with fury... and then he slowly turned around, snarling... before he tilted his head upwards and attempted to compose himself, smiling darkly. "Fine. If you're eager to die, then fine." He reached up and easily undid the collar of his cape, then tossed it aside... and down it sailed into the abyss of clockwork mechanics and silent bridges, turning his head and shouting angrily at the soldiers behind him: "Get lost!"

Immediately, the Black Rogues withdrew and the doors closed... and father and son stood, finally facing each other once more after so many years, emerald and crimson once more preparing for the final clash between father and son.

Cherry caught up to Marina and Cindy at the control room of the first sublevel, where they were hiding behind a stack of metal and wooden crates as Black Rogues led by an Unseen Seer fired random bursts at them... except that once Cherry slid into cover beside them from the door at the side of the room, she realized they weren't so random after all: they were drilling the wooden crates with bullets in an attempt to weaken them enough that the heavier steel ones would break through them and reduce the cover of the others and possibly nudge the other crates aside when they fell.

She grumbled a bit under her breath at seeing Marina wounded, hiding her concern by muttering: "Goddamn, can't you girls do anything while I'm taking care of business?"

Marina only smiled however, able to see right through Cherry as she said quietly: "It's nothin' serious, don't worry..." she paused, then added in a mutter: "But that Unseen is immune to my telepathy, so I can't tell what he's going to do..."

Cherry peered over the top of the crates... then ducked back down when a soldier fired a burst at her, muttering under her breath. "Crap. There's at least ten of them there, and that big-ass Seer... and we won't be able to hit him with metal bullets, since they can see all that sorta shit. Anyone got any grenades?"

"Yeah, Cherry, I'm packing grenades and some serious heat." Cindy said dryly, then winced when a bullet ricocheted dangerously close, rubbing at her arm and glancing up at the long trench that had been dug by constant bullet fire above them. Cherry glanced up at this with disdain, muttering about the brittleness of concrete, before she grumbled and snagged up Marina's assault rifle, clicking it to single shot.

A glance at Marina, and the female nodded before taking out her semi-automatic rifle, and Cindy produced her own handgun, looking over at Cherry. The muscular female held up a hand for quiet for a moment... then pointed at Marina and the top, and Cindy and the other side of the crates before returning to a flat palm. The others nodded at this... and Cherry made a curt cutting motion with two fingers before rolling to the side and into a crouch outside the safety of the boxes, snapping off a quick few shots as Marina straightened and Cindy leaned around the other side of the crates, all three firing back at the Black Rogues as Cherry made for another stack of boxes, wincing and leaping back and forth in the mad bursts of automatic fire that tore in her direction in response to their attack.

The moment she jumped behind the stacked wooden crates, the others ducked as well, Marina wincing and rubbing at a shallow cut on her arm, Cindy muttering and rubbing at her face, which had been reddened slightly from being hit by a good chunk of stone that had been kicked up. They had, however, severely reduced the enemies: now there were only three Black Rogues and the Unseen Seer.

Marina took a chance and peered over the top of the crates... before shouting: "Cherry!" as she saw that their commander Unseen had crept towards the other side of the crates... and the muscular female started before grinning and slamming a hand forwards, tearing through the wooden crate that was stacked on the other steel ones and snagging the bandolier of the Unseen, then jerking forwards as she shoved the crate out hard with her other hand and smashing the Seer against it several times, causing his body to spasm and the tall soldier to drop his weapon as he grunted. A moment later, Cherry dropped the assault rifle and instead grabbed her whip, snapping it up over the crates to loop around the neck of the soldier that was more than double her size, before jerking hard on it as the spike at the end of the long chain whip snagged in its own coils, and the head of the Unseen flew in one direction as the body fell backwards in another, hands uselessly clawing and bloodying themselves on the chain as it snapped backwards.

At this sight, the Black Rogues howled like pained animals and stood up, raising their hands in immediate surrender: their commander killed, they were literally without guidance. Cherry blinked like an idiot at this as Marina and Cindy both meekly peered over the tops of the crates... then the hermaphroditic female walked slowly around the makeshift barricade as she coiled her whip up and snapped it back onto the holder on her belt. She paused, waved her arms a bit as the Black Rogues stood motionless and looking downcast, before shrugging and picking up the gigantic assault rifle of the Seer and calling to the others: "I think it's safe. These dudes look pretty much harmless now."

"We were under orders to follow the commander and protect him to the death; if he was killed, then our mission was failed and job done." one of the Super Enforcers said calmly, then the three dropped to their knees and grabbed the backs of their heads, bowing forwards a bit. Then they all grasped their own skulls firmly... and before even Marina could yell, they snapped their own necks and fell limp and dead to the floor.

Cherry stared at this with revulsion... then silent anger as she looked down, thinking again of Narrius... and looking over at Cindy, who had her head resting against her youngest sister - who had once also been her only daughter - and crying a few silent tears, her teeth grit... and even the darkest, oldest sister felt her heart soften a bit. To watch these Dragokkaren kill themselves, die, over and over... was like watching Requiem die over and over again... and she felt a new roll of hatred and rage at Narrius and all he'd done.

After a few minutes of gathering their equipment, they started forwards again, Cherry carrying an assault rifle that was almost five feet long and with an ammo drum more than two feet in diameter against her shoulder like a child's toy, the huge stock resting in the nook of her elbow as they ran along. Every now and then she thought about shifting upwards - it would make using the giant gun a hell of a lot easier, to say the least, as well as dealing with the Enforcers muscle-to-muscle... Oh. Wait. I forgot; they're easier to kill than... well... I am to fuck... - but decided against it. The slight discomfort was outweighed by the enormous advantage of being half the size of one's opponent... and thus twice as difficult to hit.

They met almost no resistance on the second level, anyway, as they travelled deeper into the whirring machinery - it was all made of black metal, which only added to the impression that they were walking through an eternal, living night, and that this terrible pit was truly bottomless - with the only light provided by the lamps above the doors of what Marina called 'struts,' the small rooms in the plain concrete buildings they passed through occasionally between bridges, and the rows of lights built into the bridges themselves, on the edge between floor and railing.

The third and lowest level of the front area, however, was a much different story: immediately upon taking the elevator in the furthest strut down, they stepped into a room that was heavily guarded by Super Enforcers: behind what looked like a sign-in desk, and hiding behind strategically-placed outcroppings from the wall on either side of the room. Marina was their only saving grace here, using her powers to create a telekinetic field in front of the three sisters that halted the barrage of bullets coming at them, but sped up any bullets shot through the other side, letting Cherry and Cindy blow apart enemy soldiers with surprising swiftness despite the fact that the sound of the gunfire was almost deafening.

After this, they had to rest for a short time, to let Marina get her breath back, Cherry frowning a bit as she checked her vitals and found her breathing a bit labored and her pulse erratic. But the female refused to give up, muttering that she was fine... and after a five minute rest, they'd continued forwards again, after Cherry forced Marina to promise her not to use her abilities any more unless absolutely necessary. It made Cindy smile, as she and her now-oldest-sister stood on either side of a door, her with the handgun and Cherry with the semi-automatic rifle... and Marina sat to one side, recovering herself a bit more while the older two females hit the door open and then began taking shots along the bridge, Cindy mowing down Enforcers standing at the ready and Cherry taking care of several snipers positioned high up - not to mention, surprisingly, a soldier sitting in an armed gatling turret on a tower of crisscrossing black girders to the side of the bridge.

Then Cherry glanced up... rolled her eyes at the sight of a rifle barrel sticking down from the roof - Fuckin' unprofessional. Shithead apparently has no clue what he'd doing... goddamn clone bitches. - before kneeling and biting her tongue as she carefully lined up a shot, concentrating, ghost images flickering in front of her eyes as she looked over the bodies, calculated the bounce, time, and power of the shot... before finally firing at a round shoulder armor of a soldier half-laying off the roof.

The shot ricocheted off this, then bounced off a black girder and bounced back towards their strut, striking the sniper above: not with enough force to kill him or even damage his armor, but making him grunt in surprise and topple off the roof. He hit the ground with a loud thud... then Cherry stepped forwards and punted his head, knocking in his skull with one of her steel boots and causing him to spasm once before he lay still and dead.

She sighed a bit, before nodding and motioning for the others to follow, and they made their way across the dead-littered bridge and to the next strut... and Cherry muttered: "Fuck this" before throwing the massive assault rifle she'd switched back to aside... handing the semi-automatic rifle back to Marina - she hated that she'd been forced to abandon her precious bolt-action, but it simply had no ammo left - and motioning silently at the roof. Cindy and Marina both nodded, and Cherry boosted both females up before they hauled her up onto the outcropping after them... and then the group repeated this process again, then once more from the rounded roof to get into the narrow opening in which the only other thing present was a group of support pillars that ascended high above to the bottom of a second-sublevel strut. Usually dodging a fight went against her motto... but they were all getting tired, and time was starting to run short... but then she grinned a bit as she noted that the next catwalk bridged out into a T, as she crawled slowly towards it... and that at the head of this T was what looked like some sort of control cabin currently guarded by Black Rogues and just beyond, a massive, almost spherical generator covered in all manner of pipes, vibrating and rumbling loudly enough that Cherry could hear it even from her current distance.

They were almost there: the core that supplied the raw energy upon which Paradise functioned, and that the front half of Paradise's generators relied on to work properly and back up the propulsion system that the huge fortress floated by. Her eyes sparked... and then she muttered: "Gimme that rifle back... time to show you little girls how a real sniper operators." A slight grin. "Albatross ain't got shit on me, good shot he is or not..."

Zerrex Narrius and Ifret Narrius stood facing each other, the bridge under their feet thrumming lightly, the lights that lined it fading in and out as Paradise's systems ran smoothly along, flicking the amount generated up and down. Then the red-scaled Dragokkaren tilted his head upwards and said coldly: "So, Raves. You've gone and synchronized quite well with that other failure Drake, haven't you?" A pause and a glance of disgust over him. "It figures that you and he would fall into the same ideals. Traitors and maggots, both of you."

"Yeah. Pardon me for not being a genocidal maniac." Zerrex replied dryly, then he snorted and pointed Blackheart out towards the Dragokkaren. "But I don't need Drake to kill you, Narrius... I'm here to-"

Before Zerrex could react, Narrius snap drew the gun at his side and fired a single shot, and Zerrex froze up, unable to react - even Drake was stunned as the Dragokkaren fired from the hip and the round struck Zerrex flatly in the slight left of his abdomen. The reptile's body trembled violently... and Narrius grinned coldly as he murmured softly: "You always were pathetic... letting down your guard constantly, treating battle like a game. You're a worthless piece of shit. Worthless, Raves... good only for being the meat that I test my little projects on. Just like this new one... I think you'll like it." A pause and a cruel grin as he tilted his muzzle upwards. "You want to fight me without all your little bonuses, right? Under some romantic notion that it'll prove you're truly stronger, if you take me on only with natural strength... well, Raves, I'm afraid that we don't live in fairy-tale land, but I'll let you have your ponies and rainbow fantasies for now... just so I can enjoy watching them all get torn down around your head."

Zerrex's body shook violently, and the Drakkaren coughed, gagged, choked, still standing, his arms dropping to his side and Blackheart falling from his grip as his fingers trembled... before he clutched at his stomach as he coughed again and blood splattered out of his muzzle, onto the floor beneath him. A single stream of blood had also rolled down his abdomen, trickling down to touch his belt, and he stared dumbly at the needle that was buried in his stomach.

He slowly pulled it out... and then a violent shake went through his body, and he screamed, eyes rolling up in his head as his muscles viciously contracted, suddenly unable to breathe, even his heart stopping... and he fell to his knees, teeth gritting, his form shifting and trembling... before he felt his muscle lose its density, his body decrease in size, returning to his normal eight-two as he trembled violently. He coughed, gagged, and vomited blood and black bile, and Drake shuddered and spasmed in his head, darkness leaking out between his scales like oozing blood to drip uselessly on the floor below, form steaming as he let out another howl of agony, and Narrius only watched him with mild contempt as he holstered the ampoule gun and said clearly: "It's a toxin that specifically targets synthetic DNA chains... just like all the stuff we pushed into your body, Raves. It hurts, doesn't it?" A pause as the Dragokkaren walked slowly forwards... then kicked Zerrex in the chest, knocking him onto his back before crushing him under one boot, looking down at him in disgust as Zerrex's body began to convulse violently under his foot. "But it's no reason to cry."

The Drakkaren gargled, mouth foaming, muscles twitching and spasming as if he was being electrocuted, and Narrius watched him with a slight grin, looking mildly entertained at most before Zerrex slumped back on the floor, laying in a puddle of blood and raw black essence that had bled from between his scales, most of Drake's energy lost and gone... before Narrius shrugged and turned away, saying in a disgusted voice: "You always were a failure, Ravenlight..."

You always were a failure... and with that, his father turns away and leaves the young child alone, leaves a five-year-old Zerrex bloody and bruised and trying his hardest not to cry, because if he cries, he'll get beaten again. One of his arms is disjointed: later that night, Requiem will snap it back into place for him... but this isn't different than any other 'training session' with Narrius. It will harden him, it will turn him into what he is... and for that 'blessing' of strength, Zerrex will hate his father more than anything else combined.

And it was now that inner willpower that rose up in Zerrex... his strength, his need to win... no matter what the cost or odds. His emerald eyes, so faded and glassy, flickered... and he blinked once, twice... before he closed his eyes as he slowly forced himself to sit up, locks of white hair falling from around his shoulders as he climbed up to his knees... his hands hanging in front of him, his head tilted down... and Narrius halted, frowning at the shutter a few feet away.

Then Zerrex slowly forced a foot under him, stretching his arms out as he took a ragged, long breath... and Narrius turned with disbelief and anger in his crimson eyes, watching as Zerrex stood, his shoulder-length white hair hanging in his determined emerald eyes as he spread his legs slowly and flexed his hands, flexed his muscles. Narrius glared at him... and Zerrex glared back... and this only infuriated the crimson Dragokkaren all the more as he snarled furiously: "You can't win! You're a disappointment, a weakling, and this is my world, not the world of the failures and the weaklings and the filth like you who-"

"You're wrong..." Zerrex said clearly... and then he grinned coldly as Narrius stared at him... and the Drakkaren tilted his head back, flexing his arms and stretching them out to his sides... and it was like he tossed off a great weight, like the chains of pain that had bound him were rolled effortlessly off his body, his form suddenly feeling free and light, his eyes flashing even as blood ran down his form and he continued in a hard, firm voice: "This isn't your world either. This world belongs to my daughters... to Cherry, to Cindy... and especially to Marina..."

"You're not only a piece of shit, you're a romantic piece of shit." The crimson beast couldn't have looked more disgusted, then he held out his right hand, electricity sparking between his fingers as he said contemptibly: "Then die believing that, Raves. And I'll make sure your precious family gets to hear your cute little thoughts before I kill them all."

Zerrex snorted, then he grinned and held up a hand, waggling a finger and saying softly: "Sorry, Narrius... but this is fairy-tale world. And it so happens I feel better now that you popped that syringe in me... so thanks for that." He added mockingly, and Narrius's crimson eyes filled with rage before the Dragokkaren charged forwards, snarling furiously.

The Drakkaren ducked and swayed to the side as Narrius clawed viciously at him with his electrified hand, grinning before slamming an elbow forwards into his father's face... but Narrius only snarled and slammed a low kick forwards, knocking one of Zerrex's feet out from under him, before landing a hard palm strike to the reptile's chest and sending the Drakkaren rolling backwards with a grunt of pain and surprise, eyes clenching shut before he managed to recover himself, skidding the last few feet along as Narrius bad-temperedly kicked an Enforcer's body off the bridge and shouted furiously: "All those years of hard work, and that's the best you have to show, Raves? You're less than pathetic! Less than worthless, just a stain, a blotch on the family name!"

"Our family name is crap!" Zerrex shouted angrily back, then snarled when Narrius's crimson eyes flashed like Hellfire, immediately trying to calm himself: provoking his father right now wouldn't be the best of ideas... at least, not until he had a solid plan in mind. And he couldn't help but note that he'd barely manage to inflict any damage at all, despite hitting a soft area with the hardest bone in his body... it should have shattered Narrius's face, but instead the Dragokkaren wasn't even rubbing at his cheek... How strong is he, really? Do I stand a chance at all? What the hell did Hellabos bring back...

He closed his eyes... then listened as Narrius charged forwards again, hearing a strange twist in his step and then immediately ducking, and the dead body of a Black Rogue sailed over Zerrex's head before hitting the wall behind him with a sickening crunch and the sound of armor cracking apart. Then his emerald irises snapped open to see Narrius slamming a hand forwards towards his chest, obviously meaning to finish him, and likely with his most vicious attack in the arsenal of the Narrius family: by simply ripping his chest open and literally tearing out his heart.

The Drakkaren reached up and snagged Narrius's arm, then spun and threw the Dragokkaren... but Narrius managed to slam a knee up and bring a hand down, and instead of being thrown, he smashed the smaller reptile hard in the ass with the former and snagged his head with the other, shoving him violently down to crush him instead. Zerrex, however, managed to kick off with his legs, wincing throwing himself forwards... and Narrius grunted as his heavier body flipped, the smaller reptile easily sliding against the larger Dragokkaren's chest as Narrius came down on his back.

Immediately, the Dragokkaren shot a leg up, seeking to crush in Zerrex's crotch... but Zerrex performed a handspring out of harm's way over the knee, wincing as it almost struck his head... before grunting in pain as Narrius's metal boot shot up and punted him backwards, hitting him in the back and sending him crashing into the stone wall of the strut just behind the Dragokkaren's head.

Narrius rolled out of the way of his son's fall and easily up to his feet, looking down at Zerrex with a mix of undiluted hate and disgust. "Still, after all these years, you can't stand up to me... can't even land a blow on me without getting your own face broken!" The Dragokkaren snorted, then rose a foot and stomped down towards Zerrex's head to illustrated his point.

The reptile immediately reached up, caught Narrius's foot... and then twisted and jerked, and Narrius fell with a grunt of surprise, letting out a snarl of fury as his head whacked painfully off the railing and he fell to the ground. Immediately, Zerrex jumped up to his feet and quickly circled around the Dragokkaren, backstepping to Blackheart and picking up the huge sword as he called tauntingly: "Sorry, no animals allowed in here!"

It was perhaps the lamest mark he could have remade, but the effect it had on Narrius was startling; first the Dragokkaren looked shocked... then furious... and then he snarled and rolled to his feet, his crimson eyes deadly, his anger so great that it almost became an aggressive, violent aura, the pulsing waves of his rage almost enough to drive Zerrex backwards, as he whispered: "What did you call me?"

That was the sensitive spot of his father, that never failed to get him riled and infuriated... and Zerrex knew that added to that the humiliation of being knocked over by his failure son who he'd just been mocking, the Dragokkaren would likely become almost mindless with rage and once more seek out to make a lethal attack. Which I need right now... because the only way I can do this is kill him in one quick combo, and I have to deal massive damage to an area that'll be fatal on impact... I'll have to go for his spine. "You heard me! You're an animal... Ifret!"

"I'll rip you apart!" Narrius snarled and roared furiously, charging forwards with eerie speed, and Zerrex snarled in return before slamming his sword down in a hard, straight rend... and as expected, the Dragokkaren caught it in his hands, the blade barely making a dent in his scales as he grinned cruelly, eyes wide with terrible malice... and Zerrex immediately let go of the handle before clapping his hands together and stomping forwards, smashing both palms into the Dragokkaren's breast.

Narrius's body shuddered... then froze, his eyes bulging as his jaw dropped, his lungs temporarily frozen by the Drakkaren's precise, solid attack on his chest, paralyzing the terrible creature, the sword falling from his grip to clatter beside Zerrex as the Drakkaren leapt back a step, then grinned coldly and growled: "I don't need any special powers to kill you!"

He stomped forwards, smashing an elbow into Narrius's stomach, then roaring as he leapt upwards, slamming a rising palm violently into the Dragokkaren's jaw and lifting him into the air as Narrius's head slammed back, blood flying from his muzzle as his eyes bulged in shock at the impact, his body twisting in midair... and Zerrex leapt up after him, half-flipping to catch his father's head between his legs and then twisting violently and throwing the Dragokkaren straight down with his powerful legs, slamming him hard enough into the ground to leave a dent in the metal bridge and cause the entire length to groan; a moment later, his feet came down, and dust and grit hailed down from the bottom of the bridge from the force of impact as Zerrex landed on Narrius's stomach.

Immediatley, he followed up by kicking both legs up to half flip, and slamming his hands into Narrius's chest, and the Dragokkaren let out a roar of agony as he smashed through the metal bridge, the structure cracking into two pieces and the smaller chunk snapping free of its supports and falling to the side as Narrius crashed straight down, Zerrex following and Blackheart sailing through the air, the blade plummeting towards a lower bridge as Narrius's back crashed through several metal supports, the Dragokkaren grunting in pain before Zerrex dived and slammed a palm into his chest.

The Dragokkaren smashed through another support, then landed on another bridge lower down, leaving a deep dent before Zerrex landed on him again, the Drakkaren roaring in fury as he crushed Narrius into the metal bridge, the Patriarch vomiting blood into the air as Zerrex squatted on top of him, then slid his legs forwards and his hands back, snagging his neck: Narrius clawed at his ankles, barely able to move as he still struggled for breath, and Zerrex rolled backwards, carrying the heavier Dragokkaren on top of him as he slid his feet down before smashing both feet into the crimson reptile's breast and sending him hurtling high into the sky, the pain incredible, Narrius's eyes alive with it and shock that his failure son was actually doing this to him, to him...

Then Zerrex reached behind his back and yanked out a handful of metal needles and steel wire, quickly linking the long ropes of steel to the thin metal spikes, before hurling these upwards into his starting-to-descend father with an easy snapping motion, the handful of needles cutting even into his damaged, torn and broken armor... but Narrius immediately snagged the steel wire, snarling as his fury grew greater than his pain, letting him ignore the needles stuck half into his arms and shoulders and neck - except this had been exactly what Zerrex had been counting on.

The Drakkaren snarled, muscles bulging and the wire cutting through his scales, blood dripping down his palms as he snapped the wires hard to the side, and Narrius was flung with them, letting out a grunt of surprise, his crimson eyes wide as he was whipped viciously over one side of the bridge, the wires screaming against the metal railing on the side of the bridge as Zerrex's body acted like a pulley, the wires cutting deeper into his flesh as he snarled in pain and Narrius flipped under the bridge, then twisted over the other side, picking up speed as he flew towards his son, back first... and Zerrex slammed both palms violently upwards at the same time.

Narrius choked: it was the first time Zerrex had ever heard such a sound from his father... and then he trembled violently, spasming once... before his body fell limp, Zerrex standing with his head bowed, blood running down his hands and his arms, the Drakkaren panting quietly as the Dragokkaren's body lay over his head, held up like some ceremonial sacrifice... his crimson eyes glassy and his jaw hanging agape. A bit of drool slowly rolled down his cheek, dripped down the ground... and hit the metal below with a quiet death-tap.

Zerrex relaxed slightly, closing his eyes and groaning quietly as he felt a strange ripple roll through his body... and then he tossed his father's body down to the ground in front of him, dropping the steel wire as he arched his back and felt the strange tremble roll through him a moment before he flexed, his hair trembling like living ivy, growing suddenly, becoming long and shaggy, down to his ankles once more, as his body bulged with power and the darkness itself seemed to come alive around him... and the Drakkaren looked down at his hands as he saw dark essence roll slowly around his hands and gather back into his body, before Drake murmured in quiet awe: Lord Zerrex... you... you did it.

Zerrex nodded a bit at this, then smiled faintly and turned away, heading for the door as the wounds on his hands began to heal, feeling his body rebooting itself, the toxin or whatever Narrius had punched into his system wearing off... and he murmured a strangely-empty: "Yeah..."

Behind him, Narrius lay on the ground... and a hand twitched.