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Zoey

If I wasn't the one saving Falk butt or Arthur's, then they would've been toast.

There was something I always liked about the night. I couldn't exactly put my finger on it but it was almost like I was in my element whenever we had a night mission, which I would always dominate. Sometimes I thought it was because I was a jaguar and stealth was part of my blood, or maybe it was because I grew accustomed to dimly lit, pitch black, immensely dark places. Either way, I loved it and I always felt like I was practically invisible when it came to staying in the shadows.

Of course though, I still had a mission to do which required a major amount of stealth because of the nature of it. Arthur and Falk were the ones acquiring the data while I controlled both Delta and Omega squads to take care of anyone we perceived as a threat to us. Though the job was a little boring with a lot of downtime, we didn't question orders and we waited as patiently as possible.

It had been about an hour since Arthur and Falk had made it in, and I hoped that they had the data and were currently coming back to rendezvous with us outside. The problem was that we hadn't received any sort of transmission for the past thirty minutes which had me on edge a little. If I knew those two, and I knew them more than anyone else, they would've reported something at this point instead of leaving me and the other squads hanging like this. Either something was wrong or they were just too busy enough to contact me and fill me in.

In the meantime though, my snipers stayed perched at the rooftops of the buildings that were previously occupied by enemy snipers. The alleyways containing small groups of soldiers were quickly taken care of and we had nothing more to do but just wait things out or wait for another group of soldiers to come by and take care of them as well, just to be safe. I was lucky my snipers and other soldiers were patient people, much like me, or else I would've been hounded with questions regarding Arthur and Falk's infiltration. Good thing we were pretty much adults so there was minimal complaints coming from the rookies.

I walked around the rooftop of the skyscraper close to Chamber's tower. Though I was a patient person, I was still worried about the two of them. It had been two years since a mission had went bad, but that didn't ease my nerves in the least. Either those two were competing against one another, as usual, or something was up and they weren't telling me.

The one thing that did help me feel better was the rain. Okay, maybe I was a feline and we were over-stereotyped to hate water in general, but I grew up and realized that the only thing to fear was losing the fight that the Revolution was trying desperately hard to win. There were much bigger things to worry about than a couple drops of water that weren't even touching my fur or skin; they were just pelting against the same style suit that Arthur and Falk wore, and I made sure to keep my hood up as well. The suit was skin tight but still easy to move around in and was very resistant to a couple of bullets, thanks to our nano-tech that provided a thin over-shield.

Arms folded across my chest, I looked up at the building and sighed in exasperation. Even with light rain and minor thunder that echoed in the distance, my nerves weren't completely settled. I wanted to calm down to an extent but with my nerves about to drive me crazy, I didn't have much of a choice but to nervously pace from side to side. I tried to calm down, but when it came to the safety of my friends, I threw all hope of calming down out the window.

I looked to my communicator and sighed, about to hit the button just before someone tapped me on the shoulder. Reacting the way I usually react, I quickly grabbed my gun and turned around, aiming the weapon right at my soldier's forehead. His face was covered by a mask and goggles, but I had a sinking feeling that he was praying to God that I didn't pull the trigger.

"Sorry about that," I said apologetically, placing my gun back in my holster.

The soldier let out a sigh of relief and gripped his chest. "It was my fault, ma'am. I shouldn't have sneaked up on you while you were pacing."

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it. Anyway, what's the matter, soldier?"

He saluted me and stood as if someone had shoved a pole right up his butt. "Ma'am, we just received word that half a dozen military caravans are driving up to Chamber Towers. Intelligence suggests that each one holds approximately five to six men--"

"Which will then add up to thirty to thirty-six soldiers," I finished, turning around to face the tower. "That leaves two things to question: either they know we're here or they're going to head for Arthur and Falk."

"Yes, ma'am," he said. "What are your orders?"

I pondered this for a moment. If we took the first shot then all hell would break loose within the city, alerting every soldier within a ten mile radius to our position. We would have to take them down quickly to keep them from radioing for reinforcements, but I had a bad feeling that they would just head for the inside of the building and go for Arthur and Falk.

Great, we had a problem. On one hand we could engage them in a firefight and alert the entire city to our presence and draw even more soldiers out from the soldiers. On the other hand we could allow them to go inside and stealthily take them down when they're most vulnerable, but that meant risking both Arthur and Falk's life if we were too late to react. Only one other time have I put their lives on the line to complete a mission, which they agreed to go through with anyway, but I still hated to do something like it.

"Ma'am, we don't have much time," the soldier warned. "The caravans will be at the tower in two minutes. The snipers need to know whether to take the shot or hold out, but they need your order."

I gave it some thought once more, wondering which move would be better. If I went with the first option then we'd have to deal with the soldiers, the police, and reinforcements if they radioed in any. That choice was suicide. The second though gave a little hope, but it also risked Arthur's life and Falk' but it gave us a better chance to take them down before they radioed in for help.

Sighing, I made my decision. "Soldier, tell Omega squad to hold off on the attack. I want two from their group to meet up with me on the right side of the building. I'll round up four more and we'll infiltrate the tower once the enemy goes in."

He saluted once more. "Yes ma'am! It will be done!"

The soldier left in a hurry to inform the others of my plan and my decision. Even though I wasn't happy about making it, I literally didn't have much other choice lest I risk compromising the entire mission. Hopefully Arthur and Falk would understand my reasoning behind the plan, but if they didn't...I wasn't going to hear the end of it.

I didn't waste time waiting around, so I quickly rounded up my top four stealthy soldiers and set out for the building. We grappled down to the street floor and proceeded to carefully walk towards the tall tower. No resistance was met along the way there thanks to our idea to take down the soldiers in the alleyways and the rooftops, making it much easier to sneak around. Both squads hid the bodies we took out in dumpsters, darker portions of the alley, and even covered some up with bags and trash. I didn't find that good but we couldn't have them found by other soldiers immediately once we were done so hiding them was out safest bet.

The two other soldiers I had requested met up with us right at the tower with their active-camo already activated. I really had to give it to our scientists. They were the ones that had developed the technology just a few months ago and it had changed up our entire operation and made things much smoother. I loved it, especially on dark, rainy nights like these when the task required a lot of stealth.

I activated my active-camo, as did my group, just as the military trucks drove up to the building. They formed an arc before stopping, allowing each and every one of their soldiers to file out and begin making their way into the building. I had my group wait until the last soldier entered, giving us a better method to sneak up from behind and halve out their numbers before they realize we're there. The plan sounded very effective inside my head but whether it worked when put to the test was the real question. I could only hope that it worked, otherwise my friends were dead men walking.

"On my call we move," I stated, pulling up my cloth to cover my mouth.

"Yes ma'am!" the replied through comms.

I held up my hand and waited for the last soldier to enter the building. Once he entered then we could make our way inside and start hollowing out their numbers.

He jogged right in with his group. "Alright, on me." I stated, taking point with everyone behind me.

I slowly made my way into the building with my group following close behind me. They had their guns primed and ready just in case we were met with resistance right upon our entry. Luckily we didn't meet any and entered the building without being noticed. Our second infiltration squad had already disabled the cameras so we had nothing to worry about in case they could see through our camouflage.

One of my soldiers went to the elevators and pressed her ear against the wall. "Ma'am, they're taking the elevators up to the top floor."

_ _ "There're only four elevators though, and I know for a fact that they couldn't all fit in the four of them." I looked around, finding the stairway door still open, telling me that they were also using the stairway to get to the top. Not the fastest way to get to the top but it was a means of getting to the top.

I walked over to the door and opened it more, hearing the stomping of boots echo from the top all the way down to the bottom. "I need two people to accompany me up the stairway while the four of you take the elevator to the top. If you see the enemy, do not engage until I give the order. If they find you and fire then you are cleared to engage, do you understand?"

The four soldiers who decided to take the elevator saluted me and nodded. The remaining soldiers nodded my way and followed me as I carefully made my way up the stairs. I couldn't lie that this was going to take a while, but we were probably going to be halfway to the top by the time our four person group made it to the top.

By the time we made it to the top, we were all huffing and panting for air. I had to pull the cloth covering my mouth down just to breathe right. The duo that followed me were also panting for air, knowing that their military training didn't train them to have the stamina to walk up hundreds of stairs to the top floor of a tall skyscraper.

We waited right by the floor to the top floor just to rest for a moment, knowing that our thighs were much stronger now but were going to be very sore in the morning. Two minutes was all it took until the three of us were ready to start walking again, this time not up anymore stairs.

"Ma'am, we have a problem!" the familiar voice of the female soldier from the elevator buzzed in my ear.

"Go ahead, soldier," I responded.

"The enemy had pinned down Lieutenants Arthur and Falkread in Chamber's office. Do you want us to engage and draw their fire from them?"

_ _ I thought about this for a few moments, picking up our pace while we walked through the hallways quickly without being spotted. Great, not only had I put Arthur' life and Falk's life on the line, but I was just about to risk the lives of four of my soldiers as well. Maybe I should've brought more along if I knew the enemy was going to reach my friend's first.

I sighed. "Draw their fire from the Lieutenants. We'll meet up with you in two minutes, understood? You are clear to engage."

"Understood, ma'am," she replied before cutting off the comm.

I turned to my duo of soldiers. "We need to get to the others before they get themselves kill, alright?"

They nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

Without wasting another second, we deactivated our active-camo and jogged onward to the rendezvous point. From the way the soldiers behind me panted, I could tell that they were going to see this mission through to the end. I sometimes wished that the Overlord's soldiers were more passionate about their work, especially since they were trying to wipe us off the face of the planet. If I was going to fight someone, then I wanted them to be at least passionate to some extent.

However, a soldier for a Task Master or an Overlord was just as static as static comes. They showed little to no emotion whenever possible. They had the strictest and tightest stone faces I had ever seen, and I had seen some pretty stiff stone-cold faces in my life. You couldn't even get them to chuckle or smile with the world's best comedian unless they were given permission from their leader.

I ran through the hallways without a second care about who was inside with us. From what intel told us, people were still going to be working on this floor with overtime on their hands. But I really didn't care at this point. Arthur and Falk were both in danger so it was my job to come in and save their furry butts as usual.

It took only a few, very long, minutes of sprinting just to get to the firefight. People that had been working overtime began to run away from the gunfight, crying for help while trying to get off the floor and get out of the building. I actually felt bad for them, and I really wanted to help them, but I couldn't sadly.

The firefight had broken up into two areas: one in the receptionist's lobby and inside Chamber's office. I could see our troops fending off their position behind piles of carts and furniture while the other soldiers were cowering behind walls and the receptionists' desk. As I took cover behind one of the carts, I saw that we still had all four of our troops, which made me feel ten times better.

Just as I took a few shots at the enemy, I got a message from Arthur. "Delta! Omega! We have a bit of a situation up here and could use a little help!"

_ _ He sounded distressed and frustrated, which nearly made me laugh, but I responded. "Calm your tits, Arthur. I'm here to save your butt."

I heard him gasp from his end which was soon followed by a loud curse and grunt. "Zoey? What the hell...Ugh, it doesn't matter! I need you to hammer as much as you can on your side while we do what we can on ours!"

_ _ Smiling, I responded. "One diversion coming right up."

I didn't wait, so I activated my active-camo and carefully ran forward. I took both of my pistols from my thigh holsters and released a volley of bullets on every unsuspecting soldier I could see. They noticed me at the last moment before I let the bullets fly, taking down half a dozen soldiers before I was forced to cover behind a nice couch to reload.

Quickly taking advantage, I ripped a grenade from my belt then pulled the clip. I looked up from my cover and immediately caught sight of a group of five soldiers. I waited then threw the grenade, springing up from my cover just to bolt to the next area of cover, taking a couple more shots at two soldiers wailing down on my allies before I had to roll behind a food cart for protection. The explosion from my grenade went off, rattling the entire room and probably the entire building, shattering many of the windows inside the room to pieces as I saw the bodies of the unsuspecting soldiers fly this way and that.

"How did you just--" I heard Falk marvel at my handiwork.

I giggled and stood up, firing my remaining shots at the other soldiers. "I have skills, Summers. Don't question them, just look in awe at my work."

"Remind me not to piss you off, Zoey," Arthur whistled as I began to walk through the broken glass and rubble that now filled the floor. Thanks to the nano-tech that was placed against my foot-pads, I didn't feel any cuts from the glass. Thanks again, scientists.

The remaining soldiers that stood scared of me surrendered right on the spot, throwing their guns onto the ground with her hands up. For the first time in what felt like months, I actually saw fear in their eyes which surprised me since they were trained to be cold, heartless killers who showed no mercy to anyone under them. As I walked past them, they lowered their heads in defeat, showing me that they still had some sort of conscious telling them that they were outmatched when it came to me.

My group followed close behind me, pointing their weapons right at the surrendering soldiers. I told them to not kill them but to take them as prisoners to see if we could get any sort of information from them as well. Rarely did we take prisoners, but I had a good feeling about the info that they had.

Arthur and Falk met up with me halfway down the hallway that connected Chambers Towers. They looked tired and exhausted, along with myself, and I could see the few cuts and scratches from the battle. Arthur clutched his shoulder and winced as he tried to greet me with a handshake, telling me that he had been wounded during the entire ordeal. Falk just looked like he had taken a couple of cuts and scratches from the battle, which was just as bad considering he looked like hammered crap.

Arthur winced and looked at me, still giving me his genuine, caring smile. "I must be the luckiest guy in the world to have a great friend like you."

I waved my hand aside. "We're friends, and if I have to save both your butts until this war is over then so be it. I'll gladly take a couple of painful bullets in order to do so."

Falk rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at me. "Oh, you do not save our butts all the time, Zoey. Remember what happened in Florida?"

Okay, maybe he was right about one thing: I needed saving every now and then. But nine times out of ten, I was usually the one saving their butts even if the mission was a blow-through op, which meant we go in, guns blazing, and get the equipment, information, or person we were tasked to get. Just remembering what happened back in Florida...it sent shivers down my spine. Never had I been that close to...man, I just can't even think about it without it making me sick to my stomach.

"Careful with that tongue of yours, Summers," I shot back, flashing him my shut-up-about-Florida-smile.

He got the message and held up his hands. "Alright, alright, I get it. I'll be quiet."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Good. So did you guys get the intel?"

Arthur nodded and showed me his communicator. "That and a couple of other things."

"Oh?" I questioned.

Falk nodded. "We were able to clean out Chambers entire database. He had nothing other than a deep pocket, a desire for revenge against us, a ruined tower, and a couple of houses."

"Impressive," I smirked. "How'd he agree to that?"

Arthur smirked back, looking at Falk. "With...a little suggestive persuasion."

I rolled my eyes. "In other words, you threatened him."

Falk gave me his innocent, angelic look and cupped his hands. "Oh, why we would never do such a horrendous thing to a man like him!"

When he spoke as sarcastically as that, I knew he was bull-crapping me. "Your lips say you didn't, but an out-cold Chamber's says you did."

They both snickered as silently as possible, both sticking their tongues out at me playfully. I knew that they were only playing with me, and I loved that. If they didn't constantly play around when they did their missions then they would just be completely boring, and I loved the fact that they had a little bit of fun while they did their missions.

I playfully punched both of their arms. "Come on, let's just get out of here. I want to get my beauty sleep."

"I second that," Arthur yawned.

Falk rolled his eyes. "Jeez, you guys are so lazy. It's only one in the morning and you're already tired? I could go another day without--"

Both Arthur and I gave him the death stare. That was all he needed to get the picture to shut up. He held up his hands in defeat then followed us as we proceeded towards the elevator. We hadn't slept for the past day just to wait for Chambers to return from one of his business ventures, and I could vouch for a lot of girls that not getting any type of sleep for an entire day made me cranky. Luckily I didn't take it out on anyone, so I just kept it all inside until I finally hit the bed.

Our entire group was fortunate enough to have the elevators still in check, which felt like a saving hand from God. We split up into two different elevators and then proceeded to wait until we got to the bottom floor. None of us really talked, which was actually pretty understandable. Practically two days without any sleep, my friend's had been in the line of fire because of a decision I had made, and we were all just plain out tired from this whole mission. Falk went through his database while Arthur looked out of the window of the elevator, which gave him a clear view of most of the city.

"My dad once told stories of places like these," he said, placing his hand on the glass. "I never came to these cities as a child but it was for good reason."

Falk and I nodded and sighed. We both knew that Arthur had been raised on a farm seven years ago until soldiers sent by the Task Master, Jupiter Thalum, took him and his family away to work on his property. See, what broke my heart about that story was the fact that it all happened on the day of his birthday. Ouch. Just thinking about something like that had to have been hard to think about, but how Arthur did it without breaking down was just astounding.

"He told me that the people here lived...well," he went on. "They made tons of money and lived practically normal lives, that is, if they weren't under the rule of a Task Master or something." He shuddered.

Falk patted his back. "Don't worry, man. They can't touch you anymore."

Arthur didn't look so convinced. He had also told us about the story of how he had escaped. An innkeeper for the property that he was forced to work on broke him out the same day his parents were killed, and she had sent him to look for a scouting party full of Revolutioners. Just thinking about how hard that had to have been--leaving your family behind, buried on the same property of the man who had killed them--had to have been tough.

Picturing something like that was just brutal, and I felt for him. How he didn't shatter into pieces all these years after just amazed me. He was much stronger than I originally thought when I first met him, and his conviction to keep fighting regardless just made me wonder how much this war meant to him. His parents fought and died for their freedom, and now he was too. I began to think that it ran in the family, but hopefully with the "dying for it" excluded.

We were getting closer towards the bottom in which Falk walked over to him and slung his arm over his shoulder. "Cheer up, man. I'm here for you, Zoey's here for you, and you have the entire Revolution ready to back you up on a moment's notice." Before he could look away, Falk brought him back to face him. "Come on, man. Trust me."

He looked at Falk then at me. I saw a sparkle of pain in his eyes, telling us he was thinking about that event six years ago, but there was also a glimmer of hope that overshadowed the pain. In the end, he smiled and nodded to him and I, finally standing tall and proud without having to lie about it.

Just as he did so, the doors to the elevator opened. We all walked out and headed towards the front doors, ready to finish this mission.

Sadly though, that wasn't the case just yet. Just as we neared the doors, a bright light flashed in our faces, making us groan and cover our eyes. We took careful steps back and blocked the bright light with our eyes.

An amplified voice then hit our ears. "Stop right where you are, thieves, and put your hands in the air or we will shoot!"

Arthur gasped then cursed softly. "No...it can't be..."

Falk and I were about to question why he was scared all of the sudden, but before we could a new person walked towards us. He was tall and strong despite looking a tad old to be working as some sort of police officer. The man as a wolf and what made him look a little more intimidating than he was supposed to look was the fact that he had a scar under his eye.

I heard Arthur curse softly to himself, looking at the wolf with pure anger. He balled his fists and trembled but it wasn't in a fearful way. I could hear him softly growling while cursing out the wolf as silently as possible.

The man wore a standard navy colored uniform, telling us that he was working for the Task Master's, or really a Task Master in general. He looked smug and happy, almost as if he loved doing what he did, which really pissed me off.

"Well, well, well," the wolf said, chuckling. "what do we have here? A couple of Revolutioners thinking that they could do whatever they wanted without getting caught, am I right?"

"Shut up," Arthur shot back, grabbing the wolf's attention. "We don't give two shits about what you have to say, General Sckar."

It was at that moment that the wolf, Falk, and I raised our eyebrows. Now that I remembered...Arthur did tell us about him! He was the same guy that took him and his family from their property and brought them to work for Jupiter!

The wolf frowned. "Do I know you, or do you know me? If so, then I must be famous."

Arthur stood up and took a few steps forward. "I do know you, and no, it's because you're 'famous', you ego-centric loser."

Sckar frowned even more, showing us his teeth. "Choose your words carefully, because you're treading on some very, very thin ice."

Arthur grunted, spitting on the ground close to Sckar. "You can't tell me what to do anymore, Scar Face. You might have scared me once before but not now and not ever again."

He chuckled in reply. "Oh, I'm going to make sure you fear me and my superior's power, you little cunt."

My friend stepped forward. "You wanna bet on that?"

I didn't realize how much pent up anger Arthur had until just right now. He was really showing his balls by standing up to someone who worked for the Task Masters, especially when they had more men with guns aimed right at him. Our own small group of soldiers looked pretty nervous, wondering what exactly what was going to happen if all hell broke loose.

Sckar twitched his good eye and frowned even more, growling at us menacingly, holding up his hand which told the troops to aim their guns right at us. "Do I scare you now?"

Arthur looked over the wolf's head onto the rooftops of the buildings ahead. I saw him look out of the corner of his eye from left to right then smirk. Falk and I followed exactly where his eyes went and knew exactly what he was planning. He placed his hands behind his back and began to click a few buttons on his communicator.

He shook his head at the wolf. "Not on your life, Scar Face."

The wolf growled even deeper and changed his fist into an open hand. I could see the look of fury burning in his eyes, telling us that Arthur had really pissed him off to the max. I honestly though Arthur was biting off more than he could chew, but I really hoped that his plan worked out or else we were dead.

"Ready!" Sckar shouted at the top of his lungs. "Aim!"

"Fire!" Arthur shouted, ducking just as the bullets began to fire.

From their side, I could see dozens of soldiers begin to fall over completely dead. Bullets whizzed and buzzed past our ears, soon hitting their intended targets only yards away from us. The enemy wasn't the one firing their metal jackets at us, Arthur had remembered our snipers from the rooftops and signaled them to fire on his mark through comms. I didn't even realize until he was typing in the message from behind his back, being the talented fox he was.

Falk brought out his pistol and shot at two soldiers from his left and his right, aiding our troops in the fight while the enemy began to scramble like birds. The troops that had accompanied me took cover behind stone benches and returned fire at the enemy troops, giving them all that they had. I hid behind a set of trashcans and ripped a grenade form my belt, pulling the clip, and throwing it at one of the convoy trucks. It only took seconds until one massive explosion rattled the air and rumbled the ground, sending glass and debris flying about everywhere.

I looked for Arthur, wondering if he was either wounded or hiding. My eyes soon fell upon him and Sckar who were both duking it out with their fists. Arthur ducked just as the general made an attempt for a kick, grabbing his leg then throwing the strong wolf onto the ground with a thud. Arthur then rapidly punched the wolf in the face, Sckar howling out in pain before soon prying him off and throwing him to the side. I saw blood trickle down his face and stain his clothes, making Arthur smile in success.

"Fall back! Fall back!" Sckar commanded over the massive gunfire and explosions. He winced then limped away as quick as he could, Arthur cursing him out before bolting right towards him.

Before I ran after him, I fired a few more shots and then ran from my cover as quickly as possible, heading straight for Arthur who was pulling out his gun, aiming it right at Sckar. He shouted the man's name just before I tackled him, making him fire his shot right into one of the trucks instead of the wolf.

He grunted and cursed again. "Zoey?! What're you doing? I need to...ugh...kill him!"

I picked him up off the ground and stepped in his way. "There'll be a time and day for that, Arthur. Right now we need to get the hell out of here and regroup to fight another day."

Arthur growled and turned away. "I'm perfectly fine."

"Yeah, you're still a terrible liar," I responded, watching as he winced form the pain in his shoulder.

He didn't say anything to me in reply but sighed in grief. I beckoned him to follow me as we both jogged back to our soldiers, who were covering themselves due to the immense gunfire being thrown their way. Arthur ripped a grenade form his chest then threw it at a group of soldiers, feeling the massive explosion shake the ground while heat blew out way. Not only did it explode but it also released a thick smoke cloud that blocked the enemy from their attacks.

We found Falk and our group of soldiers behind a wall of debris, fending for their lives. "Come on, we need to get out of here!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" he replied, grabbing all the soldier's attention before we all bolted from cover and ran away from the gunfight.

I received a message on my comm. "This is Zoey Jackson, go ahead."

_ "I thought that you might need a little help, eh?"_

Before I even knew it, explosions rattled the ground under us, making us fall to our knees. We turned around and watched as dozens of bombs rained down from the sky and exploded on the enemy's position, throwing debris this way and that while destroying the enemy convoy in the process.

After the explosions ceased, they were soon followed by a massive storm of bullets that began to tear apart the ground from above. While the boys and our soldiers marveled at the sight, I looked up and saw one of our MV-8's raining down the heat from high above. I knew exactly who was inside the chopper as well, and I couldn't thank him enough for his perfect timing. The gunfire slowly died down after time which allowed the chopper to quickly make its decent, blowing dirt and rubble in every single direction. Good thing we didn't have hats otherwise I'm sure they would be torn up or half a mile away.

The doors to the aircraft slid open, allowing our soldiers to go first while we quickly followed them. Falk provided what little cover fire against the remaining forces the chopper missed before hopping on, buckling himself in just as we started to get airborne once more. Arthur and I stand standing but held onto the bar above so we didn't fall over, feeling the aircraft grow higher and higher while whoever was driving away from the towers. With the minor turbulence that came with our state-of-the-art aircraft, we had a pretty smooth drive a couple miles away.

Arthur looked out of the window and sighed, trembling while holding onto the bar as tightly as he could. I couldn't help but sigh. If I was in his shoes, then I probably would've tried to beat the crap out of that wolf. But we still had a mission to do and I couldn't let him risk his life, in the middle of a gunfight, just to try and get revenge on a man as cruel as he was.

There was a bitter resentment between the two of them, that I couldn't deny, but I had to do what I did. If he had followed Sckar through the massive gunfight then he would've been turned into swizz cheese easily, and I wasn't going to bury a friend like him die as young as he was. I knew he kinda hated me for stopping him like that, but I also hoped that he understood my reasoning for doing so. If he didn't then I would just let him simmer down until he was fine again.

Silence filled the cabin which was very odd since Falk was a talker when missions were completely finished. That told me that things had gotten way too close, and we had gotten into some very personal territory during the whole ordeal. Maybe keeping things silent was for the best right now. We were all exhausted, tired, covered in dirt, injured in some form, and it had been a very long two days. Our soldiers had the best idea, taking a rest using the best method: sleeping. Falk didn't though, neither did Arthur or me. We still seemed to be recovering after the whole ordeal.

I sighed. Maybe with a little rest we could go back to being the friendly bunch we used to be. Hopefully Arthur would understand my reasoning and maybe Falk would talk more after we had rested and gotten our injuries taken care of.

We all turned our heads as the door to the pilot's station opened. Stepping out was another friend, but also a very important man to not only our mission but to the entire Revolutionary force.

He was an arctic fox with the sleekest fur, emerald eyes, and a light build figure. He wore a black army winter jacket with his hood down and a set of black and grey style combat pants. On his left pectoral he adorned a large set of badges showing his rank and his position of power. Though he didn't look like much, we had all seen him handle himself against half a dozen men and women twice his size without much effort.

Falk unbuckled himself and stood right in the middle of Arthur and me as we saluted the fox, standing upright while showing him all the respect in the world.

He smiled then saluted back. "At ease, my friends. Today, you all should be proud at what you have accomplished. You've crippled the Overlord's plans and also crippled the other Task Masters as well by taking all of the poll numbers."

"Thank you, General Ghost," Arthur responded, grabbing onto the pole once more.

The fox smiled. "Arthur, I told you to just call me Damien...six years ago."

After he had said that, Falk and I snickered as we saw a blush appear on his face. When we saw that, we both burst out with laugher, making the general laugh as well while Arthur stuck his tongue out at us.