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The Os-Nàdarra Sentinels

Chapter 5: Showdown

            When the door to the base opened,

Adrian was greeted by countless laser sights illuminating his body armour. He

froze instantly as he found so many firearms pointed at him, putting up his

hands but cringing as his face burned from his earlier wound. He remained still

as two of the guards approached him, and did not resist as they put their hands

on his shoulders and urged him forward.

            Adrian was led through the base,

past the laboratories where new bodies for the cyborgs were cloned, where

current bodies were being implanted with their new cybernetic body parts, and

where empowered beings were experimented upon. Even as he was led past the last

of the labs, he witnessed a pale feathered avian subjected to a strike by a

guard's baton as he resisted being placed on an operating table.

            The cat paused, looking at the pale

avian. The guards escorting him didn't force him to continue, instead following

his gaze to the avian. "Something wrong, Commander One?" One asked.

            "That avian in there," he remarked.

"I just noticed that he kind of looks like one of the freaks I was fighting

before."

            The guards glanced at each other,

but said nothing; Adrian could not see their faces behind their masks, so he

could not gauge their thoughts on his words. Shrugging it off he continued

forward, glancing at the avian only once more just before he stepped out of

sight of the laboratory window, continuing on his way up the hall without

showing any reaction to the screams of the subjects throughout the labs.

            The trek through the next two

corridors was brief; they came to the primary lab, the personal workplace of

Dr. Rex, where he spent day and night on his cybernetic projects. The guards

led him up to the door, and stopped. "The Doctor wants to talk to you," one of

the guards said. "And, afterwords, you might want to see the other doctor about your face." Several

of the other guards snickered at the remark.

            "Shut your trap," Adrian retorted,

before he stepped up to the door; it opened automatically with a hiss before

sliding into the wall, clearing the way for the cat. He stepped through the

door, hearing it close with a dull thunk behind him, before he searched the

large room for any sign of the doctor.

            He spotted the elderly human at the

terminal across the room. Stepping cautiously, he approached Dr. Rex, keeping

his hands firmly against his sides and stopping a respectful distance from him.

Rex finished whatever notes he was taking before he saved the document and

closed it, turning his chair around to face Adrian, the wrinkly, pale-skinned,

balding face of Dr. Rex glaring back at him, but his face softened as he saw

Adrian's face more clearly.

            "Quite the new battle scar,

Commander One," he said.

            "Yes, so I keep hearing," returned

Adrian. "There's... been a problem."

            "You failed again," Rex stated,

bluntly.

            "It was a trap, just like you warned

us," explained Adrian. "We found Volcan waiting for us at the airstrip; he

distracted us while his friends snuck around behind us and destroyed the

Disruptors."

            "You didn't have someone watching

them?" Rex demanded, shooting to his feet with surprising determination,

despite how difficult it was for a man of his age. "You idiot; you knew he

never travels alone! He knew we were after him and he knew about the

disruptors; did you actually believe he would fall into that trap twice?!"

            "I underestimated him," admitted

Adrian. "I am ready to face the consequences of my actions, but there is one

other thing you must know."

            "It better be important," Rex

warned.

            "It's about Commander Two,"

continued Adrian. "He betrayed us."

            Rex's eyes widened as Adrian spoke

those words. "What do you mean?"

            "When Volcan and his friends had us

surrounded, the rest of us were ready to fight our way out. He dropped his

weapon and surrendered, claiming he was finished with us -with the

organization. He sided with Volcan and helped him take down the rest of our

men," explained Adrian. "I have no doubt that to avoid prison time, he'll

negotiate with the authorities and reveal the location of our base to them.

We've been compromised."

            Rex tapped his fingers against the

arm of his chair, considering the words of his fist commander; he did not find

it as hard to believe as one might've thought, though; he always knew that

Commander Two had been reluctant to follow orders to apprehend Empowered

Beings. "Unfortunate," he muttered. "Darwinson was a talented soldier, but I

guess I should have expected he couldn't stomach the necessities of our work

forever."

            "Give me another team; another

chance," pleaded Adrian. "I'll find him, I'll kill him for his betrayal and

finally put an end to Skilerain and all of his group before they can cause any

more trouble for us or the innocent world."

            "No. It's too late for that,"

returned Rex. "By the time we mobilize another squad, the special forces will

be on their way here. I'm still a loose end my old superiors will want tied up,

after all." He turned away from Adrian. "There's no more we can do now;

eliminating Darwinson and Skilerain will have to wait." He reached for his

cane, picking it up in his hand and tapping it against the floor. "Order the

guards and science teams to prepare to evacuate the base; load all of the

subjects and equipment onto the tram. We're leaving."

            "Doctor, that'll take at least a half-day;

won't they be here by then?" Adrian pointed out.

            "Leave that to me," stated Rex as he

turned his gaze towards the far wall, where a great body of steel stood in the

shadows. "I'll buy us all the time we need... perhaps I may even be able to

take some of our enemies with us."

            ~~~~~

            "The bastard slipped away?!" Tsume

demanded, gawking with disbelief. "Lighris, you and Pavan were supposed to be

watching them, and you let that braque fur ball get past you?!"

            "Hey, I would have been watching

them if Pavan had shut his freaking pie hole for a few moments!" Lighris

retorted. "The guy just would not shut up!"

            "Hey, I get talkative when I'm

excited!" Pavan said defensively. "We just kicked their asses for crying out

loud; who wouldn't be happy about it?"

            "You get talkative every minute

you're breathing!" Lighris yelled at Pavan.

            The three exchanged harsh words for

a while; Volcan and the others stayed well out of the conversation, the fire

phoenix stepping over to Kyle; he had wanted to talk to him for a while now,

and thought now was the best time to do so. "Well, Adrian getting away

certainly throws a monkey wrench into things," stated the phoenix. "Suppose

he'll go to warn Rex?"

            "Not a doubt in my mind," said Kyle,

sighing as he took a puff off of a cigar in his mouth.

            "Hey, where'd you get that?" Volcan

asked, having not seen Kyle with the cigar before.

            "Your brother gave it to me," he

replied as he pulled the cigar from his mouth and exhaled a cloud of smoke from

his mouth. "Needed a way to chill out; he suggested this. Never thought to try

them before but, thought today was a good time to try, now that I'm going to be

going through a serious life adjustment," he sighed as he moved to take another

puff. But then, he paused, and his expression slowly turned sour. "Of course...

I'll have plenty of time to do so in prison."

            Volcan turned to him. "Prison?"

            Kyle turned to him. "Well yeah; the

courts are not exactly going to show leniency for my past actions are they?" He

said. "I'm a U.S army deserter, I'm responsible for kidnappings, and I'm not

even a Canadian citizen, so technically I'm across the border illegally right

now. I'm in deep shit no matter what, now."

            "He's right, Volcan," said a

familiar voice; Volcan turned and looked over his shoulder, spotting a familiar

dark blue hawk approaching the two of them.

            "Gregory," the phoenix greeted,

nodding. "Glad to see you back on your feet."

            The hawk nodded back. "Still have a

bit of a limp, even though it's been over a week," he returned. "Anyway,

Volcan, he's correct; if he pleads guilty, no court will forgive him for his

crimes, even if he helps us find the I.T.O.U.E base."

            "But Greg, he gave himself up

willingly," reasoned Volcan. "And he's willing to..."

            Gregory put up his hand. "That isn't

going to be enough to make up for what's he's done in the past," the hawk

returned. "Not even giving up the I.T.O.U.E will clear him of charges; the best

he can hope for is ten years taken off, and that's if they're willing to be

nice; he's still looking at five years, without parole. And before you ask,

none of your city favours will be enough to get him out of this."

            Volcan frowned. "So Kyle will go to

prison no matter what I do?"

            "I'm afraid so," stated Gregory.

"This side of the border, he's an international criminal. Across the border,

he'd be subject to the American laws against desertion, which, you may recall,

is execution, since he deserted in war time while on duty in Iraq."

            Volcan groaned. "Great... he goes

home, he dies. He stays here, he has to sit around in a prison waiting for the

I.T.O.U.E to come looking for him," grumbled the phoenix. "Either way, he

loses..."

            "It's alright, Volc," assured Kyle.

"I doubt Rex will waste his time coming after me while I'm in prison, and

besides, I deserve to do my time after all the shit I've done the last seven

years of my life."

            Volcan looked at Kyle sadly. "You

sure?" He asked.

            "I don't really have a choice, do

I?" Kyle asked.

            Gregory put a hand to his chin,

thinking for a moment before he spoke again. "Well, let's see..." he began.

"There actually is a way out for him regarding the kidnappings."

            Volcan looked at Greg quizzically. "What

do you mean?" He asked.

            Gregory turned to Kyle. "How many of

the kidnappings you were part of actually take place here in Canada?"

            "Three," replied Kyle.

            "Were you actually seen doing any of

them?" Gregory asked.

            "Well no; I always had my mask on,"

replied Kyle, before he perked with realization. "Wait, you're not seriously

suggesting I deny involvement."

            "That wouldn't work," replied

Gregory. "But since it was only three, and three you weren't actually seen

doing, that may help reduce your sentence. I can make a few calls; get some

past favors seen through. I can't keep you out of jail entirely; no amount of

influence I have will assist with that. At best, I may be able to get you

parole, but I can do nothing to keep you out."

            Kyle nodded. "I'm willing to accept

that, believe me," he assured. "I'm ready to face justice... it's long

overdue."

            Volcan, as much as he wanted to

continue to debate the issue, didn't press it any further. Kyle had made up his

mind, and the phoenix was willing to accept his decision, despite how it made

him feel. He watched as Kyle's gaze drifted off, seeing his eyes lock on

something. Curious, Volcan followed where he was looking and saw the object of

his stare.

            He was looking at Vinge, who was

talking to Yurui at that moment.

            "Kyle, something wrong?" Volcan

inquired.

            "Your buddy Vinge," he said. "Now

that I take a look at him, he resembles someone I've seen before."

            "Who?" Volcan asked.

            "I don't know, but there's a

white-feathered avian at the base who I swear looks just like him," stated Kyle.

            Volcan and Gregory both reacted to

this, their eyes fixing on Kyle with looks of awe as the meaning of his words

set in; the two shared a glance with each other before looking back at Kyle

again. "An ice phoenix?" Volcan asked.

            "I don't know for sure, but if he's

in there it's because he's an em..." the man paused, and corrected himself; "a

superhumanoid, if nothing else."

            Vinge had caught part of the

conversation; he froze mid-sentence of his chat with Yurui and looked over his

shoulder towards Kyle, the expression on his face a mix of horror and

disbelief. In seconds Vinge was making a beeline right for Kyle, reaching him

in a mere five steps before seizing the African American human by his collar

and bringing him eye to eye with him. Kyle froze in Vinge's grasp, and in the

fierce, ice blue eyes of the ice phoenix, he saw years of suppressed anger and

terror alike boiling over, finding its way to the surface to mix with his

voice.

            "His name; did you ever hear his

name?!" Vinge demanded.

            "Vinge, calm down!" Volcan urged,

grabbing his friend by his shoulders to try and pull him off of Kyle.

            Vinge elbowed Volcan directly in the

face, his limb lashing out like a cobra and striking the fire phoenix square in

the forehead; Volcan went cross-eyed, dazed by the impact of Vinge's arm. The Ice

Phoenixes' eyes never left Kyle even as he sent Volcan falling onto his

backside.

            "Who is he?!" Vinge screamed in

Kyle's face.

            "I don't know!" Kyle returned,

putting up his hands defensively. "I never heard his name but he's been there

since before I joined the I.T.O.U.E! I don't know anything else!"

            "What about his eyes? Are they

aqua-green with light purple in the sockets? Did you see...?!"

Vinge was interrupted by Volcan grabbing him again,

this time the Fire Phoenix successfully pulling Vinge off of Kyle, before he

seized Vinge in a headlock, holding him with a powerful grip. Vinge struggled,

releasing Kyle and grabbing at Volcan's arm with one hand, elbowing Volcan in

the stomach repeatedly with his other arm, but the fire phoenix never released

him.

"Vinge," Volcan growled in his friend's ear. "Calm.

The fuck. Down." He practically commanded, a tone of warning present in his

voice.

Vinge stopped, immediately his actions dawning on

him. Slowly, he looked around, taking in his surroundings. His eye found

Volcan's first, peering back at him from the side; the look in that eye showed

a sense of unfamiliarity, as if Volcan did not recognize the ice phoenix in his

current state. He turned his gaze to Kyle, who was standing with his hands held

up ready for another attack, and lastly to Gregory; the blue hawk had drawn his

tazer, the laser sight on the non-lethal weapon already aimed directly at Vinge's

chest.

He continued to look around; past Volcan, he saw

Rikyuu, Obsidian and Ayane, all of them staring at him with looks of

bewilderment. To the other side, he saw Lighris, Pavan and Tsume; their faces

were expressionless, but Lighris was standing as if ready to intercept Vinge if

he were to lose his temper again...

He also saw Yurui; the horrified look on her face

stung his heart... the girl who had saved his life earlier was now eyeing him

as if he were some kind of monster.

Vinge relaxed, releasing a breath he didn't know he

was holding before taking a deeper breath and mentally commanding his muscles

to ease. The tension slowly drained from his body, and when Volcan felt the ice

phoenix exhale and his muscles lose their tightened state, he carefully removed

his arm from Vinge's neck, letting the ice phoenix stand on his own.

Vinge stood panting for a moment, gathering his

thoughts. Gregory lowered his tazer, both Kyle and Lighris returned to standing

normally. Finally, Vinge turned to Volcan, their gazes meeting for a moment

before he looked back at Kyle.

"I'm sorry," he said, his face contorting with pain.

"I'm sorry..."

Kyle nodded to him. "I understand," he said,

solemnly to Vinge, before he turned to Gregory. "For the record; I don't want

to press any charges." The police chief answered him with a nod, agreeing to

let it slide. Kyle walked up to the police chief, speaking softly to him. "It's

his dad, isn't it?"

Gregory nodded. "Yes... he was kidnapped by the

I.T.O.U.E ten years ago."

"And we're going to get him back," stated Volcan,

turning his gaze towards the south. "It's been a long time coming, and we're

going to make it happen."

Kyle turned to the phoenix. "Volcan, I already told

you; that base is a fortress, with fifty heavily-armed guards and active

disruptors that'll cut your powers completely. You'd never get in there without

the help of the army Special Forces, not to mention you can't go across the

border."

"Greg," said Volcan. "You have enough evidence to

tell the Americans to get their asses in gear?"

"With Kyle's testimony, it'll be enough," replied

Gregory.

"Good," said Volcan. "Then it's time to make some

calls. Like Kyle said, my team and I can't cross the border, so we have to

leave this one to them."

~~~~~

            Fourteen

hours later...

            In the small hours of the morning, Captain Oliver Ford of the American

Green Berets ordered his men to secure the landing zone as he slid down the

zipline from the helicopter, airdropping them approximately half a mile from

their target area; from there, they were to go in on foot, following

coordinates provided for them by General Robertson, which he had received from

the defector, currently under Canadian protection and confidentiality, locate

the entrance to the base, make entry and eliminate all hostiles. The Montana

National Guard had already assembled and quarantined the area, setting up a

mile-wide perimeter with air support and armour divisions enroute to assist

them.

            Ford and his team, now inside the quarantine,

six operatives total, were all accounted for, and confirmed the area clear. "Okay

boys; listen up," Ford began them. "Target is four hundred meters north

north-east just before the Canadian border. Johnson, you're on six; watch our

backs. Zane, Mack, find some high ground; monitor traffic, and cover our

approach and give us an eye on things. Izzy, Eddy, you two are in middle; watch

our flanks. I'll take point. Let's find this place."

            "Yes sir," the men returned.

            "Move out," Ford commanded,

elevating his M4A1 to a ready position as the men split into two groups.

The sniper team sprinted away to locate a good point

to provide long range support, while the other three formed up with Ford. Izzy

and Eddy, both male anthropomorphic cats -brothers in fact, sharing a gray

color to their fur, carried M4's like his own, while Johnson, a male Caucasian

human, carried a pump-action shotgun, and each was fitted with appropriate

tactical gear for infiltration, including cutting torches, multi tools, breaching

charges and hand grenades. The sniper team consisted of a brown avian and a

black wolf; Zack made a good spotter, thanks to his telescopic vision, barring

the need to carry binoculars.

It took only a short time for them to reach the

target; the land around them was fairly open, giving them a wide visual range.

Ford wondered how there were any hidden bases out in this part of Montana; the

land was unsuitable for such a thing, and anything this close to the border

would be spotted by the patrols of both countries. There were no rivers or mountains

or any sort of landmarks that truly separated Canada and the United States;

nowhere they a base could be safely established. He wondered if perhaps the

intelligence was faulted, or a lie.

His thoughts were interrupted by a transmission

coming through his radio. "Charlie-101;

this is Sierra-2, holding at on high ground on your nine. We've surveyed the

area; we do not see any buildings or signs of activity out there."

"Copy that Sierra-2; keep us posted," returned Ford.

"Captain, we're almost to the target site and

there's nothing out here," stated Eddy. "Look around; no buildings, no caves,

no campsites."

"Yeah; this place is just crawling with evil," Johnson said, sarcastically. "Those Canadians

had faulty intelligence; this is just wilderness."

Ford grunted in displeasure; it sure seemed like

there was nothing around. Nothing they could see, at least. Scratching the

underside of his canine muzzle, he turned to the others. "Let's fan out; search

the area for doors leading into the ground. Regroup in fifteen," he instructed.

"Stay within fifty meters of each other; don't stray off."

"On it, Captain," Izzy returned, diligently; never

one to complain, even when something appeared to be a waste of time, unlike his

brother.

The four commandoes spread out, seeking any sign of

habitation in the area that could be the enemy base. Ford searched the ground

with his eyes, looking for handles to trapdoors, fake rocks with scanners built

in, or anything one might expect for a hidden base out in the open like this.

After several minutes though, he found nothing out of the ordinary; no matter

how many times he looked, everything just looked like ordinary ground to him.

Just as he was about to give up though, turning on

his foot and taking a step back towards his group, his foot seemed to fall

further than it should have, and landed on something flat and hard -much harder

than dirt and too smooth to be rock. He looked down, following his leg to where

his foot was, and saw the grass around his boot seemed... different. It was

shiny -not like grass covered in morning due, but like plastic grass, and when

he brushed his foot across it, the grass remained bent, but not in a way grass

should...

Slinging his M4A1 over his shoulder, the Green Beret

knelt down, feeling over the ground with his paw; the grass felt like plastic

-artificial grass, like the kind used as props for movie sets or stage

performances. Curious, he pushed his finger into the dirt to feel a fuzzy,

tangled material, but not actual soil. Pushing further, twisting his finger

about to worm his way through the material, he pushed almost up to his wrist,

until his hand eventually touched something hard and cold as metal.

"Pretty sneaky," he muttered, before turning to his

radio, holding the transmit button as he spoke into it. "Squad; I think I found

something here. Fall in on me, stat."

"Coming to

you, sir."

"Sierra-2

here, requesting update."

"Standby," Ford returned.

The rest of his squad arrived momentarily; he stayed

by the spot of artificial grass waiting for them, and when they arrived, he was

quick to show them what he'd found. Izzy knelt down by his captain's side,

checking the patch of grass as Ford had, and nodded in confirmation.

"Definitely something under here; maybe a hatch," he said.

"How big do you think it is?"

"Let's find out," suggested Eddy.

Ford agreed, and stepped onto the fake grass,

feeling it with his hand as he walked across it, half-crouched, until he felt

real grass again. The others followed his example, Izzy staying by the side

that Ford had been. Shortly, they found an exact diameter of the hidden door;

it was much bigger than they initially expected, easily twenty meters across

and almost double that in width, the entire thing perfectly camouflaged with

the artificial soil and grass. Until autumn, when the real grass around the

door would begin to wither, it'd be otherwise impossible to tell that this

large door was even here.

"Man this thing is huge," Johnson remarked, having

to use the radio because the group was so far apart.

"Whoever built this sure went to a lot of trouble to

hide it; I say, this is definitely our target," said Izzy.

"Point to Izzy; master of the obvious," remarked

Eddy. "So how do we get in? The breaching charges we brought with us won't even

make a dent in a door this big, even if we could find a seam under all this

junk."

"We'll have to call in an airstrike; maybe a

well-placed missile could..."

Ford was unable to finish his sentence before the

ground suddenly began to shake. Not a violent shake, but enough of a tremor

that he could feel it through his boots, and the squeal of metal on metal

filled the air, muffled as though heard through a wall. It was then he noticed,

the hidden hatch was starting to move; the ground halfway across the fake grass

was splitting open in a perfectly straight line, as if being cut by a surgeon's

scalpel.

"Everyone, get away from the hatch!" Ford shouted

into the radio, immediately scrambling away from the hatch as the opening grew

wider.

It would soon become apparent that the hole wasn't

very deep; when it opened, Ford could see all the way to the bottom, but

something was rising out of it. The glow and fire of rocket-propelled engines

could be seen in the dark, and a great behemoth began to emerge. When it

cleared the edges of the hatches, it cast a shadow in the moonlight, utterly

eclipsing Ford in blackness, the shadow becoming larger still as a large pair

of gossamer, bat-like wings of an unknown material but clearly not flesh, due

to the lack of any veins present in the wings, extended from its sides.

As Ford's eyes adjusted to the dark, he studied the

body of the creature; it looked like a feral wyvern, but its entire body was

composed of metal, not armour-like scales as wyverns were known for. Its eyes

were the colour of the sky; a bright blue, and the metal plates on its body

were perfectly articulated, leaving no exposed wiring or circuitry anywhere

that Ford could see. The tail looked the most deadly, ending in a tip shaped

like a cross-spear; a long blade aimed vertically, with two long, thin spikes

protruding from the tip below where the sword-like end was linked to the

armour.

"Holy shit!" Sierra

Two called over the radio. "What the fuck

is that?!"

At the break of radio silence, the wyvern machine

turned its head towards the hill where the sniper team was camped. It stood

there, staring off in that direction for a moment, until its lower jaw dropped

open, and a long, tubular gun barrel emerged from the throat of the mechanical

creature.

Ford brought up his radio quickly. "Sierra's, take

cover, now! Take...!"

BZZZZAAAM!

The distinctly electronic-sounding weapon fired; a

red beam cut across the sky faster than sound, and with a sweep of the

mechanical wyvern's head, it cut across the hilltop. The entire mound lit up

with heat, sparks flying everywhere and a white glow filling the air as the top

of the hill was utterly destroyed. Ford's mouth fell agape as he watched the

demonstration of firepower by the machine; technology he didn't even knew

existed, had just destroyed a hilltop right before his eyes.

And no doubt his sniper team.

"Weapons free; fire at will!" Ford barked into his

radio, flicking off the safety of his M4A1 and aiming it at the fake wyvern,

unloading a whole clip of armour-piercing ammunition into the metal hide of the

mechanized menace.

Sparks erupted from multiple spots on the creature, showing

where Ford and his men emptied their guns into its horrible body, but no signs

of any real damage appeared. The wyvern glanced at each of them briefly before

opening its wings, fire erupting from its taloned feet, below the soles, and it

began to steadily rise into the sky. Ford changed targets, trying to shoot out

the thrusters, but he couldn't tell if his rounds landed or not, so instead he

aimed for one of the wings.

His gun clicked; empty! Cursing in frustration, he

ejected the empty magazine, slapping in another one and trying his shot again,

but the wyvern was already too high and far for an accurate shot, and had

angled itself forward, flying off towards the west before banking right,

heading north towards the Canadian border...

~~~~~

Volcan awoke to his phone ringing; he groaned and

tried to ignore it, pushing his head into his pillar and pulling his blanket

over his head, but it persisted, and continued to draw him further away from a

very restful sleep. Resisting the urge to just smash the phone under his fist

and hitting the speaker button. "This better be important," he grumbled,

sleepily

"WAKE UP YOU

FUCK!!!!"

Volcan jumped as the loud voice and burst of static

pierced the silence of his bedroom, squawking in surprise before he tumbled off

of his bed, hitting the floor noisily, tangled in his blankets. Now wide awake

-more out of shock than anything else, he pushed himself up on his hands and

shook his head to clear it. No mistaking

that voice, he thought, feeling a little cranky as he reached over and

picked up the phone, looking at the I.D on the screen.

Yep; Lighris. "Good morning to you too, bro," said

Volcan, still half-asleep.

"Volcan; get

your ass up and get out of your apartment, now!" Lighris barked.

Out of... what? "Why; what is it?" He asked.

"There's a

fucking robotic wyvern flying over the city, attacking the American half and

heading towards the Canadian side," Lighris explained, quickly. "I don't know why but I have a feeling that

it's one of Rex's machines, which means he may be coming your way! Now get out,

hurry!"

Volcan, suddenly fully awake, pushed himself to his

feet. Lighris wasn't one to make up stories, so if he said there was some big

mechanical monster flying over the city, then there was at least something out

there. Finding a pair of pants and pulling them on, just for the sake of

decency, he grabbed his sword and morphing polearm, and sprinted out of his

room, banging on the guest room door with his fist. "Vinge, wake up!" He

barked.

Seconds passed, and the door opened, a

sleepy-looking Vinge meeting him from behind the door. "What's wrong?" He

asked, somewhat cranky.

"It's the I.T.O.U.E; they're back already," returned

Volcan. "My brother just called me, saying some sort of mechanical wyvern is

coming this way!"

That did it; Vinge ducked back into his room, going

for his sword; it occurred to Volcan that their weapons might not do much

against a mech like the one Lighris had described, but if nothing else, both

phoenixes probably just felt better having their blades, even if they could not

use them against their upcoming opponent.

Armed and ready, the two phoenixes sprinted through

the apartment, heading for the balcony. On their way, it occurred to Volcan

that Tsume likely didn't know what was going on; he held up his staff and

banged it against the ceiling above him -a little too hard at first, causing

him to leave a hole in it.

"Ah crap; there goes some of my damage deposit," he

grumbled, but was certain he'd sent the intended message.

As Volcan pulled open his balcony door and leapt

outside, he spread his wings and took off into the air, with Vinge following

closely. He heard Tsume's balcony door open and heard her shout after him;

circling around, he flew back over to her balcony. She was wearing only a

bathrobe at the moment, apparently having only gotten out of bed herself, as

she came out of the house.

"Volcan, what was that banging about?" Tsume asked.

"We got trouble in the city," Volcan replied.

"Sounds big; get dressed and gear up, we're going to need you."

Tsume rolled her eyes. "No time for coffee, of

course," she grumbled before running back into her apartment.

The two waited for the Earth Phoenix. Vinge looked

over at Volcan as they hovered there, beating their wings heavily in order to

stay airborne and in place. "You think the I.T.O.U.E is really behind that

mechanical wyvern?"

"Can't be anyone else; Rex must've still had one ace

up his sleeve to play if things didn't go in his favor," said Volcan.

Vinge nodded in agreement. "It appears to be the

most likely scenario," he said. "I doubt that taking down the wyvern will

eliminate the threat of their presence, but we have to destroy it before it

destroys the city."

"Damn straight," agreed Volcan.

Tsume appeared a short time later, armed with her

knives and katars and wearing a blue tanktop and white Capri's. "Catch me!" She

called abruptly as she leapt off the balcony towards Volcan and Vinge.

Completely caught off guard by her stunt, the two

avians reached out and barely caught her by the arms, saving her from a very

painful fall. "Are you freakin' crazy?" Volcan scolded.

"Of course I am," she returned as they carried her

down to the ground, grinning smugly at both of them.

Vinge looked at Volcan in exasperation as they set

down the Earth Phoenix and landing themselves. Volcan could only shrug back

helplessly; Tsume had her moments of being random, obnoxious or even downright

reckless, but to her it was all for the thrill of it. Unlike her sisters, Tsume

was always looking for adventure, while her siblings sought only dates,

upper-class parties and their next shopping spree, but Tsume listed those as a

second priority... if they were even to be bothered with at all.

"Well come on!" Tsume called, sprinting towards a

nearby patch of ground. "Let's get moving!"

"Hey, wait up; you don't even know where we're

going!" Volcan called as both he and Vinge followed after her.

~~~~~

Brent had been up bright and early that morning; a

rare thing for him, but in his excitement, he had barely been able to sleep at

all last night, spending most of his night dreaming about the project he had

nearly completed; it was almost ready! Nobody could ever say he didn't do his

part to contribute to the team whenever danger found them after today; with

this new project finished, he'd be the team's biggest guns... literally.

As he tinkered away at the distinctively

humanoid-shaped machinery half-covered by a tarp, he heard his radio buzz as

the rock music he'd been playing was cut off. His ears twitched and he glared

over his shoulder at the radio, at first wondering if it had short-circuited,

until he heard the broadcast.

"We interrupt

your regularly scheduled radio station to bring you this important news

bulletin," the anchorman that had seized the broadcast announced. "The city of Unity Falls has been placed

under a state of emergency as a strange, mechanical monster resembling a feral

Wyvern has appeared seemingly from nowhere, and is now circling above A-Plaza.

The National Guard is already on scene and has engaged the unusual bogey but we

strongly urge all residents to begin evacuating and to stay away from A-Plaza

until the unknown enemy has been dealt with."

Spurred by what his ears had caught, Brent sprinted

across his workshop to the dirty, dusty television on his workbench; he

switched it on and hurriedly switched it to the news channels, switching

between them until he found one that gave a live feed of what was happening in

Unity Falls. His jaw fell open as he saw the mechanical creature flying over

the city, barely getting a glimpse of it because of how fast it was flying. He

could clearly hear the sound of machine guns, seeing them ping off of the

armour plates of the wyvern's hide.

Artificial or

not, actually rather true to the real thing; Wyverns were known for having very

hard skin,

Brent thought, but quickly shook his head and gave himself a mental slap on the

cheek. "What the hell am I doing?! I'm sitting here complimenting it when it's

attacking my hometown!"

He looked over his shoulder at the blanketed object

he had been working on, and put a hand to his chin in thought. Was it ready?

And would it do any good against the wyvern? The military had much better

hardware than anything Brent could ever have access to and even they were

helpless to stop it... but if he just sat here doing nothing, after spending so

much time working on this project, he really was a coward.

            Brent turned, heading for the door;

he slapped the button to open the workshop's large sliding door before he ran

outside, heading over to his truck -a dark blue Chevrolet Silverado, and jumped

into the driver's seat, starting it and backing it up into the workshop,

parking the truck as close to the tarp-covered object as he could before he got

out and ran up to it, pulling the tarp free to reveal what it was covering.

            Below the tarp was a large metal

body, shaped almost like a humanoid, but covered in lusterless metal plates. It

had something of a blocky appearance, and between the plates, several hydraulic

servos and metal joints could be seen in the legs and arms. The head of the

armour closely resembled a canine's head, with two windowed eye slits and a

vent for breathing. The front of the strange suit was open, revealing a small,

cramped compartment that looked barely large enough for the hyena to fit in,

and on the back of the armour where the pilot's back would rest, a layer of

padded leather was nailed into the metal, similar padding inside of the helmet,

and the fingers of the left arm, though perhaps a little vulnerable, looked

dextrous enough, consisting of a long black glove the metal plates were nailed

to. However, the other arm ended not in a hand like the left, but in a Light

Machine Gun with an attached box magazine, carrying more than three hundred

rounds.

            "The RCMP would put me away for half

my life if they ever caught me with this thing," muttered Brent, grimacing at

the gun as he removed the box magazine, replacing it with a different one

marked 'AP' on the side.

Fully automatic weapons, especially military-grade

LMG's, were highly prohibited and illegal in Canada; to even own one or be in

possession of one without a military permit was a ten year prison sentence. The

RCMP did not fool around when it came to firearms control in Canada, but

fortunately for Brent, even they couldn't collect all of the weapons left

behind by the gangs from the gang war. Brent had helped himself to some of the

scraps they had missed, including this gun.

Bringing over a small stepping stool, he carefully

placed one leg into the suit, finding his footing before lowering himself in,

and inserting his legs and arms into the compartments of the suit's limbs,

fitting them into the sockets where he'd use his own limbs to steer the armour.

He rested his back against the padding behind him, and lifted his own head into

that of the armour. He pulled his right arm back out to flick a switch by his

hip before he put his arm back into its place, and the front of the armour

slammed shut noisily, as loud as a hammer hitting an anvil; the noise was

amplified in the enclosed space of the suit, making Brent cringe and his ears

ring for a moment.

"Note to self... next suit, more moving parts for

compartment door," he muttered, and began to test the suit.

It was hard to move, but not impossible, even for

him; with the expertly designed servo components he'd salvaged from the

I.T.O.U.E cyborg, he had successfully developed limbs that moved with little to

no effort, and the hydraulics supported the weight of the armour and himself as

he leaned forward and stood up, hobbling a little but barely managing to keep

his balance.

"Oh yeah, this is real smart; I'm taking this thing

for its first battle and I still haven't even tested it," he said. "Damn, this

thing's heavy... mother of mercy take pity on me if I fall over in this fuckin'

thing." He turned towards his truck, carefully approaching. "Okay... baby steps

Brent; baby steps. You can make it... " He looked at the lowered tailgate. "...No I

can't; that's too high to lift my leg. But maybe..."

Slowly, he turned around; with his back to the box

of the truck, he got as close as possible, and counted to three, giving a

little hop towards the truck and letting himself fall back. Only half of the armour

went in, however; the legs stull hung over the tailgate. With some more effort,

Brent managed to shove the armour into the box enough to be secured. He hit the

release, and the armour front opened; carefully, he climbed out of the armour,

and after tying it down with some straps and covering it with a tarp, he

hurried out of the box and up to the cab.

"Alright, time to roll! Hang on guys; I'm coming!"

~~~~~

(Play 'Goliath' by Immediate Music)

The American half of Unity Falls was in utter chaos

as the cybernetic wyvern rampaged across its skies, picking out seemingly

random targets in the streets, in buildings or among the soldiers, and

seemingly ignoring the rest completely, despite the national guard shooting at

it. No one who fell under its gaze and faced the power of its laser weapon

survived as its attack carried on, and the collateral damage it left was

tremendous; entire chunks of buildings were destroyed, and numerous civilians

were not spared its attack either.

Volcan, Vinge and Tsume had arrived on the scene,

just a few blocks from where the wyvern was; the two fliers landed on a

building to observe it, and Tsume appeared atop a moment later after using a

chunk of earth to levitate herself up, standing beside the two male phoenixes,

looks of horror finding their way onto their faces as they saw the destruction

the metal wyvern caused.

"If I wasn't seeing it, I wouldn't believe it," said

Tsume, gazing in awe at the monstrosity. "It's like something out of a Sci-Fi

Horror movie."

"I wish this were only a movie," admitted Volcan.

Vinge peered over his shoulder. "Maybe the air force

will have better luck," he said, pointing off the west, where two F-22 fighter

planes were approaching the city, swiftly.

"Yeah! Those should be too fast for it to hit!"

Volcan exclaimed confidently.

"We'll soon see," replied Vinge as the two planes

made ready to fire their payload.

Missiles launched from the underbellies of the

fighter jets, leaving behind streams of white exhaust as they soared towards

the mechanical wyvern, which immediately began to fly away, the propulsion

engines on the bottoms of its feet giving it impressive speed, but nowhere near

enough to outrun a pair of sidewinders; it went higher, and dove, gaining a

little distance, but the missiles were locked and closing in fast.

But then, compartments in the sides of its legs

opened up, and flares erupted from the openings, fooling the heat-seeking

technology of the missiles and sending them careening off course, where they

flew off in the distance or fell to the city below, causing more damage to the

nearby buildings as it crashed into the side of a skyscraper, showering smaller

structures with debris.

The cyber wyvern turned about, as the fighter planes

soared past, getting them in its sights before firing its laser weapon, in a

narrower beam than previously, at the closer of the two planes. It missed, but

began to arc towards him as the wyvern continued discharging it; the pilot

steered his plane away, banding under the laser to evade it, before performing

a somersault to go back and face the wyvern again, firing another missile at

it.

The wyvern could not evade this time; the missile

scored a direct hit to its chest, causing the cyber wyvern to slow as it angled

back from the force of the blast. However, with the help of some more engines

on its back, it managed to keep its aerial balance and keep flying. Worst of

all, the damage to its chest, though visible, was not as extensive as the

avians watching the unfolding battle expected -the metal was cracked and burnt,

but not breached.

The wyvern aimed its weapon again; this time when it

fired, it scored a direct hit on the F-22, immediately shearing off the plane's

left wing and part of its tail, sending it spiralling out of control towards

the city below; it crashed into the streets, skidding to a halt on the pavement

between a pair of cars. The second plane was making its own attack run, only

for the wyvern to unveil another surprise; a pair of compartments opened up in

its shoulders, and four missiles erupted from the openings, soaring through the

air and homing in on the F-22 before it could gain some distance, destroying it

utterly.

"Crap..." growled Volcan. "So much for being too fast

to be hit; that thing must have state-of-the-art targeting systems to hit two

fighter planes like that."

"Forget that; did you see what happened? The thing

took a direct hit from a sidewinder and it hardly took any damage," Tsume

pointed out."

"Yeah I saw; geez, what's that thing made of, titanium?"

Volcan asked in disbelief.

"Based on the luster of that metal, I'd say it's adamantite,"

replied Vinge.

"Ada-whatsit?" Tsume asked.

"Adamantite; a very unique alloy metal, just as

tough as Titanium, but heavier and not quite as expensive," explained Vinge.

"It's made using specially refined steel, mixed in with diamond dust, giving

the metal the durability of diamonds and the pliability of steel; it's even

rumoured it has reflective properties against lasers, although such a thing has

never been tested since -until now- laser weapon technology was only

fictional."

"I've heard of that metal," agreed Volcan. "Has a

lot of specifications to make it; very easy to screw up, from what I've heard.

But if it's so tricky why use so much of it?"

"Far easier to procure than titanium; steel and

diamonds are cheaper and not as rare, while titanium is very hard to find, let

alone enough to make something that size," replied Vinge. "I may be heavier and

harder to work with but it's that or spend a fortune getting your hands on an

even rarer metal."

Volcan nodded. "So... is it conductive? Maybe I can

melt through it."

"All metals can be refined, even adamantite,"

replied Vinge. "If you can get close enough you can probably melt your way in,

but if memory serves, it's got a pretty high melting point, so you're going to

need a diversion."

"What about the civilians around here?" Tsume asked.

"We'll have to leave them for the National Guard to

handle; we have to focus on taking that thing down, and fast," Volcan stated

firmly.

"Right," agreed Vinge.

"Hey!"

The three turned, and saw Rikyuu flying towards

them, accompanied by Ayane in her power armour once again. The two landed on

the roof across from the phoenixes, and strode up to them. "Glad to see you

here," Rikyuu said.

"Like I'd miss out on this," returned Volcan.

"Yo! Am I late to the party?" The group turned just

in time to see Pavan somersaulting towards them, accompanied by Lighris. Pavan

looked fresh out of bed himself, still in a pair of sweat pants, but Lighris

was fully clothed and everything; clearly having been up for a while.

"Glad you two could make it," said Volcan.

Lighris scoffed. "I'm not letting that machine trash

my hometown."

Volcan turned to Rikyuu. "Where are 'Sid and Yurui?"

"They're working with the National Guard to try and

get the civilians away from here," replied Rikyuu. "But that cybernetic

monster's been attacking random people."

"I'm not so sure it is random," replied Vinge,

barely audible over more tank and machine gun fire on the wyvern.

"What do you mean?" Ayane asked.

"The I.T.O.U.E targets super humanoids; it occurred

to me the other day maybe they have some means of identifying them on sight,"

explained Vinge. "I discussed with Kyle, and apparently they have scanning

equipment that can identify them instantly by detecting certain differences in

their genetic code, brain waves and sometimes even physique, depending on the

person. This wyvern is definitely built by the I.T.O.U.E, so maybe the people

it's targeting are more super humanoids; in a city this large, a fair abundance

of them can be found."

"You know, he has a point," said Tsume. "From what

we've seen of the I.T.O.U.E so far, they usually work subtly and precisely;

come in, capture, and leave as quickly as they arrived."

"But this time, they're coming in loud because we're

the first ones to actually oppose their tricks, and now with the location of

their base compromised, they've been backed into a corner," said Volcan.

"Or," added Vinge. "This is nothing more than a

diversion."

"That's one hell of a diversion," Ayane commented,

jerking her thumb towards the wyvern as another tank shot at it.

"Probably the point; draw all attention to himself,"

said Vinge.

Lighris stepped in. "Hey, there's a small war going

on in the A-Plaza right now; we don't have time for a million words! Let's just

get in there and wreck the thing!" And with that, before anyone could voice any

protest, Lighris was off, taking off into the sky and heading for the wyvern.

"Is he really that reckless?" Rikyuu asked.

 "Yep,"

replied Pavan.

"Does he have a plan?" Vinge inquired to Volcan.

"Probably not, but he is just as good a wrecking

things as he is at fixing them." The phoenix turned to Vinge, Pavan and Tsume.

"He's going to need backup; get in there and help him, do whatever you can to

trip up that thing. I'll go for its chest where it got hit before and see if I

can't break into it; destroy it from the inside out." He turned to Rikyuu.

"Rik, you're my backup; take on my powers again and see if you can help me rip

open the wyvern, and Ayane, you cover us; see if you can find a weak spot on

that thing and maybe find a way to destroy it."

"Aye, aye," Rikyuu returned, saluting sarcastically

as his colours began to change to match Volcan's red and gold.

Volcan nodded, studying each of his friends. "Guys...

before we go in there... I'm glad to have all of you with me," he said, solemnly.

"Whatever happens, I..."

The phoenix felt a slap on his lower back before he

could carry on. "'Ey! Don't you go talking like none of us are coming back from

this!" Ayane remarked.

"Yeah, we've got this," agreed Rikyuu. "We've come

up against worse, right?"

"Really?" Tsume asked, eyeing Rikyuu incredulously.

"When did we ever take on something like that?"

"...Okay ya got me there, but still! If we work

together, we can beat that thing!" Rikyuu encouraged further.

"Yeah! We're the god damn... uh... uuuuhh..." He paused.

"The what?" Volcan asked.

"Still been working on a team name," replied Pavan.

"Thought I'd get it spur of the moment but, I'm drawing a blank."

"A team name?" Vinge asked, with a mix of disbelief

and curiosity.

"Well we're a team right? A team of super-tough

super humanoids! A team deserves a name, so we're... fuck, I can't come up with

anything!" Pavan scratched his head in frustration.

Volcan thought for a moment, studying each of his

comrades; three phoenixes -four including his brother, two dragons -three

including Obsidian, and a genetically engineered snow leopard as well, all with

supernatural abilities and of rare species that appear numerous times in myths

and fairy tales across history.

Supernatural...

"Os-Nàdarra," said Volcan.

"Come again?" Rikyuu asked.

"Os-Nàdarra... it's Gaelic; means 'Supernatural'..." He

smiled. "Os-Nàdarra Sentinels. That'll be our team name."

Tsume smiled and nodded. "I like it; sounds good and

tough, and it suits us all for our roles."

"Well, not so much me," Ayane commented. "I may be a

dragon but I don't have any sort of powers like any of you guys."

"Besides your brain you mean?" Pavan remarked.

"Nobody is THAT naturally smart in this day and age, toots!"

"...Don't know if I should be honoured or offended,"

muttered Ayane, rolling her eyes.

"It works," agreed Rikyuu.

"It does," added Vinge. "I'd be proud to carry it."

"So what; we going to get badges or signet rings or

something?" Pavan asked.

Another explosion rocked the air as the wyvern

destroyed yet another military tank with its laser weapon.

"Discussion for another time, don't you think?" Rikyuu

asked Pavan.

"Right; rain-check."

"Os-Nàdarra," declared Volcan. "Let's take him

down!"

(Play 'Electric Eye' by Helloween)

Volcan, Vinge, Pavan, Rikyuu and Pavan took to the

skies while Tsume returned to ground level; Ayane remained on the roof, taking

aim at the Wyvern through the attached scope on her DMR, surveying it for weak spots

she could exploit with the high-powered rounds she had loaded it with. Tsume

would go after it from below while the others fought for air superiority. As

previously assigned by Volcan, the group spread out; Tsume, Vinge and Pavan

moved to attack the wyvern from the side and beneath, while Rikyuu and Volcan

flew off at an angle to flank it from behind, as well as pair up with Lighris.

The military still had it from the front; between

them and the newly named Os-Nàdarra Sentinels, they had a fair chance of boxing

in the Cyber Wyvern, and inflicting as much damage as possible. But they had to

be cautious; they didn't know if this thing was some programmed automaton or was

actually being piloted by someone; there was no telling what else it might do

in its current situation.

Volcan and Rikyuu caught up to Lighris, who was

already charging up for his first attack. The lightning hawk drew back his

hands, electricity coursing along his arms as he flapped his wings to stay

airborne, and with a thrust of his palms, send a bolt of lightning from both

hands, the two merging into one as he cast, and sent it straight towards the

mechanical wyvern, an electrical crackle emitting from his arms as he cast the

bolt. Faster than the eye could follow the lightning bolt soared towards the

wyvern...

But it never hit.

A meter from its target, the lightning bolt suddenly

fizzed out in a burst of sparks, leaving no sign on the hull that it had even

landed. Ayane, spotting this through her scope, took a second look as Volcan

cast a fireball at the wyvern; as with Lighris' lightning bolt, the fireball

extinguished before it hit the target, stopped by some unseen force. A force

field? Not like one she'd ever seen before; one that stopped lightning and fire

cast by phoenixes from reaching it, but not bullets from military weapons or

155mm tank shells, making her wonder what kind of field it was.

She watched as Tsume, below the wyvern, hurled a

chunk of stone with her Terrakinesis towards the Wyvern's foot, trying to hit

the engines that allowed it to stay aloft; the rock went unhindered, although

didn't quite hit its intended target, striking just the toes. Still, Ayane took

not that despite being cast by a phoenix, the stone was not stopped by the

force field, just like the weapons of the military.

Vinge was next to move in for the attack, conjuring

up large ice spikes that had cast towards the hull of the wyvern; the ice,

harder than stone, was sent towards the dented area of the wyvern's torso, but

despite the damage that region had taken, the ice shattered on contact with the

metal hull. Pavan came in next, wind trailing in his wake in such a manner the

air seemed to actually be shimmering; he soared past the wyvern, the wind in

his wake causing it to lose balance somewhat and dip towards the ground,

quickly rectified by the propulsion engines on its back and feet.

Then came Rikyuu; he soared at the wyvern, conjuring

an energy hammer in his hands; even though he was using Volcan's powers with

his copying ability, he could still use his ability to manipulate laser-like

energy into weapons that behaved and functioned like the real thing. Fire

erupted from his feet as he cast Volcan's rocket-flight trick -a power that let

Volcan fly up to ninety miles per hour, a trick the phoenix had taught Rikyuu

in the gang war when the dragon had first copied his powers, and used his

energy hammer to pound on the hull of the wyvern, trying to breach its hull;

the impact caused a minor dent in the chest, but not much more than that.

The wyvern, however, noticed the damage, and angled

its head down; it was all Rikyuu could do to avoid getting vaporized as he dove

between the wyvern's legs as it fired its laser weapon at him. Lighris moved in

to attack again, casting more lightning bolts at the wyvern, but as before with

the larger one he had entered with, the electrical element phased out a meter

from its target.

So that's it, she thought, her keen grasp

on technology and quick-thinking allowing her to swiftly piece things together.

He tuned it to protect him from outside

energy sources such as the elemental essence in lightning cast by Lighris or

Volcan, but it can't actually stop kinetic energy like wind, or projectiles

like bullets, stones or ice. It's using the same kind of tech as those

Disruptors the I.T.O.U.E use, but it's in a more condensed form to act as a

barrier; that's why he needs such dense armour for the hull because it can't

stop projectiles or kinetic powers cast from outside of it! She continued

to survey the wyvern through her scope. But

where is the generator itself?

Then, she spotted something on the legs; it wasn't

the generator for the force field, she was certain of that, but on the back of

the legs, there was a gap in the armour, a space left between the leg plates

and the heel of the foot -likely for articulation purposes, and with a little

more zooming with the scope of her rifle, she could see some exposed wires

under the plating, along with a hydraulic support.

She grinned. "Design flaw, Dr. Rex," she said,

taking aim and firing.

The bullet found its mark; it flew into the gap, and

ricocheted repeatedly as it struck the inside of the armour plating, eventually

striking one of the wires. The foot spasmed, and altering the angle and causing

the wyvern to veer unintentionally as its foot moved, thus changing where the

thruster on the underside of the foot was aiming. It nearly fell out of the

air, but managed to regain control, until a tank round struck its chest and

sent it falling towards the ground, landing atop a small office building that

was crushed under its weight.

"Ha, excellent!" She exclaimed

"Nice one Ayane!" Volcan called, having seen her

make the shot.

Ayane glanced up, spotting the phoenix flying

overhead, and called up to him. "Volcan! The mech seems to be protected by some

kind of energy field; it blocks your and Lighris' powers from reaching the

body!"

"Yeah; I noticed," returned Volcan. "Any advice?"

"I'm still trying to spot whatever's generating it;

look for anything that stands out!" The dragoness called back to him.

Volcan glanced back over to the mech, seeing it

already starting to get back up, and saw it change direction, aiming its weapon

towards where Ayane was. He looked down, bellowing for her to get clear, but

she had already seen the attack and was running for the ledge. The laser beam

cut through the building where she'd been standing as she leapt over the side

and dropped down to the ground below, but an ominous shadow loomed over her;

she looked up, and saw a chunk of the building falling towards her!

"Oh crap!" She cried, and ran to get out of the way.

Unfortunately, she didn't get far enough. As the building piece hit the ground,

it shattered; Ayane felt a piece of rubble fall on her tail, sending white-hot

pain shooting up her back and causing her to fall right on her stomach, her gun

skidding away as more rubble fell over her legs and pinned. "Oh come on; this

is such a cliché!" She complained, and tried to pull herself free of the

rubble.

"Need a hand

there?" A rather electronic voice asked as she heard heavy footsteps

approaching her. Turning her gaze towards the source of the voice, her jaw

nearly hit the ground as she saw a big, metal humanoid walking towards her; an

armoured body with a machine gun attached to its right arm, which was levelled

straight ahead until the robotic form was standing over her, the gun lowering...

Another

I.T.O.U.E borg!

She thought, and drew her pistol, shooting at the chest of the metal-clad

assailant. The bullet ricocheted, but the 'person' backed up, holding up his

left hand defensively.

"Hey, hey,

hold it!" He exclaimed. "Ayane, put

the damn gun down; it's me!"

When that voice reached her ears and Ayane

recognized it, her jaw nearly hit the ground as her mouth fell open. "No way..."

She muttered.

"Way,"

returned Brent, stepping forward again and poking the barrel of his machine gun

under the rubble before he began to lift it, using leverage to elevate the

chunk of stone off of Ayane's tail and allow her to roll out from under the

rubble; the only thing that had saved her bones from being broken was her

armour holding up against the weight of the rubble, leaving her little more

than annoyed, but unharmed.

Ayane turned to Brent, and eyed the visor of his new

'suit' sternly. "Brent... you really in there?"

"Yep," replied

the hyena. "What do you think? Built it

myself."

"But... how? And when?" Ayane asked.

"Lot of

salvaging, and for about the last four months," replied Brent. "Wasn't until you guys found that cyborg I

got the components I really needed; those servo motors and hydraulic skeleton

were the last touch."

"It looks kind of... clunky. You sure that thing will

work?"

"It better,

considering what we're up against here," returned the armoured hyena,

looking up at the cyber wyvern above.

Ayane grimaced. "Well... guess we better find out,

then," she said. "Let's cover the others."

Brent held up the LMG mounted on his right arm. "Armed and dangerous."

The two headed off to find themselves an adequate

vantage point from which to take shots at the cyber wyvern. Meanwhile, the

fliers were hard at work avoiding its weaponry; the cyber wyvern apparently had

more than just laser breath and missile launchers, it also had machine guns

mounted on its sides above the legs. Once back in the air, the fliers took

evasive action to keep clear of the guns, but were no closer to finding a way

to destroy it.

Volcan had looked over the entire wyvern but found

nothing that looked like it could be a force field generator, projecting the

field that protected the cyber wyvern from their powers. Even if they did,

Rikyuu, who's powers weren't even affected by the field, had no better luck

breaching the outer hull of the cyber wyvern than the others had; Volcan

couldn't tear it open, and his morphing polearm, even with a great deal of

momentum behind it in spear form, couldn't pierce the Adamantite.

May not be as

strong as Titanium but it's still sturdy enough to stop even me, Volcan thought. And I can't melt through it because my

powers won't work; it stops all energy types from reaching it but not solid

objects manipulated kinetically. He rubbed his chin in thought. Maybe if we could find something large and

hard enough to penetrate the hull... but what? The thing took two missiles and

several tank shells and only cracked.

Volcan banked aside and flew over to Vinge as Rikyuu

and Lighris kept up their attacks on the wyvern, with Tsume attacking from

below with stones, trying to throw off its flight patterns and bring it back

down again. The ice phoenix saw Volcan coming, and turned to meet him, both

avians beating their wings heartily to stay aloft.

"Volcan; nothing we have can breach that armour,"

said Vinge. "I hate to say it, but I'm not sure how to beat this thing; I never

trained to fight massive machines."

"Neither did I," returned Volcan. "But there has to

be some way to break through! We just need to find something hard enough."

"Aside from Titanium what's harder than Adamantite?"

Rikyuu called as he flew past.

Volcan frowned. "I really don't know..." He said. "Our

earlier plan won't work; my powers go dead if I get inside that thing's force

field, and I can't melt my way into it from too far away. I'm stumped; I really

don't know what to do now."

"There has to be a way..." Rikyuu said, trying to

hold back the sense of hopelessness that threatened to overwhelm him. They had

tried everything already but nothing they did seemed to do anything to the

Cyber Wyvern...

Vinge seemed to have a thought. "Maybe if I..."

He did not get to finish before the electronic sound

of the wyvern firing its laser weapon again filled the air; the three turned,

and saw the beam angling towards them. "Look out!" Volcan cried, and the three

dove down, dropping below the beam as it cut across the air, burning its way

through a skyscraper.

The upper half of the building creaked ominious; the

three looked up as parts of the building began to crumble away, windows

shattered and bricks splintered as the weight of the structure, having lost its

supports, collapsed into itself. And then, it fell away from the main body,

leaning ominously over the street below where Volcan, Rikyuu and Vinge stood,

shattering as it hit a neighboring structure and fell in thousands of pieces

towards them.

"Move, move, move!!!" Volcan roared, grabbing both

of his friends by the backs of their necks -since they had no shirts for him to

grab, and hurled them out from under the path of collapsing building, both men

screaming in surprise as they were sent flying involuntarily through the air,

hitting the hard pavement safely out of the danger zone.

With his friends safe, Volcan began to sprint to get

himself out, but a pair of I-beams fell in his path, catching his foot as he

tried to sprint over them and making him fall flat on his face, making stars

dance in front of his eyes as his beak was pushed back into his face with

painful force. "Fuck!" He groaned, rubbing his face, only to look up in horrid

realization as he saw some of the rubble still falling towards him.

"No!" Vinge bellowed, and scrambled to his feet; he

knew he'd never reach it in time, so instead, he thrust his palms forward,

casting streams of ice towards Volcan, rapidly forming a dome over the fire

phoenix and angling the top like a pyramid, and making it as thick as he

possibly could with such a short span of time, leaving an opening for the

phoenix to crawl out through, but the opening was covered by rubble, succeeding

in trapping the phoenix. The ice was four inches thick, solid, but though ice

of that density was quite strong -especially the kind formed by an Ice

Elemental, it was still only ice, and would not hold long...

Rubble pinged off of the top of the ice pyramid;

chunks of brick, glass and wooden flooring did little damage, but an I-beam

struck the surface, causing it to spider-web. More and more rubble piled around

the ice pyramid, until Volcan was in complete darkness, unable to see, hearing

only the sound of the rubble sliding against the ice, and feeling the creeping

cold of the ice around him.

"Not good," Volcan said to himself, knowing what would

happen if he didn't get out of there quickly. His feathers were made of fire,

and would consume all of the oxygen in this little space in less than a minute.

He knew Vinge was only trying to protect him, but this had only prolonged the

inevitable. Unless, he used his human form; Volcan had the inherent ability

from his mother's side of the family to shapeshift into a human or a feral

version of himself; the former would take away all of his powers, but he could

survive for a time in this space if he used it here.

Or maybe not; he heard more cracking and looked up

to see the ice was already beginning to give under the rubble's tremendous

weight. It would not hold for long... even if Volcan went to his human form,

once the ice gave way the rubble would crush him; not even he was strong enough

to hold up the weight of a skyscraper.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Volcan cursed repeatedly,

thinking to try and find a solution.

He was scared; if he didn't do something to get out

of here, he was going to be buried alive, and he could not come back to life

from such injuries as this would cause...

Images of his family flashed through his mind; his

brother, his grandparents, his dearly beloved mother... what would happen to them

if he was gone? They'd be shattered... and if his friends could not stop the

I.T.O.U.E on their own, who would protect his family from them if he was dead?!

(Play 'Nest of Fiends' by

Adrian von Ziegler here; link in story description)

His fear began to become mixed with anger, even as

the ice cracked ominously over his head. Had he become the hero of Unity Falls

only to die in a collapsing building, after saving his hometown from a violent

gang war that threatened to destroy his home and injure the people he loved?

Had he come so far in his career, only for a circumstantial accident to

interrupt his life before it had even truly begun? And had he dared to

challenge one of the most dangerous organizations in the world, only to be

denied the chance to see the true face of the enemy he had made?!

But as Volcan's anger grew, he felt something; his

body began to ache, mildly at first, before he doubled over in pain, clenching

his stomach as if something were trying to tear its way out of his body. And it

may have been just that; he knew this feeling. He'd felt it in the past; he

knew its cause. A darkness, deep within himself, that had haunted him his whole

life; a second presence, like a second personality but with power of its own,

that would use his negative emotions to fuel its strength and take over.

Now, with his life in danger, and so many said

emotions surfacing so quickly, that darkness was coming again, seeing its

opportunity to be free and wreak havoc across the world once more until someone

stopped it. But Volcan knew even this great evil within himself would not

survive the collapsing building; even if he did let it out, if as a last ditch

effort to survive. This evil had never saved anyone before, and it would not

save anyone now, not even Volcan.

He fought against it, shouting defiantly to the

space around him as he tried to fight it. "You're not taking me again!" He said

in a low voice.

Unknown to Volcan, his feathers had already begun to

darken; this evil presence in himself also altered his appearance, changing his

colours to feathers of black and violet in contrast to his usual fire red and

bright yellow; even his eyes changed from their usual sky blue to a sinister

violet. As the struggle carried on, Volcan's feathers continued to change to

that sinister colour scheme.

I can't let

this happen! Volcan

screamed in his mind, and directed his thoughts to the evil presence. Everyone needs me, not you! You won't take me; I won't let you take me!

            The evil didn't respond... it couldn't

respond. It was not sentient; it was mindless, wicked, destructive, and knew

only how to kill everyone and obliterate everything it saw. It could not be

reasoned with, and worst of all, it could not be controlled. Volcan's life was

in danger; he knew it, the evil knew it, and it would stop at nothing to come

out, and try and take control to protect itself and continue its singular

purpose of destruction.   

            "No!" Volcan said defiantly. "This...

is... not... happening... again!"

            ~~~~~

            Vinge and Rikyuu -who had reverted

back to his regular self with his blue scales and yellow eyes- had already

began trying to dig their way into the rubble to try and free Volcan, their

hands pulling at the chunks of debris as they desperately fought to reach their

friend, and the battle with the Cyber Wyvern carried on behind them. Tsume sent

the largest chunks of stone she could manage at the Wyvern, trying to knock it

out of the sky, but it had caught onto her assaults from below, and was now

flying higher to evade her; attempting to send rocks so large to such a height

was beyond her ability to do for long, and tired her quickly. The wyvern

attacked her, using its laser weapon once again, and her only salvation was

Pavan diving in to rescue her, getting her out of the path of the attack.

            Lighris, Ayane and the newly arrived

armoured figure, along with what was left of the army, continued to attack the

wyvern, firing bullets, artillery shells and lightning bolts -from Lighris- at

the creature, but nothing they did was working; many of their shots fell short,

others lacked the momentum to damage the armoured body of the Cyber Wyvern;

their attempts were getting nowhere, and they were running out of people to

keep fighting; every time the wyvern attacked, the numbers of the army thinned,

and the anthropomorphic heroes who had now called themselves the Os-Nàdarra

Sentinels were down one member.

            As Vinge continued to dig, he

suddenly stopped, freezing in place -no pun intended- as he felt something

otherworldly make its presence known. He stared at the rubble, finding himself

instinctively backing up from it, which at first went unnoticed by Rikyuu until

the dragon saw Vinge out of the corner of his eye, immediately noticing the

stunned look on his face.

            "Vinge, what is it?" He asked.

            "Something is happening in there..."

The ice phoenix replied. "I think we should step back!"

~~~~~

            A flash before his eyes... he didn't

know what it was, but suddenly he was in a completely different place. A place

where the world around him seemed to be divided into two halves; one side was

white, where he was standing, and the other side was the darkest black he had

ever seen, with a deep line of gray separating the two parts of this world like

a toneless equator. He was free-floating, and couldn't tell if he was facing up

or down, or which way was left or right, but he wasn't falling.

            "Where the hell...?" Volcan asked.

            His voice echoed, as if he were in a

large empty room. Not like he could tell what was a wall and what was a floor

or ceiling in this place... but where was he? Was he hallucinating? "Eh,

probably," he muttered to himself. "This close to death I suppose anything is

normal... wait, but I've died before .This didn't happen then." He shuddered as

he remembered that experience; so tired out and broken from his battle with

Warwick Torison, he'd collapsed. What happened after, he didn't know, but

before long, he found himself awakening as if from a nightmare to find his body

in excruciating pain as he rode out a case of the stiffs he never wanted to

feel again.

            At that dark thought, the blackness

seemed to come alive. Volcan turned his gaze towards it, and it was only then

he saw the blackness wasn't some sort of void. It was an inferno, filled with

flames as dark as the night -the same colour as the flames his counterpart

used, and it was spreading.

            He stared hard towards it as he

thought he saw movement, and at the fore of the flames, he saw that destructive

other half of him. Perfect in his likeness in everything but colour, the

phoenix with black and violet feathers, violet eyes, and flew with a mad cackle

of glee and eyes wide with pure insanity as it flew towards him, the flames

behind it trailing, crossing the gray area and into the white.

            How could this be; how could Volcan

and this dark half of himself be in the same place at the same time? They

inhabited one body, and a single mind...

            It occurred to Volcan... he'd always

been told everyone alive had both good and evil in their souls; it was a

concept that held a place in many stories, songs and even religious texts;

stories like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were essentially inspired by this concept,

though most didn't believe a person's evil side could be awakened through means

of chemistry like the story told, but through tragedy, or anger; something that

forcefully changed them even if for a moment or changed them indefinitely if

they could not recover.

            A fact which Volcan had become all

too aware of, and could confirm it to be true. This darkness had seized him

four times before in his life; once when he was a child, when he angry over

something that had happened at school -he could not recall what at this point,

but he had never been so enraged before. During that time, his mother had to

subdue him. The second time it occurred was on his thirteenth birthday

-ironically- when someone had broken into his house, and tried to attack his

mother. Once more it had been up to her to subdue him after Volcan drove out

the intruder, whom they never saw again, but she had required help from Lighris

that time; Volcan was bigger than the first time this had happened, and therefore

harder to control.

            Three years later, it happened

again; some punks at school had assaulted Pavan, the same ones who Volcan had

once rescued from when the two had first met after they'd locked the poor wind

phoenix in a box and trapped him with no way out. The same kids had gone after

Pavan once again, and this time left him hospitalized; for no reason but

apparently the fun of it, according to them. When Volcan had heard this

straight from the mouths of the assailants, he'd snapped, changing once more and

putting both into a coma, thankfully mistaking them for dead in his blind fury.

This time however, there had been no one to subdue him, and he was set loose on

the city, destroying an entire building before his brother and Pavan both came

and stopped him together.

            And then the fourth time; his fight

with Warwick Torison, one of the members of The Mana, who had superhuman

strength that exceeded even Volcan's own, brought on by steroidal drugs and

magical enhancement by their magister, and he had nearly beaten Volcan to death

before the phoenix had turned into this dark form approaching him now. But even

that had not been enough to stop Warwick; Volcan's blind, undisciplined,

unthinking dark half had been easily outmaneuvered by the man, and after

knocking him out, Volcan regained control of himself, and finished the fight

with his own hands.

(Play Epic Score 'Strength

to Believe' composed by Daniel James,-see the description for link)

            He had never understood where this

evil had come from; his mom had always been hesitant to tell him, but he knew

she knew the cause, somehow. There was no amount of evil in the heart of anyone

that could change them so drastically. But he did understand that this evil was

one of the many things that made him so desperate to make a difference in the

world; to try and do his part to change it. There was enough darkness on Earth,

even in his home country; he did not need to be adding to it.

            He understood now where he was... he

was seeing his soul, the way he pictured it in his subconscious. Illusion or

not, this was very real, deep within himself...

            Yes... this darkness was part of him;

he could not be rid of it, but it would never own him. He would not allow it

to; it was not stronger than him. In terms of power they were equal, but this

evil was driven only by primal instinct and some pre-conceived natural affinity

for disaster, but it was not sentient. That was why Volcan was the dominant

personality so long as he could keep his emotions under control. But now with

his life in danger, he had lost that control.

            But this time, he would not let the

evil have him; it would accomplish nothing, and would only doom him and his

friends. He stared at it with hatred as it approached, hand drawn back as if to

claw at him as it reached him. He didn't put up his guard in readiness to

defend himself; he was done hiding from this evil. This time, the one being

controlled would be the evil in his heart; alone neither of them stood a

chance, but if he could control it, and use its power for his own, maybe he

could make a difference.

            I

don't know if this is possible, or if will do anything... he thought, the

dark image of himself mere seconds from him now, cackling with insane glee as

it stiffened its wings, gliding towards him and prepared to attack.

"But I'm not about to let you destroy me!" He

declared as he charged in to meet the evil. "This time I'm the one who'll take you!"

His fist swung at the same time as the

doppelganger's claw swept towards him.

Their arms met.

Their arms merged...

~~~~~

(Play 'With Great Power' by

Immediate Music here)

KABOOM!

The rubble exploded with tremendous force, a loud

cry followed by strangely-coloured fire bursting through the debris, the flames

burning the pieces of building despite them not being flammable as they were

sent arching through the air, some evil disintegrating as they flew. Vinge and

Rikyuu shielded their faces with their arms, keeping low to avoid some of the

flying rubble as the shockwave that scattered it rushed over them, nearly

throwing them off balance. This was not what Vinge had been expecting, but he

had been no less prepared for it, and so braced himself.

The two lowered their arms, and saw something that

defied all explanation.

            From the rubble, he appeared. An

avian that, although looked like Volcan, at the same time was not the same

phoenix they knew. His body and overall size was unchanged, but the colour of

his feathers had altered, the red and blue replaced with a bright, emerald

green and a deep, sapphire blue, his eyes had become bi-coloured, the right eye

blue, the left eye purple, and the flames coursing over his arms and wings

matched the colour. Even the normally orange skin of his hands and feet had

turned blue.

            But the energy... Rikyuu could not

sense it as Vinge could but the Ice Phoenix sensed some otherworldly force

connected to the flames that burned along the body of this new phoenix, like

some energy that predated time and space itself. Vinge had no idea how he knew

that, but the energy he felt was like a chaotic clash of two primordial forces;

something older than even the elements he and his friends commanded.

            It was like chaos itself had taken

form...

            Rikyuu stood up, and approached the

avian carefully, his eyes still filled with bewilderment as his mind tried to

process what he was seeing. "V-Volcan?" He called out.

            A response; the avian moved his head

to look at Rikyuu. A long stare of uncomfortable silence was shared between the

two of them, neither one uttering a single word as their eyes met...

            Until...

            Volcan suddenly sprang at the

dragon, arms and wings flayed out. "HA!" He bellowed.

            "AH!" Rikyuu screamed, completely

caught off guard by what at first he thought was an oncoming attack, stepping

back only to trip on a piece of debris and falling flat on his backside, crushing

his own tail under his weight and bringing a whimper of pain to his lips as he

threw his arms over his face defensively.

            Until he heard the laugh; laughter

in a voice he knew well, and had heard at his own expense before. Slowly, the

dragon removed his arms from his face, and stared up at his discoloured friend,

seeing him laughing at the dragon heartily. It certainly sounded like Volcan;

his voice seemed a little distorted, almost like it was echoing, but Rikyuu's

keen ears caught the familiar vocals.

            "Oh, the look on your face!" Volcan

exclaimed.

            "Volc... that really you?" Rikyuu

asked.

            "What, doesn't it look like me?"

Volcan asked, shrugging. "The look on your face, you think you'd seen a hoof!" He grunted as Rikyuu lunged

forward and punched him in the gut; not hard, but unexpected, with just enough

force to knock some of the wind out of him. He cringed from the punch at cast a

questioning glance at Rikyuu. "What... did I do... to deserve that?"

            "You're standing there, completely

changed, and the first thing you do is spook me?!" Rikyuu demanded. "I

should've left you buried in the rubble, had I known you'd do that!"

            "We both know ya don't mean that,"

said Volcan.

            Rikyuu allowed himself a smile.

"You're right. I don't. But seriously; what's with the colour change?"

            "Colour change?" Volcan asked.

            "Look at your arm," Vinge stated.

            Slowly, he did; Volcan elevated his

hand, and saw the colour his skin had changed to. His eyes widened with shock,

and he began to look over the rest of his arm as well, seeing the green of his

feathers, and seeing the colour change had occurred all across his body,

surprising the phoenix with his sudden change.

            "What the hell is goin' on here?"

Volcan asked, too stunned to panic, but feeling agitation creeping into his

mind nonetheless, unable to perceive what had happened to him. "...Rikyuu, hit

me."

            "Hit you? Why?"

            "Because this has to be another

hallucination; I'm green, I'm glowing, yet I haven't been hit by any radiation

or anything," said Volcan. "And even if I had, I don't absorb radiation; I'm just as vulnerable to it as the next guy."

            "Technically, the 'radiation being

green' thing is just a stereotype," said Vinge. "It is actually colorless."

            Volcan and Rikyuu gave him a deadpan

expression. "Seriously, you're doing this now?" Rikyuu asked.

            "Sorry," replied Vinge, rubbing his

neck in embarrassment.

            A nearby explosion reminded them

that there was still a battle going on; the sound of machine gun fire and

bullets pinging uselessly off of the hull of the cybernetic wyvern snapped all

three of them back to attention, and they turned to look at the wyvern as it flew

overhead; the propulsion system previous destroyed by Ayane had somehow begun

functioning again, and now the machine was back in the air.

            "Okay..." Volcan began. "I really

don't know if this new form is going to make much of a difference against that

thing, guys, so if anyone has a plan, now's a good time to share it."

            "We have to ground that thing

first," stated Vinge. "Then, we need to penetrate its armour."

            "How? That thing took sidewinders

and it's still intact," Rikyuu pointed out.

            "Not entirely," stated Vinge. "The

armour was cracked, and by now it has to be weakened with all the hits it has

taken; any armour will collapse under enough force, and I have something in

mind that might work."

            "Just tell us what you need," said

Volcan.

            "I need that thing grounded," stated

Vinge. "And kept as still as possible, while I make something to penetrate its

shell, and hopefully destroy it."

            "You sure your ice can punch

through?" Rikyuu asked.

            Vinge nodded. "I can create ice as

hard as iron," he said. "All it'll need is momentum, and it'll go through

anything."

            "It's worth a shot," said Volcan.

"Come on Rik; let's go take that thing down!" And with that, Volcan strode

forward, jumping into the air and spreading his wings, beating them hard to

keep himself airborne, and gaining altitude quickly. Rikyuu followed suite, his

leathery, bat-like wings carrying him aloft right behind Volcan.

            Meanwhile, Vinge too spread his

wings and flew, but in a different direction; he flew up above the buildings,

steering clear of the ongoing battle until he was above even the tallest of

skyscrapers, before he put his hands together, pulling them apart to reveal an

object, shaped like a railway spike but composed entirely of ice, and flew in

pursuit of the wyvern, the object steadily becoming larger as he flew.

            The wyvern circled back for another

attack, unleashing another energy beam directly at the military, instantly

vaporising one of the tanks. Soldiers, now realizing the hopelessness of their

situation, began fleeing for cover. No further air support had arrived yet, and

they were rapidly running out of tanks and heavy artillery to use against the

wyvern. Ayane and Brent had run out of ammunition for their weapons and were

now unable to continue the battle, instead going to help the police evacuate

civilians from the area.

            Lighris flew in to attack the wyvern

again, still trying to use his lightning attacks despite their futility.

Eventually, he flew too close, and was batted away by one of its wings, losing

his aerial balance and falling onto the roof of a nearby structure, landing on

his stomach with enough force to knock the wind out of his lungs. He coughed,

causing dirt and dust on the rooftop to blow away from himself, and struggled

to push himself up on his hands.

            Tsume and Pavan appeared over the

side, the former carried by the latter as they landed on the rooftop, sprinting

over to Lighris to help him to his feet. "You okay?" Pavan asked.

            "Fuck no; I'm not okay!" Lighris

barked. "I keep throwing bolts at that thing with enough jolt to overload a

power plant and it's not even flinching!"

            "I don't know if you noticed

Lighris, but your bolts aren't even touching it," Tsume pointed out. "It did

the same thing for Volcan's fireballs; it must be protected by some sort of defensive

shield that stops elemental attacks, except the stones I've been hurling at

it." She frowned. "Which, at this point I just feel stupid for trying."

            "Least you've been doing something,"

stated Pavan. "I can't seem to even trip it up with the wind blasts I've been

using."

            "Dammit, where the heck is the rest

of the Air Force?" Lighris demanded.

            "I have..." Pavan started, but paused

as something flew over them; the three of them glanced up to see a green,

winged figure flying over them. They look up in curiosity, but gawk in surprise

as they recognize the person, despite their apparent colour change, with his

feathers having turned green and blue.

(Play 'Flight of the

Warrior' by Hammerfall)

            "Volcan?!" All three exclaimed in

utter disbelief as they saw the green feathered fire phoenix soaring back into

the battle, heading straight for the cyber wyvern.

            As if sensing him coming, they cyber

wyvern turned its head to face the phoenix, only to be struck by his fist as he

flew past. The amount of force behind Volcan's punch was both unexpected and

stronger than before, sending the creature's head back with enough force to

make it tilt ominously, as well as audibly hyper-extending some of the servos

of its next with a series of protesting groans

            Even Volcan himself was surprised,

looking at his hand. Whatever changes had given him this new colour had also

increased his strength! He grinned, and began to circle back to attack again.

"Let's see what else it did!" He said before clenching both of his hands tightly,

conjuring flames within his hand until his fists were engulfed, and with a

thrust of both palms, he launched a pair of his special combustive fireballs

-appropriately called Firebombs- at the Cyber Wyvern.

            Its shield did not stop the green

and blue flames as they struck its hide; the outside visibly heated, and the

explosive force ruined its flight pattern and sent it careening into a building

once again, sparks exploding as its wings gouged into the side of the sky

scraper while it fought to regain control.

            While Volcan fought the cyber

wyvern, Lighris, Tsume and Pavan just stared in shock at the transformed

Volcan, and how his new power seemed to actually be helping him beat the

mechanical monster that they previously could not even hurt! Their astonishment

was interrupted as Rikyuu appeared at their sides, shouting their names to get

their attention.

            "Hey guys; we have a plan for taking

that thing down!" He exclaimed.

            "What've you got?" Pavan asked.

            "We have to ground that wyvern

first," stated Rikyuu. "I may have an idea how to do that. Lighris, Tsume,

think you two could keep it pinned?"

            "Yeah," assured Lighris.

            "Piece of cake," replied Tsume.

            "Alright; Volcan will wear it down

for now," continued Rikyuu. "Pavan, give me your arm for a sec."

            "What, like take it off and toss it

to you?" Pavan asked in jest.

            "Just get over here!" Rikyuu urged,

impatiently.

            Lighris looked out towards his

brother. "Hey Rik," he began to ask the dragon as Pavan walked over to Rikyuu.

            "Yeah?"

            "Any idea what's happened to my bro

there?" He asked. "I've never seen energy like that before."

            "I don't think anyone has," remarked

Rikyuu. "I have no clue what kind of power it is, but right now it seems the

wyvern can't resist it like he could your lightning or Volcan's flames before,

and we have to use that; we'll worry about what it comes from after the

battle."

            Lighris reluctantly agreed... but

couldn't help but feel concerned for his sibling...

            Pavan held out his arm to Rikyuu,

who grasped it firmly with a glowing palm. Pavan felt nothing, but noticed

immediately as Rikyuu's colours suddenly changed to be identical to that of the

Wind Phoenix, except for the red diamond markings on his neck and forehead,

since those were not part of his natural colour. Pavan stepped back in surprise

as Rikyuu let go of his arm, blinking as he recalled Rikyuu's ability.

"I'll never get used to seeing you do that," he

admitted.

Rikyuu chuckled. "Few ever do," he said. "Alright,

now; Pavan, you and I are going to create a wind around the cyber wyvern; we're

going to cause a wind tunnel that'll send it straight down to the ground. Once

down there, Tsume and Lighris will have to keep it there."

"Right-o!" Pavan crowed, hopping into the air and

kicking his heels together. "Hope you can keep up, Riky!" And with one call of

'Zoop!' from Pavan, he was off, breaking into a run and taking to the sky in

mere seconds with incredible speed.

"Oh you bet I can!" Rikyuu called after him, taking

off into the air in a similar fashion and with identical speed.

Tsume shook her head. "Oh, boys," she said before

she ran towards the edge of the building, leaping off and summoning a stone

from the ground below, catching it as it flew past her and gripping it with both

hands, letting it carry her through the air until she was back at ground level.

"You're no less of a show-off!" Lighris called down

to her as he took flight; he wasn't as fast as Rikyuu or Pavan in the air, but

he'd make it there before they put their plan into action.

Tsume scoffed up at him, and sprinted up the street

towards the battle again, gathering all the energy she could from whatever

sources of earth she could find; trees, flowers, grass, anything with life to

rejuvenate her enough for what she planned to do when the wyvern hit ground

level.

~~~~~

Cockpit of the

Cyber Wyvern...

The hull of Aerial Savior shook violently as Dr.

Rex's greatest invention was struck once more by Volcan Skilerain's strange

green flames. The doctor was mind-boggled by what was happening; he had

designed his force field to stop all types of energy attacks generated by every

known species of elemental; mere moments ago, neither Volcan nor his lightning

hawk brother could damage the hull, but during the battle, a sudden energy

spike had occurred, Volcan's energy readings had changed, and the force field,

unfamiliar with the new energy frequency that Volcan's powers had changed to,

could not protect the hull anymore.

"What kind of power is this?!" Rex demanded, trying

hastily to recalibrate the force field for this new energy, but its frequency

did not exist on his system; nothing he could do could stop this new power

Volcan had somehow achieved. Rex cursed, but he grasped the tiller again and

scowled. "Even without my shield... my weapon is still enough to defeat him!"

He steered Aerial Savior back around to face Volcan,

and already the targeting system was beginning to lock onto him, even as the

Fire Phoenix came at the wyvern head-on. When the system indicated a target

lot, Rex pressed the firing button for the Mouth Laser, and saw through the

viewport as the red beam erupted from the maw of the wyvernoid machine. Volcan

had begun to veer away even as the mouth opened, narrowly escaping the laser's

trajectory before it discharged.

"An agile adversary," growled Rex. "I should expect

no less from an avian; they're always at their best in the air. But he can't

evade me forever..."

Suddenly, as he steered the ship around again, he

felt it begin to quiver, and suddenly felt a strange shift in the wind pushing

against the underside of the left wing. "Strange... the wind is picking up very

suddenly," he muttered, but then yelped in surprise as Aerial Savior began to

tilt involuntarily; he tried to turn the ship to resist it, but could also feel

pressure on the top of the other wing, as if the wind itself were beginning to

swirl around him!

~~~~~

"Round and round we go, where do we stop? When down

the beasty goes!" Pavan sang as he and Rikyuu, flying in rapid circles around

the cybernetic wyvern and generating air currents with their wind power,

getting as close to the wings as they could.

"Come on, Pavan; we gotta go faster!" Rikyuu called,

expelling air from his palms as he soared, the entire world seeming to spin

around him as he flew. "This thing's still fighting us!"

"Oh, you want faster?" Pavan asked, grinning wildly.

"I'll show you faster!" And suddenly, the Wind Phoenix took off at even greater

speed, leaving Rikyuu behind as he literally rocketed away, never losing his

trajectory as he continued the circuit around the wyvern. He was shouting

something to Rikyuu while doing it, but it came across as utter nonsense,

either because of Pavan's speed or that he was not actually trying to say

anything decipherable. 'Zoopazoopazoopazoopazoopa!'

Well I copied

his powers so if he can do it, so can I! Rikyuu thought, pouring more into his speed,

rapidly accelerating until suddenly everything around him seemed to be in a

swirling vortex of chaos; even the wyvern was so distorted he could scarcely

identify it at the speed he flew, struggling not to lose trajectory and go

flying out of control. "Grrrrrr!!" He groaned.

The momentum generated by the two had sent the mechanical

flying monster into an unstoppable spin, twirling around like a giant top but

in midair; when the two finally broke away from it, away it went, spiralling

out of control before angling up, and then immediately down, crashing into the

streets below with a very literal faceplant, straight into the pavement to

stand comically up-side down, keeling over, and landing on its back with a

deafening crash.

The noise was more than cue enough for Tsume; in

seconds, pillars of solid stone erupted from the ground, shattering the

pavement before bending -in complete defiance of the laws of physics- over the

wyvern, dropping over its midsection and onto its wing, before a second pillar

erupted and did the same from the other side, pinning it. The impact with the ground

had also apparently shorted out its force field, because when Lighris came down

and cast lightning at its legs, the bolts travelled unhindered, striking the

propulsion engines in its feet head-on and overloading them with a sure of

electricity.

Volcan pumped his arm in triumph as he saw the

Wyvern pinned, and flew up into the air, looking for Vinge. It was easy to spot

where the Ice Phoenix was; a gigantic spike, made entirely out of thick ice,

too dense to see through, was free-floating in midair at least a kilometer over

the city, a winged figure hovering alongside it with feverish wingbeats. Volcan

could see the fatigue on Vinge's face as he approached; the ice phoenix had

never created something so large before.

Volcan flew up beside him. "You alright?" He asked.

"I'll be fine," he said, keeping his hands on the

spike. "It's ready, but I can't aim it and guide it at the same time."

"Leave the guiding to me," said Volcan, flying up

over the spike and placing his hands on the top, already beginning to sizzle

with the heat coming from his palms; he winced at the cold but ground his beak

against the light pain he felt. "Alright; you make sure this thing is on

target; leave the rest to me!" Volcan called. "Just give me a signal before

impact so I don't crash with it!"

"Right; go!" Vinge called, and released his

cryokinetic hold on the ice spike, letting gravity take it.

Flames erupted from Volcan's feet, propelling him

downward; his hands remained placed on the ice spike, using his momentum to

increasing the rate of its drop. The air around him seemed to whistle as they

descended from above, falling so fast the ground seemed to be coming at him

like a charging herd of bull. Fighting against his instincts to pull up right

away, he kept diving and pushing the spike, feeling an unseen force correct its

trajectory as they fell.

Below, Tsume, seeing the spike coming down, cupped

her hands around her beak and called, "Look

out below!" at the top of her lungs before she sprinted for cover.

Lighris looked up, and saw the spike coming down.

"Oh fuck me sideways!!" He screamed

before he took to the air.

Shouts of alarm could be heard from the American

soldiers, and immediately men started ducking behind the ruined tanks and

nearby buildings, knowing there would be fragments sent flying about like

shrapnel when that spike hit its target. Some even covered their ears as if

they thought there would be an explosion.

Seconds from the target, Volcan saw Vinge's alert

appear on the ice in front of him; an upward pointing arrow, forming seemingly

out of nowhere on the surface of the ice. Volcan lifted his hands away from the

ice spike, somersaulting and bending both of his legs tightly together before

he stomped on the ice spike with all of his strength, sending it hurtling down

at ridiculous speed, simultaneously slowing his own descent so that he could

fly higher and get clear of the imminent impact.

The spike hit home; it struck the torso of the

cybernetic wyvern; its tip was ground away at first as it failed to penetrate

the adamantite, but as the full weight and momentum of the spike hit, the

adamantite broke like a dinner plate, sparks and bolts of electricity exploding

from the torso as the ice tore into it, and crushed or impaled it inner

circuitry. As expected, shards of ice and metal scattered everywhere, windows

breaking and alarms of previously untouched cars blaring as their windows and

frames suffered the barrage.

"Bullseye!" Volcan called.

"Yes!" Tsume screamed in delight.

"Fuckin' A!" Lighris agreed.

Vinge let out a long sigh as he saw the results of

his and Volcan's combined efforts; between the density of his ice, and the

momentum of Volcan propelling it, not even seemingly impenetrable Adamantite

could stop the attack. In truth, Vinge had been expecting to fail, but he knew

from all of his research of history that any armour could be breached with

enough force even by an inferior material, and he had just proven it true.

"Physics... prevails," he said, panting. "And so... do

we."

Rikyuu and Pavan returned to the scene as the others

began to regroup, both of them a little tipsy thanks to their previous

performance; Rikyuu moreso than Pavan, since the Wind Phoenix was much more

adapted to doing things like that than the dragon was. Rikyuu stumbled about,

eyes crossed, before being caught by Tsume as he started to fall over, and she

dragged him by the arm to meet the others.

"I'm still spinning," he moaned.

"No you're not," returned Tsume.

"Well now that was a real..." Pavan began, but Lighris

appeared and grabbed Pavan around his beak, shutting him up instantly.

"You say, 'smash', 'blast', 'spin' or any sort of

corny pun right now, I swear I'm going to punch you SO hard that your dad will feel it over in England!" Lighris

bellowed.

~~~~~

The army was quick to quarantine the wyvern; even

destroyed they were not taking any chances with this monstrous weapon of mass

destruction, rolling in additional tanks, heavy weapons and footsoldiers to

close off the area, keeping unauthorized individuals away. The Os-Nadarra

regrouped near the quarantine, ready to assist them if the cyber wyvern were

still somehow a threat, despite the damage it had taken.

Although, the Os-Nadarra were not really that

threatening themselves at that moment; they were weakened, exhausted from the

battle. Volcan seemed still ready to go on at first, but mere moments after the

excitement of the battle ended, the phoenix seemed suddenly distance, like he

was handling some kind of internal conflict, and wouldn't answer anyone who

spoke to him, one hand on his head, the other against a wall to support him.

Before long, however, the fire phoenix was finally

responsive; his colours began to revert back to their normal hue of red and

gold, the green and blue seeming to fade away from him... and then his eyes

rolled back in his head and he began to collapse; Lighris was quick to catch

his brother, preventing him from hitting his head on the pavement, and propping

him up as the phoenix panted for breath.

"Volcan, you okay?" Lighris asked.

"Yeah..." He shook his head. "But that was strange...

for a moment I felt like I was fighting with that other half of mine for

control... and for that moment, I thought I might lose."

"What's this 'other half' you're talking about?"

Vinge asked.

Lighris stepped in. "That's a complicated and very

personal story, pal," he said. "Not sure you want to hear it."

"I think it's Volcan's choice if he wants to talk

about it," remarked Rikyuu.

Volcan let out a sigh and looked at Vinge. "Honestly

I have no idea where it came from... but I've had it all my life," he said.

"Whenever I get really angry or scared, my feathers turn black and purple and I

take on this new persona of a rampaging destroyer." He shut his eyes. "I

mindless, uncontrollable wacko who attacks everything he sees... because of it I

didn't go near others in school very much; I did everything possible to avoid

stressful situations, until the gang war.

"I only lost control once during that, when there

was a massacre in the streets caused by the Sylvia Syndicate; I lost my head,

went in and attacked them all." He cocked his head towards Rikyuu. "Was

actually Rik there who stopped me from going any further..." The dragon nodded

back. "But since then, it never surfaced until I was under that building,

dangerously close to death, and I felt it... him, trying to come out again. I

don't remember much after that but I think somehow I actually fused my energies

with his."

"But you're both fire elementals," Ayane, who was

still standing over by the metal-clad stranger, pointed out. "Both you and that

other half are fire phoenixes; elemental fusion can only be done between two

compatible elements, like Earth and Fire or Water and Wind."

"No, this was a different kind of fusion, I think,"

replied Volcan. "That other side of me is pure malice; pure destructive

instinct, no sentient mind. Little more than a wild animal with no self-control

or direction; he's a monster, through and through." He shook his head,

scratching it irritably. "Look, whatever happened, I have no idea how it did...

somehow I became a new element; one Rex's force field didn't recognize. For now

let's not look a gift horse in the mouth and decide what we're doing next."

The metal-clad stranger moved. "We go home; what else? Army's got it from here," they suggested.

"And who are you

supposed to be, monsieur?" Tsume inquired, all eyes now on the figure.

The head of the armour turned to-and-fro. "Anyone watching?" They asked.

"Not that I can see," replied Lighris, glancing

around. "Too focused on the wyvern."

"Then..." A

grinding sound later, sparks erupted from a crease in the chest... but nothing

happened. "Ah stupid fucking thing, it's

stuck! Hang on, guys..."

"Well that's a little anti-climactic," muttered

Pavan.

"Totally," agreed Tsume.

Finally, the front of the armour was pushed open by

a pair of hands, and a familiar face peeked out through the opening.

"Peekaboo," said Brent, and grinned as the jaws of everyone in the group dropped

-except those of Ayane and Vinge, the latter whom settled for widened eyes, but

that was indication enough that he too had not been expecting the identity of

the pilot to be who it was.

"Brent?!" Pavan barked at the top of

his lungs.

Brent hurriedly shushed him. "Quiet!!" He said. "The

RCMP see me with an LMG they'll have me for lunch!" He ducked back into the

armour, shutting it again to conceal himself.

"Is that what you've been tinkering with in your

workshop for the last several weeks?" Tsume asked.

"Sure is," replied

Brent. "See, after Ayane and I examined

that I.T.O.U.E cyborg I analyzed the servos and components for its limbs; they

were exactly what I needed for this power armour design I'd been planning for a

while."

"Why didn't you just ask me? I could've built you

one," Ayane pointed out.

"Wanted to do

it myself, and build something unique to me."

"So you build yourself an oversized soup can with a

big gun?" Lighris asked. "One that defectively traps you inside?"

"Hey, I'm not

trapped!" Brent

protested. "I just... forgot to oil it..."

Nobody believed him.

Volcan arched an eyebrow at the armoured hyena. "Brent,

am I going to need to tear you out of there?" He asked.

After only a brief pause, the hyena flatly replied "yeah probably..." The armour's head

shook. "But forget that; I wanna get a

look at that wyvern before the army starts tearing it apart! I could use some

of that tech to build a better suit."

"Unless you got a cloaking field on that thing I

hope it's bulletproof," Tsume remarked. "They'll shoot you if you try to go

scavenge that monster."

Before Brent could reply, there was a shout heard

from the quarantine; one of the soldiers announced spotting someone inside of

the Wyvern's head. "This thing's not unmanned; there's some old geezer inside

it!"

Volcan and the others glanced at each other, and as

a group they headed towards the quarantine, curiosity piqued. They were allowed

through the quarantine, having already been part of the conflict prior, and

approached the wrecked wyvern's head. They met the soldier who had called out

the discovery, and he pointed at the forehead, which only now the group could

see was partially transparent -rather odd considering it was clearly not glass

or plastic, and squinting their eyes, they could see inside.

The pilot was a human man; an elderly one, at least

in his sixties if not older, with a thick beard and a balding head, a narrow

line of hair barely over his ears but the rest of his head was plain; a pair of

brown eyes glared back at them as the pilot sat, arms crossed as if waiting for

something to happen, surprisingly calm despite his predicament of being trapped

inside a wrecked machine surrounded on all sides by both American and Canadian

police and military forces, with no possibility of escape.

"So this guy was flying this thing the whole time,

eh?" Pavan asked. "Well, I say we pull 'im outta there, beat 'em up and then

stuff him in a sack bound for Antarctica!" He cracked his knuckles. "Fly him

there last class!"

"One problem; how do we get him out?" Volcan asked.

"Even I can't break through that alloy."

Rikyuu heard Ayane stuttering, and turned towards

her, seeing the shocked expression on her face as she stared at the man inside

of the machine. "Ayane, what's the matter?"

"Guys..." she said. "That's Jacob Rex!"

"What?!" Volcan and Lighris demanded in unison.

At that moment, Vinge's expression darkened as he

glared into the cockpit; the leader of the group that had taken his father away

from him was there, less five feet away separated from him only by a layer of

nigh-unbreakable metal. The man inside stared back at him, undeterred and still

showing no signs of any concern for his situation, despite the look of murder

on the face of the Ice Phoenix.

"Vinge?" Volcan asked.

The ice phoenix didn't answer.

Suddenly, a whirring noise sounded from inside of

the cockpit; the eyes of the pilot, who they now knew to be Jacob Rex himself,

the mastermind of the I.T.O.U.E, left Vinge's gaze and lowered to the console

before him. He grinned as he looked back at Vinge, and tapped a button, a hiss

of air and burst of steam erupting around the wyvern head where it connected to

the neck.

"Get back!" Volcan barked, not knowing what would

happen, but wanting some distance if it turned out to be something bad.

He looked at Vinge; the ice phoenix wasn't moving

from where he stood, even as the cybernetic wyvern head suddenly shook.

Reacting quickly, Volcan grabbed Vinge by the shoulder and pulled him back

harshly, narrowly evading the head of the Wyvern as it suddenly detached from

the neck in a shower of sparks, launching itself by unknown means from its

body; an unfortunate trooper standing in its path had his head taken off by the

soaring machine as wings erupted from its sides and it began to ascend.

"Pavan, get after that thing; don't let it get away!"

Lighris barked at the Wind Phoenix.

The wind phoenix smiled weakly. "I would if I could

man, but I'm still tuckered out from bringing that thing down before; I don't

think I could even stir up a breeze."

Lighris looked at Rikyuu. "What about you?"

"I'm no better," he replied. "But I'll give it a

shot." His colours changed, his scales reverting to a colour matching Pavan's,

and he took off into the air, a sudden gust of wind following behind him and

propelling him forward; off he went in hot pursuit, chasing the escape pod

through the air.

"Come on guys; let's go!" Volcan urged. "We can't

let Rex get away!"

~~~~~

Within the hour, the door was breached; a deafening

explosion filled the air, spreading across the countryside as a pillar of dust

marked the point of origin; the hangar door burst into pieces, and fell all

around the hangar below. Soldiers of both Canada and the USA dropped into the

hangar, seeing the escape pod  under the

broken plates of the hangar door that the special forces team had found before;

Volcan and co. had chased the escape pod all the way back to this location,

where they met up with Captain Ford's unit.

Shortly after the soldiers entered, Volcan, Rikyuu,

Vinge and Ayane dropped into the base; the others remained outside, ready to

catch anyone who tried to escape from the base, while the rest entered to back

up the armed forces. The hangar had already been secured, but there were two

doors that led out of the room, both leading to separate corridors.

"Alright; split into two teams! Canadians in one,

Americans in the other," Captain Ford instructed. "We'll rendezvous back here

in the hangar if we don't meet up deeper in the base; maintain radio silence so

we can sneak up on these guys." He turned to Volcan and his friends. "You know,

you shouldn't be down here; this is a military op now."

"So was taking down that wyvern," stated Volcan,

sternly. "Didn't hear you guys complaining about us helping you out back with

that one; we're staying, whether you want us to or not."

Ford glared at Volcan. "I could have you arrested,

boy," he growled.

"Then go ahead," stated Volcan. "My friend's father

may be down here; I'm not letting you guys screw up rescuing him. Besides, we

have more experience dealing with the I.T.O.U.E's monsters than you guys do;

you need us."

Ford clearly wanted to keep arguing, but  after a pause, the male German Shepard shook

his head. "It's your neck," he said. "Just stay out of the way."

"Back at you," said Volcan. He looked at Rikyuu.

"You and Ayane better follow them; Vinge and I will go with the Canadians."

"Right," agreed Rikyuu.

"Be careful you two," said Ayane

"You as well," returned Volcan, turning away from

them and motioning for Vinge to join him as they followed the Canadian troopers

down the first hallway, leaving the Americans to take the second.

The base was eerily quiet, only the light footsteps

of the Canadian soldiers as they moved as quietly as possible could be heard in

the corridor. With a total of six soldiers, three walked on either side of the

hallway, periodically checking rooms they passed; two soldiers stood on either

side of the door, and when one of those two opened it, the other would be

standing at a safe spot, aiming his rifle inside before making entry, his

comrades quick to follow. Always, they expected an ambush, but never once was

there one waiting. The soldiers checked over a dozen rooms in the corridor;

each one was gutted, no personnel in sight, resulting in them calling out

'clear' each time.

"Something's not right here," said Vinge. "The

forces in this base should've been all over us by now; where are they?"

"Do you think they've fortified their position

deeper in the base?" Volcan suggested

"Why would they go to the trouble of gutting out the

rooms if they did that?" Vinge asked.

One of the soldiers was listening in on the

conversation, and turned to his C.O. "They have a point, Sarge; think we should

pick up the pace?"

The sergeant considered for a moment, but he

eventually nodded. "Yeah; I'm getting the same feeling," he said, and directed

to two of his soldiers. "Watch our backs, the rest of you with me; I'm on

point. Let's go, double-time!" And with that, they continued up the hallway at

a quicker pace, two of them walking in reverse with Volcan and Vinge in between

them, rifles aimed back in case one of the skipped rooms held hidden personnel

ready to hit them from behind.

Down the hall they went, passing through a pair of

double doors that opened automatically at their approach, indicating the base

still had its power on, yet when Volcan tested his fire powers with a snap of

his fingers, he had no trouble generating sparks or an open flame, causing him

and Vinge to share a suspicious glance once more; something about this entire

infiltration didn't seem right...

"Hey," one of the soldiers paused, putting up a hand

and motioning for the others to stop; everyone, including the phoenixes, halted

in their tracks. "You guys hear that?"

They stopped and listened. For a few seconds, there

was nothing, until suddenly a long metallic groan, one they could feel through

their feet, was heard. Vinge dropped to the floor carefully and put his ear to

the ground, shutting his eyes and listening as the sound came once again.

            "It's coming from below," he said.

"Sounds like a... crane or something."

            "What would they need a crane for

down here?" A soldier asked.

            "Good question," returned Volcan.

"Let's go find out; look for a set of stairs."

            As the phoenix walked on ahead, one

of the soldiers looked at his sergeant. "When the hell did the kid start giving

orders?"

            "Just follow him," the sarge

returned, gruffly. "He's got more experience with these guys than we do so as

long as he doesn't lead us into anything risky, keep with him."

            "Yes sir."

            Volcan let the sergeant catch up

with him, and glanced over at him. "Most soldiers would be telling me 'this is

a restricted area; get out immediately' or 'go home' or some shit; why are you

so okay with me being here?"

            "I heard of the things you did

during the gang war that hit Unity Falls," returned the sergeant. "And, like I

was telling them," he cocked his head back. "You have more experience with

these terrorists than anyone here does; my superiors may not agree with me on

it, but I'm forward thinking. I always turn to the one who knows before I would

to the one who doesn't."

            Volcan nodded. "I appreciate your

faith in me," he said. "But I'm not going to try and take over your unit; think

of me as just a third wheel."

            "No worries about that," the

sergeant returned, and the two shared a chuckle.

            Finally, they found the stairs, and

trekked carefully down to the lower level, entering another corridor as they

reached the bottom -this one shorter than the last, with the sound of the crane

still filling their ears and becoming steadily louder the deeper into the base

they travelled. They were getting closer to the source...

            Then... it stopped. The sound of the

crane ceased very suddenly, causing an eerie silence to fill the corridors; it

was so quiet, Volcan and Vinge could almost hear their own hearts beating in

their chests as their anxiety grew. This silence made Volcan uneasy; it was

like a scene in a horror movie, where suddenly everything would become deathly still,

and the main character would be walking into certain death at the hands of an

unexpected killer, be it man or monster...

            A loud humming noise filled their

ears, and they felt the floor trembling at the sound, prompting everyone to

stop and listen. Vinge went down on his belly again, putting his ear to the

floor and staring quizzically in to space as he listened. "What is making that

noise? Never heard anything like it be..."

            KA-BOOOOOOOOM!

            Volcan nearly jumped out of his feathers.

            The soldiers jumped slightly, their

weapons aimed straight ahead out of instinct. Vinge shot to his feet so quickly

Volcan barely saw him move, the ice phoenixes hand grabbing for his slender

sword sword, his wide eyes showing he too was caught off guard by the very

sudden explosion. The whole corridor shook with the force of the blast; briefly

but surely, until the sound of heavy objects hitting solid flooring was heard,

and this time did not stop.

            "The fuck was that?!" One of the

soldiers demanded.

            "A bomb, obviously," another said

matter of factly.

            "Oh, no shit Sherlock!"

            "Pipe down you two!" The sergeant

snapped. "Let's find out where that came from." And with that, he levelled his

rifle once more, leading the way forward with a slightly quicker pace than

before while all of his soldiers, staying in formation, followed behind him

quickly. Volcan and Vinge quickened their pace, staying close to the front but

making sure not to walk into the crosshairs of the Canadian troopers.

            It took some searching, but

eventually the crew passed through another set of doors, finding themselves in

a large room. The moment the door opened, a cloud of dust erupted into their

faces, making them cough or sneeze in reaction. The two avians fanned away the

dust with their wings, allowing the soldiers to make entry; they ducked for

cover behind whatever objects they could find, and aimed their rifles into the

room, scanning for hostiles as the dust cleared.

            The room was in shambles; piles of

rubble and dirt stacked up to the ceiling on either end of the massive chamber,

over a set of rails closely resembling those of a train. The crane they had

heard before was now in sight, half-buried under the rubble, and constructed

alongside what appeared to be gigantic conveyor machine that ran through the

wall into another room, where the American soldiers were entering through, no

doubt having heard the explosion as well. The Canadians quickly called out to

warn them of their presence in the room to prevent friendly fire.

            Rikyuu and Ayane appeared immediately

after the American soldiers, looking around and seeing the damaged chamber.

"What the heck happened in here?" Rikyuu asked.

            Ayane shouldered her DMR and knelt

down by the rails in the floor. "They had a monorail down here, it looks like,"

she said, and turned her gaze to the rubble piles. "They must've blown the

tunnels to cover a retreat."

            "So they got away?" Captain Ford

asked, and sarcastically added with a roll of his eyes. "Just perfect... The

prison was empty too; they took all of their hostages with them as well."

            "If we'd gotten here just moments

sooner we could've nabbed them!" Vinge hissed, kicking a discarded can across

the floor. "Dammit!"

            "Vinge, calm down; we..." Volcan

began, but the ice phoenix ignored him, and made his way over to one of the

rubble piles. As Volcan watched, Vinge began to dig at the rubble with his

hands, pulling some of it aside and absently letting it tumble to the floor.

"What're you..."

            "If we don't get through this we'll

never find out where they're going," returned Vinge.

            "You have got to be joking, Vinge,"

Ayane called. "It'd take a lifetime to tunnel through that; even Tsume couldn't

get through all that concrete."

            "Ayane's right, Vinge; we won't

catch them that way," agreed Rikyuu. "We don't even know how far the tunnel

beyond goes, and they could collapse more of it if they suspect a pursuit."

            Vinge looked back at them, giving

them a cold stare. "And what would you have me do; just give up?" He asked. "I

just found out my father is alive, but since Captain Ford just said the

prison's empty, that means they still have him; I won't leave him with those

maniacs another moment." Turning away, he went back to digging, this time

creating an ice spike that he drove into the rubble, and tried to shake it

around to dislodge some of the rubble, but he was still too fatigued from the

battle with the mechanical wyvern to properly maneuver it.

            Unable to take anymore, Volcan

hurriedly crossed the room, setting down his sword and polearm as he approached

Vinge, climbing up the rubble to him and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"That's enough, Vinge," he stated. "This isn't the way."

            "You have a better idea?" Vinge

asked, turning on the fire phoenix and glaring at him.

            "For now, Vinge, there's nothing we

can do," he said. "We can only wait until the opportunity to apprehend the

I.T.O.U.E presents itself again."

            "Wait?! Don't you get it?!" Vinge

demanded, throwing off the fire phoenix's hand and standing almost beak-to-beak

with Volcan. "I've been waiting for answers for the last ten years, fighting my

way through night terrors and the lack of knowing where my father was or what's

happened to him! Do you have any idea what it's like, dreaming every night

about the most traumatic experience in your life, unable to think about anything

else?!"

            Volcan looked back into Vinge's

eyes, unflinching as he stared into those ice blue orbs; already he could see

the tears forming at the corners of Vinge's eye sockets. It was easy to see the

ice phoenix was resisting the urge to cry, but he couldn't fool Volcan. "I may

have some idea," replied Volcan. "After all..." He lowered his voice, preventing

the soldiers watching them from hearing what more he said. "You just found out

today that there's an evil inside of me I can't control... You may suffer the

pain of loss, but I suffer the horror of having two identities... and the other

one is nothing like me."

            Vinge clearly was struggling to find

a retort, but the words died on his tongue. For a moment, there was only

silence between them, until Volcan raised his hands and placed both of them on

Vinge's shoulders. "We'll find him again, Vinge," stated Volcan. "No matter how

long it takes; he has to emerge again eventually, and when he does, we'll be

there, and I will help you get your

father back. That's a promise."

            Vinge's expression softened, his

eyebrows reshaping themselves to a sadder expression. Suddenly, the ice phoenix

began to slip from Volcan's arms, feeling suddenly heavier; Volcan promptly

caught him before he could fall over, and gently lowered him down to sit on the

rubble. "Hey, you alright?"

            "I'm just..." Vinge returned, weakly.

"So... tired."

            Volcan gave his friend a weak smile,

and after letting him rest for a moment, he helped Vinge back to his feet. "Go

home, Vinge," he insisted. "Take as much time as you need, but right now I

think that's the best place for you."

            Vinge blinked at him. "But I'm

supposed to stay near you until that court order expires..."

            "What they won't know won't hurt

them," said Volcan. "For now, I think it's best you deal with this your own

way." He stepped aside for the ice phoenix, gesturing towards the door. "Just

don't do anything reckless that'll make me have to come after you, alright?"

            Vinge returned the weak smile, and

shook his head at Volcan. "No... I won't do that..." He promised. "Thank you,

Volcan."

            With that, the ice phoenix began to

depart, slowly crossing the room to the door, which opened for him and allowed

him to pass through. He looked over his shoulder at Volcan briefly, before

turning away and continuing down the corridor, the door closing behind him.

            Rikyuu and Ayane approached Volcan,

who never took his eyes off the door even as they spoke to him. "You handled

that very well, Volcan," said Ayane.

            The phoenix exhaled a long sigh. "I

just wish I could do more for him," he stated, turning his gaze to the rubble

behind him. "The I.T.O.U.E got away with his father; we were too slow... I still

feel like I failed him."

            Rikyuu clapped Volcan on the

shoulder. "Hey, like you said, we'll find him again," he reminded the phoenix.

"Rex can't hide forever; eventually, he'll slip up, and the minute he does

we'll be on him like a fly on a compost heap."

            Volcan allowed himself a small smile

at the dragon. Then, turned his gaze as he heard footsteps approaching, seeing

Captain Ford stepping up to him; the soldier dog seemed to have relaxed any

contempt for Volcan's presence after seeing him handle one of his teammates so

well, and spoke softly to him.

            "I'd say you fellows have earned a

rest," he said. "We can take things from here."

            Volcan nodded. "We leave it in your

hands then," he said, and turned back to the two dragons. "Come on guys... let's

go home; it's been a long day for us

all."

            "What about Vinge?" Ayane asked as

they began to depart. "Should we really leave him all by himself?"

            "We have to let him cope in his own

way," replied Volcan. "For now, that's the best thing we can do for him."

            ~~~~~

            (Play 'Memories' or 'Birth of Love' by

BrunuhVille on Youtube)

The smell of Lavender filled the room as Vinge

seated himself on his knees, eyes shut and hands on his lap as he worked to

clear his mind, trying to set his heart at ease. The pain had returned once

more, greater than ever now that he knew his father was still alive, and forced

to continue to endure whatever horrors the I.T.O.U.E inflicted on him in their

so-called pursuit of purity... the thought made him sick, and he struggled not to

keel over and retch on his carpet, taking in a deep breath of the incense burning

before him, letting its refreshing smell fill his nostrils, the smell of the

lavender helping to alleviate his tension.

But it wasn't enough. Still, Vinge could feel the

tears trying to force their way to the surface, no matter how hard he fought against

them. He didn't want to let them out; he didn't want to feel weak... but the pain

was just too much this time. Before long, they flowed from his eyes, travelling

down his face until they reached the tip of his beak, dripping onto his legs

below. Still, he continued to fight, trying to stay strong for the memory of

his father...

He barely heard footsteps entering the room; looking

up in alarm and half-expecting an attack, he was already raising his hand to

form an ice spike, but stopped immediately when he saw the green eyed snow

leopard staring back at him. He blinked in confusion for a moment as he

recognized the face. "Yurui?" He asked, and quickly looked away, knowing there

were still tears on his face. "I'm... sorry, I didn't hear you come in."

"I... I didn't want to startle you," she returned,

softly. "Kind of failed there, didn't I?"

Vinge forced a small smirk. "Kind of..." He asked. "So

uh... what brings you all the way out here?"

"I came to see you, of course," returned Yurui,

stepping over and kneeling down at his side. "I heard about what happened at

the base... I'm sorry you didn't save your father."

Vinge's heart stung at the mention of his father,

but he didn't let it show. "It's... only a setback," he said, pretending not to

care as he didn't look at her, refusing to let her see his face. "We'll find

him... my father's strong; much stronger than me. We'll find him..."

He felt Yurui's paw gently touch his face, and

turned his gaze to meet hers. He didn't resist, even though he wanted to... her

presence was soothing, and he didn't want to do anything that might chase her

off. His eyes met hers, the emerald green eyes of the leopard showing a sense

of sympathy in them. He knew she could see his tear-stained cheeks and how his

eyes had turned slightly pink from crying.

In her eyes, he saw himself... his reflection in her

soft gaze, and remembered that she was much like him... no, worse than him. Yurui

had no identity, being a creation of science and genetic engineering; she was a

lost soul, like him, but she was on her own from the very beginning. She had no

parents at all to search for; Vinge had his mother, and now knew his father

still lived, waiting to be rescued. She had only her friends to call family,

despite how short a time she had known them... something Vinge realized he

himself might've been taking for granted.

As he watched, she moved her second paw to his other

cheek, then slid them around behind his neck, pulling him towards her. After

several long seconds, his head was resting on her chest, hearing the beating of

her heart beneath her fur and flesh. It was a strong heart... but to Vinge, it

felt almost as if his own were ready to stop as the snow leopard embraced him.

He had never felt like this before; he felt his tension ease, and a warmth

inside of him he couldn't describe; it wasn't the kind of warmth that would do

him harm, but it was like his heart was finally beginning to mend after so many

years of being broken...

The ice phoenix could not hold it back anymore...

His body was shaking, the tears streaming from his

eyes as he wrapped his arms around Yurui, his sobs rising in his throat until

they escaped through his beak. She kissed the top of his head before resting

her own on his crown, holding him tightly against her as he finally allowed his

emotions to surface, releasing the pain he had held within for so long. It hurt

more than ever now... but as he lay there in the arms of the snow leopard, it was

finally beginning to fade away, and the scars were now healing...

            Epilogue: The Question of One's Soul

          Volcan just could not get it out of his mind...

            What had happened to him, when he

had somehow combined with the evil half of his soul, transforming into a

completely new elemental; what was that power he had discovered? And

furthermore, what did it mean for him and his doppleganger, who now the phoenix

swore he could almost hear him cackling at the back of his mind, as if some

great new ambition had found its way into the evil one.

            The power he had gained had allowed

him and his friends to defeat Jacob Rex's ultimate weapon, but Volcan could not

tap into the energy again after it had left his body. Was it some kind of

fluke; something that would happen only once? And what did it mean for his

doppleganger, whom he had almost lost control of his own body too when he had

begun to revert back to normal...

            Volcan could feel the presence of

his evil side more than ever now. He could only wonder what it would mean for

him -and those he cared about, in the future...