《The Lost Ones》 The Awakening ************************************** Authors note************************************* Hey guys, so this is my first story i''m posting here. Just as a fair warning the story does have pretty suggestive themes, such as extreme violence, insanity, sadism, and the effects of war on the mind. This story really isn''t for the faint of heart. I prefer to not go into great detail when it comes to sex scenes and would rather let the reader''s imagination work for those things anyway (plus they are kinda few and far between). Anyway I hope you enjoy it and please feel free to leave constructive criticism. I am not perfect and am always willing to learn or hear the opinion of others. Thanks and Cheers. **************************************************************************************** He first opened his eyes and everything was blurry, but he could feel different things attached to him. A mask around his nose and mouth to allow him to breath, as well as different sensors all around his body. Soon after gaining consciousness, he heard an alarm ring and the liquid started to drain from his tube. After a few minutes the tube was completely empty, he however, had no strength to lift himself up. That mattered little however, and shortly after a robot came to pick him up and put him on a rolling table. It was quite uncomfortable, but he had no strength to resist let alone move into a more comfortable position. After being rolled for a few minutes and through several hallways, the robot finally stopped and opened a door to a room. He was lifted and put onto a bed. Something much more comfortable and he was happy. After a few minutes someone walked into the room and started looking over some info. ¡°Hum, you¡¯re early¡­. And with two tails already?!¡± The man said surprised He just looked at him confused. ¡°Right, you can¡¯t understand what I am saying. You don¡¯t speak any languages yet.¡± The man said, mostly talking to himself. Again he just looked on in confusion not understanding what was going on. ¡°Well we will explain this later after your programming teaches you the different languages¡± The man said and continued to look at the info. After a few minutes the man left and he was left alone, and after a few seconds he looked out the window on the other side of the room and noticed there was no light coming in. After a while of staring at the window he fell asleep, and when he awoke he was in a different room. His head and body had been locked into position so the only thing that moved was his eyes. In a small panic he looked around and saw that there were others like him, also tied down to a chair, but they were still asleep. He started to wonder why when suddenly a sharp pain stabbed at the back of his head and soon information flooded his brain. Suddenly he knew how to speak as well as fighting and stealth techniques and so on. After only a few seconds he passed out again and would remain asleep for several days. He woke up once again in a different room; this room is perfectly square and all white with one door to his left, and one window to the outside in front of him. But this time there was someone else there with him, sleeping in a bed across from him. He noticed he could move his limbs, but he was still weak. Slowly he sat up and noticed there was some food on a table next to him. Right on cue, his stomach started to growl so he reached over and started to eat. All of it was soft food that required no chewing and little energy to swallow, but as soon as he finished he started to feel much better. As he laid back down he noticed his roommate had also woken up and had since sat up. She was staring at him until he made eye contact, and as soon as he did she instantly looked away. ¡°What the hell is he looking at?!¡± She thought to herself. But when she realized what she was looking at, she found her food, and much like he had done, woofed it down in a heartbeat. After a big burp she laughed. ¡°Hi I¡¯m¡­.¡± She started. ¡°I don¡¯t know my name.¡± She finished in confusion. But deep down, she was extremely confused. ¡°What the hell!¡± she thought. ¡°I can talk, and think. But I can¡¯t friggin¡¯ remember my own name!¡± She thought furiously She looked really depressed and angry for a split second then turned and asked ¡°You are the same right? You can¡¯t remember either?¡± He just shook his head. ¡°Well she¡¯s animated¡± He thought ¡°Wait, how can I know this stuff, but not know a name? And why did I wake up in a test tube that one time?¡± He wondered ¡°Well for some reason the name ¡®Drake¡¯ really sticks out when I see you, so your new name is Drake.¡± She said. ¡°That was random.¡± Drake thought Drake looked at her and thought for a moment, then replied ¡°Well you are beautiful and the name Alina sticks out, so your new name is Alina.¡± Alina smiled and said ¡°Beautiful huh? Thanks.¡± She blushed a bit and laid back down as well. Deep down though, what he said really affected her. Not in a bad way, she felt happy about it, but it caused her heart to beat faster and her mind started racing. She then rolled over away from Drake and he noticed that she had three tails. He was confused because he remembered the one person was shocked that he had two tails, which made him curious. ¡°Hum, wonder if I really do have tails.¡± He thought. So he rolled onto his side and moved his tails so he can see them. Much to his surprise, he did actually have two tails. Both of them had black fur with red rings that got darker as they moved farther away from his body. Meaning the ring closest to his body was a bright blood red, while the ring farthest was a burgundy red. He had four-teen rings in all, so seven on each tail. But when he looked at Alina¡¯s tails, they were just a solid black. No rings or anything else. He was curious as to why, but couldn¡¯t think of any logical reason other than just chances. So he gave up and tried going back to sleep. However, a few minutes later, Alina had gotten up and started walking around. Not wanting to be left behind, Drake also tried to sit and stand up. When his feet touched the floor he realized the tile was pretty cold to the touch but it felt good at the same time. Slowly he stood up onto his feet and his tails automatically started to act as counterbalances. Even still, he was a little unstable for a bit, but once he got used to it he too was able to walk around. Somehow he managed to sneak up on Alina who was staring out the window at the scenery outside. When he touched her on the shoulder she jumped and turned around real quick, eyes huge with fear. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. But when she realized it was only Drake she calmed down and pushed him jokingly. Even with only that half-hearted push, Drake was sent flying across the room, slamming him into a wall. Not really too sure what had just happened, he took a second to get his bearings. When he finally did, he used the wall as a brace, and stood back up laughing, but stopped when he saw Alina¡¯s face about to burst from laughter. ¡°Yah, I¡¯m fine¡± He said sarcastically. ¡°Oh I¡¯m sorry. Are you okay?¡± She replied in turn. ¡°Yah, just dandy.¡± He said while laughing. While he felt no pain, he was wondering how she did that. He understood physics very well for some reason, and knew that shouldn¡¯t have been possible, much less him stand up as if it was nothing. Yet he did, and he didn¡¯t understand why. But now he wanted to test something out. ¡°Hey can you come over here n¡¯ help me out a bit?¡± He asked her. ¡°Hahahahaha so you¡¯re not alright.¡± She replied with some confidence towards her strength. ¡°I¡¯m fine, still just having trouble standing.¡± He replied. But as soon as she reached for him, he leaned forward and with a little bit of strength he pushed her back. Just like himself, she too was sent flying and crashed into the wall opposite of himself. She just stared back at him in total confusion; she felt no pain but knew she should be in a heap of pain. And she also knew that with as little force that he was able to muster from his position, he shouldn¡¯t have been able to do that. But before they could do anything else a group of people stormed into the room. They all wore heavy armor and helmets that also covered their face. ¡°Is everyone alright?¡± One of them asked. ¡°We heard loud crashes and wanted to be sure you guys are okay.¡± Another one said ¡°Yah we are fine, just shocked at our strength. We jokingly pushed each other but still sent the other one flying when we did.¡± Alina answered. ¡°You guys are already walking around?¡± A third armored person asked. ¡°Yah, not that hard.¡± Drake answered sarcastically ¡°Well alright then. But please no more walking around yet, if you must, then please limit physical contact for now. Training will begin in a few days so please wait till then.¡± The first armored person responded. With that, they left the room leaving Alina and Drake to themselves. As soon as everyone left the two of them started laughing. Well until Alina realized that Drake had tricked her. At which point, she looked at him angrily but calmed down when she saw his laughing face. When Drake stopped laughing and took a look at Alina and realized a few things. She looked to be between eleven and twelve years old, and though he had a sense of age and time, he really had no idea how old they truly were. She had bright blue, almost grey, eyes that shinned whenever light hit them and had brownish hair. And even though she looked older, he noticed she was a bit shorter than he was, only reaching to his eyes. But then curiosity got the better of him, and he looked around for something to see himself in. He was curious as to how he looked, but when he couldn¡¯t find anything he did the next best thing. ¡°What do I look like?¡± He asked her She just gave him a confused look that made him feel awkward. But really she was wondering why he asked her that. Then it hit her, she wanted to know what she looked like as well. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you if you tell me.¡± She finally answered him. He sighed a breath of relief then nodded his head. They both sat on their beds facing each other, and she started. ¡°Well you look to be between ten and eleven, though I have no idea how I know that. As I¡¯m sure you noticed you¡¯re a bit taller than me. You have silver hair, like an old man. But your eyes are really cool. You have silver eyes that have slit pupils like a Dragons. That¡¯s why the name Drake stands out to me.¡± ¡°Hum¡­¡± Was all Drake said as he thought about it. He was truly confused, if he had silver hair why are his tails black and red? How do they know the things they do, but have no memory of anything before? If he is only ten or eleven then how does he have as much knowledge as he does, or why does he know he has the maturity of a human adult? He truly had no answer for this and tried to think of an answer. But after coming up empty he turned to Alina. ¡°You look like your eleven or twelve. But like you, I have no idea how I know that, or how I really know anything. You have greyish blue eyes and long brown hair and are just a bit shorter than me. You have three tails that are solid black and have a light color to your skin.¡± He told her. When Alina heard she had tails she quickly turned around to look, she kept listening to Drake, but she was surprised she had tails. She didn¡¯t even notice that Drake had tails either and when she looked, she liked his coloring more. ¡°Why do you have different colors on your tails?¡± She asked, though she was sure he didn¡¯t know either. He just simply shrugged and cocked his head symbolizing he had no clue either. By this time, they had nothing left to talk about. Their memory only went to when they met each other, so nothing to talk about as far as their past goes and they don¡¯t really know anything about themselves either. So with nothing to talk about and already described how they look they just said night and went to sleep. Dr. King By the time they had woken up it was night outside. They had slept through what was left of the day, and were curious as to what was going on outside. Drake was the first to wake up, but the noise of him sitting up and walking around also woke up Alina. She rolled over and groggily looked at Drake, who was staring out the window. ¡°What are you doing?¡± She asked as she raised her head ¡°It¡¯s dark outside and I wanted to see what was different¡± Drake answered as he looked at her reflection in the window. ¡°Is there?¡± She asked still half asleep. ¡°Nope.¡± He replied nonchalantly. ¡°Ah.¡± She said as she rolled over and went back to sleep. But it didn¡¯t last long and she was woken up to a loud crash. She jumped awake and looked around in a small panic from the noise. What she found was Drake lying flat on his stomach. And no sooner did the armored personnel rush into the room again. ¡°What happened?¡± One of them asked. Alina simply shrugged not knowing herself but Drake sat up and started laughing. ¡°I wana know too you dumbasses!¡± Alina thought. ¡°I was bored, so I tried doing a handstand push up, and slowly used more n¡¯ more strength. I got impatient and used my full strength; but that sent my flying into the ceiling and crashing back to the floor.¡± Drake answered. One of the personnel face palmed and shook his head. ¡°Please be more careful and try to refrain from doing anything until the morning. We will find things for you to do then until your training starts.¡± He said and walked out of the room. At that point Alina just started cracking up. ¡°You actually slammed into the ceiling?¡± She asked through laughing tears. ¡°Yah it was kinda fun¡± Drake replied. Alina just started laughing harder. ¡°I¡­. Can¡­. Pic¡­.ture¡­. you¡­. Slam¡­ing¡­ into¡­ it¡± She struggled to say through her laughing. Her laugh was contagious and Drake started to crack up as well. After their laughing fit was over they wanted to test who was stronger. But they couldn¡¯t cause a ruckus so they stuck to endurance tests. Who could do the most push ups, sit ups, squats, or whatever. First they started with pushups, but after doing two-hundred without breaking a sweat, they moved to one handed handstand pushups. They had excellent balance due in part to their tails, but even then they noticed their tails just did minimalistic adjustments. Both started on their left hands, and could switch when one arm got tired, but as soon as one collapsed it was over. After three-hundred they both had to switch to their rights but this is when Alina took over. After another three-hundred Drake fell and could do no more but Alina managed to put in an additional ten pushups. So she won there, if only by a small amount in comparison to the almost one-thousand they had just done. Next was sit ups, and after one thousand five hundred of them Drake was done, and Alina was close, she only managed five more before she couldn¡¯t do any more. It was then that Alina noticed something. As Drake was cooling himself off by fanning himself with his shirt she was able to see his abs. They were extremely defined to the point that his skin sunk in in between the muscles, and instead of there being six, he had eight abdominal muscles. He had the normal six, but then he had one massive on top, just below his diaphragm, and one below, right above his hip. Curious, she walked over and suddenly took his shirt off. They both had the same plain white long sleeved shirt on with a matching set of plain white sweatpants. After getting his shirt taken off, Drake did absolutely nothing but just stand there. ¡°Why did she do that?¡± He wondered. ¡°I just wanted to see something real quick.¡± She said almost as if reading his mind. ¡°And did yo-¡± He started but stopped when Alina started touching him. She started grabbing his arms and chest and abs to feel his muscles. She was pretty interested in them, and how developed they are despite that neither of them remembers doing any kind of exercise. Now she was curious about her own body. So she lifted her collar to see her own, but it was too dark under her shirt so she just took it off. When she took off her shirt Drake was saddened. While his body looked physically fit, her body looked weak and frail. Yes muscle definition was visible, but not because they had been worked, but rather because she had nothing else. She looked like she had been starving for months before she woke up here. Alina though, was completely horrified. She was expecting to look like Drake, healthy and strong. Hell, she was just able to beat him in a physical competition and yet she looks like this. But wait, how does she know that is unhealthy? How does she know that Drake looks healthy? What if the opposite is true, where she is the healthy one and Drake is not? She knew that couldn¡¯t be true, but she could still hope right? Drake however, had no idea on what to do or say. He saw Alinas horrified looks, and knew she was unhappy with the way she looks. But he didn¡¯t exactly want to offer to help fatten her up or anything. Besides he still had no idea what, if any other food would be provided. So it wasn¡¯t like he could come up with a plan to help her build some healthy muscle anyway. But then something caught Drakes eyes. Alina was now shirtless and her chest was exposed. She caught on to Drakes change quickly and looked down to see her boobs completely exposed. ¡°Hahahahahahaha, get a good enough look at them?¡± She asked. Drake honestly didn¡¯t care, and just shrugged nonchalantly. ¡°Guess we playing show and tell. So common, drop ¡®em.¡± Alina said with some excitement. Again, Drake didn¡¯t really care; so he dropped his pants. ¡°Aaahhh not quite developed yet.¡± Alina said with a smug grin. ¡°I can say the same about you, small tits.¡± Drake countered. The grin fell right off of Alinas face. ¡°Oh yah?! Well¡­.¡± Alina started, then stopped when she saw Drakes face. Drake now had a demonic grin on his face, as if he was enjoying watching her become flustered. Truth be told, he was; and the more flustered she became, the more he was enjoying it. ¡°Oh, so now you¡¯re getting embarrassed.¡± Drake said with his demonic grin. Alina looked to where Drake was pointing, and she looked down to her chest where she was now covering her breasts with her arms. She had done it instinctively and didn¡¯t even realize she had moved her arms. Quickly she put her shirt back on but now her face was beat red from embarrassment. After Drake settled down, they didn¡¯t even bother with anything else. They figured they were pretty close in strength, and Alina was just slightly stronger. Alina didn¡¯t want to bring up Drakes sadistic side. It made her slightly uncomfortable, only because it was aimed at her. And once again Drake didn¡¯t care. In fact Drake was wondering if their strength had any connection to their tails. He remembered the first person who looked over his info was shocked he already had two tails, implying that he would grow more in the future. That¡¯s when Alina noticed something. ¡°Hey your tails are different. Now the tips are that dark red color instead of black like they use to be.¡± She stated, still kind of nervous to talk to Drake. Drake turned around to look and sure enough, there was a new marking on both tails. Now the tip had changed from black to dark burgundy giving him sixteen marking and eight on each tail. This was confirming his suspicions that the tails were some kind of indicator of their strength, but at what point would he grow a third and in what way is Alina that much more powerful than he is to have a third tail? He figured that while he may be able to keep up on a stamina test, she may have a higher physical strength than he does, giving her that third tail. But by the time they had finished their endurance test and their game of show and tell it was already morning. A new person walked into the room this time. She had no armor on, just a set of white scrubs. Being just a little taller than Drake, she was short compared to the rest of the people they have been meeting and is fairly skinny. Long blond hair covered her head and stretched down to the middle of her back and was accented with deep blue eyes. She had a very friendly smile, and gave off a friendly vibe all around. And best of all¡­ she came in with two trays of food. ¡°You guys must be hungry after all that exercising you just did.¡± She said. Both Alina and Drake looked at each other in confusion. ¡°How did she know? How could she possibly know?¡± They both wondered. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about how I know, you¡¯re not in any trouble or anything, I promise.¡± She replied with confidence. Again Alina and Drake were in shock. ¡°Can she read our minds? What¡¯s going on?¡± They wondered again. ¡°Don¡¯t think too hard and come and eat. You will need the energy for today¡± She replied in a happy tone. ¡°You two trouble makers are rare, most of you guys need a week to be able to start moving and yet you two not only started with several tails, but are able to walk around and do things after only a few days. So we will be starting your training earlier.¡± She continued. ¡°Rare? That implies there are others like us?¡± Alina asked. ¡°I¡¯ve already said too much. Don¡¯t worry too much about it and just eat. Everything will become clear soon.¡± She said as she started to walk out the door. ¡°By the way, you can call me Gabby¡± Gabby said and closed the door behind her. Both Alina and Drake looked at each other, and then walked over to the food trays. When they opened them up they smelt the goodness that was hot pancakes with butter and syrup as well as a helping of bacon and sausage with eggs and hash browns. As they both stared at their trays they started to drool. They wiped their drool at the same time, looked at each other, and dug in. As they ate, smiles grew on their faces. As far as they could remember, they had never enjoyed anything like this; this was heaven. Everything was seasoned just right, just the right amount of salt, pepper, butter, everything. After they finished, they both let out a loud burp and started laughing. Though now, Drake was pretty sure they would be receiving food. So now maybe he can start helping Alina put on some weight by sharing his food as well. But they soon grew bored and started to look for something to do. Out of sheer boredom, they started playing twenty questions. ¡°What¡¯s your favorite color?¡± Drake asked. ¡°The silver in your eyes, but haven¡¯t really seen much else. What about you?¡± Alina asked. ¡°The grey-blue in your eyes, or the bright red ring on my tail.¡± He answered. ¡°But how do we know what colors are once we see them, but can¡¯t picture a color until then?¡± He asked seriously after a moment of thought. Alina had to think about it, but she didn¡¯t know either. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Well Gabby said we¡¯ll know later today. She said everything will become clear, so I guess we have to wait till then.¡± She answered. Drake accepted that, though he couldn¡¯t wait any longer to figure out how he knows all this. But that¡¯s when it clicked for him. He remembered that first person who looked at his info the first time saying something about programming. Now that he could understand what he was saying, he wondered if that¡¯s what he meant, and what happened when he was tied down to that chair. Maybe he wasn¡¯t supposed to wake up during either the check up or the programming. Maybe he was supposed to stay asleep until after the ¡®programming¡¯. ¡°Hey did you wake up tied down to a chair before you woke up in this room?¡± He asked Alina. ¡°Hey it¡¯s my turn to ask a question!¡± She said annoyed. But then she thought about it. ¡°No I didn¡¯t; I remember waking up in a tube, and then being carried away after it drained, but nothing after that until I woke up in this room with you.¡± She answered. ¡°Huh that¡¯s what I thought.¡± He said. ¡°What?¡± Alina asked. ¡°Well I woke up a few times after waking up from the tube. The first time I woke up to someone looking at some paperwork at the edge of my bed and saying something about programming. At the time I didn¡¯t understand him, but now I do. Then the next time I woke up, I was tied down to a chair, and I saw several others like me who were also tied down but they were all asleep. Then I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and suddenly I knew how to talk as well as other things, but then I passed out and woke up here in this room.¡± He explained. ¡°So I think that sharp pain and the sudden flood of knowledge was the ¡®programming¡¯. And that would explain how we know all this stuff and know nothing at the same time. We have no experience with our knowledge, but we are aware we have it.¡± He finished. Alina was just in shock, but it would make sense if that was the case. ¡°Everyone so far has been shocked that we are functional already, not to mention just how functional. Only Gabby has said something about ones like us being rare, but didn¡¯t explain it. She also mentioned that training would start early for us, probably because training would normally be the first thing others would see or do since they take longer to wake up. But we woke up after only a few days instead of a week like Gabby said.¡± Alina elaborated. Drake thought about it, and to him that made the most sense. ¡°Guess we''ll find out later.¡± He said. But that later felt like forever away. The two tried to find ways to pass the time, but they ran out of things to do pretty quickly. After a few hours of making up games to play and just sitting around, the armored people came into the room again. ¡°Time for training, four four one and one four four, let¡¯s go.¡± One of them said. Even though they were excited to finally leave and learn what they are, Alina became nervous. When the armored people came into the room suddenly she jumped behind Drake and grabbed his arm. Even with the fact that they had been in the room before, she was scared this time since they are taking her out of the room. As they walked out of the room she stayed close, gripping tightly onto Drakes arm. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, everything will be fine.¡± Drake reassured her. She nodded slightly but buried her head into his back as they walked outside for the first time. Drake had to cover his eyes for a bit as the sun was very bright and his eyes weren¡¯t use to it. But once he was able to see he was amazed. All around them he saw huge snow-capped mountains, almost like they were in a giant crater. When he looked around he saw more buildings that looked exactly like the one he had just walked out of, tall, plain, boring concrete buildings, with several floors of windows. And way off in the distance he was able to see a small forest area, and a large flat field. Though the details were small so he couldn¡¯t make out from that far, he was able to see that parts of the field had some kind of object. And a little farther out the field became hilly, and had some large trees. When he was done taking everything in, he reached back to separate Alina and once she got a look at the outside she was mesmerized. All the colors she knew existed, but had never seen, all the smells and the feeling of the fresh air. She took it all in until one of the armored personnel pushed her to get them moving. She fell down, and although it wasn¡¯t hard, it was enough to make Drake angry. Alina was the first person he had ever met and he cared about her. Nobody but him could push or torment her. Drake turned around and grabbed the hand of the one who pushed Alina and swung the guard overhead and slammed him to the floor. He twisted the arm and wrist and put some pressure till he heard a pop and the guard yelled out in pain. The other two tried to tackle Drake but he just held out his arms and caught them both mid-tackle. To make things fun he slammed their heads together and let them fall to the floor. Drake wasn¡¯t done yet. He was just starting to enjoy himself. The screams of pain coming from the guard whose arm he broke elated him. He wanted to cause more pain. It was then that Alina saw Drakes grin, and she shivered from the sight. ¡°Drake stop!¡± she yelled at him. Which he did, and then turned around to look at her. ¡°Why did you do that Drake?¡± Alina asked, curious why he snapped. But in truth, she was happy that he was willing to defend her like that. He thought about it, and came to the conclusion that he enjoyed fighting and watching others suffer. The suffering could be mental, or physical, he enjoyed it all the same. A full grown up had rested his hand on Drake mostly to prevent him from moving anymore and to deal with him if he tried. But he instantly pulled his hand away once he felt Drakes dark energy. Drake was still relishing in his actions when he looked at the adult who had put a hand on him. ¡°Should I say I¡¯m sorry?¡± Drake asked sarcastically. ¡°I thought they were trying to hurt my friend and I just reacted. But oh man was it fun. And it felt sssssoooooo good.¡± He finished with his sadistic grin. That¡¯s when Drake noticed the adult had seven tails that had just solid black fur on them. ¡°So you¡¯re like us?¡± He asked gleefully. The adult just nodded not too sure what to do with this one. ¡°I see you haven¡¯t even had your first training yet since you two don¡¯t seem to understand what¡¯s going on.¡± He said. They both just shook their heads, when the adult stared off at something. Drake turned around to see what he was looking at when he saw a camera looking at them. They were being watched. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll call for a medical team for these guys you just knocked out, but how about I escort you to the training area since these armor guys don¡¯t hold up too well against you.¡± He offered. They both nodded and the adult made some signs at the camera. Then he signaled for the two to start walking and they did. ¡°Wait you two.¡± The adult said. They stopped and looked at him. ¡°You two have never trained before?¡± He asked. ¡°Nope¡± they answered at the same time. ¡°Why?¡± Alina asked. ¡°¡¯Cuz both of you have more than one tail. I¡¯ve never seen a freshie with more than a tail before.¡± He answered surprised. ¡°Well we¡¯ve never seen anyone else with tails before, so the feeling is mutual¡± Drake answered. ¡°Now how do we get to the training?¡± Alina asked. ¡°Right¡± He said and started to lead the way. Alina was still being shy and was still holding Drakes arm as they walked. ¡°By the way, you two can call me Will. What are your numbers?¡± Will asked. ¡°I¡¯m Drake¡± he answered. ¡°And I¡¯m Alina¡± She replied. ¡°Wait, they gave you names instead of numbers already?¡± Will asked ¡°No we gave each other names when we met. But those guys called us one four four and four four one.¡± Drake answered. ¡°Though we didn¡¯t know why until now¡± Alina finished. ¡°Hum¡­¡± Was all that Will had to say. Now Will was very tall, seemingly twice the height of Drake, and very muscular. He had a very dark black skin tone and spoke with an accent. He had brown eyes and very short black hair. He didn¡¯t have a very threatening appearance, but the two knew better than to mess with him. The rest of the way, Will was quiet. Alina had become comfortable enough to walk away from Drake and did, but stayed close enough that they kept bumping into each other as they would walk. Along the way, Alina started to poke Drake with her tails, at first Drake didn¡¯t quite get it, but as soon as he tried he realized how hard it was to finely control his tails. Little by little Alina was showing why she had the third tail and he didn¡¯t. She was the first to walk, and now the first to work on tail control. Drake had to win in some way. Maybe, if anything, he would be the better fighter since he was the one who stood up for Alina. Or maybe she just lacks the self-confidence to say or do anything. But that didn¡¯t matter; he would make sure he was better at something. Suddenly Drake walked into something. As he crashed into the wall and then on to the floor, Alina just started cracking up. ¡°Everything ok?¡± She asked after she calmed down a little bit. ¡°Yah¡­ Just wasn¡¯t paying attention¡± Drake answered as she helped him up. Even Will was chuckling a little bit; but then he waved his hand to signal to keep moving. Finally they reached their destination, the large field with a stage at the end of it. With Alina and Drake not wearing any shoes, they enjoyed the feel of the fresh cut, wet grass on their feet. It was a new sensation compared to the dirt, cement, and pavement they had been walking on up till now. They both stopped for a second, and wiggled their toes as the grass made its way in between and tickled them. ¡°Um hum!¡± Someone cleared his throat to get their attention. They both looked over to see a man standing in front of the stage. He was about as tall as Drake, but not as slender. He was, in fact, very round and greasy looking. His brown hair was slicked back, giving an even greasier look, and he wore an all-black suit. He lifted his hand and waved his fingers to signal for them to come over. As they did, they enjoyed every step on the soft, wet grass. When they got close enough the man pointed them to sit. When they did, he started to speak. ¡°Hello, I am Doctor King. I own, run, and operate this facility.¡± Dr. King introduced. Pre-Training Check-Up ¡°Hello, I am Doctor King. I own, run, and operate this facility.¡± King introduced. ¡°What is this place?¡± Alina asked before he could start his next sentence. ¡°Well, if you let me finish I will explain it all to you.¡± King replied ¡°Is that ok with you two?¡± He asked They both shook their heads. ¡°Good, then please wait to ask any and all questions until I am finished. I will answer any remaining questions you have then.¡± He said as he looked into their eyes. He could see how badly they wanted to know, and how badly they wanted him to get to the point. He waited a little longer and he started to feel some hostility from one of them, though he couldn¡¯t tell which one. And that baffled him since he is usually very keen on who releases what kind of energy. ¡°Both of you are genetic experiments.¡± He started and waited for their surprised reaction. He didn¡¯t have to wait as they both instantly looked at him in shock and confusion. ¡°And there are two types we create here, those that were human at one point, usually a child with no family, and those that are created in the lab.¡± King continued. Alina and Drake both looked at each other to try and figure out which they were. ¡°Normally we don¡¯t tell who is what, as a way to spare any kind of superiority of one over the other, but you two are close so we will tell you. Four four one, you were once a human and are now thirteen years old. Your family had all been killed and we found you starving. We offered you food and a place to live, explained everything to you and you jumped at it.¡± He said as he looked at Alina. Alina¡¯s eyes dimmed when she found out she had a family who had been killed. But she was alive, and she got to meet Drake. So that made her happy in a way, and it also explained her appearance. She had in fact been starving until she was taken in. Then King looked at Drake. ¡°You¡­ well you were created here thirteen years ago. Your eyes are proof; they were an accidental mutation when we created and spliced your DNA.¡± King said. Drake didn¡¯t really know how to feel. Since he didn¡¯t have a family he had no reason to be sad, but he is only alive to do whatever it is that these people want him to do. He has no choice in a life. And that is what bummed him out. But he was happy to hear that they were the same age since he thought he was younger than Alina. ¡°But usually, created beings are more powerful than once humans. Though under any circumstance, a being with two or more tails from the get go is extremely rare. The fact that she has three has only ever happened twice before. But don¡¯t worry; honestly both of you are pretty much even. She has no rings on her tails while you only have one more to go before you grow a third one.¡± King explained . That news made Drake very happy. He knew he wasn¡¯t far behind since he could pretty much keep up with Alina, but it was the fact that he was behind. Now he knows he could become stronger and be the one who protects her. ¡°As for what you are; well as I said you are genetic experiments¡­ actually can¡¯t use experiment anymore¡­ you are genetic warriors, much like a highly skilled special force. Only we are a private company, and we are not the only ones. There are others out there that use different ways to make their warriors and have different ways to tell they are genetic warriors. Much like your tails that serve as a strength or skill indicator, they will also use a way to indicate their strength or skill. So for the next few years, you will be training in various combat arts and styles as well as espionage, infiltration, and information gathering.¡± King finished. Alina and Drake both just looked at each other in confusion. They weren¡¯t too sure what to think, but being warriors, or Special Forces; well that was pretty much at the bottom of their list of things they expected. ¡°Are there more of us? Well ones that just woke up or are waking up?¡± Alina asked quickly ¡°Very perceptive four four one, yes there are others in your ¡®class¡¯ so to speak. They have not awoken yet, and some of them are very weak, not even showing a tail yet. They will receive class training when they all wake up. But you two are special, it is very rare waking up with two or more tails, or even a tail with five or more markings on it. So you two, being the only ones of this ¡®class¡¯ that have more than one tail and hell, one four four almost has his third tail.¡± King explained. ¡°Oh and by the way¡± Drake started ¡°My name is Drake, and hers is Alina.¡± He explained King just looked at them with some shock. ¡°Who gave you those names?¡± He asked. ¡°We named each other in the room we were in.¡± Alina said. ¡°And since we like those names, we would like it if you called us them as well.¡± Drake finished. King was just shocked. Never before had any of the experiments named each other. So he took out a tablet computer and typed some stuff into it. ¡°There is that better?¡± He asked as he showed them their profiles. Their profiles had a long string of identification numbers, hence the one four four and four four one at the ends, but now under the name section it said Drake and Alina respectively. ¡°Now your personal trainer Mr. Snow, and myself, will watch as you two spar so we have a good idea for your power level and skill.¡± King said as another man walked over. He was very tall, almost twice the height of Drake, even taller than Will, and much rounder than Dr. King as well. A much older man whose hair is fading to white, and he has an old military tattoo on his left arm. ¡°No need for the ¡®Mister¡¯ crap. Just call me Sir. Nothing more, nothing less¡± He said in a very authoritative tone that shocked Alina and Drake. After a few seconds he started to laugh. ¡°Just kidding, Jeff is just fine.¡± Jeff said. ¡°Now please start the spar for us¡± King said. Alina and Drake both just looked at each other for a second, not really too sure what to do. ¡°A Spar is a fight with limits or rules to prevent injury. Don¡¯t worry about them as we will step in if needed.¡± Jeff said. Again, Alina and Drake both just looked at each other, but got the idea. They took a few steps back and got ready. Drake saw that Alina got into a fighting pose, but he felt comfortable just standing there. After a few seconds, Alina charged in, but Drake was already ready with a counter. As soon as Alina threw a punch, Drake grabbed it, ducked under, and tripped her up with his own legs. Now on the ground, Drake was in a favorable position and went for a knee lock, but Alina pulled her leg out with brute force. This however, left her trying to recover and Drake was already ready to go. He grabbed her leg again and pulled her in, went for another leg lock, but it was a faint. When Alina tried to counter with a kick from her free leg, Drake pushed up with enough force to jump over it as he did when he crashed into the celling in the white room. With the practice he had of using his tail for fine control he grabbed onto Alina¡¯s arm just long enough to stop his rising momentum and landed on her chest. He swung his right leg over her shoulder and under her head, and then rolled himself onto his back bringing her along with him. Trapping her right arm, he lifted his left leg and put it on the arch of his right ankle. After it was locked in, he tightened his grip with his legs and started choking out Alina. He had pulled of a fluid triangle choke, leaving Alina almost nothing to do¡­ almost. She lifted her knees up to her chest and put her right hand on her head, giving her the ever so slightest gap to breathe through. She took in a deep breath, and stood up, lifting Drake off the ground. Once fully standing up, she slammed Drake to the ground, but he didn¡¯t let go. It hurt like hell, but he knew he couldn¡¯t let go yet. So she tried again and lifted him up. That¡¯s when Drake shifted, he let go of the choke, grabbed her head, and dropped his lower body. Alina was already off balance from the shift of weight, so when Drake dropped to the floor she fell with him. Drake, holding on to the back of her head, went to slam it into the ground, but stopped it with his own arm before her head hit the floor. It still hurt, but nothing as bad as if he went for a full slam. ¡°That¡¯s enough. If Drake went through with it that would have been a K.O¡± Jeff said. Jeff then looked at Alina. ¡°Next time Alina, don¡¯t rush like you did. That one mistake threw you off balance the whole fight¡± Jeff explained. He then turned to Drake. ¡°Drake, good job baiting her in with your ¡®defenseless¡¯ stance, and good use of shifting your weight. You¡¯re very talented.¡± Jeff explained to him. Drake was happy with his praise, and then looked at Alina who seemed depressed. But Drake had no idea what to say, if he should say anything at all. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Good fight, almost got me with that slam.¡± He finally said. ¡°Thanks¡± Alina said in a depressed tone. ¡°Don¡¯t feel too bad Alina¡± Jeff started. ¡°You two are very close in skill level, and all that was needed was one mistake. Unfortunately it was you who made the mistake this time. But maybe next time, after some training, it might be him that makes it. Who knows.¡± Jeff finished in a comforting tone. Alina smiled a bit and nodded but that was it. ¡°Well alrighty then, I know how to train you guys as far as fighting goes, and as for the stealth stuff, we will work on that later.¡± Jeff explained. ¡°Now let¡¯s get started. So follow me¡± He finished after a few seconds. ¡°But first, you guys are gana be checked by a Doc to see how healthy you are.¡± Jeff said after walking for a few minutes. ¡°It will be quick and painless. Just a quick examination and some measurements.¡± He finished a few seconds later. Alina and Drake followed Jeff to the hospital that was a mile away. It was mostly a quiet walk with no one really having anything to say. Well Alina just didn¡¯t know what to say to Drake. He had just beaten her in a fight without throwing a single hit, and avoiding all her hits. None the less, she held onto his arm like glue. Even after that fight, she felt much more comfortable around and close to him and felt weird when they got farther apart. They soon reached the hospital for their checkup. As soon as they walked in they saw just how many others there are. Some have tails like themselves, others had tails that looked different. They are brownish red in color and are quite a bit puffier. Drake was going to ask something when he couldn¡¯t get his voice out. Instead his eyes started to dart from person to person. ¡°Ouch, Drake let go.¡± Alina said before she looked at him. She saw the terror in his eyes as they quickly moved from one person to the next. But she had to get Drake to let go. In his panic, he had grabbed her hand and was now crushing it in a death grip. ¡°Drake let go!¡± She said forcefully. But Drake couldn¡¯t hear her. He was in a full blown panic; He started sweating badly, his breathing increased and so did his heart rate. Soon that panic turned to violence as he thought of getting rid of everyone there. Before he could act on it though, he was knocked out by Jeff who heard Alina talk to Drake. ¡°Why did you do that Jeff?!¡± Alina asked angrily. ¡°You can¡¯t feel it just yet, but he was giving off a strong killing intent, much more so than his strength should allow.¡± Jeff explained calmly. ¡°I have no idea what caused it, but something made him snap.¡± Jeff finished. ¡°Well he was looking wildly at all the different people. And he was fine until he walked in here. This is the first time we are around so many people¡­ Do you think he is afraid of crowds?¡± Alina asked. Jeff was amazed at her observations. ¡°It¡¯s very possible.¡± He said as he lifted Drake and walked to the checkup room. He set Drake down on the bed, and then sat down in a chair to wait for the doctor to come in. He pointed to a chair to have Alina sit as well, but she didn¡¯t. She was too uneasy with what happened to Drake. ¡°Man they are really attached to each other. They have only been awake for a day or two and they have this kind of connection already?¡± Jeff thought. A minute later Drake woke up. ¡°Uuugggghhh¡­ What happened?¡± He groaned. ¡°That¡¯s what we want to ask you.¡± Jeff said calmly. Then it all hit him again. That fear of all those people around him, the feeling of suffocating, and the anxiety of feeling like there was no way out. ¡°You hate crowds huh Drake?¡± Alina asked. He looked at her with a blank stare. He wondered how she knew, but at the same time, he figured she had a fear of being alone, or at least afraid of being away from him. So he just nodded in agreement. ¡°Same can be said about you Alina. It seems you have a general fear of being separated from Drake.¡± Jeff pointed out. Drake just smiled because he knew he just hit the nail on the head, but he wanted to know how she became so attached so quickly. Maybe it was when he defended her, but she was already hiding behind him then, He really couldn''t figure it out. Alina started to blush since she couldn¡¯t really deny it. She felt weird being away from Drake, and the thought of being farther away scared her for some reason. ¡°AAAAAANNNNNNDDDDDD here I am!¡± A stranger said as he barged in the door. Alina and Drake both jumped at the sudden entrance, while Jeff just face palmed. ¡°It is I, the most awesome, Doctor Snow!¡± The doc said to introduce himself. ¡°And who might you be?¡± He asked Alina and Drake. ¡°My newest students. They need a pre-training checkup.¡± Jeff said coldly. ¡°Training?! Already??! Only two!!!!¡± Doctor Snow said with unneeded excitement. ¡°Well since it is my brother, you two must be¡­. WOW two¡­ no¡­. almost three tails!¡± He exclaimed with excitement at Drake. ¡°Aaaannnddd for the young lady¡­. Wow three tails! Wait¡­. Two students with more than one tail!!! What the hell!¡± Doctor Snow shouted now more excited than ever. Alina and Drake just looked at Jeff, then back and Doctor Snow and back at Jeff and back at Doctor Snow trying to find how they are related. Then they just started cracking up and the polar opposites that are brothers. Doctor Snow jumped in on the laughing though he had no idea what was so funny. But he believed a good hard laugh can change the future, so he laughed away. ¡°Ok time for your checkups.¡± Doctor Snow said when the laughter stopped. ¡°Drake, please stand up¡± He instructed. As soon as Drake stood up the Doc took off his shirt to get a look at his muscle structure. He listened to his heart rate and breathing, and finally took his pulse and stood back. ¡°Hhhuummm, five feet four. Not bad for your age, but you will get much taller, and a solid hundred pounds of muscle. But that seems off¡­ Your bones and muscles are several tens of times denser than normal. So you should weight¡­. Somewhere around a ton given your dimensions¡­ weird.... Anyway you have a healthy cardio vascular system and muscles. You pass.¡± He informed Drake. Everyone was alarmed by what Dr. Snow had said about his mass. Jeff was going to say something about it but Dr. Show immediately jumped to examining Alina. ¡°You¡¯re next sweetheart.¡± He told Alina. Alina then started to take off her shirt, still trying to wrap her mind around what he had just said about Drake, but Doctor Snow stopped her. ¡°Hey now, you can¡¯t go showing off a ladies body like that.¡± He scolded her. She blushed from embarrassment and then remembered Drakes reaction earlier. Dr. Snow then put his hands around her hips, waist, back and arms to get a gage for her muscle structure. Then he listened to her heart rate and breathing as well as taking her pulse. ¡°Five foot three. Again not bad, but you will only grow a little bit more. You¡¯re pretty much done on that end. But at only eighty pounds, you will need to put on some more lean muscle. But don''t worry, it is completely normal for one who is just waking up. Gata remember you haven''t been moving around for a long time, only natural for your muscles to atrophy. In fact the weird one is Drake with those super defined muscles. But you also have a very good cardio vascular system, so you also pass.¡± He explained to Alina What the doc had said about her body comforted Alina and the two of them sighed a breath of relief they would be able to start training. ¡°But how did you do that so fast? Without actually measuring or weighing us? And what did you mean about my muscles and bones?¡± Drake asked. ¡°We will leave it at that I am very good at my job.¡± He said intentionally blowing off the last question. ¡°And now I¡¯m OOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFfffffff¡± He said as he ran out the door, his voice getting softer as he got farther away. Weapons Training ************************************Authors note****************************************** Hay guys, So ppl have been giving me some feedback, mostly in the way Post the story here. So i have since made edits to the posts. edits include, changing color of text to make it easier to read, better spacing (I was actually unaware it was bunching my crap together as it was so I spaced it out... again easier to read) and i made a change to some of the last Chapter with Dr. Snow. How he said that Alina must have been starving... well he should have known better that muscle atrophying is completely natural when someone doesn''t move for long periods of time. It was a logic hole that a friend actually pointed out and something i didn''t really want in the story. So just wanted to make the people who read this aware of my changes and hope they help. Cheers **************************************************************************************** ¡°Well you heard him. With that we can begin training. We¡¯ll just have to figure out what he meant by that later Drake.¡± Jeff said. They then left the hospital to begin their hellish training. And it was hellish training. Every day, day in, day out would start with physical training. Routine stretching started each morning followed by a fifty mile run that had to be completed in under two hours. As a punishment, for every minute over they took added one hundred reps to each set of the following workout. Normally it would be one thousand push-ups on each arm followed by one thousand crunches and frog leaps. Every few days Jeff would change up the exercises to insure that their bodies would never get accustomed to any particular exercise. After that a light breakfast, and right back into training. Martial arts was next on the platter, and it was crazy. Jeff had an eye for the smallest of details and when he would see one of them step off by even half an inch he would stop them and correct them. He hammered the basics and small details until the two had them perfected. This training usually would last until four in the evening, but the timing would change based on how well the two grasped the new concept. The final training of the day would be weight lifting. Drake really stood out here. Thanks to his dense muscles and bones, Drake was out-lifting everyone. Which really made Jeff wonder why he struggled just as Alina did every day during physical training. And if he was really as heavy as Dr. Snow said, then how was he able to toss him around like a rag doll during martial arts training. But when it came to lifting weights, something that can be measured properly and doesn''t change, he can unleash unnatural strength. However, when he would hit a punching bag or a fighting dummy his power would be only slightly higher than usual. Jeff couldn''t figure it out and his brother wasn''t telling him anything either. Six months later the two got to pick their weapon of choice to fight with. Jeff walked them over to an armory that had just about every kind of close quarter weapon imaginable. Long distance weapons, like guns, would be trained with later along with their stealth training. ¡°Your weapon is an extension of you. Pick wisely.¡± Jeff explained. Alina had gravitated towards a long distance combat style, one where she would strike quickly using the full length of her limbs, and then quickly jump back to avoid any damage. After looking around the huge armory for a bit she finally found what she was looking for, a pair of Katars. The blades were a glossy black, while the handle seemed to be a type of ivory. However, Alina wasn¡¯t too sure what they were made of. But these weren¡¯t any ordinary Katars; one of them had been opened already and it was a five blade Katar. Curious, she grabbed the closed one and pulled the trigger in the handle. From the main blade, four others sprang out with enough force to cause Alina to recoil. Two of the blades ran perpendicular to the main blade, while the other two went off to a forty-five degree angle to the main blade. ¡°That¡¯s a powerful release¡± Alina thought to herself. ¡°These are perfect!¡± She exclaimed excitedly. Excited she pulled the trigger again, and the blades retracted back into the main blade. For Alina these blades were perfect; they were light, allowing her to move freely as she needed. Plus they went along great with her style of fighting. The only down side is that they have almost no defensive ability. Maybe with the blades extended she would be able to stop other swords and such, but with them retracted there isn¡¯t very much she would be able to do to block. Then again, her style focused more on agility and avoiding damage over blocking it like Drakes style. Drake on the other hand was very close quarter and destruction focused. He would close the gap and unleash hell from inside of his opponents¡¯ range of attack using everything he had available to cause damage. But he preferred using his knees, elbows and head-butts. He was looking for a kind of short sword or gauntlet that he could swing freely from close in but still do massive damage. What he found instead was a set of twin swords. He wasn¡¯t sure as to why he was drawn towards them since they¡¯re not quite the short sword or gauntlet he was looking for, but they were beautiful. The first one had a standard katana hilt. It had a black base with a brass and silver grip attached and a gold grip ferrule in between the two colors. The guard had red support beams with a black inner lining, a brass outer layer and was in the shape of four spades. The second one also has a standard katana hilt, with a silver grip covering the top half of the hilt and a brass fabric covering the bottom half. Its guard had a black ring with red support beams connecting the guard to the grip. When he grabbed the first one he realized it was extremely heavy, but he loved the way the weight felt and how well it was balanced. He dragged it out of the scabbard to see a black katana blade attached to the hilt and tried swinging it around. But its weight made it hard to just lift let alone swing it, none the less he loved it. So he grabbed the second one and it was just as heavy, but it was shaped differently. This one had a blood red blade attached to its hilt, but the razor edge on the blade was black. It had a straight sword blade, but its tip was shaped like an arrow head with barbs swinging back towards the blade, putting more weight on the end instead of the hilt. To help lighten it, there is a slit that ran the length of the blade until the arrowhead. The slit was wide enough to fit other swords into, and reduced surface area of the blade. Even with that the weight was still too much and made the blade very difficult to swing, but increased its destructive ability, and again, Drake was in love. They walked back to the entrance together to meet Jeff who had been waiting. He wasn¡¯t surprised by Alina¡¯s choice in weapons; but when he saw Drake dragging his choice, he was shocked. ¡°You can carry those?¡± He asked. ¡°I wonder how those things got into the beginners armory?¡± Jeff wondered to himself. ¡°Yah, hard to even lift but I will get used to it.¡± Drake answered somewhat out of breath. ¡°But why are they so heavy?¡± He asked. ¡°Well those swords were found that way. However, they are extremely old, older than the human race. They were dated back to the Jurassic era. We have no idea who or what forged them, how they were forged, what they are forged from, or why something would forge such heavy weapons. It makes no sense at all.¡± Jeff explained Drake was just amazed by the weapons he had found and he wanted to learn to control them as soon as possible. ¡°Those things are incredibly heavy Drake. No one so far has been able to hold them properly, let alone able to swing them, even the laws of physics are against you. Are you sure you want to use them?¡± Jeff pointed out. ¡°I¡¯m positive!¡± Drake replied without a second thought. ¡°Okay fine, it will be a trial. If you can¡¯t use them in a week you will pick new weapons. Now lets¡¯ g-¡± Jeff started. ¡°What are mine made out of?¡± Alina cut him off. Jeff shot her a dirty look for cutting him off, to which Alina glared back with bone chilling eyes. ¡°Let me see them.¡± He said unaffected by her glare. She handed over her Katars and he examined them. After a minute he handed them back to Alina. ¡°The blades are a type of refined steel called hypersteel; it is much stronger, and much more durable than even titanium. The process chars the metal black and makes it extremely difficult to work with. However, the process in which the hypersteel is created is also very difficult and produces very little in terms of how much work is put into it. How a set of hypersteel Katars made it into the beginner armory is a mystery since the stuff is so expensive. And we are just giving it to a trainee who happens to find it?¡± Jeff started. ¡°And the same can be said about your swords Drake. Those swords are unique, no others like them have been found. Yet we have them sitting in the beginner armory, where we just give any weapon the trainee picks to them.¡± Jeff continued confused. ¡°Anyway¡­¡± He started back up after a pause for thought. ¡°The handle is a synthesized metal we call daetinite. Cheaper and easier to make than hypersteel, but it can¡¯t hold an edge; however, it is an excellent shock absorbing metal. It will absorb any impact and disperse it as heat energy. And as for the actual grip, since the daetinite gets pretty hot, it is a heat resistant carbon fiber support, with a soft outer grip for comfort and shock absorption.¡± Jeff finally finished. With that, the two were just in shock. They both managed to get some very good weapons from the get-go. But that brought up the question of the beginner armory and just giving out weapons. How else would they get them? ¡°How would we get better weapons?¡± Drake asked curious. ¡°With the money you will earn from missions you get after training. But I doubt you will be needing them, both of you got some very high class weapons at the starting line.¡± Jeff explained. ¡°Now anything else?¡± Jeff asked impatiently. Neither of them responded. So Jeff signaled for them to follow him. He helped Drake carry one of the swords since even he isn¡¯t capable of carrying both of them, and Drake could barely walk holding both. They then ran over to the training field to get started. Both Alina and Drake were still impressed that a man as big as Jeff was able to keep up with their speed and stamina, especially since he is carrying one of Drakes heavy weapons. They knew he too was like them even though he never admitted nor denied it; what they didn¡¯t know however, was how many tails he has. When they got to the field, the first thing Jeff had them do was figure out how they wanted to hold their weapons when not in use. Like on their sides or across their back, or for Drake both across his back and hip. Alina chose to hold hers on her shoulders so it was in easy access for her. All she had to do was reach back and put the Katars up and out of their holsters. And Drake wanted to put the black blade running across his lower back, basically his waist, with the hilt on his left side, and his red blade on his back in a standard way with the hilt on his right shoulder. The reason he chose that weird set up had a lot to do with the way he was going to hold his blades. Since his red blade was heavier, he was going to use his stronger left arm, thus why the hilt was on his right shoulder, so he can reach across and pull it up and out of its scabbard. And his black blade was on the back of his waist so he could use a quick draw style, and quickly draw, attack, and re-sheath the sword while staying out of the way of his red blade. Well that was his thought process for his set up, but he still wasn¡¯t even sure if it would work with the super heavy swords. ¡°Very standard way to hold your weapons Alina. But what¡¯s that kind of setup Drake? Jeff asked ¡°Well this way, I can fight with this red sword, and use the black one as a quick draw like weapon and its easy for me to draw both¡­ assuming I can even do a quick draw or wield these swords.¡± Drake replied ¡°I¡¯ll admit, that¡¯s a very strange fighting style...Ok then, I want both of you to draw your weapons starting with you Drake.¡± Jeff said Drake then reached for his swords, but struggled to draw both blades. He had a hard time just trying lifting them out of the sheath, let alone trying to swing them. So he had to two-hand the red blade just to get it out. Once he got it out of the sheath, he dropped it instantly just from the extreme weight, and energy consumed to draw the thing. ¡°Well since your swords are so heavy, the first thing we need to work on is your ability to just to draw and hold them. Don¡¯t even worry about swinging them, just work on your strength for now until you can hold them indefinitely. But I doubt you will ever get to that point.¡± Jeff explained to Drake. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°How?¡± Drake asked wanting to prove him wrong. ¡°Just draw and hold the stupid things. When you can no longer hold them and drop them, rest for a few minutes, re-sheath, put them back into position and do it again! Soon your body will adjust and cope with the burden, though you probably will never be able to use them. But you should be able to at least draw and hold them. And when you hold them, hold them parallel to the ground.¡± Jeff told Drake. Drake just looked at Jeff with confused, but accepting eyes. He picked up his swords, re-sheathed them, drew them and just held them out until he couldn¡¯t anymore and dropped them. After a break he repeated again and again and again; noticing that each time he could do it more fluidly and hold them slightly longer. Soon even lifting them into position and standing back up became easy. When he looked over to Alina to see how she was doing, he was amazed. She was quickly extending, attacking and then retracting her Katars. Jeff would throw up some kind of plate and she would instantly adjust and smash it to pieces. When Jeff took a break, Alina quickly retracted the Katars and put them in their holders. And while she was doing well with her training, she wanted to get back to Drake as soon as possible. So she walked back to Drake as soon as she was done, who had been holding his swords for almost a minute. ¡°Hey good job, but uuhh, your holding them too low.¡± She pointed out Drake snapped back to reality and looked down at his swords as the tips were just hovering above the ground, but none the less he was able to hold them for a while. ¡°Your genetics allow for rapid recovery of cells, so you build muscle mass and strength at an extremely accelerated rate, but even still I''m amazed. Those swords are heavier than anything you have lifted and you''re already adjusting to them." Jeff stared. "Plus as I have explained before your muscles are vastly different from normal muscles. They store hundreds of times more oxygen, and the fibers are several tens to hundreds of times stronger giving you your vastly increased strength without increasing their weight.¡± Jeff explained to Alina. "However you... well you''re very different. I have no logical explination to explain how you are doing what you do." Jeff told Drake. ¡°So keep at it until you can draw them fluidly and hold them for ten minutes, we will be at the target field working on her accuracy.¡± He finished nonchalantly and then they took off. But Alina stopped, turned around and came back to Drake. ¡°I know you can do it.¡± She said with a smile and gave him a hug. Drake was honestly confused for her reaction. He didn¡¯t remember doing anything worthy of a hug, yet she just gave him one. After a second or two she let go and ran off after Jeff before Drake could ask anything, so he figured he would ask her later. After another three hours of drawing and holding his swords he was able to hold them longer than that ten minutes Jeff asked of him and he was now able to sheath his blades without taking the sheaths off first. He sheathed his swords and took off running for the target field. On the way he thought about why Alina had given him a hug, he figured it meant nothing, but he wasn¡¯t too sure. He knows they are close and all, since they really only talk to each other. But the random affection confused him. He had completely lost all track of everything around him as he ran to the field and he ran right into Jeff. Drake crashed into him full force and fell to the ground hard. When he opened his eyes a few seconds later, Jeff was standing over him pissed off. ¡°Watch the hell yer going dumb ass!¡± Jeff said pissed ¡°You¡­ how many tails do you have?¡± Drake pestered again Jeff clicked his tongue and turned around to talk to Alina. ¡°Very good, unlike your stupid friend back there¡± Jeff said pointing to Drake. ¡°The hell you talking about old man, I can already hold the swords for over ten minutes!¡± Drake countered. Jeff just gave Drake a surprised look as Drake drew his both of his swords fluidly and held them parallel to the ground, and fifteen minutes later he was starting to struggle to hold them. ¡°Good, now to see if you can swing them. Just lift yer swords and chop down, but try not to let the blades touch the floor.¡± Jeff said excitedly. Drake thought it would be a piece of cake, but he had a hard time just lifting the blades over his head, and when he chopped down he couldn¡¯t stop the momentum of the blades and they dug deep into the ground. After several minutes and tries Drake was running out of breath and getting no were fast. ¡°I¡¯m honestly impressed you can even do that much. No one else before you has been able to do that and not get thrown with the sword. So good job.¡± Jeff finished sarcastically. Drake just gave him a cold stare and tried again, and though he felt as though his arms, shoulders and back were about to give out he managed to stop his black blade before it hit the ground, but it is also the better balanced blade and would be easier to stop suddenly. ¡°Well color me impressed. You managed to stop one of the blades; good job!¡± Jeff said honestly impressed. But Jeff was wondering how Drake was doing it. He was defying the laws of physics there. Each sword was weighed in around six hundred Kilograms or just over thirteen hundred pounds; a little more than ten times his weight. It should be impossible for him to swing even one without getting thrown around. Yet he was swinging both and keeping steady footing. ¡°And you can go back to your room now¡± He said to Alina. She just shook her head. ¡°I¡¯ll go with Drake when he is done.¡± She replied calmly. Jeff just shrugged and went back to Drake. He knew why Alina refused to leave without Drake; she has severe monophobia, and is terrified of not having Drake around. She can tolerate it as long as she is distracted by something else, but the second she has time to think about it, she will panic. ¡°You ain¡¯t sleepin¡¯ till you can stop both blades or you give up and pick new weapons¡± He said annoyed. Though in all honesty he was more than amazed at Drakes progress; Drake is doing more with those swords than anyone else has been able to as of yet. He is just acting annoyed to motivate Drake to hurry up. ¡°So you might want to hurry up for your poor partner who won¡¯t leave your side.¡± He finished in a sarcastic sympathetic tone. But Drake was trying his best, he couldn¡¯t care less about himself, but he didn¡¯t want to make Alina suffer. He looked at her to try and tell her to go back; in return he saw nothing but determination and encouragement in her eyes. He knew she wouldn¡¯t leave until he left. So he sheathed his swords, and sat down next to her for a small break. He was going to ask what she had to do for training when he realized her tails had two rings on them now. ¡°Hey you got rings now.¡± He pointed out to her. Her eyes grew wide with excitement and she looked back to see, and sure enough there they are. ¡°I¡­ when?¡± was all she could get out. ¡°You got one during physical training, and your second one just came in during training with your Katars. Those things truly complement you, to be able to raise your strength after just training to use them.¡± Jeff explained. ¡°I don¡¯t get this ring system now.¡± Drake said. ¡°I thought it represented our strength, but her weapon training didn¡¯t focus on strength at all unlike mine.¡± He complained ¡°Well your right and wrong there Drake.¡± Jeff started ¡°Strength is a very general term we use. It measures physical strength, as well as skill, intelligence, survivability and natural talent.¡± He explained. ¡°While yes, Alinas training didn¡¯t do much as far as her physical strength goes, her skills and survivability greatly increased by adding the knowledge of how to properly use a weapon that complements her own way of fighting. Plus she has been working her ass off during physical training to increase her actual strength and hand to hand skill.¡± Jeff finished. Now the two understood the ranking system a little better, though they really had no idea how it was measured and then physically represented. None the less, the explanation of how Alina is stronger than he is gave Drake all the motivation he needed to work that much harder. He didn¡¯t slack off during physical training either, which just proves how much harder Alina worked. He started to feel better and not so exhausted, so he stood up to start again. He heard Alina giggle and he looked back at her with a quizzical look. She just shook her head and waved for him to start. He drew his blades and started chopping them down at the ground. He was able to stop his black sword regularly, though it was still difficult for him, but his red sword with the weighted tip was very difficult. He did notice however, the blade was digging into the ground less and less each time. After trying for another twenty minutes, he took another break. His grip strength was no longer an issue, and his red blade was barely digging into the ground at all. He knew soon he would be able to stop it before it hit the ground. Drake went back to sit with Alina, who was now laying down on the grass and looking up at the stars. ¡°They¡¯re so beautiful.¡± She said as Drake sat next to her He looked up and couldn¡¯t help but agree. ¡°Which one is your favorite one?¡± He asked her. ¡°Scorpio¡± She said as she pointed up at the Scorpio constellation. ¡°What about you?¡± She asked. ¡°You took mine¡± Drake replied. ¡°But I also like Orion¡± He added. Alina chuckled a bit, and just smiled. Drake wanted to hurry up for her sake. He could tell she was tired and wanted to go to bed but wouldn¡¯t leave him. ¡°Hurry up, I¡¯m tired too!¡± Jeff said impatiently ¡°I couldn¡¯t care less Snowball¡± Drake replied sarcastically Jeff gave him a dirty look and then started to laugh. Drake realized he had rested long enough and he felt fine to go at it again. This time, instead of swinging both swords down at the same time he thought he would do only one at a time, as one falls he lifts the other one to act as a sort of counter balance. And it worked on the first try; he swung down with the red blade and lifted the black one which helped counter the insane downward force and he stopped it shy of touching the ground. ¡°Whoa, you actually did it! I still don¡¯t understand how, but good job!¡± Jeff said with excitement. ¡°Now let¡¯s just¡­.¡± He started then yawned. ¡°Go back to our rooms n¡¯ sleep.¡± Jeff finished after yawning. Drake agreed, sheathed his swords and walked over to Alina who had fallen asleep in the brief moment between the break and him stopping both blades. He tried to wake her up, but at best she was super groggy and not very responsive. So he got her to sit up and carried her back to their room. A Different Result ****************************** Author Note ********************************************** Hay guys, Sorry about the first postings coming out like crap. When I copy it from Google Docs (what i use to write the story) I edit it to change color and format (cuz for some fucking reason my formatting on docs doesn''t copy over). But when I post it the site bunches everything up and changes the color back to black, so i go right back in and re-edit it to be white and have spaces. this seems to be a pattern so if you guys come in right after I post it and see it''s all bunched, just give me a few minutes and it will be fixed. I promise! xD ************************************************************************************** Since Drake couldn¡¯t run, the walk took over an hour. All the while he carried Alina like a princess, and she wrapped her arms around him and held him tight. Rather she was consciously doing that or not Drake wasn¡¯t too sure, but he didn¡¯t mind since it helped him hold her the whole way. Once they got back to the room he laid her down in her bed then went back outside to practice swinging his swords some more. He lost track of time and had no idea how long he was out there when a group of the armored personnel walked over to him. ¡°It¡¯s time for you to go to bed.¡± One of them said. Drake just ignored them and continued to swing his swords. He was now able to stop both of them, and could stop the black blade whenever he wanted too, but the red blade was still giving him trouble. ¡°Did you not hear me? It¡¯s time for bed.¡± The armored person said as he reached for Drakes arm. But he grabbed Drakes left arm; the arm that Drake holds the red blade in, and so he couldn¡¯t fully stop the swing yet. He did try to stop it to prevent a lot of force, but he still ripped his arm out of the person¡¯s hand. ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± The guard yelled. Then the group of three tried to stop Drake, who just avoided them. He didn¡¯t strike, and even dropped his swords just to make sure. It¡¯s not that he didn¡¯t want to fight; rather he didn¡¯t want to risk waking Alina up. Her wrath was something he would rather not incur again. So he used every ounce of willpower he had left to resist the urge to beat the three to a pulp. Then one of the armored people decided to pick up and use Drakes swords against him. However, he couldn¡¯t even lift the hilt off of the ground, much less the actual blade. ¡°How can you swing this around?!¡± He asked in shock. Drake just shrugged while dodging, ducking, dipping, diving and dodging the remaining guards. ¡°They are heavy, but I¡¯ve gotten use to them¡­. Kinda.¡± Drake explained once the guards stopped chasing him. ¡°How can a three tail pick this up?? One of the guards asked out of breath. ¡°Like this¡± Drake answered as he picked up and sheathed the blades, not realizing they had said he now had three tails. ¡°They are still a pain in the ass to move around, but I can swing them now.¡± He continued. ¡°Why pick such weapons?¡± One of the guards asked. ¡°I liked ''em. They felt nice, n¡¯ when I can fully control them they will be a force to fear.¡± Drake answered. ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll stop now and go to bed. Sorry for causing any trouble.¡± Drake finished and walked off. But he could hear the guards talking behind him. ¡°Probably best to not mess with him if he is that strong with three tails and no marks on them.¡± Drake was shocked, he knew he had nine rings on each tail and only needed one more set to make a third tail. So when he heard he had a third tail he looked back and sure enough his third tail was there and they were all black. He wondered when that had happened, and figured that¡¯s what Alina was giggling about earlier, but he couldn¡¯t ask her until the morning. He walked into his room and Alina was deep asleep and spread eagle in her bed. He chuckled, set down his swords and crawled into his bed. But then he remembered about the time he made Alina mad last week. He shivered at the thought of her rage as the memory became clearer and clearer in his head. As a joke, and somewhat to torment her, he had pushed her away from him when they were walking since she was holding onto his arm as usual. What he got instead was a killing intent so strong, the pressure suffocated him. Her eyes were cold, glowing with rage, and didn¡¯t have a hint of affection in them. But still the thrill of making her anguish to such an extent made Drake smile, and he returned the pressure. It became a violent stare down that would have exploded if Jeff didn¡¯t step between the two and stopped them. But deep down Drake was terrified. That sudden rage and the willingness to kill the only person she held close was something he did not expect. He tried to force the memory out of his head before he fell asleep, but failed and had a nightmare about it. Drake was woken up a few hours later when Gabby brought in breakfast for them. Over the past half year, the two had become close to Gabby and loved to talk to her. She would usually stay for a few minutes before she had to leave and take the next room their breakfast now that all the others had woken up and started training as well. To Alina and Drake it was funny to see some of the others struggle with stuff they thought was easy, even just sparing was troublesome for them; and they had received the same programming that Alina and Drake had received. ¡°So how was your first day of weapons training?¡± Gabby asked the two. ¡°It was simple for me¡± Alina replied. ¡°For you? Aren¡¯t you two the same since you both have three tails now?¡± Gabby asked. ¡°Huh I don¡¯t have¡­.¡± Drake started as he looked back to see. ¡°Whoa I do have three tails!¡± He said with excitement. Then Drake remembered that armored group saying he had three tails and that he had looked then too. But he was so tired and and still half asleep, he didn¡¯t really remember. ¡°Yah¡­ thought you knew that already¡­ Anyway why was it easy for her and not you Drake?¡± Gabby asked again. ¡°Oh ¡®cuz of my swords¡± Drake answered while playing with his third tail. ¡°Why? What¡¯s wrong with them?¡± Gabby asked. ¡°See for yourself.¡± Drake replied. So Gabby walked over to his twin swords and struggled to just unsheathe them. ¡°Why are they so heavy? You can use these?¡± Gabby asked then she dropped Drakes black blade. ¡°Those things are hard just for me to hold them, much less swing them but I¡¯m getting it.¡± Drake explained aggravated she dropped it. ¡°So¡­ how many tails do you have?¡± Alina asked as Drake walked over to re-sheath the sword. ¡°Three.¡± Gabby replied while clasping her hands to apologize. ¡°You only have three?¡± Drake asked with dubious tone. ¡°Yep. Why?¡± Gabby asked. ¡°Just curious.¡± Alina answered. Drake had realized that his sword felt much lighter than he remembered and the shock was showing on his face. ¡°To answer your question, you have rapid cell recovery, which I¡¯m assuming Jeff already explained to you. But when you rest for longer periods of time, that rapid cell regen works overtime to vastly increase strength, endurance, and speed. But it still has physical limits¡­ Ones that you are exceeding.¡± Gabby explained. ¡°So while it¡¯s good to take a break for a few minutes to catch your breath, when you sleep your body will automatically go into overdrive to heal and increase strength. But like I said... There¡¯s still a limit¡­ and the laws of physics¡­¡±Gabby finished. ¡°So soon they should be as easy for me to use as a normal sword is for others?¡± Drake asked. ¡°I doubt it. Those things are too heavy for anyone to realistically use. You are going beyond the body¡¯s natural limits. Normally you would hit a wall and stop getting stronger, much like I did twenty-five years ago, but this is beyond that. You¡¯re trying to defy the laws of the universe. ¡± Gabby replied. ¡°You¡¯re twenty-five?¡± Drake asked Gabby. She just looked at him dumbfounded. She just explained that he is trying to do the impossible, yet he is more concerned about her age. ¡°No, I¡¯m fifty. I stopped gaining tails twenty-five years ago.¡± She answered. ¡°Fifty? You don¡¯t look that old¡± Alina pointed out after she swallowed the food in her mouth. ¡°We stop aging after a certain point, but up until you are twenty-five or so you will age, grow and mature normally.¡± Gabby responded while cleaning up. ¡°Where are your tails Gabby?¡± Drake asked ¡°It¡¯s a medicine we use to hide them for infiltration missions. So you guys will learn about it soon. But I got to go to the next room and deliver their food. I¡¯ll see you guys tomorrow.¡± She said as she pushed the cart out of the room. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. For the next two months it was the same thing day in, day out. Drake worked on his physical strength to help with his swords while Alina worked on her technique with her Katars. On top of that, they also had to maintain regular physical training and combat practice; to which Jeff started teaching individually. As soon as Drake was capable of swinging his swords as if they were feathers, he started his sword play training and took to it immediately. After only a week, he was swinging his swords around, switching hands, and spinning the blades around as if he has used them for hundreds of years and was creating his own unique fighting style. With another week of training, Drake had closed the gap between himself and Alina in weapon skill by vastly improving his own fighting style. He created a very unorthodox style where he would primarily fight with his red blade, keeping his black one sheathed. Then when he closed the distance, he quickly drew and attacked with his black blade and switch to a two sword style. He would then switch between the one and two sword style as he saw fit using the quickness of his black blade to surprise or distract the enemy. Drake wanted a spar with the weapons but was denied since his blades are too destructive and Alina did not yet have the skill required to handle such devastating power. He did, however, get his request for a regular spar again. As they were about to start up their infiltration training, Jeff figured this would be the best time since combat would be a side activity for now. They all went over to the practice field to start a spar, but what Alina and Drake didn¡¯t know was that Jeff had invited their class to come watch the two top students spar. When the crowd started to form, Drake got nervous. ¡°Don¡¯t worry Drake, they are far away and not here to surround you.¡± Alina comforted him knowing he doesn¡¯t like large crowds. ¡°Yah¡­ easy for you¡­¡± Drake replied nervously. ¡°Only focus on me because if you don¡¯t, you¡¯ll lose¡± Alina said sticking her tongue out. That got Drake fired up and ready to roll. He had no intention of losing to Alina. But before the spar started he picked up on members of the crowd commenting on the two. Some were good, about how strong they were, both having three tails. Others were jealous remarks since they got personal training. ¡°Before we start I want to say something.¡± Drake shouted over the crowd. Everyone got quiet real quick to listen to what he had to say. ¡°To all you pricks who are making jealous comments about us getting personal training, how would you like it for us to join yer class and kick the ever living crap out of you instead. If you think it¡¯s unfair that we have a private trainer and private lessons, show us that we don¡¯t need them. Show us you are on our level. Otherwise shut the hell up¡± He said angrily. ¡°How could he hear us?¡± a few said in the crowd. ¡°Cuz we are that much better than you. So shut it and accept it.¡± Drake said ¡°And I¡¯ll take on any who think otherwise¡± He finished With that he got ready to roll. Yelling at his classmates got him fired up even more so he got into position. He once again noticed Alina got into a fighting pose, but he truly felt no need to do so, so he just stood there and waited. He wasn¡¯t underestimating Alina, he knew damn well of her abilities and skill, but he felt more comfortable just standing, and when he is comfortable, he is able to focus that much better. Drake knew though, that this fight would be different. They both spent a lot of individual time with Jeff who trained them to strengthen their weaknesses and improve their strengths. For him, it¡¯s brutal up close and personal fighting, but for Alina its quick attacks and retreats. So he has to figure a way to get her in close and keep her there. But he wasn¡¯t given the time to think and Alina started to run in. Drake was confused because she had tried that last time they spared, and it ended horribly for her. Suddenly though, she changed direction and Drake lost all track of her. Before he could come to any sense about it he was rocked hard by a hit from his right. As he started falling towards the ground he couldn¡¯t figure out what had happened. Alina¡¯s hits should be quick but light, building up damage over time, but this¡­ this was a heavy hit. He then sensed a movement coming from his left, and before he could react he was rocked again by a hard hit on his left side. Now back to his senses and excited about the fight he was able to focus. He used his tails to center his balance and stand upright again. He opened his eyes and smiled an evil grin. ¡°Hahahahahahaha, this is perfect.¡± He shouted. That caused Alina to pause for a second in intimidation, and that was all Drake needed. He located her and began his attack. Now that her pattern had been figured out she would have to change it up to get Drake, and he knew that. So he forced her into moving in a pattern he wanted. Alina knew Drakes patterns well and knew he would try that, but eventually she fell to his pressure and practically walked into a counter Drake had been trying to set up. He went for a left straight punch, which Alina easily saw and tried a cross counter, and that¡¯s what Drake wanted. He bent his elbow, pushing Alina¡¯s punch out of the way and causing a downward angle for his punch. When it connected it caused Alina to drop her head a bit. Drake then ducked down, stepped in closer and swung up with his right elbow as he stood back up, connecting on her chin with a loud thud. The added strength from his raising elbow impact sent Alina up into the air a bit, and she used that to her advantage. As she was rising, she quickly lifted her knee and smashed Drake in the chin as well. Drake fell back, as Alina came crashing to the ground. When they both regained their senses half a second later, they quickly got back up. But their attacks hurt and they both were dizzy. Alina recovered first and tackled Drake hard. After the initial impact she lifted him up and slammed him into the floor with a frightening amount of force. The shock quickly brought Drake back into focus just in time. Alina had already sat up and threw a punch that Drake just barely dodged by moving his head to the side. He looked over for a millisecond to see an imprint of her fist in the ground. Seeing her destructive power on full display shocked and confused Drake, but mostly it scared the ever loving crap out of him. A hit from that would be an instant K.O. Out of desperation to not get hit by that punch he reached up, grabbed her head, and pulled it down before she could muster up the energy for another punch. He had her in a full guard, and maneuvered until he had one of his feet on her hip. He pulled his left foot up into a rubber guard and pushed with his right foot that was on her hip. Alina countered this by extending her left leg so Drakes push was nulled. As soon as she did that, Drake shifted his weight by swinging his right leg out and rolled her over. He was now on top and in her half guard. Before she reached up to grab his head, he got a few hammer shots in and a missed halfhearted punch that also left an impression in the ground. When Alina saw that, her eyes grew wide and she had the same reaction Drake did, but what she didn¡¯t know was that Drake couldn¡¯t put even half force into that punch. He didn¡¯t have a good enough angle to muster the strength. Seeing that kind of power being aimed at her scared the crap out of her and she knew she needed to avoid receiving one of those punches by any means. So she threw a punch up as Drake went for another halfhearted punch down. Alina¡¯s punch hit first and caused Drakes to lose most of the little power he could generate, but it still connected, and it was still a heavy punch which dulled Alina¡¯s movements. She recovered quickly enough and lifted her free leg above Drakes shoulder. She swung it down, forcing Drake off and crashing him to the floor. Now Alina was in the dominate position with her leg wrapped around his arm. She quickly rolled him over into an omaplata and started torquing his shoulder. Drake though is insanely strong and resisted on brute strength alone. Drake had realized that Alina was slightly off balance while she tried to torque his shoulder. So before she could generate enough force to make him tap, he used a tail to grab her by the neck and slam her into the ground. He pulled his arm out and turned around to attack again when his face met with one of her feet. She had straight kicked him right in the face and knocked him out cold. He woke up a few seconds later to Jeff standing over him to make sure he was okay. ¡°Wow, out for only a few seconds after a kick from hell like that huh. You¡¯re one tough S.O.B.¡± Jeff complemented. ¡°Yah. But I still lost¡± He replied. ¡°Barley¡± Alina said out of breath. Then Drake noticed that Alina¡¯s right eye was already black and blue from when he got the punch in from the half guard. He went to stand up to go to her but he quickly lost his balance and fell back down. Then Alina tried to get up to help Drake, but she fell to the floor too. ¡°Both of you need to rest. Just chill and lay there like good kids¡± Jeff said ¡°Whatever you say Snowball¡± Drake said halfheartedly. Jeff gave him a dirty look but got over it. When Drake looked around he noticed that the crowd was in shock. They had just witnessed a very technical and crazy fight by classmates. ¡°So any of you think you better than us?!¡± Drake shouted. ¡°You¡¯re only that good because of the special training!¡± Someone shouted back. ¡°Not even close you dumbasses! Even before I started training them, they woke up a week before any of you and already had two or more tails. When they had their pre training spar, one of them alone was good enough to take all of you on, and Drake over here knocked out an entire armor detail just for the hell of it. How many of you can do that now with six months of training? And he did that a day after waking up no less.¡± Jeff said in their defense. ¡°Thanks Snowball.¡± Drake said. Jeff just gave him an acknowledging nod and walk off. ¡°Good show.¡± King said as he pushed his way through the crowd. ¡°Very good indeed, and very close. It was back and forth the whole time. But congratulations Alina for winning this time.¡± King continued. ¡°And now we will start on your infiltration training. Combat is still a must, and you will continue to practice, however, for the time being, stealth, infiltration, and gun training is your priority.¡± King finished before Alina or Drake could say anything. The two just looked at each other in confusion, but shrugged and waited till they could both stand up. When Alina did, she walked over to Drake still very unsteady, and helped him up. They supported each other and walked back to their room very slowly. They were more exhausted than hurt, and after a while of walking and catching their breaths, they were fine. But Alina still held onto Drakes arm as she always does. Their Frist Time ***************************************** Authors Note ********************************** In response to the review: Hey Man, First off thanks for the review, I hope yo answer the questions you have here without spoiling the plot of the story. ( I def wont spoil, but maybe questions wont be answered... thus ''hope''). I also wanted you to know that I read your review and am taking it to heart. I am here to see how people like my ideas and grow as a writer, so you being the first review is my first step in growing. So first off, thank you for pointing out my punctuation. I will defiantly be looking into it and doing my best to fix it. No one has pointed that out so I always thought I was doing alright. So thanks again. As for the characters, it gets a little difficult. The explanation for Drakes violent nature is a ways off. But I do have one I will say this though, that his nature and his abnormal body (the super dense muscles and bones and his crazy brute strength) are all tied together. But that''s all I will say. And for Alina... she is a different kind of beast, she again has an explanation that I can''t dive too deeply into without ruining the story. But the reason as to why I haven''t explained it as of yet is because I hate it when a reader knows something the characters don''t. To me it totally ruins the surprise or shock the characters feel when they find something out because the reader already knew it. It will get there though I promise. =) So again buddy, thank you again for the review, I will make the best of it to improve my writing and planning of this story. *************************************************************************************** The two finished all their training a year ahead of schedule, and at only seventeen they just had advance gun and combat practice. Though they both were very good with guns, it''s more just perfecting their skills than gaining new ones. One day Gabby and Will showed up and offered a spar. To Alina and Drake, who both had five tails now, it seemed like a fair spar. Will may have seven tails, but Gabby only has three so they took it. The rules were the two groups would enter the training forest on opposite sides and would have to track the other team down and take them out as silently, and quickly, as possible. ¡°Will is good, very good. I watched his spars and fights before. We need to take him out first and then go after Gabby.¡± Drake explained. ¡°Duh, he outranks her by four tails.¡± Alina pointed out. ¡°Yah, but she is much older with a lot more experience than Will. So she is no pushover either.¡± Drake responded. ¡°True, so what¡¯s the game plan¡± Alina asked. ¡°We track them down from the trees. Thanks to my eyes, I can see that aura around some genetic types, and hopefully they are included in that. So we will use that to our advantage. Once we find them, we will stalk them until they stop for a break, or stop to think or whatever. Then, as long as we haven¡¯t been discovered yet, we jump them at the same time. Since Will is more my size, I¡¯ll take him and you take Gabby.¡± Drake explained. ¡°You sure you don¡¯t want him just to prove you are stronger?¡± Alina asked with a chuckle. ¡°Fine you take him and I¡¯ll take Gabby. Doesn¡¯t matter to me.¡± Drake answered defensively. ¡°Nnaa you can have Will. I was only messing around. And besides, your eyes aren¡¯t very reliable. Hell you just discovered this power a few weeks ago.¡± Alina said as she put a hand on Drakes shoulder. Drake had noticed that Alina had been getting touchier lately. She would put her hand on his shoulder or arm or head or even grab his hands a lot more lately. More than usual and it was different for him. He didn¡¯t really mind it, in fact he actually liked it since he had started to develop feelings for her over the years, but he just wondered why she suddenly started now. But she did have a point; it was a recently discovered power that only Alina knows about. He had no idea how to control it yet or what needed to happen for it to activate. Before he could say anything the start horn went off. ¡°Remember, we are using the hand signals we created in our room. Ok?¡± Alina asked. Drake nodded and off they went. Drake and Alina both jumped up into the trees to get an advantageous view of their surroundings. Drake looked around to see if he could pick up on either of their energies, but he couldn¡¯t. He still didn¡¯t understanding how his eye power worked, or what conditions must be met before he could use it. It would just happen; he would look at another Gen-OpS, or Genetic Operation Soldier, and would sometimes see an aura around them, and sometimes he wouldn¡¯t. He had tried to figure out how it works but had no idea were to even begin. All he knew was that the first time it activated he was in an uncontrollable rage. But without Drakes power, all they had was to keep searching until they found a clue. As they were jumping around from tree to tree, Alina noticed a small branch had been bent over. They went to investigate and started to find more clues, but they became suspicious as neither of their opponents was so sloppy as to leave clues like this on accident. So they took a wide rout and followed the clues from an angle. As they moved from clue to clue, Drake saw a figure that looked like Gabby. Drake stopped and signaled that he saw a three tail ahead of them. Alina nodded and they searched for Will. But they didn¡¯t have to look long as Drake was attacked from above. After he went crashing to the floor, Drake had a knife at his throat. A few seconds later, Alina came crashing to the floor with Gabby on top holding a knife to her throat. ¡°Hahahahahaha, too easy guys.¡± Will said as he stood up off of Drake. ¡°The hell! How did you do that?¡± Drake asked. ¡°You¡¯re too obvious. We knew you would find those clues, and we knew you wouldn¡¯t follow them directly. We also knew you would try to get us from above in the trees. So we used all that to our advantage.¡± Gabby explained. ¡°Yah, if we didn¡¯t expect you, or didn¡¯t know when or where you would strike from, you would have gotten us since you were so quiet. But you fell for such a simple trick so you didn¡¯t stop and look for unintentional clues. Ones I would have made while climbing up, or jumping around the trees. And when you found her, you relaxed a bit and that¡¯s when I jumped down. Alina was then surprised by my sudden attack and didn¡¯t see Gabby coming and was taken down easily as well.¡± Will also explained. ¡°So experience won this one huh?¡± Alina asked rhetorically. ¡°Uuummm, yah pretty much.¡± Gabby replied sarcastically. ¡°In a straight up two v two fight, you two could probably win, just on pure talent, skill, and power. But this fight required know-how, something you both lack right now.¡± Will explained. ¡°Hey, better we learn this now while it¡¯s safe versus when our lives are on the line.¡± Alina said. ¡°Very true.¡± Will agreed. ¡°We want a rematch. Same thing, same time tomorrow?¡± Drake asked. ¡°Ha, don¡¯t wana lose huh? Sure; same time tomorrow, or even now if you want.¡± Will said excited. ¡°That¡¯s a negative, we need to re-work our plan to overcome your experience and our lack of it.¡± Drake replied. ¡°Good answer¡± Gabby said with a smile. Gabby and Will helped Alina and Drake up and they all walked out of the field together. They went over some pointers to look out for, in case future targets have hidden guards or the couple themselves are hired to guard and need to keep an eye out for assassins. Alina and Drake couldn¡¯t believe the amount of detail Gabby and Will went into. Even going as far as to explain how to look for marks on the trees signaling something had climbed there, and how to set up traps much like the ones they had just fallen for. By the time they had reached their room, Gabby and Will had filled their heads with knowledge, advice, and tactics to use in stalking and defending missions. With their new found knowledge, Alina and Drake spent the rest of the night thinking of a new game plan for the next day. But they didn¡¯t get the chance to use them. Right as the sun started to rise, a large explosion ripped across the entire facility. Alina and Drake were still planning when they heard the loud boom. Without even thinking they grabbed their weapons and gear that had their pistols and some extra ammo, and ran outside. The first thing they saw as they walked out of their building was a large cloud of smoke and the glow of a fire. ¡°Hey, you two!¡± Will yelled at them. Alina and Drake just turned around and looked at him confused. ¡°Yah you two, you¡¯re with us. We are forming a team for now.¡± He finished and took off with Gabby. Alina and Drake followed close by. ¡°We know you have your own code, but we will be using standard hand signals got it!¡± Gabby yelled back at them. They both nodded their heads and continued forward. When they got to the sight of the explosion things were a mess. Gen-OpS were on the ground screaming in pain while others were dead, some missing limbs or entire parts of their body. When Drake saw the carnage he felt the rush of excitement as a grin slowly formed on his face. He looked at Gabby and Will and they were both having the expected reaction. Gabby was covering her mouth, with her eyes watering up, while Will just stood there. Gabby then leaned into Will and started to cry as he just held her close. Alina did much of the same thing as she always does. She slowly grabbed onto Drakes arm, but what was different was her expression of shock with a small hint of elation. They had never been on the field before, they had never experienced death. Nor had they ever killed anyone, but Drake had the feeling that was going to end today. ¡°GET DOWN!¡± Will yelled. But before Will even finished yelling, Drake had already grabbed Alina, spun around and dove to the floor. He heard bullets flying by above him, but he didn¡¯t hear any gun shots. He thought that was weird since silencers don¡¯t actually silence the shot. They hide the flash, and prevent the bullet from reaching supersonic speeds, but the bang that is heard comes from the chamber when the gunpowder explodes; so it should still make a noise. He didn¡¯t get much time to think about it before he got hit. A sharp, burning pain in his left shoulder was a pretty good indicator that he had been shot. Quickly, he stood up, pulled Alina up with him, and started to run for cover dragging Alina along the whole way. They kept running deep into the forest, even after the gunfire had stopped they kept running. Drake was in a panic and hadn¡¯t realized how far they had run. When he finally did realize it, they went for some cover. As soon as they got behind something solid he reached back to feel the wound. When he pulled his hand back, he saw it was covered with blood. ¡°Turn... around... let me... get that.¡± She stammered in odd pauses. Drake turned around and she quickly pulled the bullet out. She ripped off a part of her shirt and tied it around Drakes shoulder to stop the bleeding. ¡°That will... have to do for... now.¡± She managed to stammer out with inconsistent pauses. Drake wondered what was causing the odd pauses but didn''t put a lot of thought into it. Alina on the other hand was trying to figure out why the sight of blood was making her feel odd. Nothing bad, but nothing good either. It was almost like a state of craving. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°Thanks¡± Drake said as he pulled out one of his pistols. Drake preferred the good old Temoora 2020 .45 pistols. A resemblance of a 1911 model handgun from the distant past with some minor tweaks to appearances and safety. The gun now had a bio-metric scanner built into the grip allowing only the registered user to fire the gun. And the chamber opening now went across the entire slide instead of just one side or the other. They packed solid power and accuracy and they are easy to customize and repair since they are a popular gun with lots of add-ons available. But with his left hand out of commission, using both of his guns is impossible for now. He peaked out of cover and scanned the area for any hostile targets, but found none. He signaled to Alina they were going to move. On the count he would move to the next cover and signal when it was clear for her to move as well. She would keep any suppression fire that was needed, and he would do the same when she moved. Drake held up his hand and counted down, as soon as he reached zero, Alina popped up from cover with both of her pistols drawn and Drake bolted. At the speed either of the two ran, they would reach the next cover that was a fallen tree trunk and was one hundred feet away in less than a second. When Drake got to the cover, he holstered his gun and drew out his black blade. Since his left arm was damaged, and that was the arm he used to swing his red blade, only his black blade would be usable for now. Drake put up his hand and told Alina to hold on as he jumped up the tree right next to him. He heard some movement a little farther down, and wanted to confirm before he attacked or not. After climbing up out of sight, he check to make sure he had raised no alarms, and no one was looking his way, or acting as if they had seen something. When he realized no one was actively looking his way he figured he had made it quietly. Drake searched and searched but only one target came up. She was wondering closer to Alina, and was holding a pistol. As for any other weapons he couldn¡¯t see any under her suit jacket, so he watched the way she moved and shifted weight for any clues of extra weight. He wondered why she was wearing a business suit to a battlefield. Maybe she was to sneak in after the mess had calmed down and gather data or info from inside. He had no idea, and wouldn¡¯t wait to find out. He had to take her down quietly so no one else would hear the struggle and come searching. As the target moved closer and closer to Drakes location, she became visible to Alina who now knew why Drake had jumped up the tree. To her it just seemed like he just randomly decided to jump up a tree. She analyzed the target and saw that she was holding a gun, and around her belt carried what seemed like extra magazines. That didn¡¯t faze her too bad since she would be able to dodge the bullets at this range, and Drake would do something before the target got any closer. ¡°Common Drake, any friggin moment now¡± Alina thought to herself. After Alina had thought that, the target had stopped moving and started to look around. Drake had intentionally made a noise to get the target to stop. And when she looked up she saw Drake falling down on top of her. Before she could even let out a scream, Drakes sword had pierced through her chest and exploded out her lower back in a mist of blood. The force causing her to collapse to the ground as the sword continued until the hilt reached her body. Quickly, Drake grabbed her head and spun it around sideways; breaking her neck. Her eyes watered and rolled back into her head, and she died instantly. Drake then pulled the sword out of the ground and her. Alina came running to Drake who had signaled everything was clear, but when she got to him, she noticed he was in his sadistic mode again, but this was something different. His eyes were cold and unfeeling, something she wasn¡¯t use to, and had seen only once before. Normally his eyes were always filled with warmth and kindness towards her, or filled with excitement when he was watching others suffer. Drake swung his sword to get the blood off and sheathed it. Then looked at Alina and his eyes changed back to how they always are, warm and kind. ¡°Are you ok?¡± He asked her. She nodded her head. ¡°What about you?¡± She asked concerned about his shoulder and his first kill. ¡°I¡¯m fine. Shoulder hurts a bit after that, but otherwise I¡¯m totally cool.¡± Drake replied. Alina wanted to ask how he felt about killing, but decided that was a question for a later time. She looked down at the now dead body and saw that her shirt had a huge gash in it and was stained with a lot of blood. Even though the heart had stopped beating, blood was still coming out of the wound. Alina felt indifferent for her, and since she was an attacker Alina hated everything about her. Her comrades had hurt Drake, killed several others, and destroyed a part of her home. But seeing all that blood once again gave her a weird feeling. She still didn¡¯t know what it was; all she knew was it wasn¡¯t bad like a sickening feeling. It really confused her but she snapped out of it and turned her attention back to Drake. ¡°Bitch, don¡¯t scare me like that then.¡± She said in a joking manner. Alina then punched his arm, but made sure to hit his right arm as to not hurt his left one farther. ¡°Aaawww bitch.¡± Drake replied in a mockingly sympathetic tone. They both smiled and then got down to business. ¡°We need to find Gabby and Will. Asap.¡± Drake instructed. Alina agreed, and they started to move back to where they had started. They didn¡¯t get very far when they came across another team in business suits. Both Alina and Drake wondered why they were here and dressed the way they are. So they figured they would question one of them this time. The cells in Drakes shoulder had started to heal and recover, but it wasn¡¯t fully done yet. Even so, he was going to need both his arms for this one. In total there were six targets in the group, though they didn¡¯t seem to be Gen-OpS or anything, just normal humans. Even if they were Gen-OpS, Alina and Drake as a team are considered to be one of the strongest individual teams. They know each other¡¯s thought process and movements to the point that it¡¯s like they read each other¡¯s minds. That gives them an incredible increase in combat strength and ability. ¡°Ok, so here is the plan.¡± Alina started. ¡°We will both throw a rock and kill one to get their attention. They will open fire and at this range we can dodge them, so when they run out we can¡­¡± Alina continued but was cut off. ¡°Sorry, but their guns will make too much noise. Those are .45 Temooras, and they are very loud.¡± Drake pointed out. But what they both failed to realize thanks to their lack of experience and their pumping adrenalin, was that gun shots were being fired all around. Both armies had met up with each other at this point and were fighting it out. ¡°So we will need to take them all out as quickly and quietly as possible.¡± Drake finished Alina popped up to look and sure enough he was right. She nodded and thought for a few seconds. ¡°Ok, new plan. We will run up behind them and take out the two in the back. We will throw a rock and hit them in the skull for a quick and quiet kill, and then we will charge the last four before they know what happened. You use your heavy swords to cut through as many as you can reach, and I¡¯ll finish of whoever you can¡¯t.¡± Alina said. ¡°Not very tactical¡­¡± Drake replied in a smartass tone. ¡°Just follow my lead ok?¡± He said after some thought. Alina sighed then nodded. Drake got ready and so did Alina; he then looked back, and gave a smile. Alina knew that it was time to rock and for her first kill. Then both Alina and Drake came out of their cover and approached the group quietly, but quickly. When they got close enough, they hid behind some trees. They both got set then Drake looked Alina in the eye and nodded. Both picked up a small rock and stick and threw it across from themselves. The group reacted and pointed their guns in the direction of the noise. Now that their attention was focused away from the two, Alina and Drake got even closer. When they got close enough Alina jumped out and stabbed one through the back, and at the same time Drake had already ran up and was stabbing a target through the back. Immediately, Alina pulled the trigger in her Katar and the blades exploded out, cutting her target in half with a spray of blood and guts that showered her. Using the red blade as a harpoon, Drake stabbed one all the way through so the arrow head barbs held the target in place. He swung him out of the way and into Alina who grabbed and ripped him off, leaving some of his guts on Drakes sword. Alina then threw the guy she had just ripped off at another target to stun her as she jabbed the closed Katar into the stunned targets stomach and ripped up, then quickly put the opened Katar around the targets neck. Pulling the trigger again, closed the Katar, decapitating the fourth target. Drake, wondering how Alina was handling her first kills, looked to see her expression, and he was shocked. She had a face of pure enjoyment and elation and was covered with blood. He quickly switched his focus back to the battle and quick drew his black blade to cut the fifth target in half. Alina then ran up and stabbed the final target from behind. As Alina¡¯s Katar exploded out of the final targets chest in a spray of gore that hit Drake, he put his red blade up to the final targets neck, hooking it with the barbed tip. He smiled his devilish, sadistic grin, relishing at the enemies final face of terror, and as the targets eyes watered, Drake then pulled the sword back and decapitated the final target. The body went limp and Alina pulled her Katar out. Alina was amused as she pulled her Katar out of the final body and it started to twitch. She looked at Drake who had his devilish smile with cold eyes again. As soon as he looked at her though, his warm eyes returned. ¡°How was it? Your first kill?¡± He asked her wanting to hear her excitement. But to his disappointment, she just shrugged as she started to walk back to where they got separated from Gabby and Will. Alina knew what Drake was aiming for and thought to play with him a bit; keep what he wants from him, and now it was her turn to torment him. They had a game rolling, one where they would torment each other in various ways. They both got a sick kick out of it and it has help progress their connection to its current level. So even though she knew he knows the truth, she also knew he wanted to hear it for himself. And for that reward; she would make him wait. ¡°It was alright. I don¡¯t really feel much compassion for people who attack me.¡± She replied. ¡°Ah, I see.¡± Drake replied after he caught up with her. But he knew otherwise and figured she was toying with him. ¡°What about you?¡± She asked him, though she knew the answer . ¡°I thoroughly enjoy it. Their face of total terror as they stare death in the eyes¡­. Ah nothing can beat that!¡± He replied with sheer elation. But she already knew that. Drake is truly psychopathic and a sadistic person. He lacks any and all form of compassion, except for Alina herself whom he cares deeply for, and he enjoys watching others suffer in any way. Rather he caused it or not only affects how much he enjoys it. So Alina knew he would probably enjoy this. ¡°Here, you got blood all over your face.¡± She said as she walked to him. She then reached up to Drakes face and wiped the blood off of his face. But then she felt an uncontrollable urge to lick it off her hand. So she did, and she enjoyed it, letting out an approving, almost aroused, moan. For her this was what was making her feel so weird about the blood. That odd craving she was having was finally being satisfied. For Drake, this not only didn¡¯t scare him in the least, he couldn¡¯t help but smile. His dream girl is just like he is. Now if only she felt the same way about him. Then there was an awkward silence. ¡°Well let¡¯s head back to Gabby and Will.¡± Alina suggested, breaking the silence. ¡°Yah.¡± Drake agreed. Fight to the Death! When they got back to the scene of the explosion, they looked around to see if they could find Gabby or Will. They saw the carnage they had found when they first got there, but now more bodies littered the ground. All the new ones were like the people they had fought and killed, and all of them wore suits. Then it hit the two of them at the same time. ¡°We forgot to question one of them!¡± They both yelled at the same time. But before they could point any fingers, they heard the sounds of fighting in the distance. Not too sure as to who was fighting they approached carefully. Moving from cover to cover as quickly as possible, they eventually reached the sound of the fighting. The fighting was just over the hill they were running up, when they realized that if either party realized they were there, it could end badly. Quietly, the couple climbed up the hill to get a better view. What they saw was amazing. It was Gabby and Will versus one other. They didn¡¯t know who it was, and Drakes eyes weren¡¯t showing auras, so he couldn¡¯t tell by that, but the way that she was fighting against the two proved she was a Gen-OpS. Even weirder was the fact that she was not just fighting the both of them, but winning too. After a second look though, Will was badly injured and Gabby was exhausted but otherwise unharmed. Will had several bullet wounds, probably from when they were first fired upon, and also had several cuts and gashes. Gabby on the other hand was moving around more than she normally does to try and compensate for Will. But as far as skill and power are concerned, she lacked in both. It had been quite a while since she was taken off the field and even longer since she had hit her own personal wall, one that she could go no farther in skill or power. After assessing the situation, Alina looked at Drake, and without saying a word they knew what each other was thinking. They had to help them, they couldn¡¯t just let their teammates and friends die. Drake, being the more aggressive of the two, jumped in between his friends and their opponent. Using his red blade to block and hook the enemy¡¯s dagger, he disarmed her and pressed forward. Meanwhile, Alina grabbed Will and led Gabby away while Drake distracted the opponent. As soon as they were at a safe distance, Alina dropped them off. ¡°Stay here¡± Alina told them. Alina then went back to Drakes side to help fight. ¡°I¡­ Hope they¡­ will be al¡­.right¡± Will struggled to say. ¡°They will be. Even individually, they are much stronger than their tails lead them to be, and as a team they are even stronger.¡± Gabby reassured him. ¡°But that¡­. One. She is equ¡­al to a¡­ fox tail.¡± Will said concerned. But Gabby already knew this. As far as tail rankings go, it is Cat, Fox, and then Demon. After acquiring nine cat tails, a single fox tail will form. To get the second fox tail is equivalent to getting nine cat tails again, making it very difficult to get more and more tails. But it is possible, and after acquiring nine fox tails, a demon tail will replace it. And again to get a second demon tail is like getting nine fox tails. The highest ranking that either Gabby or Will know of is a twin demon tail. Outside of that, they know nothing about the person, not even their sex or name or if they are even real or just a rumor. When Alina got back to Drake, Drake had sheathed his sword and was fighting her hand to hand. And even though he was being overwhelmed, he was still smiling. He had never fought such a skillful opponent before and was enjoying and learning from the experience. As she watched on, Alina was amazed at how Drake was fighting. Each limb had a different purpose, and he was even skillfully using his tails to limit his opponents movements and stop attacks. He blocked an attack with his right arm, used a tail to hold the opponents arm and went in for an attack. But he was countered, the opponent had used her left arm to catch Drakes left punch and lifted a knee to try and kick him in the face. Without her knowing it, Drake had used another of his tails to wrap her feet, and limit those movements. Now with both of her arms and feet tied up, Drake used a free knee and went for the head. The opponent quickly leaned back to avoid the hit, and that¡¯s what Drake had wanted. He switched his target from the head, to the gut that was now fully exposed, and the muscles lax to allow for movement. Right when he connected the opponent felt the impact and hunched forward. Her feet lifted off the ground a bit and she let go of Drakes left hand. He cocked it back and unleashed a punch from hell that connected with her cheek and sent her flying. As soon as the opponent went flying Alina rushed to Drake. ¡°Glad¡­ you¡¯re¡­ here¡± He said out of breath. Alina looked at him and saw that he was covered with wounds. ¡°Whaaa¡­ what happened?¡± She asked. ¡°She was¡­ kicking my¡­ ass¡­ That¡¯s ¡­what happened.¡± Drake replied. ¡°So use your swords!¡± She demanded frantically. ¡°I can¡¯t¡­ She¡­ broke my pinky¡­ fingers¡­ I can¡¯t grip anything¡­ right now.¡± He replied. Alina looked down at his hands and sure enough the pinkies were broken. It was amazing he hit her as hard as he did with his hands like that. ¡°Here let me see them.¡± She said and grabbed his hands. ¡°Ready? One¡­ two¡­¡± She said then set his right hand pinky. Drake groaned in pain when she did. ¡°Ok time for the next one. One¡­¡± She said but didn¡¯t count to two when she set it. She didn¡¯t want Drake to tense up as she set the bone and cause her to mess up. She knew how to set them, but it was more difficult if the person tensed their muscles and resisted the reset. ¡°There, now your hands should heal on its own.¡± She said. ¡°If I allow it¡± The opponent said and kicked Drake in the head sending him flying. Alina was surprised and couldn¡¯t react fast enough when she was hit hard with an uppercut. She saw it coming, but the shock from Drake slowed her reactions to nil so she couldn¡¯t respond fast enough. As she was rising up from the brutal hit, the opponent jumped above her and ax kicked her down to the floor. When Drake watched Alina get kicked and slammed to the floor he lost it. He jumped at his opponent and started to attack wildly. His attacks were powerful, but predictable and the opponent easily dodged everything. Though Drake had lost it, his wild attacks had hidden motives. They were allowing for his hands to heal enough for him to grip his swords and to push the enemy away from Alina. He himself wasn¡¯t aware of this, but at this point his instincts had taken over. However, after only a few tens of seconds of this he tired out and calmed down. That¡¯s when he noticed he could move his hands again. Still pissed, he noticed a second thing. He was able to see his enemy¡¯s aura now. ¡°Aaahhh so you¡¯re an eye ability user?¡± She asked him. He just looked at her confused. How could she tell? ¡°It¡¯s easy to tell. I can also tell it¡¯s only half complete. Only one of your eyes changed color, so you¡¯re only able to use half of the power.¡± She explained. ¡°You see, most ¡®abilities¡¯ are just very well trained skills, or natural talents, but eye powers are genuine since they can never be attained through training. You are born with that power, and can never attain it any other way.¡± She continued. She then lifted her hand and waved for Drake to bring it. Drake reached back and grabbed his sword, and tested his gripping power. Comfortable in his ability to hold his weapon he drew it and relaxed. ¡°Why do you only use one sword when you have two?¡± She asked him seriously. ¡°I have no reason to tell you.¡± He answered coldly. He was pretty sure he couldn¡¯t beat her alone, so he had to stall long enough for Alina or someone to recover and back him up. He looked around where Alina was and saw her aura. It was weak, but growing in strength. He thought she must have had the same idea he did, to gather strength, and then attack together. But in truth, she had been knocked unconscious from the blow and had yet to recover her senses. Suddenly, Drake got the urge to duck to the left. As soon as he did he felt a kick swing over him. Drake wondered what that was, but he had lost his opponent in the confusion. He instantly found, and started to watch her. For every punch and kick she threw or any combination, Drake had a dodge and saw it coming before it actually came. Her attacks were weird too. They were very fluid, and efficient in their movements. Even though he could see her aura manipulate to what she was going to do, it wasn¡¯t complete, and thanks to the weird movements; a lot of times he was just barely given enough time to dodge and he wasn¡¯t able to find any opening to attack or stop her attacks. ¡°Now I see what kind of eye power you have. This is about to get boring.¡± She said in a depressed tone. She then took out eight daggers and held them in between her fingers and started to attack again. Drake saw how she was going to attack and dodged, or so he thought. He was hit with the punch he thought he had dodged, and to make matters worse, he was now stabbed by four daggers. They weren¡¯t deep, but enough to cause pain and throw everything off. She then jumped back, leaving the daggers in Drake and threw the other four. Once again, Drake tried to dodge but was hit by the flying daggers. He had no idea what was going on, he was able to dodge any vital damage, but still the daggers cut him up pretty bad. Then he felt a tug as the daggers were pulled out of him and returned to their owner. She had them all on an invisible thread and could control them that way. But he still had no idea how she was able to hit him when he should have dodged. ¡°You look confused.¡± She said with a laugh. Drake was, and he was starting to feel weak from loss of blood. His wounds from earlier hadn¡¯t fully healed yet and they were only making things worse. But still, the thrill of the fight put a huge grin on his face. She was definitely surprised by this and knew she had to finish it quickly; that¡¯s when she started her attack again. She let her daggers go one by one with amazing accuracy as she tried to close the distance between her and Drake. Her aura was throwing Drake off; he still couldn¡¯t dodge the attack and was getting hit by every dagger. As soon as a dagger made contact, she would quickly pull it back to prevent Drake from catching one and pulling her in. Drake decided to not use the aura vision anymore and just use his normal vision and tried to dodge them. He still had no idea how to control his power, but when he didn¡¯t want to use the vision anymore, it would go away. The trouble would be getting it back if he wanted to use it later in the fight again. But now he was able to clearly see everything she was doing and was able to block what he couldn¡¯t dodge. ¡°Wow you learn quick. Maybe this will be fun after all!¡± She exclaimed with excitement. ¡°Hahahaha. It will be!¡± Drake replied with a devilish grin and started his attack As the fight progressed, Drake started to learn how to turn on and off the vision at will, and the balance of using the two. He was quickly catching up to his opponents skills as he would land shallow hits. When he was attacking he had his vision on to see how she would dodge, and when he was on the defense he would turn it off to see how she was going to attack. This worked for a while but she quickly saw through his game and started to change when she would manipulate her aura. Drake wasn¡¯t an idiot though; in fact he is a bit of a genus. So he soon discovered her pattern again and learned when he should have it on and off, and how to tell when she was going to manipulate her aura again. Whenever she did, it took a bit of concentration, so her movements slowed for just a second, and that second was all Drake needed to realize when to turn off his vision. Soon he started getting the better of her and his attacks started getting deeper and deeper, and slowly his opponents face changed from one toying with her opponent to one who took him as a serious threat. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. But Drake still had one more trick up his sleeve; he had yet to use his quick draw. His opponent knew there was something with the sword, and had been keeping an eye on it the whole time. And to further convince her that he used the sword, he was only using one hand to hold his red blade which had a two handed grip. She knew it was an impossibly heavy sword with the attacks he managed to land on her, it would be game over if he got even one decent hit on her. And he was getting better at an alarming rate, using both martial arts as well as sword play made it very difficult for her to set anything up. If she expected a sword attack, she would suddenly get hit with a kick or a punch. Or even more confusing for her, he would drop his sword mid attack to unleash a brutal combo only to use one of his tails to pick up the sword a second later. He was good, and she knew it, much better than his tail ranking would lead her to believe. But she finally got her answer for what the black sword was used for. Drake took a few jumps back and took in a deep breath. When he opened his eyes and looked at her, his eyes scared her. They had both changed color now, and glowed with killing intent; his grin that of the devil. It was then that Drake also noticed the change in his vision, now he could not only see her aura, but her internal energy as well. He also realized that while he was fighting, he was able to tell what she will be doing, even when her aura would show her doing something else. So he figured he had awakened his complete eye power, but he had no idea how to activate any of it. It¡¯s almost like the power had a mind of its own and would react to Drake¡¯s needs. As he breathed out, he sheathed his red blade and charged in. He was faster than she remembered being, and he closed the distance between the two before she even realized what happened. ¡°Shit at this range, his red blade will slice right through me!¡± She thought to herself. So she anticipated a drawing attack from his red blade, which he did reach for. But at the same time he reached for his black blade and drew it with an alarming speed. The glint of the black blade as he drew it for the first time caught her eye, and she realized what he was doing. In a split second, she now had to dodge two blades since she can¡¯t block them. Their weight and cutting ability was too much for her little daggers to handle, and those daggers could stop bullets. Quickly she had to decide which blade would come first, but she wasn¡¯t given the time. Drake had spent countless hours, days, weeks, months and years practicing his quick draw to the point that it is quicker than a bullet. He drew his sword and did a horizontal slash that his opponent just barely dodged a fatal hit. Still however, he did connect and a huge gash opened up on her stomach. Then the sonic boom from his swing hit her full force and threw her back a few feet as well. That¡¯s when she changed; realizing she will now bleed out very quickly from the wound, she suddenly got faster and more technical. Drake went for a straight stab with his red blade immediately after his quick draw. She spun out of the way, and threw out some daggers. She then pulled on the threads and caused them to spin around and swing towards Drake. He blocked them with his black blade, and when he looked back she was holding the barb of his red blade. But it was impossibly heavy, If he so much as decided to drop it she wouldn''t be able to hold it. Thinking quickly she charged Drake and sent him flying with a running kick. When he slammed into the ground, he didn¡¯t even get a second to compose himself when he was rocked with a stomp to the face, slamming his head back into the ground. Dazed, and out of desperation, he wildly swung his black blade to get some distance, which didn¡¯t work. Mid swing, she jumped on the tip of the blade, using a dagger to prevent the blade from slicing her foot, and forced the blade to drop. She then stomped his head again. Now Drake was completely out of it. He couldn¡¯t focus anymore and his vision was fading away, still he felt himself get lifted up by his neck. At this point, Drake was done. He was being outclassed and outmatched in every way. His reflexes weren¡¯t good enough, his power wasn¡¯t good enough and worse to his pride; his skills weren¡¯t good enough. As he was fading out of consciousness, he dropped his blades and went limp. She was amazed he held onto those heavy swords as long as he did, then slammed his head into the ground again. He was covered in blood, the back of his head was ripped open and bleeding, and his mouth was flooding with blood. He tried to spit it out, but was lifted by the neck again. It was at this point Alina had recovered and was getting ready to jump into the fight when she saw Drake being held by his throat. She realized his opponent was about to stab him with her daggers. Drake also noticed this, and did everything in his power to shift his weight so she would at least lose her balance enough that he could try to get one of his swords. He grabbed one of her legs with his tail and pulled on it. This caught her by surprise and she let him go to try and get her balance back, but it was too late. As they both fell and started to roll down the hill, she had one final trick up her sleeve. She had tied threads to Drakes black blade when he blocked her daggers with it, and she pulled on it to get it. As soon as she did, she used the weight to regained her balance, stood up and stabbed it through Drakes gut. He didn¡¯t have time to register what happened before he was stabbed. Blood shot out of Drakes mouth as a result. ¡°You¡­ are some¡­thing else¡­¡± She said completely out of breath. ¡°If you¡­ had more ex¡­perience, you¡­ could have won.¡± She praised. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ one hell of¡­ a tough S.O.B¡± She complemented him. She then pulled on one of her threads and caught the dagger. ¡°This is where you¡­¡± She started. But then a Katar burst through her face, showering Drake in blood, bone, and brains. Then he felt it; a huge killing intent and it was right in front of him. How he missed it he had no idea, even with him as damaged as he was, this was a huge, sinister, killing intent filled with rage. It was coming from the wielder of the blade that had killed his opponent, and she pushed the dead body out of the way Drake saw it. It was Alina, and her eyes were filled with rage and hatred. But this time it didn¡¯t scare Drake; he was just relieved she had made it to him in time. Alina looked at Drake and was amazed at the damage the two had caused to each other. She was only out of the fight for a few minutes, yet they both had cuts and gashes everywhere. Drake was obviously in a worse condition though, not counting the hole in her face that Alina had just put in, and when she looked back at him, it finally hit her. He had a flipping sword sticking out of his gut. It was in deep, the hilt of the blade was to his body, and it was a three foot long blade. Drake was holding the hilt and was about to say something when he passed out form blood loss. ¡°Drake?!¡± Alina said in shock. After a few second it hit her again and she shook him to try and wake him up. ¡°Drake!!!!!!¡± she screamed. ¡°Common Drake! Wake up!¡± She said as she started to sob. ¡°Common, you can¡¯t leave me yet!¡± She said through her tears. But his body was shutting down. He had taken too much damage from an opponent who was more experienced than he was. His breathing was slowing, and his pulse was getting weaker by the second. Now in a panic since there was nothing she could do, Alina lost it. She was now in an uncontrollable sob at the thought of losing her best friend and the man she loves. Then he stopped breathing all together. ¡°DRAKE!!!!!!¡± she screamed at the top of her lungs. The loud scream drew the attention of all nearby, friendly or not. But Gabby and Will were the first to arrive to the scene. What they saw however, would haunt their nightmares for years to come. Alina was having a complete meltdown; with Drakes blood on her hands, she was clawing at her face. Bleeding self-inflicted gashes now covered her face. Gabby and Will hesitated for a second, and that¡¯s when Alina saw them. She slowly turned her head in their direction with her fingers still clawing her face. ¡°Now we can always be together.¡± She said in a soft monotone voice and a blank thousand mile stare. That one sentence caused Gabby and Will to take a step back. They were in shock with Alina¡¯s reaction to Drakes death. Then Gabby saw that Drake still had color to his system, he could still be saved. She tapped Wills arm and pointed over to Drake. He nodded and started to move towards Drake. ¡°No! You can¡¯t come close to him!¡± Alina shouted at Will. ¡°I just want to help him.¡± He explained to her calmly. But she lost it even more. She reached for his sword that is still in Drakes gut and pulled it out of him. When she did that, Drake started to breathe again since the weight that was stopping him was removed, but he started to bleed profusely. ¡°No! You can¡¯t!¡± She shouted back at him not noticing Drake breathing again. She then struggled to swing the sword at Will to keep him away. But in her insanity, she forgot just how heavy Drakes blades are, and was thrown with the blade. Will took advantage of this opening by stepping into striking distance, and hit her on the back of the head to knock her out. ¡°You know, you could have done this too.¡± Will complained to Gabby. ¡°Yah, I know.¡± Gabby said sarcastically. She then walked over to Drake and started to put the pieces back together. Frist she checked to see if any vitals were hit, they were, but oddly they had already started to heal. Confused, she tore off a large chunk of her shirt and tied it around his stomach to close the wound. ¡°Hey Gabs¡­ better hurry.¡± Will said. She looked back to see a few dozen soldiers approaching. Before they got close enough however, they were cut down by three friendly Gen-OpS. The two let out a sigh of relief and got back to working on Drake. ¡°How can we help?¡± A five fox tail said. He then looked at Drake and recognized him. ¡°What?! How did that happen to Drake?¡± He asked. ¡°He fought against a Gold Ridge.¡± Will answered. The soldier was in shock. The Ridge power group came from China, and they would grow Ridges on their spine that come out of their skin as they became more powerful. Once they have ten, one would turn gold, equaling a Fox Tail from the Tail power group. ¡°Anyway, they both need medical treatment ASAP!¡± Gabby said. ¡°So help us take them to the hospital quick. We will grab their gear.¡± Will finished. The group knew of Drake, he had become quite infamous because of an event that happened a few weeks ago. For no apparent reason he attacked and beat a seven cat tail in a brutal fashion. Because of that he is considered to be the strongest five tail equaled only by Alina since she is the only one to ever beat him in a fight. And with his infamy came knowledge in his personality, skills and weapons. With that knowledge in mind the group knew damn well that they couldn¡¯t carry the swords; not only because of their extreme weight, but because Drake would be pissed if he found out someone he doesn¡¯t know touched his swords. So they let Gabby and Will drag the weapons while they rushed them to the hospital. The Next Mission ****************************** Authors Note ****************************************** Hey guys, Sorry about the slow update this week. I''m preparing to move to another state and my job, not wanting to lose me, is making me work some crazy OT to get as much done as possible. And what little free time I had i spent on The Division... Anyway, this week will be a bit longer than normal. As a way to apologize to those who are liking the story and offering the support. Again, to those who are it means a lot to me. Cheers, Karma ************************************************************************************************************ Next thing Drake realized, he was in a hospital room connected to an I.V and other sensor equipment. He looked around the room to see it looked just like his room; perfectly square with white walls, a window on one wall to his right and on the opposite side, to his left, was the door; which was also white. He tried to shift his body position to get comfortable, but a sharp pain shot through his entire body. The last thing he remembers was rolling down the hill with that girl, and seeing her grab his sword. Everything after that is completely blank. Then he saw Alina sleeping on the side of his bed. She was sitting in a chair with her head resting next to him. He didn¡¯t want to wake her up, so he just relaxed as best he could. A few seconds later, he fell asleep again. Alina woke up quite a while after Drake had woken up. She lifted her head, still groggy, and felt a wet spot on her cheek. As she wiped it away, she realized she had drooled in her sleep, but it didn¡¯t bother her in the least. She grabbed a part of her sleeve and dried her cheek. Unaware of how long she had been out, she looked out the window to see it was now dark outside. So she knew she had slept most of the day. Her face was still stinging from when she clawed her own face a few days ago, even though she couldn¡¯t remember anything after watching Drake stop breathing. Everything was a blank up until she woke up in the hospital with her face bandaged up. Any other wounds she had received were superficial and required minimal treatment; all thanks to Drake keeping her out of danger as much as possible. Everything was already healed up except for her mind; as soon as she had realized Drake wasn¡¯t around when she first woke up she started to panic. Her fear of losing, or not being around Drake had taken a turn for the worse after the shock of thinking she had already lost him. She had tried to get up and find him when Will walked in and had to stop her. As frantic as she was, he was able to calm her down long enough to have a Doctor check on her. When she got the all clear physically, she took off to look for Drake. Mentally though, both Will and the Doctor knew something was off. Her monophobia was bad before, but now¡­ now it was out of control and she desperately needs to see someone about it. Somehow, Alina knew exactly where Drake was resting and has been by his side since. But her moving about after waking up also woke Drake up again. With Alina up, he was finally free to get comfortable. As he tried to adjust his body position, he was attacked by a sharp wave of pain throughout his whole body. His small whimper was enough to snap Alina back to reality. ¡°Are you ok? Do you need anything?¡± She asked in a panic. ¡°No¡­ It just hurts to move.¡± Was Drakes quiet reply. ¡°Well I¡¯ll be here for you if you need anything.¡± Alina said to comfort him. ¡°Thanks love. But you can go back to the room to get some rest if you need it. Seems like you got pretty beaten too.¡± Drake pointed out noticing the gashes on her face. Alina violently shook her head in protest. Drake knew she wouldn¡¯t leave, but he offered anyway. She looked beat and like she could use some rest. And sleeping hunched over like she was isn¡¯t helping any. After a few minutes of silence, Alina pulled the chair next to Drakes bed, rested her feet on the bed and started to nod off. She knew she was exhausted and needed rest to recover properly, but leaving the room would only make her restless and paranoid. So she rested her right hand on the bed, and then rested her head on her left hand and tried to rest. She felt Drake put his hand on top of hers, and she smiled. She kept it hidden from Drake, but her heart started to race and she blushed. She wasn¡¯t stupid, she knows what these feelings are, but what she doesn¡¯t know is what Drake feels. On the other hand, Drake was feeling the same way. He too knows what his feelings mean, and knows that Alina hates being away from him. But even still, he was unsure of her actual feelings. Maybe she would find someone else to move on too when she found the right person. Maybe it¡¯s only because he was the first person she knew and therefore became very attached, but not in that way. Hundreds of possibilities ran through his rampant and anxious mind, but when she didn¡¯t pull her hand away he smiled a small smile and calmed down again. But just in case, he pretended to be asleep. So if she asked him about it he could say he was sleep if she seemed upset by it. A few hours later, Drake was woken up by the light coming in through the window. It was hitting his eyes and bugging him so we went to shift his body. He went to move his arms to shift his weight when he realized that Alina was now holding his hand. When he went to sleep he had just rested his hand on hers, but now she had a full clasp, while his hands were loose. He closed his hands and heard an approving moan from Alina, who was otherwise in a deep sleep. He noticed she was drooling a little bit and smiled. After a small chuckle on the inside he shifted his weight using his right hand instead, but doing so caused Alina to wake up. Completely groggy and clueless as to what was going on, she slowly lifted her upper body that had slouched down in the chair. As soon as Drake realized this, he pulled his hand away, which upset Alina. ¡°Why did you pull your hand away?!¡± She asked. ¡°Well¡­ I uuuhhh¡­. You see¡­. Uuummm.¡± Drake stuttered out. Alina gave him a quizzical and angry look trying to get an answer, which put Drake into more of a panic. ¡°Well?!¡± She demanded. Drake was at a loss. So he just dropped his head in defeat and told her the reason. ¡°It made me feel better when you were holding my hand, but I wasn¡¯t sure if it would upset you or not, so when you woke up I pulled it away to not bug you.¡± He explained. Alina gave a slight smile that Drake missed since he was still looking down and avoiding eye contact. So she slipped her hand into his and grabbed it once again. ¡°So how¡¯s this?¡± She asked him. He looked at his hand; at least he knew it didn¡¯t bother her, and hell maybe she felt the same way he did. But he didn¡¯t know, while Alina on the other hand had pretty much figured it out. From his reactions, she figured his feelings are the same as hers, and that made her happy. She loves teasing him though, so she figured she could play with him a little longer before he figures anything out since he is bad at taking a hint. With the two being as exhausted as they are, they fell asleep again within a few minutes. Both of them had never been in a fight like that, and the stress of fighting for their lives compounded the fatigue of the constant fighting. Plus for Drake he had severe wounds that he was recovering from, and that drained all his energy as well. Their rest was short lived however, when their room was rushed by ten armored personnel. Groggy and exhausted, they were dragged from the room, unhooked from any machinery, and forced to walk to the stage they met Dr. King at since the original meeting hall had just been blown up. When they got to the meeting they noticed a lot of high ranking cat tails and fox tails were present. Still exhausted though, most of the crowd just blended together for Alina; Drake, on the other hand, started to panic. It wasn¡¯t so bad when he was in the back of the crowd, but as more and more showed up, he became surrounded. Panicked, he started to hyperventilate and shake violently. Alina noticed the shaking and looked at Drake who was ghostly pale. Seeing him in that state snapped Alina wide awake. She grabbed his hand, pushed everyone out of the way and brought Drake out of the crowd. But it was too late, his anxiety had gotten the best of him and he was now in fight or flight mode, which he obviously chose to fight and started thrashing around. To prevent any harm, Alina countered his wild attacks and pinned him to the floor until he calmed down. Much to her surprise, he calmed down almost instantly. He tried to look up at her to signal he was calm now, but her hold was too good. So he tapped the floor to signal he was done since he was no longer surrounded; so the two of them just chilled out in the back until Doctor King showed up. ¡°As you all know, we were attacked a few days ago.¡± King started. ¡°We managed to fight them back, even with the absence of some of our strongest members. But we lost a lot of good lives that day, and they will never be forgotten for their sacrifices.¡± King continued in a solemn tone. ¡°We will be holding a memorial service for those who have been confirmed dead, and will continue searching for those still missing.¡± King confirmed with everyone. ¡°However, we shall fight back; and we will make them suffer!¡± King started back up with excitement. The crowd started a loud applause and cheering. ¡°We know it was the Ridgeback power group that attacked us, and we also know part of the reason. Thanks to the work of some very skilled teams, we managed to capture a few of the soldiers and GenOpS that had tried to invade us.¡± King led on. ¡°They were hired by a private contractor to make us suffer, but the reasons as to why and who the contractor is, they don¡¯t know.¡± King explained. ¡°So today, ladies and gents, you, the strongest we have on base, will begin the plan to wipe them out. We now even have the backing of the Russian government to aid us!¡± King finished with an electric energy. As the crowd riled up, King raised then lowered his arms to signify them to quiet down. ¡°We will be handing out your mission orders in a moment. We will be doing an all-out assault on their main base along with the Russian military! So prepare yourselves, and meet up with your handlers to receive your orders. Except for one four four, and four four one, please come see me personally for your orders.¡± King finished his brief but rallying speech. It took Alina and Drake a second to realize he had called them. They hadn¡¯t referred to each other nor been referred to as their numbers in several years. So they had totally forgotten about them, then it clicked for Drake after a few seconds. He started to walk away when Alina grabbed his shirt and pulled him back. ¡°Where are you going?¡± She asked him. ¡°Doctor King asked to speak with us. Remember? Those are our ID numbers he called.¡± Drake explained. Then it hit Alina and she remembered. So she grabbed Drakes arm as she always does and they walked over to meet with Doctor King. For the two, Alina holding onto Drakes arm worked as a benefit for both of them. For Alina, she got to stay as close as possible to Drake, and for Drake, it helped him to deal with crowds. Feeling her close by took his mind off of what was going on around him at that moment, and made him focus on Alina who was right next to him. Along the way, the couple noticed a GenOpS, with five fox tails, that had both arms completely tattooed. When they asked him about it, he lifted his shirt and showed them the full upper body tattoo. It depicted a black and grey battlefield with several bodies and skeletons littering the ground, collapsed buildings and fires gave it an even darker scene, and on top of a mountain of bodies sat one lone silhouette. The smoke from the fires then faded into sacred geometry tattoos that ran all the way down his arms onto his hands, and on the top of both of his hands he had a sacred geometry scull. They liked the tattoo so they asked him what it meant. ¡°Well for a long time, I kept a tally of everything I killed. And after a decade of missions, I counted the tally and got this tattoo. The skeletons represent GenOpS I killed, and full bodies represent ten humans I killed on my missions. And the lone silhouette on the top is me, signifying I lived and was victorious. As for the geometry tattoos, all the different shapes have different meanings, but they are basically saying that I am the dark reaper, which was my nickname since I use a reaper style scythe.¡± He explained. That satisfied Alina and Drake, and gave Drake an idea. ¡°I want to do the same thing as him, only add pieces after each mission.¡± Drake explained. ¡°Me too.¡± Alina agreed. For the remainder of their short walk to meet with Doctor King, the two discussed tattoo ideas. Drake was drawn to the ideas of Dragons, and wanted those on his arms. As for his body he couldn''t decide in the short time he had. Alina on the other hand wanted a sacred geometry tattoo on her arms, and was also undecided about her main body. When they reached Doctor King he started talking; ¡°Since you two don¡¯t work well in a team with others, as evident by your incident the other week Drake.¡± King started bluntly. Drake couldn¡¯t help but smile, remembering what had happened. He had gotten mad at a seven tail, and beat him into critical condition. He will probably never recover from the injuries and brain damaged Drake had caused; even with their accelerated healing. ¡°Yah and those personalities you two have are a major turn off for everyone else. No one wants to work with you guys, so you will work as a rare two man team.¡± King explained getting aggravated. ¡°Why are they so rare?¡± Alina asked in a calm demeanor. ¡°There is only one other permanent two man team. Like you, they both woke up much more powerful than anyone else, but unlike you two; they actually get along with other people. They are just too strong to work with anyone else and would be held back.¡± King explained. ¡°Not what I meant.¡± Alina stated coldly. King was taken aback by her stare. He always thought that Alina was the calmer of the two, yet her glare at him was one of a thoughtless and indiscriminate killer, almost like she would kill him just for annoying her. ¡°When did this happen?¡± King thought to himself. ¡°Even when she was annoyed in the past, it was always Drake who gave off the killing intent. Alina always kept her cool, but she just lost it there.¡± He finished his thought. ¡°What I meant was why two man teams are rare. We can move faster, and quieter as a two man team.¡± Alina explained. ¡°Correct and incorrect at the same time. While yes two man teams can move quicker, and they are the best option for missions where time and stealth is of the essence, having a backup two man team close by, or performing a second job greatly increases success rates in missions, but a six or eight man team becomes too large and coordination becomes difficult. So we have found that a four man team works the best. There are exceptions though, usually for V.I.P protection, and depending on how much they are willing to pay, smaller two man teams or larger six or eight man teams are brought in.¡± King explained. ¡°But in your case, not only would you two not help your teammates; you might actually enjoy watching them struggle. Thus you are completely negating any benefit to having other teammates, and are in fact hurting your chances for success. So you will work as a two man team only.¡± King finished his explanation. ¡°That¡¯s fine. Wha¡¯da we gata do?¡± Drake asked lazily. ¡°Since you guys are both at the end of the cat tails and are almost fox tails, you guys will be the spearhead of the Russian force. They will mainly be dealing with ordinary human soldiers so they shouldn¡¯t cause you much trouble. But expect to encounter other GenOpS that aren¡¯t distracted by our own GenOpS, and that is why you two will be joining them. There will be other GenOpS teams in the main force, but you will be the spearhead, engaging the enemy first before the main force comes in. Your combat ability far exceeds your tail ranking, and your combined powers exceed those of most other teams.¡± King explained as he passed the two a folder with the mission description and orders. ¡°I know you guys are under eighteen but should you pull this off, and with your power it won¡¯t be very difficult, the job will pay very well.¡± King explained. This was the first time the two had even heard of being paid in a long time. They remember Jeff saying something about money a while ago, but they weren¡¯t sure how or when they would start getting paid. ¡°But after this you will receive more jobs and we will no longer provide you with anything. You will have to pay for your own living expenses and anything else you may want.¡± King finished. This kind of shocked the two. They weren¡¯t expecting that at all, and had no idea of what to even do. So they figured they would ask Gabby and Will for help after the mission. King then dismissed them and they went to pack their stuff. On the way back to the room Alina decided to change things up, and try to help Drake figure things out. So instead of clinging to his arm as she usually does, she this time grabbed his hand and leaned against him. It was new for Drake, but it still fit into Alina¡¯s normal behavior. As long as she is close to him, she is fine and happy. So to Drake it didn¡¯t make the slightest difference, and he continued walking normally. ¡°You are a friggin idiot!¡± Alina said in anger after a few minutes of no change. Now Drake was confused. He didn¡¯t do anything wrong, yet she was calling him an idiot. ¡°You can''t even get simple clues! You are a fuckin¡¯ idiot!¡± She yelled at him. Some random GenOpS heard the yelling and walked over to see what was happening. When she got to Alina and Drake she saw Alina yelling at Drake, and Drake looking confused. ¡°Yo, you gata treat yur girl better, or this be the consequence.¡± She said with a weird accent. ¡°But she¡¯s¡­¡± Drake started. ¡°Right! Help me get this block head to understand!¡± Alina cut him off. ¡°Get me to understand what?!¡± Drake said getting annoyed. Alina looked at Drake with teary eyes. Now Drake felt bad for getting annoyed. ¡°To understand that I love you!¡± Alina said on the verge of balling. The other GenOpS, now feeling really awkward, tried to sneak away inconspicuously and succeeded. Drake was completely taken aback by the sudden news from Alina. In his heart he was happy though, and now he knew she felt the same way he did. Alina started to sniffle and started to say something but before she could get anything out, Drake lifted her head and kissed her. She was shocked at first, but after a few seconds of being tense, she relaxed and kissed back. A few tense seconds later they split apart, both completely red in the face. Not really too sure what to say, they just awkwardly looked at each other, then looked away. ¡°I guess we should¡­ uuummmm¡­ get some rest before tomorrow?¡± Drake said unsure of what else to say. ¡°We have our mission orders, maybe we should pack our gear first?¡± Alina suggested. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. She then handed over the orders to Drake that basically said what Doctor King had said. When the signal is given, spearhead the attack on the enemy¡¯s main force while the other, more powerful GenOpS deal with the stronger forces. This should help them gain some experience in all forms of combat, and even better if they can fight other GenOpS. As a team they would be very difficult to deal with. ¡°All I need are my swords, my Temooras, and my MissionStatement.¡± Drake proclaimed proudly. ¡°How would you know dumb ass? The most we have ever fought was six humans at one time. Now we have to take on an entire army. It would be best to set up a sabotage to kill off as many as possible, then once a group has gathered, pick off as many as possible with high caliber weapons and then slaughter the rest when they get into close quarters¡­ if they ever get into close quarters.¡± Alina explained. Drake was amazed. On the spot like that, she came up with a calm, albeit basic, plan using what would be provided, or what they could make. In the orders it was also mentioned they would be given just a little over eight thousand ruble for expenses and items they may need, including bullets, the materials needed to make the explosives, food, water and so on. As for weapons, if they wanted to upgrade, they would have to buy them on credit, whatever that is. ¡°What¡¯s a ruble?¡± Drake asked. Alina just shrugged. They also didn¡¯t know what credit was. Since the programming only covered need to know info, survival and fighting techniques, physics to calculate different things, the math skills to calculate such things, and some basic human sociology to help them understand how their opponents will act. The couple was unaware of anything more advanced such as money and living expenses. ¡°We should probably hunt down Gabby or Will and see if they can fill us in on these things.¡± Alina suggested. ¡°Ssssooo just wait by one of their rooms?¡± Drake asked. Alina just nodded her head and they walked to Wills room first since it was the closest. On the way to the room, Alina got curious about Drakes new tails. He now had nine of them, and she wondered how he suddenly grew four so quickly. ¡°Hey¡­ how did you grow four tails already?¡± She asked him. As usual, he had no idea what she was talking about, so he looked back to see that he now had nine tails with all of them having eight red rings around them. ¡°Woah!¡± Was all he could muster as he grabbed the new tails to make sure they were in fact real. Alina just laughed at his simplistic response and waited for his answer. ¡°It must be because I somewhat learned to control the eye power when I was fighting that one girl¡­ Man was she strong. I wonder how I survived.¡± He wondered aloud. ¡°You almost died moron.¡± Alina said. ¡°But you had heavily wounded her and so she wasn¡¯t paying attention to me, or anyone, just you. And I managed to get the kill before she dealt your final blow.¡± Alina finished explaining. But everything after that was fuzzy for Alina too. She couldn¡¯t remember what happened after, or how she ended up in the hospital, or how Drake had survived. She had thought he was dead, and that was where her memory had cut off. ¡°Huh¡­ Well thank you.¡± Drake said with a big smile as he stopped walking to give her a big hug. ¡°Anyway, you can control the power now?¡± Alina asked restarting the conversation after an awkward silence. ¡°Kind of. I can turn it on and off at will, but apparently it isn¡¯t at full power yet.¡± Drake explained. ¡°How do you know that?¡± Alina asked. ¡°That girl I was fighting said something along the lines of that it was only half awoken, and that eye powers are the real deal since they are not something you can train, but are born with. And during the fight, I was able to not only see her aura, but her internal energy so I could see how she was going to move before she actually moved.¡± Drake replied. ¡°How do you turn it on?¡± Alina asked genuinely curious. ¡°I don¡¯t know. It feels like I focus my energy on my eyes, though I can only focus it on my right eye right now, so maybe that¡¯s why she said it was only half awoken.¡± Drake replied. ¡°Huh¡­ Wonder if the other energy was your complete power. But how could she tell?¡± Alina asked. Drake just shrugged. He had no idea how she could tell. ¡°Let me see!¡± Alina demanded. Drake knew he wouldn¡¯t win the fight, so he reluctantly showed her. He stopped, closed his eyes, and focused his energy on his eyes. When he opened them, Alina gasped. ¡°What?!¡± He asked her. ¡°Your right eye¡­ It¡¯s¡­ It¡¯s not silver anymore.¡± She replied stunned. ¡°What do you mean?¡± he asked her back. ¡°It¡¯s now blood red instead of silver. Well the color of your eyes are, the whites are still¡­ well white.¡± She replied. Hearing that amused Drake. Now he wanted to see what his eyes looked like, but when he looked at Alina he noticed her aura was weird. It was unstable, shifting around rapidly, and it was black. Not just any kind of black, but an evil, bone chilling kind of black. And it was also huge, even compared to other GenOpS. And that made Drake want to see his own too. He wondered what the different colors meant but he figured he would learn in time. The rest of the walk was quiet with the couple walking hand in hand. They had a lot they wanted to say, but didn¡¯t really know how to say it. When they got to Will¡¯s room, they knocked on the door. And when no one answered, they sat down and rested a bit. They were both still exhausted from earlier, and fell asleep leaning against each other. Only a half hour later, Gabby and Will returned to the room to see Alina and Drake sleeping outside the door. They thought it was cute and carried the two into the room and laid them down on the sofas. Within a few minutes however, Alina had a nightmare and jumped awake. In a panic she screamed, only to relax after seeing Drake sleeping on the sofa next to her. Relieved she fell back asleep and started a light snore within seconds. Gabby and Will were just shocked at the whole event, and couldn¡¯t understand her thought process or reasoning. They thought that if she was a human before, she had to have already been messed up in the head to be this bad after the genetic alteration that should calm or eliminate any defects. But in a way, they were used to it, and nothing could be as bad as what they had seen just a few days ago with her clawing her face off. After a cup of coffee, Gabby and Will woke the two up since they had to get ready for the battle. Drake was groggy and half asleep when they woke him up and it took him a little while to realize where he was, Alina though was up and ready to rock from the get go. ¡°So why are you here?¡± Gabby asked the two. ¡°Well we have a lot of questions about things that weren¡¯t explained to us¡­¡± Drake said in a still groggy tone. ¡°Like what?¡± Will asked. ¡°What are rubles and credit? How are we paid for missions, and what do we need to do now that we will have to start buying everything?¡± Alina asked bluntly. Gabby and Will just looked at each other in confusion. ¡°They never explained those things to you?¡± Gabby asked shocked Drake yawned and shook his head. ¡°They never explained anything to us, other than that we will start receiving missions and we will have to pay for our own stuff now, and in the report it said that if we do not have money for weapons we have to get them on credit.¡± Alina explained. Gabby and Will were just wide eyed at the situation. How do they expect anyone to do anything, if they have no idea what they need to do? ¡°Well first, ruble is money. It is what you use to buy things like weapons, food, housing and stuff. Credit is a loan of money that you have to pay back. But you two are more than powerful enough as five tails to handle this mission without any weapons other than what you already have. And lastly, once you get paid, find an apartment to rent out like we do here to live in, and use the leftover money to buy food to eat and stuff. We will be more than happy to help you guys out when you get back.¡± Will explained calmly. ¡°Well we actually can¡¯t do this mission without some ammo at the least. Way too many people to fight.¡± Alina started. ¡°Aaaannnddd secondly, Drake here has nine tails now¡± She finished. Both Gabby and Will leaned over to count Drakes tails and sure enough he had nine and was pretty close to having a fox tail. ¡°Wha¡­ How?¡± Will asked shocked. ¡°I somewhat learned how to¡­.¡± Drake started. ¡°Wait can I look into your mirror real quick?!¡± He asked with excitement. Surprised by the sudden outburst of energy from the lethargic Drake, the two just simply nodded and pointed to the mirror behind him. Happy with the answer, Drake jumped over the sofa and looked into the mirror; he focused on his eye again and watched it change from silver to blood red like Alina had said. He also saw his aura, but it was totally colorless. He saw a shifting over his right eye, but no color or anything. But when he looked at Gabby, she had a warm and comforting yellow color. And when he looked at Will, he had a bright and brilliant white aura. ¡°You¡­ have an eye power?¡± Will asked surprised. ¡°Yep, I can see auras and energy.¡± Drake explained. ¡°Is that all? And why is only one eye affected?¡± Gabby asked. Drake just shrugged. ¡°I dono. When I was fighting that one girl, I was able to read her movements for a while, but then she started to move her aura on its own or something and it completely threw me off. But she said the same thing, that it was only half awakened. But then I was able to see a different energy that she didn¡¯t change so even when she manipulated her aura, I could still see what she was going to do.¡± Drake answered excited. ¡°Do you really know how to control it?¡± Gabby asked. ¡°I focus my energy on my eye and it activates. And when I looked in the mirror I saw that my aura was focused around my eye, so I guess I use that to activate it.¡± Drake replied. ¡°Correct. But that also means you are doing it wrong too. When you activate your ability, your aura should return to normal after activation, otherwise you can¡¯t use it for more advanced fighting techniques.¡± Gabby explained. ¡°Whad¡¯ya you mean?¡± Drake asked intrigued. ¡°There are advanced fighting techniques, the ones you guys where supposed to start in a week, that use your aura, or energy, bloodlust, whatever you want to call it to confuse your enemies. That Gold Ridge you fought was using it against you as well, and people who have eye powers like yours or energy sensitivity are especially susceptible to these techniques. But even people who don¡¯t have such powers can be fooled by them.¡± Gabby explained farther. ¡°Aaahh I get it¡­ kinda¡­¡± Drake said with some confusion. Then it hit him. He himself gained four tails just learning to somewhat control his power, yet Gabby seems to have a great knowledge of the techniques. If she herself is able to use them, then why is she not more powerful? ¡°If you only have three tails, how do you know about these then? I gained four tails just from half-assed knowledge of them.¡± Drake questioned. ¡°I never said what kind of tails I have.¡± Gabby replied. Drake just looked at Alina for some kind of clue as to what she meant, but Alina was just as lost and in deep thought, so she didn¡¯t notice Drake. ¡°I have fox tails you moron.¡± She said getting annoyed at Drakes stupidity. Alina¡¯s and Drake¡¯s mouth just dropped to the floor with shock. All this time they had been completely underestimating her. But it all made sense now, when she was fighting the Gold Ridge, she didn¡¯t have a scratch on her, but she also had no weapons and was trying to protect Will who was seriously wounded at the time. The list of things that would seem odd, but they passed off as experience just kept piling up. ¡°Wait so you were in on hiding her true power then weren¡¯t you Will?¡± Alina asked. He nodded in agreement. ¡°You don¡¯t piss off your lover; even more when she is several times stronger than you.¡± He said in a laughing manner. That only served to get him a punch in the arm, but once Gabby realized she punched one of Will¡¯s still recovering wounds, she quickly apologized. ¡°Well anyway guys. Your mission is simple. You are giving normal humans too much credit, and with your eye powers Drake, your mission will be easy. Explosives will help for destroying the structures or setting up traps, so if you need or want some, me and Will have plenty we can share with you, but again, you''re giving humans too much credit, your skills are more than enough to dispatch most of the army without any kind of subterfuge.¡± Gabby started. ¡°And when you two return, I will show you both how to control your auras.¡± She finished. Hearing that made Alina and Drake really happy, though, they figured they should run it by Jeff just in case he had any plans to teach them himself. The two said thanks, and left to return to their room. It was now ten at night and they had to be up and ready to go in just under six hours. Will said he would meet up with them before they shipped off to give them their explosives they would borrow. And with that they happily walked back to their room. They packed some cooler clothes, their weapons, and some ammo for their guns they did have on them. For Drake, he just has a pair of Temoora 2020 .45 semi-auto pistols and the MissionStatement, a unique rail sniper rifle that fires a special .50 slug for insanely long distance shooting. Jeff had given him the rifle as a gift for perfecting the sniper marksman test by hitting the final target that was over a mile away dead center. He was hesitant on bringing the rifle, but he decided to bring it just in case. So he broke it down and packed in into its case. As for Alina, she has twin Ragnorak 945¡¯s, a lightweight, reliable automatic .45 pistol, and the Ragnorak A10-R; an Assault Rifle that fires a .303 bullet that Jeff had given her for her perfect score in the rifleman¡¯s test and being a second shy of setting a new record. The two thought of how good Jeff has been to the them. He worked out individual training regiments for the two to strengthen their weaknesses, and improve their strengths. He always took them out for food after training, and every year he would give them both gifts on their ¡®birthday¡¯ or the day they both woke up from their tubes. All in all, he has always been there to help them, and that made them feel bad that they went to Gabby and Will for help. So they decided that if Jeff is capable of showing them how to use their aura to fight, they would stick with him. Especially since he knew the two better than Gabby or Will, he might be able to work out a better training for them. It only took the couple an hour to pack all their weapons and gear for their mission, and they left room for the explosives Will was going to let them have. But after some discussion, they decided they wouldn¡¯t really need them. They would be fighting up close and personal for much of this battle. But it was too late to contact him so they will just tell him in the morning. They decided on taking a nap once they finished packing. As Drake undressed to change he realized that many of the deep cuts and gashes he got from fighting that Gold Ridge had scarred up and now covered several different parts of his body. When Alina finished changing, she turned around to see Drake feeling some of his scars and saw that he had them even on his back. ¡°What, did you run away from her at some point?¡± She asked jokingly. ¡°Huh?¡± Drake asked not too sure what she was talking about. ¡°The scars on your back. Did you turn your back to her and get hit?¡± She said sarcastically. She knew better, Drake would never turn his back to anyone and that the most likely reason for them is she took his back with her speed, or they are stabbing scars from her blades piercing completely through him. ¡°Not even!¡± He replied angrily. ¡°Her weapons were weird. They had strings attached to them, so they would swing around my body and stab me that way or they would completely stab through me.¡± He said before Alina could say anything. Now Alina felt bad for messing with him too much. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I was only joking. I know you would never willingly give someone your back, and I saw you stabbed by your own blade. So I know what this scar is from.¡± She said as she walked up to Drake and touched the largest scar he had. ¡°Huh?¡± Drake asked wondering what she meant by that. ¡°This one is from your own sword. She stabbed you with your black sword and almost killed you.¡± Alina explained with a broken voice. That was news to Drake. He remembered the fight for his sword but not how it ended. It made sense that the biggest scar on his body came from his sword, which is several times bigger than the daggers the gold ridge was using. Drake snapped back to reality and realized Alina still hadn¡¯t moved. She was still looking down touching his scar and was quietly crying, thinking of that image of Drake being impaled by his own sword. ¡°Hey it''s ok.¡± Drake said calmly not realizing she was crying. He brought her in for a hug and she held him tightly, face buried in his chest. Drake rested his chin on the top of her head and let her stay there until he realized she was crying. Not really too sure what to do, he lifted her up and brought her to the bed and laid down on his back with her laying on his chest. A few minutes later, he realized she had fallen asleep like that. He chuckled, rolled over so she was on her side, set an alarm and went into the other bed. Start: Mission Flight An hour later, the alarm Drake had set went off. Groggy, tired, and not really caring much about anything in general, Drake rolled over to turn off the alarm and to wake Alina up. Much to his surprise though, Alina was in the bed with him. Her back rested against his and a giant grin of satisfaction on her face. Drake didn¡¯t remember her crawling into the bed with him, but then again he was exhausted and knocked out the instant his head hit the pillow. And it¡¯s not like he really cared, in fact it made him smile too, but it was time to wake her up and get going. Plus they still had to meet up with Will in a few minutes. Drake stood up; the cold tile gave a shock to his groggy system, and walked to the other side of the bed to somewhat wake up, and then shook Alina awake. Normally Alina is ready to rock and roll the second she wakes up, but this time she was fighting to stay awake. She sat up slowly, rubbed her eyes, stretched and looked around the room. To her it was a normal view since it was the bed she normally sleeps on, and then she remembered lying down on top of Drake before falling asleep. With that memory in her head, she blushed with embarrassment. She looked at Drake, who was already changed and now picking up his gear without a care in the world, so she too got over it and started to gather her stuff. ¡°All set?¡± Drake asked after he gathered his gear. ¡°Yep.¡± Alina replied. Drake looked at the amount of stuff he had versus the stuff she had. He managed to fit everything; cloths, guns, and the ammo he had into a bag. As for his swords, he put them into a special carbon fiber duffel bag designed specifically to carry them. But Alina¡­ She had a full suitcase of cloths, and then a suitcase for her guns, ammo, and her Katars, and a third suitcase he didn¡¯t remember her packing anything into. ¡°What¡¯s the third one for?¡± He asked pointing to the last suitcase. ¡°Explosives!¡± She said with a grin on her face. ¡°But since we no longer need it I¡¯ll put it away.¡± She finished remembering they no longer need them. After she put everything away they walked to the door. They opened the door just as Will was getting ready to knock. With neither expecting each other, all three jumped at the sudden appearance. After a quick laugh Will got down to business. ¡°Perfect timing, we won¡¯t need the explosives.¡± Drake stated before Will could say anything ¡°But we do feel bad, so we will help you carry them back since they must have been heavy.¡± Alina offered Alina reached out to pick one up, and she realized just how heavy they are. ¡°Wow, this must weigh close to a hundred pounds.¡± She pointed out. ¡°Yep, we are giving you around three hundred pounds of the stuff. But since you guys don¡¯t need it, yah I could use the help taking it back.¡± Will explained with a laugh. ¡°Hahahahaha okay, we¡¯ll help.¡± Alina said. ¡°Thanks! Anyway be careful, you are not the only ones being sent in with the main force. They are sending a few others that will back you up in a moment¡¯s notice should things get out of hand. And expect to fight other GenOpS, even ones more powerful than yourselves.¡± Will explained obviously flustered. ¡°Hahahahahaha, that¡¯s even better!¡± Drake said excited Will was just confused. After seeing his quizzical look, Alina explained things to him. ¡°Drake here loved the thrill of the kill. He wants more people to be there anyway so he can kill more of them and fuel is bloodlust. So thank you for the concern, but we will be fine.¡± Alina explained confidently. Will was just in awe of their attitude, but he also knows the two are much more powerful than their tails lead them to be. He gave the two a hug and walked them out. As he did, he noticed that even Alina had more tails and that she was up to eight now. He wondered when that happened and how it happened. Last he remembered, just a little more than an hour ago she still had five, or maybe she did have eight and he just didn¡¯t notice. If that¡¯s the case, then what caused the extra three tails to grow? Not to mention she also has eight rings on each tail so she is close to her ninth. Then Will remembered something, Alina has always been ahead of Drake. She is well above Drake in just about everything. Only her talent and thirst for fighting is below Drakes. So she may have very well been hiding it from Drake to protect his feelings. Will wanted to confirm it, so he stopped Alina for a second to ask, and that was a mistake. As soon as he stopped her, Alina changed. Her bloodlust was released, and the poor fool who had stopped her was going to get it. She quickly grabbed the hand on her shoulder that stopped her and lifted it off. Then she quickly grabbed the triceps with her free hand and threw Will over her shoulder. Before he even landed, she was already twisting the elbow to break it when she realized it was Will. With a loud thud Will landed hard onto the floor and he found himself once again in awe. Will stood almost two feet taller than Alina, and outweighed her skinny body by over a hundred and fifty pounds, yet she tossed him like he was nothing. ¡°What are you doing?!¡± Alina asked annoyed but concerned. ¡°I just wanted to ask you something in private.¡± Will explained calmly. ¡°Oh. Well ok then.¡± Alina agreed. ¡°Drake, can you go stand by the doors?¡± Will asked so he could still be seen by Alina. The truth is though, that Alina wasn¡¯t even thinking about being separated from Drake. She was excited to get on with the mission and was annoyed because someone has slowed the process. Drake nodded, picked up his stuff he dropped to stop Alina, and walked to the doors at the end of the hallway. ¡°How long have you had eight tails?¡± Will asked bluntly ¡°You should be glad it was me. You know Drake would have snapped your arm if it was him.¡± Alina explained. ¡°Don¡¯t avoid the question!¡± Will demanded Alina shot him a cold glare that gave Will the chills. She was truly a frightening person to be around. And Drake managed to withstand this? Then again though, Will would rather fight Alina than Drake any day. In his mind, Drake only lacks the will to utilize his full talent and power. But when he does, he is a much better fighter than Alina and has an overwhelmingly devastating strength that shouldn¡¯t be taken lightly. Plus he won¡¯t stop; he will keep beating someone until someone else pulls him off. And he does it all with a grin on his face. For Will, that was the scariest thing. ¡°A few months now.¡± Alina answered coldly ¡°How?¡± Will asked wanting to know. ¡°Like Drake, I too have an eye ability and already know how to turn it off and on. But it¡¯s not efficient yet like Drakes. I practice and practice and leave it activated for hours, but it¡¯s range is still very small, and isn¡¯t growing at all.¡± Alina said annoyed Will¡¯s jaw almost hit the floor. ¡°What is it?¡± he asked stupefied. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. It didn¡¯t help much when you reached for my shoulder, so as of now it is still in training. If I can extend its range, then and only then will I share what it is.¡± Alina explained and started to walk off. ¡°Wait, one last question.¡± Will said. Alina stopped and turned around. Will could see she was getting very annoyed now so he made it quick. ¡°Why did you hide it?¡± Will asked. ¡°So Drake wouldn¡¯t get jealous. He is oblivious so he doesn¡¯t realize small changes with me or when he gets new tails so he doesn¡¯t hide it. But I don¡¯t want his feelings hurt since he prides himself in protecting me.¡± Alina said in a cold tone and walked off ¡°Tsk. Not a very good way to talk to someone who was just willing to help you out.¡± Will said under his breath. Then he realized something. Why does he fear them? Sure they may now have more tails, but not by much, and he has heaps of experience over them. However, something about them sets off alarms. Almost as if the two are ticking time bombs of bloodlust just waiting to satisfy their thirst for blood. And between the two, Drake just has a much darker feeling. Will just couldn¡¯t figure it out. He knows the two pretty well, but he has never seen the two upset. Except for when he witnessed Alina lose her mind; and that wasn¡¯t rage or anger, but sadness and grief. Plus just now when Alina showed some annoyance it felt like she wanted to rip his head off. Will also heard the rumors of what Drake had done a few weeks ago to someone of equal standing to himself, but never got around to confirming them. So he wasn¡¯t too sure if that was rage or not or if it was even completely true. He shivered at the thought of the rumor being true and went to catch up to them. Maybe Gabby would know something about it, or at least a little more than he did. ¡°What did he want?¡± Drake asked as soon as Alina ran back to him. ¡°Nothing important.¡± She said lifting his arm to put around her. But Drake already knew what it was about. The hallway that exited the dorm they live in was dead quiet. All the dorms occupants were either dead from the attack or asleep because they are too weak to be involved with this mission. So Drakes already good hearing was able to tune into what they were saying. It bothered him that Alina had been keeping that a secret, and it bothered him that now she was keeping the talk a secret too. But what bothered him the most is that he didn¡¯t notice a thing. Even up until he overheard Will say she had eight tails, Drake had thought she only had five. ¡°You know I have really good hearing.¡± Drake pointed out. ¡°Yah I kn¡­¡± Alina started then realized what he meant. Alina instantly turned red from embarrassment. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry Drake!¡± Alina said with tears forming. She knew now that Drake heard everything, and to top it off she just tried to blow it off. Plus to her, losing Drakes trust is the worst thing she could possibly think of. ¡°So why did you hide it from me? You should know that I would still protect you even if you had more tails than me. Hell I would have celebrated your new tails with you, not get jealous over them.¡± Drake explained. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry Drake. I thought you would have been disheartened or bummed that you weren¡¯t stronger than me.¡± Alina replied in a small panic ¡°But I have always had less tails or markings than you, and our last fight proved you are stronger. I know full well that you are incredibly strong and I didn¡¯t care. In fact I love that about you. But the fact that you think I would be upset that you are progressing, and that you had to hide it from me¡­ that hurts.¡± Drake said in a depressed tone. That tone got Alina¡¯s worst case scenario thinking into overdrive. She was on the verge of a full on panic that she upset Drake and thought he would leave her. ¡°Sigh. And even after I have always been one hundred percent honest with you too.¡± Drake started. Alina cringed waiting for him to tell her to leave. ¡°Just promise me you will be honest about everything. Okay? I love you for you, I always have and I always will. The number or type of tails means nothing to me. And even if you are stronger than me, I will always protect you.¡± Drake finished with a smile while holding out his hand. Alina smiled a huge smile. ¡°Okay. I promise!¡± She said elated as she took his hand. She once again wrapped his arm around her shoulder and held his hand from there. They opened the door to welcome the dark and starry sky as Will finally caught up with them. But a group of armored personnel who were assigned to retrieve Drake and Alina showed them the way and would not allow them to carry the unneeded explosives any farther. They apologized to Will, handed him the explosives they had and headed for the airfield to board a plane that would take them to where the main force is gathering. ¡°Here are your identifications. They are just standard forms of ID so you can identify yourself to the main army.¡± The first personnel said. This excited the two. ¡°There you will be able to buy ammo or anything else you may need.¡± The second one said as he handed an envelope of money. ¡°But my rifle requires a special bullet I can only buy here.¡± Drake pointed out. ¡°Very well, hurry up.¡± The guard said after a sigh. ¡°Where do I get it from? The same place as before? Or do I have to go someplace else now?¡± Drake asked ¡°Yes, only this time they know you will have to pay. This is no longer training.¡± The guard confirmed ¡°Right. Let¡¯s go Alina.¡± Drake said. ¡°Na, I will get everything loaded up n¡¯ set to go.¡± Alina replied. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll be right back.¡± Drake confirmed. Drake hadn¡¯t realized that Alina had just offered to be alone, away from him. And it didn¡¯t even faze him as he left her his gear and took off to the armory. The closest one was also the only one that he knew of that made his bullet and is a five minute run from their room. Once he got there, he wondered how much he should take. He already had twenty rounds for his rail gun, and ninety-six rounds for his Tamooras, so enough to fill four mags for each gun. He figured he could get more ammo for his pistols at the base and just needed to focus on his MissionStatement. So he walked up to the armorer. ¡°Hey Sasha.¡± Drake exclaimed. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Boy¡¯o! How¡¯s it going?¡± Sasha replied. Sasha was an older man, and a human. He was missing his left eye and had a giant scar that ran through his eye and down to his chin. And he was no small guy. He stood up to Drake, who stands at six feet two inches, and he outweighed Drake by over two hundred pounds. ¡°So¡­ Saw what you did to Mathias a few weeks ago Boy¡¯o.¡± Sasha said. ¡°Who?¡± Drake questioned. ¡°The seven-tail you beat to a pulp.¡± Sasha told him Drakes smile grew at the thought of it. The beating, the blood, the sense of total dominance, the fear in his eyes as someone who was supposed to be weaker kicked the crap out of him. ¡°Aaaaahhhhh yes.¡± Drake said with his grin. ¡°That smile of yours is something else Boy¡¯o. You¡¯ll never get with that beauty Alina like that.¡± Sasha teased him ¡°You¡¯re late old man, we already hooked up.¡± Drake proclaimed proudly ¡°Oh really?¡± Sasha said in disbelief. ¡°So where is she then?¡± He asked Drake. ¡°She¡¯s loading our gear into the plane.¡± Drake said annoyed ¡°Okay, okay.¡± Sasha said raising his arms in no contest. ¡°So what can I do for you today?¡± Sasha asked. ¡°I need about eighty Statement rounds.¡± Drake answered. ¡°You¡¯re in luck Boy¡¯o. I just finished crafting some, though I don¡¯t have the eighty you want.¡± Sasha replied. ¡°What you got?¡± Drake asked. ¡°I only got forty.¡± He replied Drake sighed. It was only half of what he wanted, but it will have to do. So he signaled for Sasha to hand it over. ¡°Okay, forty thousand ruble.¡± Sasha said. Drake just stared at him. ¡°I only have eight thousand, and I need it for other stuff as well.¡± Drake pointed out. ¡°And why is it so expensive?¡± Drake asked. ¡°It¡¯s a one of a kind bullet that only I make. But I¡¯ll tell you what Boy¡¯o. You kick some ass for me, and I¡¯ll give them to you for free one last time.¡± Sasha said. ¡°Deal! You won¡¯t have to worry about me kicking some ass!¡± Drake proclaimed. ¡°Oh I know Boy¡¯o. I¡¯ve seen your results.¡± Sasha said as he pulled out the forty rounds for Drake and put them in a box. ¡°Here you are. Have fun out there.¡± Sasha said. Drake thanked him and ran back to meet up with Alina. By the time he got back, Alina had already loaded everything and was just waiting patiently where they had parted. ¡°Welcome back love, get what you wanted?¡± Alina asked ¡°Sure did!¡± Drake said happily. ¡°Are you finally ready to go?¡± One of the armored personnel asked impatiently. ¡°Sure¡± Drake answered bluntly, and they started to walk off. On the way, they were also handed a cell phone and were told that is how they will receive the signal. But the cell had other purposes since it was capable of going onto the internet, they were now able to do some research on their own because they had no computers or anything of their own yet. Nor had they ever really had to plan for something like this, so they were excited to do something new. When they got to the plane, Drake noticed about twenty other GenOpS were getting on the plane. It was a large prop plane with a huge cargo area for troops and equipment in the back of the plane and a ramp leading out of the rear to make for easy access. However, seeing the group of people, and the small area designated for troops made Drake uncomfortable. He tensed up and Alina quickly responded. ¡°Hey Hey Hey. Right here.¡± She said pulling his face to look at hers. As soon as his eyes were off the crowd and on her he relaxed again. ¡°Listen. Just focus on me ok? Everything will be alright.¡± Alina said to comfort him. And it worked a little bit. Drake was able to relax all the way up to the check in. ¡°ID number.¡± The armored personnel said to Drake. ¡°For what?¡± Drake asked The personnel looked up at him like he is the biggest idiot in the world. ¡°So I can verify you are on this flight, and so I can give you the right meds to hide your tails.¡± She said with an impatient tone. Drake shot her a cold look that sent a chill down her spine, but she didn¡¯t cave in. ¡°I¡¯m one four four.¡± Drake said coldly. ¡°And I¡¯m-¡± Alina started. You already checked in hun, you don¡¯t need to again.¡± She said to Alina The personnel confirmed his number and handed him his meds. ¡°The yellow one will eliminate your tails. It will stay in your system indefinitely until the red one is taken which will neutralize the yellow pill. It takes a few hours for your tails to fall off, and a few hours for them to regrow.¡± The personnel explained ¡°Oh and one four four¡­¡± The personnel called out to Drake. He turned around and gave her a quizzical look. ¡°These are for you.¡± She said as she handed him a contact case. ¡°What are they?¡± He asked after starring at them for a few seconds. ¡°Contacts. To cover your eye colors so you can blend in if you so choose.¡± She said ¡°Never seen eyes like yours either. Pretty weird.¡± She added. ¡°Weird how?¡± He asked somewhat offended. ¡°Well not ¡®weird¡¯, just different. Never seen eyes like yours before.¡± She tried to explain. ¡°Huh. So I just put them in my eyes or what?¡± Drake asked. The personnel once again gave him a quizzical look like he was the biggest idiot on earth. Then it hit her; for GenOpS, who have better than perfect vision, contacts are a foreign thing to them. ¡°Yah pretty much. You just put it on the tip of your finger and put it in your eye. It will take a little while to get used to, but they will change your eye color to a human one and give you circular pupils instead of your slit ones.¡± She explained ¡°But again, it¡¯s your choice, just like with the tail deal. If you want to blend in you can do so, if not then don¡¯t. It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± She finished The two shrugged and decided they didn¡¯t need to blend in. They liked the way they are. After stepping aside and talking about their mission a bit more they boarded the plane. Alina and Drake picked the two seats closest to the exit to help keep Drake as calm as possible, and so he has a clear view of the exit. After storing the ammo Drake got with the rest of their gear they sat down and waited for everyone else. It didn¡¯t take long since they were some of the last to check in and board, it was mostly just waiting for all the final checks to be done before takeoff. Once everything was ready to go, they pulled in the ramp and closed the rear hatch. When the hatch finally closed, Drake instantly tensed up again. And once again, Alina was there to calm him down. ¡°It¡¯s ok love. Focus on me and me alone.¡± She said with a smile Once Drake looked at her he calmed down. She somehow had that power over him; no matter how upset or distraught he is, she can always calm him down. When he thinks about why, he always comes to the conclusion that he trusts her with his life and she means more than the world to him. And as always, he is satisfied with the answer. As for the reason why he keeps thinking about it is mostly because he never remembers thinking about it originally. When they heard the engines starting up the two got excited, they had never been in a plane before and wondered what it was like. And when the engines reached full power, the noise was deafening. They had not expected it to be as loud as it was, but it bothered them none. After a few minutes the plane began to roll forward accelerating faster and faster until it reached takeoff speed. Though the two knew what to expect, feeling it and experiencing it was well beyond their expectations. After reaching cruising altitude, everything just felt like they were on the ground. Bored, everyone started up conversations with their respective groups. ¡°So¡­¡± Alina started ¡°Hum?¡± Drake questioned. ¡°What are you going to call your swords? You have had them for so long, and yet never named them.¡± Alina asked. ¡°Do I need to name them?¡± Drake returned. ¡°Duh, all swords have beautiful names for them!¡± Alina exclaimed. ¡°Why is that?¡± Drake asked but starting to understand where she was coming from. ¡°Every good book that I have ever read that had a swordsman had a named sword!¡± She said with energy. Drake knew it; he hated reading with a passion and never did unless required. Alina however, loved to read and had quite an imagination because of it. ¡°Then I¡¯ll let you do the honors.¡± Drake said with a smile. Alina¡¯s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. ¡°Really?! Can I?¡± She asked with more excitement than Drake expected. He simply nodded his head and she began to think. She wanted to pick the perfect names for the twin blades. So the names had to be somewhat related since they are both Drakes beloved swords, yet they had to represent the distinctive characteristics of his blades. Plus the names had to fit with his personality. And when he had to actually use them, he had a very dark and somewhat evil aura. Then her hyper mind went from thinking of what to name his blade to how much she liked that personality of his, one that loved to fight and cause chaos. Not to mention his sadistic smile when he saw someone suffering. To normal people that would be a major turn off, and downright terrifying, but for Alina it was a reason that drew her closer to him. Then she remembered what she was thinking about and jumped back to that. After a second she had narrowed it down to demon themes, but couldn¡¯t think of a good name for his blades. To Drake it looked like she would blow steam out of her ears from thinking too hard when, after a few more minutes, she finally figured it out. She jumped out of her thinking pose and started jumping around all gleefully. And Drake just couldn¡¯t understand what she was so excited about. But to Alina, it was a huge deal. She could finally use her active imagination for something that was important; well to her. ¡°I got it!¡± She exclaimed loudly that made everyone jump. ¡°What?!¡± Drake said with his heart racing from the sudden scare. ¡°The black blade will be ¡®Demons Heart¡¯.¡± Alina started Drake didn¡¯t think that was very original, but he went with it for her. ¡°And the red blade will be ¡®Demons Eye¡¯.¡± She finished. Drake wondered what was up with the Demon theme in the names, but he liked them. They kind of fit together, and they did fit with the blades. So he agreed to the names and Alina was ecstatic; she finally felt of use to Drake who would always stand up for her, and put up with her monophobic tendencies. Though in Drakes mind he owed her more than he could repay; she always helped him stay calm in crowded situation, and even did random stuff like this to keep his mind off of whatever was bothering him. Neither of them realized that they both felt indebted to each other, nor just how much they helped each other out. Alina, now satisfied, rested her head on Drakes shoulder; who in return rested his head on hers. With his good hearing, he was able to hear the whispers of some of the others on board, even over the roar of the plane engines. Most of it was just talk, but some was jealousy about Alina, and some was ridicule about the couple and how they got special permission to be the only two man team, though it seemed like they didn¡¯t know who Alina and Drake are. Drake was used to it though since for as long as he could remember other GenOpS have always been jealous of their special treatment. Even though they aren¡¯t the only GenOpS to receive special lessons due to their power, they are the most recent ones and therefore the easiest target. So he ignored them as to not cause a commotion on a plane with very limited space, but the talk about Alina got him thinking. Recently others have commented on Alina¡¯s looks, and Drake didn¡¯t really like it. Drake knew that it was his feelings for Alina that made him jealous like that, and that jealousy is the sole reason he attacked another GenOpS, named Mathias according to Sasha, a few weeks ago. On the plus side, that incident awakened his eye power. The Fight of Moments Past It all started when they were walking to target practice, as they were walking a seven tail walked by and mumbled something. ¡°What was that?¡± Drake asked Looking back and seeing Drake was only a four tail, even if he had eight rings, he was only a four tail. So he became confident that if they started a fight he would win even though Drake was giving off an intimidating feeling. He felt that his power difference would make up for that. ¡°I said ¡®nice ass¡¯ to your friend. You can continue on your way and leave her behind now.¡± Mathias said full of confidence. Alina was annoyed at the comment, but she just blew it off. ¡°Come on Drake, just ignore him.¡± She said disgusted. But it was too late, Drake was pissed and she was able to feel his killing intent. Before she could even look at him or get him to move he pulled his arm out of her grip and started walking over to the seven tail. ¡°What you gana do big boy?¡± Mathias asked sarcastically. But Drake said nothing, just kept walking towards him. Mathias got ready for a fight, but noticed Drakes eyes had changed. Before he could even say anything about it, he was rocked with a punch. Drake hit a lot harder than he was expecting, and knew that Drake was no normal four tail. Before Mathias could even turn his head back to look at Drake, Drake had grabbed him in a Muay Thai grip and pulled his head down. He then lifted his knee up and slammed Mathias on the side of his chin hard enough to send him in the air. Using his tails though, Mathias regained balance midair and landed fine. Without a pause he started to attack Drake, who dodged everything thrown at him. At this point Drake had realized he was able to see Mathias¡¯s aura and inner energy, but didn¡¯t realize that was why he was able to dodge everything. None the less, he used his ability and saw a punch coming from the left. It was a throwless punch, meaning the seven tail didn¡¯t swing his arm back at all, and it was fast. Drake caught it with his left hand and raised his right hand to break the seven tails elbow. With the crunch of Mathias¡¯s arm breaking, Drake turned around, grabbed Mathias under the armpit and threw him to the ground. Then Drake took out his black blade and stabbed it through the arm, but not so that he cut off the arm, but to pin it to the ground. Before Mathias could even react, Drake stomped on his face and knocked him out. Drake wasn¡¯t done however, and started to beat in his face. Alina, noticing Mathias was knocked out and that a crowd was forming, tried to tackle Drake to get him off. He saw it coming though and leaned out of the way. As soon as he sat back up he grabbed Mathias¡¯s face and slammed it to the ground, cracking the skull. Everyone around him now knew Mathias was done, but were too afraid of the energy Drake was giving off since he was still pissed, and wanted more blood. He threw his arm up to swing it back down full force, but Alina threw a rock at him to stop him. She knew a full force punch from Drake would kill Mathias. When the rock hit him he glared at who threw it with murderous and cold eyes. That stare scared Alina, but when he realized it was Alina, his eyes changed back and he stopped unleashing his murderous aura. He looked down at Mathias and saw his face was all mangled. Drake had broken his nose pretty bad, his right eye was already swollen shut, and his left eye seemed to be crushed. His right cheek was badly swollen, and his jaw looked to be broken. Drake stood up slowly while smiling his sadistic grin, but was still pretty pissed. However, he had calmed down enough to pull his sword out of Mathias¡¯s arm, and to his disappointment Mathias didn¡¯t even react. Drake had done too much damage, and Mathias was completely unconscious. Before he could even sheath his sword, several armored personnel showed up. ¡°Stop right there Drake!¡± One of them shouted ¡°You¡¯re surrounded!¡± One shouted. Drake looked around, then down at his chest to see a bunch of laser dots on him. ¡°Drop the sword. NOW!¡± Another personnel shouted. ¡°You really think you can stop me?¡± Drake asked starting to lose it again. ¡°Yes. Drop it now!¡± The first one answered. Annoyed, Drake did as he was told and dropped the blade which landed with a thud. ¡°Just how heavy is that thing?¡± Drake heard someone whisper in the crowd. Drake then noticed the crowd. He was in such a rage that he didn¡¯t notice all the people around him and he tensed up. Alina knew what was happening, and she had to get him out of there fast before he completely snapped again, because the next time there will be casualties. She ran over to him and grabbed his hand. ¡°Sorry I¡¯m borrowing him.¡± She exclaimed and ran off dragging Drake behind her. The crowd and the personnel were just confused. Why did she take off with him and leave his sword behind? Who the hell is she? They had no idea, but one personnel had the common sense to chase after the two. She didn¡¯t have to run far when she saw Drake sitting and Alina holding his head against hers. She looked at the number of tails he had and saw only five. She wondered how a five tail did that number to a seven tail, and then she recognized who he was. He was one of the two students Jeff is training, and he only takes the cream of the crop. But still, fighting and beating someone with such a power gap was unusual. Then she remembered about the different tiers of tails. So in retrospect, a two cat tail difference wasn¡¯t really that big of a gap. ¡°Hey Drake, you know you¡¯re under arrest for what just happened right?¡± She asked calmly as she walked up to them. Drake turned around, still angry about what had happened, and shot her a cold look. She froze in her tracks feeling like he would kill her if she got any closer. She then saw Alina slicing her hand under her neck to signal not yet. Alina had a worried look on her face, and was still trying to get him to calm down. The message was received, but the personnel couldn¡¯t walk back empty handed. ¡°My name is Amanda, please Drake I don¡¯t want to anger you farther.¡± She said with a gentle tone Drake didn¡¯t care though; he still had his rage and was seconds from blowing up again as he thought about the prick who said that crap to Alina. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Take another step, and you will be his replacement.¡± Drake said coldly This caused Amanda to stop in her tracks again. Drake then turned back to Alina who started talking to him, but Amanda couldn¡¯t hear what they were saying. All Alina was saying though was that it¡¯s ok and that she was there. She had never seen Drake so mad before, and really had no way of dealing with the rage. His fear of crowds is easy; get him out of the crowd, but this¡­ How do you calm a rage like this? With his rage building again, his aura vision came back. But since he was looking down, Alina didn¡¯t see the eye change. Amanda, realizing Drake couldn¡¯t see her anymore, tried to walk forward. ¡°I thought I said I would kill you if you came closer.¡± Drake said coldly and he reached for his other sword. Amanda was shocked, she hadn¡¯t even taken a step yet, but he still responded. ¡°Drake, she hasn¡¯t moved.¡± Alina said concerned. ¡°She took a fucking step! I saw her!¡± Drake said pissed. Amanda got the hint, her life was more valuable than bringing him in. But how did he see her, better yet how did he know she was going to take a step before she even did? She figured she would leave that for later. ¡°She disappeared now, is she gone?¡± Drake asked before Alina could say anything about him seeing her the first time. ¡°No, she¡¯s still here, but she hasn¡¯t moved yet. I swear.¡± Alina responded. ¡°What¡¯s going on here?¡± Jeff asked as he walked up to Alina. ¡°Drake almost killed a seven tail. Sir!¡± Amanda reported to Jeff ¡°Blah blah, don¡¯t call me sir. I hate that.¡± Jeff responded ¡°Yes s¡­ uummm¡± Amanda started ¡°Just call me Jeff you stupid bitch. Anyway, what did the seven tail do to set Drake off?¡± Jeff asked ¡°I don¡­¡± Amanda started but was cut off. ¡°Wasn¡¯t asking you, of course you wouldn¡¯t know. I¡¯m asking the one always by his side.¡± Jeff cut off. ¡°He said he liked my ass, and told Drake to leave me with him in a vulgar way.¡± Alina responded. Hearing that only set Drake in a rage. ¡°Where is that bitch? I¡¯ll fucking murder him!¡± Drake demanded. ¡°Calm down, if what you said¡­¡± Jeff started ¡°Don¡¯t stop me Snowball!¡± Drake cut him off. Jeff didn¡¯t even bother with another word. He just walked over to Drake who stood up as well. Drake was a few inches shorter than Jeff, even though he is still tall compared to most of the other GenOpS. But Jeff just grabbed his throat and headbutted Drake. ¡°Got something to say little shit?!¡± Jeff demanded. Drake was grabbing Jeffs arm to try to stop the choking, but Jeff was too strong. So Drake tapped his arm to signal he gave up and Jeff let go. ¡°Yer late to practice. Get yourself together an¡¯ hurry up dumbass.¡± Jeff said as he walked away. ¡°Uumm sir, about his punishment?¡± Amanda asked ¡°I¡¯ll investigate it later and deal with him appropriately then. But I recommend all personnel leave him alone when he is mad. If you didn¡¯t realize, he is very violent and has no qualms with killing. He feels no regret, nor any kind of remorse. If anything, he will enjoy watching you suffer and struggle before death. He won¡¯t hesitate when he¡¯s in a good mood, and I really don¡¯t want to see what he will do when he is mad.¡± Jeff explained and walked off. Amanda not too sure what to do, looked back at Drake and Alina. She got the chills when Drake shot her a look out of the corner of his eye and she left to explain what Jeff had just said. ¡°How were you able to see her?¡± Alina asked Drake to change the subject. ¡°I don¡¯t know. It was weird, I was just able to see her figure behind me. But it was like a pink energy. And I saw the same thing around the guy I was just fighting. But his looked different and was a red color.¡± Drake responded. ¡°Huh¡­ that¡¯s cool though!¡± Alina said excited. ¡°Kinda like mine, only he can see farther¡­¡± She thought to herself ¡°Ya, it looked like I was seeing their energy or something.¡± Drake said. After a few more minutes, Drake had calmed down enough to go collect his other sword, and get to training. When they got to where his sword was left behind, the crowd was still there, and the couple couldn¡¯t figure out why. When they got closer, they saw others trying to pick up Drakes sword¡­ and failing horribly. Some of the GenOpS were able to lift it up, but couldn¡¯t hold it for long, and none of the normal humans could even get the hilt off the ground. Still, people touching his sword pissed Drake off and he unleashed his blood lust again. Even normal humans felt a sense of dread and turned around to see Drake standing there. Most of the crowd scattered, but the few who remained did so because they were frozen in fear. He then walked up to his sword and casually sheathed it as if it weighed nothing. And go figure, Drake was an intimidating looking guy. He now stands over six feet tall with medium long, naturally spikey silver hair, silver eyes that are always glaring, and a muscle structure that is rarely seen since he always wears baggy clothing. But every single muscle is so defined that some of the muscle fibers are visible through the skin, not even counting the blood vessels that could be seen pulsing. The scary part is that he isn¡¯t thick at all, but extremely cut up. He weighs in at one hundred and sixty-five pounds, though according to Dr. Snow he should be over two tons; plus he usually gave off a bad energy anyway, which made most people avoid him if they could. After he sheathed his blade Alina grabbed his arm, in part to stop him if he snapped again, and they walked off to training. Story cover Hey guys, So I got my brother to draw the cover for the story, however no matter how I worked it on paint and photoshop I couldn''t get it to fit the dimensions to put it as a cover on this site. Doubt I ever will as I''m really not good at that stuff. If anyone is good at either or thinks they can get it to fit the 200x300 500KB dimensions go ahead and PM me. It''s a Drawing of Drake and Alina with the title on top center. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. On a positive note almost done with a new chapter, should be up by tomorrow afternoon. Cheeres Mission Start: The Landing ******************************** Authors Note ************************************ Hey Guys, Sorry for the late posting... Moving to another state is a bit of a pain in the ass... So that''s a thing. Second, my new home don''t gotz the interwebs yet and may be a few weeks down the road. I''ll do my best to keep posting using some free wifi places. Once again, Sorry for the delay. Cheers ********************************************************************************** Snapping back to reality, Drake now realized that Jeff saw something that day which he wouldn¡¯t come to know until the attack. He truly had no feelings for others besides Alina. In fact it was worse than what Jeff had said; he enjoys killing others, and the rush that comes with it. He knew he liked to see others suffer and enjoyed being the one that caused the suffering but killing is a different thing altogether. None the less, Drake was starting to get annoyed by the noise some of the others were making; so he shot them a look to shut the hell up, and one of them finally recognized who it was. ¡°Shit, that¡¯s Drake.¡± One of them pointed out. ¡°What?! How do you know?¡± Another asked. ¡°His eyes man, his eyes are freaking crazy and his swords are crazy and heavier than hell too.¡± The first one responded. Then the group turned to look and see. They saw his eyes glaring at them and they saw his two swords resting between his legs. A few days before the attack, he had built a magnetic sheath for the red blade to make it easier to use, though he wasn¡¯t able to use it until now. As a result, there is no cover for his blade, and only two very strong magnets attached to the blade held it in place. ¡°Wait if that¡¯s Drake¡­ Then that means the girl is Alina¡­¡± A third member said. ¡°Oh shit!¡± The first one said. ¡°Wait, who are they?¡± the fourth member of their group asked. ¡°The strongest of the most recent class.¡± The first one said. ¡°So?¡± The fourth one asked. ¡°You idiot! Even with five tails, they beat a seven tail in a fight.¡± The second guy said. ¡°Actually no, I did that alone.¡± Drake answered. The group just looked at Drake wondering how he could hear them. ¡°I have really good hearing. I heard everything you guys said. Now please shut up, we are trying to get some sleep.¡± Drake said coldly. The group just shut their mouths and kept to themselves. But Drake wondered why people would always say something about Alina. Sure she was very beautiful but is that really a reason for the harassment? In comparison, she was much shorter than Drake. She only stood at five feet three inches, so not much taller than when the two met. But she had put on some muscle and finally broke the one hundred pound range. Now at one hundred ten pounds, she had a lean, sculpted figure that, like Drakes, is rarely seen through her loose fitting cloths. They weren¡¯t as baggy as Drakes, but she hated constricting clothes and always chose to wear bigger sizes. But what really drew people to her are her eyes. The grey-blue eyes are absolutely stunning when she isn¡¯t glaring at people, and absolutely piercing and terrifying when she is. Her long, thick hair developed a natural wave to it. And when it isn¡¯t tied up or done in any way it hangs all the way down to her hip. Right now though she just has it hanging loose with some hanging over her shoulders down to her belly. What really sets her apart in Drakes mind are her scars. She now has three scars on both sides of her face that start just above her eyebrows and end just below her mouth. They aren¡¯t shallow scars either, but the middle one of each of the two sets is the deepest. He wondered how she got them, but even she doesn¡¯t remember getting them. Drake isn¡¯t stupid though, and he had a hunch of what happened. They look like claw marks, like someone or something had clawed her face. But the spacing of the scars fit her hand spacing and the scars themselves are the same thickness as her fingers. He figured they are self-inflicted for some reason, and knowing her it¡¯s probably because she thought he had been killed. Then again, this is all speculation on Drakes part since he really had no idea. Little did he know he was hitting the nail square on the head. After that, Drake fell asleep only to be woken up what felt like a few seconds later. ¡°You have twenty minutes left until drop off!¡± A flight crew said to him. ¡°Huh?¡± Drake responded still tired. ¡°Get all your final checks done; you guys jump in less than twenty minutes.¡± The crew member repeated. Drake was about to get up when he realized Alina was still sleeping on him. So he gently shook her awake, and as usual she was up and ready to rock in under a second. How she did it Drake had no idea. They fastened all their gear together and packed them into their drop create, and then checked their jump gear. Thanks to their muscle and bone structure, GenOpS are capable of falling from great heights without damage. Of course, falling from forty thousand feet could still be fatal. To help with this, the Tail Power Group created a special jumpsuit, that when activated, provided some downward thrust to slow the rate of fall down to a safe level. When everything checked out fine, they suited up and checked to make sure everything was fastened correctly. With everything good to go, the couple noticed they still had some time until their jump. So with the time they had left, they did some research on the power groups using the cell phone. They found information on laws that all groups must obey to keep a legal status. Without that status, they would lose government funding and any way for employers to contact them. But they didn¡¯t get much time when the crew informed them it was time to jump. As the back hatch opened Alina and Drake lined up to jump last. Everyone turned on the GPS trackers attached to their gear and threw it all out. Shortly after they all attached their oxygen masks and ran to jump, but only Alina and Drake jumped out hand in hand. At forty thousand feet, the air was frigid cold. None the less, Drake took in a deep breath of relief being out of that cramped plane. He started to laugh from excitement and dove faster, pulling Alina along with him. Alina on the other hand was just happy to see Drake relax again. He had been tense for so long on the plane it was starting to hurt her. Then it hit Drake that it was still dark outside, and with as high up as they are the stars should be a beautiful view. So he pulled Alina in, much to her surprise, and turned around to look at the sky. What they got was a perfectly clear view of the stars and all their brilliance. Drake just held Alina close until the clouds started to block their view so they turned around and started to dive back to earth again. At two thousand feet, the couple noticed they were going to land in the surrounding forest. It would make it a pain to land, but nothing they didn¡¯t practice for when they did jump training. To them, the hardest part would be tracking down their gear, and then getting into base, but they would work on that after landing. With one thousand feet left, they straightened up and activated the boosters, and once they got to level with the trees, they grabbed some branches to swing from tree to tree and jumped down to the ground. Once they landed, the two activated the GPS beckon so they could find their gear. Luckily it wasn¡¯t too far away, and they only had to walk ten minutes to get to it. When they got to the location of their gear, they found it hanging up in a tree. That wasn¡¯t anything they weren¡¯t expecting though. In fact they would have been more surprised if they found it on the ground with all the trees everywhere. So Drake jumped and climbed up the tree to knock the crate down. After landing with a loud thud, Alina opened the crate to pull out their gear. When she got everything out, she handed Drake his stuff except for his swords that he gathered himself and they were off. Using the GPS they found the location of the base and which way to head. Along the way they heard screams of pain. Curious as to what happened they wandered over to where the sound was coming from. After clearing through some bushes they came upon a group of GenOpS that were in the plane with them. One of them had botched the landing and now had a broken leg, and another one was dead with his head spun around and several broken bones. ¡°Hahahahahaha, what happened here?¡± Drake asked in a mockingly sympathetic tone. ¡°Looks like the dumbasses messed up their landing babe.¡± Alina answered with a similar tone. The two that had landed just fine gave them a shocked look. ¡°What the hell is wrong with you?!¡± One of them demanded. ¡°Wait I recognize you.¡± Drake said. ¡°You guys are the pricks that woke me up with your useless talk on the plane.¡± Drake said annoyed. Alina had knocked out on the plane and wasn¡¯t aware of this, but once she heard it any thought of compassion left her head. ¡°Oh really? You guys woke up my Drake?¡± She asked with a demonic smile. The two shivered from her cold energy. And even though she is weaker than they are, she gave off a frightening killing intent. As she walked over to them, her dark energy scared them more and more as the pressure grew. She looked at their tails to see they both had a fox tail, the one with a broken leg had nine Cat Tails and the dead one had seven. ¡°Not very impressive for fox tails.¡± She said as she stepped on the broken leg of the nine tail. As he screamed in pain, Drake couldn¡¯t help but smile. The sound of cries of pain is like music to his ears. ¡°The hell is wrong with you bitch?!¡± The two fox tails said as they stood up. But they couldn¡¯t do anything. No sooner did they step up did Drake walk up between them and put his arms over their shoulders to lean on them. ¡°Now you¡¯re not going to touch my love are you?¡± Drake asked in a cold, quizzical tone. When they looked at Drake to fight back, they lost all hope. Drake had his devilish grin, and was looking at them with a happy, but insane, look on his face. To compound that, the killing intent and dark energy he gave off was even worse than Alinas. Not to mention he had unsheathed his black blade with his tail and was ready to kill them should they actually do anything. Alina noticed this, and was elated that Drake was willing to go so far to protect her. ¡°N-n-nnn-nn-n-n-n-nn-no. We w-w-ww-w-ww-w-wwww-weren''t.¡± One of them managed to stammer out. ¡°Good.¡± Drake answered and got off of them. Drake then walked over to Alina, who was still standing on the nine tails leg, and reached his hand out. Happy that he protected her again, she happily took it and they walked off to head to base. ¡°What the hell is wrong with those two?¡± One of the fox tails asked and they went back to attending their friend. ¡°Nothing, we just don¡¯t like you guys.¡± Alina answered back. They were shocked, how could she hear them? They shivered at the thought of fighting those two and continued on. ¡°But wait, what does she mean they don¡¯t like us? We didn¡¯t even do anything to them.¡± They wondered. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Truth be told, they didn¡¯t. Drake was annoyed they woke him up on the plane on accident, and Alina was annoyed that they annoyed Drake, and that¡¯s all it was. A half hour after they left the other group, the two got bored. The sun had finally started rising and it is getting a lot hotter, a lot hotter than their home base, making the two very uncomfortable. Thanks to the mission report they had received from King they knew it would get hot, so they brought some lighter, cooler clothes than the thermals they normally had to wear on base all year long. For Drake it was some baggy black cargo shorts, black high-top skating shoes, and a dark grey low cut tank top. As for Alina, she had loose fitting skating high-tops as well, and some long jeans. She also had a semi tight black tank top on with a thin black with a red stripe pattern flannel button up that she left unbuttoned and rolled up the sleeves. ¡°You look cute, for getting ready to fight a war.¡± Drake complemented her. ¡°Gata look good for my man, even in a bloodbath.¡± Alina replied. They both just laughed at each other. ¡°Anyway I will take the flannel off when we fight, if we fight today. I just wanted to get something cooler on.¡± She finished. Drake shrugged. ¡°Then why even put the flannel on?¡± He wondered to himself. He didn¡¯t really care though. He knew they would both change into something easier to fight in when the fighting started, but for now this was just for comfort. But then the usually oblivious Drake noticed something, the stripping on her cloths helped him notice it, but her boobs are bigger now. Of course they would be, she is older now, and is maturing into a young woman. Curious, Drake got behind her and grabbed her boobs. He was surprised though, she wasn¡¯t wearing a bra; she was just rocking it commando. His feel didn¡¯t last very long because Alina immediately lifted her fist and backhanded him hard. Drake fell back from the impact and landed with a thud. When Drake opened his eyes, Alina was standing over him, madder than he had ever seen her. She was glaring at him with eyes filled with rage and she gave off a bone chilling energy. ¡°Hahahahahaha Yes! That¡¯s the face I want to see.¡± Drake exclaimed wildly. Alina didn¡¯t break composure, at this point she was already use to Drakes torments. ¡°Next time you won¡¯t get off with just a hit to the face¡­ Prick.¡± Alina said coldly and started walking away. And boy was Alina livid. ¡°That ass hole!¡± she thought furiously. ¡°How dare he touch me in that way!¡± She continued. ¡°Sure he gets off by tormenting others, but this is too far. I¡¯ll fuckin¡¯ kill him the next time he tries anything like that!¡± She thought still furious. Alina then hit a tree and the whole thing shook. She paid no attention to it however, and just kept on walking. It was then she noticed Drake sitting up slowly, but she wasn¡¯t looking at him. In fact, he was a few hundred feet behind her, and actually he wasn¡¯t the only thing she was able to see. She was able to see every blade of grass, every leaf on the trees, and every tree in the forest for several hundreds of feet around her. She had somehow improved her eye ability to a useful range. She didn¡¯t quite understand it, but the same thing had happened to Drake. His eye power was awoken thanks to his rage, and improved more thanks to his rage again. Even though he can¡¯t control the second eye yet, he was able to awaken it and use it because of his rage while fighting. After realizing this, Alina became happy to the point of tears. However, Drake had no idea what was going through her mind. Drake sat up slowly, half expecting Alina to be waiting for him, but she wasn¡¯t. She didn¡¯t even look back and kept on walking. Which was weird, he has made her mad in the past, but she always waited for him. This time though, she wasn¡¯t. Then again Drake realized her personality had changed. She wasn¡¯t sadistic like he is, yet she intentionally tormented the nine tail back there by stepping on his broken leg. Nor was she normally a violent person; she would get annoyed or irritated, but left the violence to him. However, not only did she torment the nine tail, she was the one who instigated it; and she actually threatened him, she never does that. ¡°Weird¡­.¡± Drake thought to himself. ¡°Wonder what caused her change in personality¡­¡± He wondered. Then he realized he better catch up or she would leave him behind. Plus she is the one with the GPS gear. So he quickly got up and ran after her. ¡°Alina¡­ Wait.¡± He called after her. But she didn¡¯t stop, she continued on walking. Not because she was ignoring him, she was actually so happy that her eye powers had become useful to her that she just wasn¡¯t paying attention. ¡°Alina, I said wait.¡± Drake said as he grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. When he turned her around, he saw that she was crying. He had mixed emotions when he saw that. His sadistic side was jumping for joy knowing he caused her anguish like this, but the other part of him, the part that actually cares for her, sunk knowing he caused her to cry. ¡°Thank you Drake.¡± She whispered out as she hugged him tightly. Drake just couldn¡¯t keep up. ¡°What the hell? Why is she thanking me?¡± he thought to himself more confused than ever. ¡°Thanks to you making me as mad as you did, my eye power finally has a usable range.¡± She explained. It was then that Drake remembered that she had said something about an eye power to Will when they were talking. But she never explained what it was or anything. ¡°Uuuummm you¡¯re welcome? Anyway, what does your eye power do?¡± Drake asked curiously. Alina stepped back and wiped away the tears. ¡°First let me warn you. If you ever¡­ EVER, touch me that kind of attitude again, I will take your head.¡± She said pissed off again. ¡°Okay, okay.¡± Drake said raising his arms in no contest ¡°Okay.¡± She pouted. ¡°You know you liked it.¡± Drake said in a playful tone while poking her in the arm. ¡°Shut up.¡± She said as she swatted away his hand. Drake just started being a goofball, doing any and everything to make Alina smile. ¡°Look Alina, I¡¯m an opossum!¡± he shouted at her. When she looked his way, he was hanging upside-down from his tail on a huge tree, his hands and feet were curled into his body and he was making a face, trying his very best to look like an opossum. But despite his best efforts, Alina just scoffed at him. Hidden behind her pissed off face however, was a small hint of a smile. No she didn¡¯t like that Drake groped her like that, at least not with that setting, but she couldn¡¯t stay mad at him. Not when he was goofing off and trying making her laugh like he is. ¡°Whatever, let¡¯s just go.¡± Alina said bluntly. Drake then dropped down from the tree and ran up to Alina. ¡°So what about your eye power?¡± He asked her again. ¡°Right.¡± She paused. ¡°Basically, like you, I can see the energy of living things. Unlike you, I can see ALL living things; plants, animals, everything. Second, I have a three-sixty view, I can see all around me. Third, I can see everything within a certain range; in this case, it grew from only about a half a foot to several hundred feet. But it does not seem like I can see what things are going to do before they do them like you do.¡± She explained ¡°Wow, that¡¯s pretty cool. If we combine it, we could become invincible. You can see everyone in hiding from far away, while I can see what they will do before they do it.¡± Drake said excited ¡°Yep yep¡± Alina said with a smile. ¡°There we go. There¡¯s a smile.¡± Drake said happily. Alina looked away and blushed. ¡°Hey, I really am sorry.¡± Drake said. Alina did a double take and looked at him in shock. Drake had never apologized for anything; ever. Yet he just apologized to her. ¡°Are you okay?¡± She asked him seriously. ¡°Yah, I just feel bad to hurt you like that.¡± He explained Now Alina was just confused. Drake never feels bad about anything. He normally feels better the more grief he causes. ¡°You never feel bad. About anything.¡± She said in shock. ¡°I don¡¯t care about anything, besides you. So yah, I feel bad.¡± Drake said. Alina looked away and blushed again. But she can tell he was getting annoyed. This was a once in a lifetime chance, why not take it in full? So Alina just turned towards him and grabbed both of his hands. But Drake knew exactly what she was going to do, and he didn¡¯t even need his power to tell. So he picked her up and gave her a kiss before she could react. She didn¡¯t resist and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. After a few more seconds of that, they broke up, but kept their foreheads resting against each other¡¯s. Drake was getting ready to say something when Alina cut him off. ¡°I love you too.¡± She said with a huge smile on her face. Drake just smiled and put her down. Alina then pulled out the GPS and realized they were running late. ¡°Okay, we really gata go.¡± She told him. But then Drake started to think about the past. He was able to see in a three sixty degree field too. Plus he could see for several hundreds of feet like when he was keeping an eye on Alina while he was fighting the gold ridge, or when he was yelling at Amanda when she was trying to talk to him after he fought Mathias. But he was able to do that, and see how the energy would manipulate. So what other power will she unlock? Will her eyes change like his do? He was racking his brain trying to calculate just what her eyes could do. It really intrigued him and he really wants to figure out just how far their eye powers will go. Mission: First Objective Alina had started walking away, but quickly realized that Drake wasn¡¯t following her. She turned around so see him just standing there, deep in thought. ¡°Drake!¡± She yelled at him. Drake jumped from the sudden noise and looked at Alina who was just standing there. She waved for him to follow her so he picked up his stuff he had unknowingly dropped and went to catch up to her. ¡°What was going on with you?¡± Alina asked concerned. ¡°What do you mean?¡± He asked confused. ¡°You were in some kind of haze.¡± She pointed out to him. Drake didn¡¯t know what she was talking about. He was just thinking about her eye powers and then she suddenly yelled at him. ¡°I was just thinking about something.¡± He replied to her ¡°No.¡± Alina started. ¡°You completely zoned out. You had a thousand mile stare and didn¡¯t even blink. Hell you didn¡¯t even notice you dropped your gear!¡± She pointed out getting more concerned. ¡°I¡¯m fine love.¡± Drake reassured her. ¡°Yes, tell her you''re fine!¡± A voice whispered to Drake. Drake looked around, wondering where the voice came from; which only led to more worry for Alina. ¡°Seriously, what¡¯s wrong?¡± She asked Drake very worried now. Drake just shook his head. ¡°Nothing¡­ Just imagining things.¡± He replied. But he was wondering what that was. It seriously confused him, and he knew he was causing Alina to worry. And worry was exactly what Alina was doing. She had caught on to and noticed Drakes change. She didn¡¯t mind his dark personality, but he was always sure of himself in the past. Now he seems distracted and confused, and that change worried her. But she accepted it and if Drake said everything was fine, then she believed him. ¡°Hey Alina, Look at that!¡± Drake pointed while grabbing her hand. Alina looked to where Drake was pointing, but only saw a tree. ¡°What¡¯s so interesting about a tree? We are surrounded by them.¡± Alina responded confused. ¡°No not the tree, the Rabbit. Why would a white rabbit be in the forest like this? It only stands out like that.¡± Drake replied to her. ¡°Huh?¡± She muttered out as she looked again thinking she just missed the rabbit. But in fact, there was nothing there; just the big tree that looked like every other tree. ¡°Aaawww it went back into its hole in the tree. Oh well.¡± Drake said and looked back at Alina. ¡°Ready to go then?¡± He asked her. Now she was very worried for Drake. Nothing was there. There is no hole in the tree and there was no white rabbit. Even with her vision she couldn¡¯t see the energy of any living animal where Drake was pointing to. She knew something was wrong with Drake, even if he said he was ok, he wasn¡¯t. She wanted to tell him to get his head back together, but she wasn¡¯t really sure how to tell him. He genuinely believes there was a rabbit there, so she figured she would let it go for now until she could figure out how to talk to him about this. ¡°Love?¡± Drake asked waving his hand in front of Alina. She jumped back and quickly snapped back to reality. ¡°Hahahahaha, see; even you zone out in thought from time to time.¡± Drake said sarcastically. ¡°Wha?¡± Was all that Alina could muster out in her confusion. ¡°I asked if you are ready to go.¡± Drake repeated. ¡°Yah sure. Let¡¯s go.¡± Alina said and they took off again. From there the remaining two hour walk to base was uneventful. Nothing was really said or done until they finally reached the base. But thanks to their fight, along with the other shenanigans that happened, that group they ran into right after they landed beat them to the base. How they did baffled both Alina and Drake since they had a dead member and a cripple. None the less, they accepted it and went to check in. But before they even could, some of the members of the army raised their guns at the couple. ¡°Freeze!¡± One of them yelled. ¡°What for?¡± Drake asked nonchalantly. ¡°You assaulted that group over there, and we don¡¯t take kindly to that.¡± The first one responded back to them. ¡°Hey guys, I¡¯ll take care of this.¡± Another voice said from behind the army personnel. ¡°Hey guys, I¡¯m Derek. Don¡¯t worry about these guys, I have already spoken to Dr. King about this. You¡¯re off the hook this time. But don¡¯t let it happen again!¡± Derek told them as he walked in front of the crowd. Derek is as tall as Drake, if not just a little taller, and just as dark as Will. However, his hair was a burnt orange color and unlike Will, he grew out his facial hair into an orange goatee. He carried an energy full of confidence and power, something that Will did as well but not to the degree that Derek does. And as for weapons, he is like a walking sword armory. He has four swords on his back, one on each side of his waist, and two on his lower back equaling eight in all and all of them are different shapes and sizes. ¡°And who are you to tell us what to do?¡± Drake challenged, now clearly annoyed with everyone. ¡°I¡¯m the one in charge of all GenOpS for the main assault force.¡± Derek replied back calmly. ¡°But my intel on you guys is off. It says you have nine Cat Tails Drake and Alina has eight. But both of you have a Fox tail¡­¡± Derek said as he looked over some paperwork. Both Alina and Drake looked back in shock to see they both had a Fox tail. But what was different is that both of their tails remained solid black and not the tan with a white tip like everyone else. ¡°When did that happen?¡± Drake asked Alina. She just shrugged though. She had no clue either. She knew what could have caused her Fox tail to come in, but what caused Drakes? Unlike him, she actually had a development, or maybe his experience fighting the gold Ridge was still settling causing him to become more powerful. But neither really knew nor understood how or why it happened. ¡°Wait a second¡­¡± Derek said and walked over to Alina. ¡°Do you know if you were human in the past?¡± He asked her while looking over her. ¡°Why does it matter?¡± Drake asked aggressively. ¡°Whoa, chill there big boy, it¡¯s a harmless question that has a point to it.¡± Derek explained Alina grabbed Drakes arm to show she has no interest in Derek, in which he replied with a click of the tongue. ¡°Sweetheart, you¡¯re hot, but n¡­.¡± Derek started but Drake punched him. The hit sent Derek flying, and caused the guards to go on the defensive again. ¡°Stand down¡± Derek replied to the guards as he sat up slowly. ¡°Damn son, you hit hard for a Fox tail.¡± Derek complemented Drake. ¡°But you¡¯re not good enough to stand up to me.¡± Derek said now pissed off. That¡¯s when Drake saw his number of tails. Derek had three Fox tails, and the energy he gave off is one changed to that of a controlled blood thirst. Still Drake didn¡¯t back down. ¡°You so much as look at her the wrong way and I¡¯ll rip your head off your body and use it like a puppet!¡± Drake proclaimed and released his energy. Not wanting to cause a scene, Derek backed down. Somehow, he knew that fighting with Drake would be a bad idea and would leave both of them seriously hurt. Not the greatest of ideas right before starting a war. So with that in mind, Derek lifted his arms to show no contest. ¡°I just wanted to know because she looks like someone I read about in the past. If she was in fact a human before she became a GenOpS then there is a very real possibility that she is who I think she is.¡± Derek explained Alina looked at Drake. She had chance to learn who she was before she was turned into a GenOpS. It may not be her history, but it very well may be. Drake understood this from the look in her eyes, but still something bugged him. ¡°How can you be so sure? She has grown and matured since she became a GenOpS and looks different now.¡± Drake pointed out. ¡°That is very true, and I could very well have her confused with someone else. But looking at your age, and when you woke up in your personnel file the timings seem too close together to be coincidence. Now if you are lab created then that¡¯s all it is, if not there is a very real chance.¡± Derek explained. Again Alina looked at Drake, this time practically begging him to be ok with it. Drake simply shrugged and Alina nearly jumped for joy. ¡°I was a human before all of this. According to King, he picked me up almost eight years ago and I underwent two and a half years of genetic alterations.¡± Alina told Derek. ¡°Knowing that I¡¯m pretty sure that you are the Vampire of Russia; a serial killer who drank the blood of her victims. In just a three month period, you killed and drank the blood of over twenty people, including your own family. What baffled the police was just how young you were, and your sudden disappearance. Even after having you in custody, you vanished into thin air.¡± Derek told her. ¡°Well that is if that really was you. King could answer that question, though he may not just because he won¡¯t want to.¡± Derek finished Both Alina and Drake were in shock. Alina¡­ A serial killer? But to Alina it made some sense. When she wiped the blood off of Drake during the fight few days ago she had that uncontrollable urge to lick the blood off of her hands. If that¡¯s a psychological issue not even the genetic alteration could change that would be even more proof that she was this ¡®Vampire of Russia¡¯. ¡°What do you think Alina?¡± Drake asked her. ¡°It makes sense. Remember when I licked the blood off my hands? That was an urge I couldn¡¯t really resist. It may be a trait that stuck with me even after all the GenOpS changes.¡± Alina explained. ¡°Guess we will just have to ask King when we get back.¡± Drake stated. Derek cleared his throat to get the couples attention. ¡°A few things. First, if you ever hit me again Drake I will put you down.¡± Derek started. That sentence got Drake worked up. ¡°Try me!¡± Drake exclaimed with his devilish grin. ¡°I¡¯m not here to fight you right now punk. We have a war to fight, which brings me to my second point. I know you two just got here and need rest, but I need you to head out already. You can leave your stuff here, and we have cammies for you to change into.¡± Derek returned with a confident and authoritative tone. The news excited Alina and Drake. ¡°Well depending on what we need to do, we might just stay in our current cloths and stay comfortable.¡± Alina replied happily. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I heard that Drake can snipe from over a mile away, I want to take advantage of that and have him try and pick off as many GenOpS as possible. But he will need to wait until I give you the ok so we can time it with everything else.¡± Derek explained. ¡°That¡¯s bull! I want to be in the fighting, not sniping from a distance!¡± Drake protested vigorously. ¡°And you will. We just need you to locate and pick off some of the key leaders. Then you can rush down into the fighting before it starts.¡± Derek explained. Drake sighed and gave it some thought. ¡°How far is the base from here?¡± Drake asked. ¡°About twenty miles north-northeast.¡± Derek replied pointing in a direction. ¡°We will give you a map of the area that you can study and find a good spot.¡± Derek finished ¡°Ugh. Fine.¡± Drake agreed unwillingly. Drake then dropped the case holding his Mission Statement and started to unpack it. ¡°What is that?¡± Derek asked never seeing a rifle like it before. ¡°My sniper rifle. It¡¯s a rail gun that can fire special slugs over ten miles if I wanted. But I don¡¯t have the scope to pull that off. I can only see things about three miles away with this scope.¡± Drake replied showing Derek the different parts. As Drake was unpacking and assembling his rifle, Derek looked over the gun. It was huge once he had everything out and lined up. It looked to be just over five feet long after everything gets connected; so it was longer than any other sniper rifle Derek had ever seen. It wasn¡¯t very bulky either, in fact it was uniformly slim and rectangular throughout with the fattest parts being the stock, which housed the battery, and the scope. Everything was a solid matte black with a few different colored switches on the right side and a gloss black knob with white numbers one through twelve on the left side. As for the slugs, they came in a cylindrical housing and after being fired the housing broke off revealing a pointed projectile that had fins on the back to create its own stabilizing rotation based on how fast it travels. ¡°And with this I can see targets about five miles away and give him proper targeting.¡± Alina said showing Derek her spotter scope. Derek was impressed. For their first mission, they had some very impressive gear. ¡°How did you guys get those things?¡± Derek asked curiously. ¡°Our trainer gave them to us after I aced the sniper test from over a mile away.¡± Drake replied while he locked the slug guide into place. ¡°I see. Well let me go get that map and the cammies for you guys.¡± Derek finished and walked off to get the map. Drake then slid the battery and shock absorber into place and started to load rounds into the magazines, as Alina finally took a look around. The place was massive. About fifty feet away from them was the entrance to the base. The entrance was just a small tent to help hide everything, but what was behind it was the truly impressive part. To keep the base hidden, everything was built around or in the trees of the forest; which would explain how the Ridge group still hasn¡¯t found the base yet. And the buildings themselves had exceptional camouflage making them very difficult to see when just scanning, much less from a distance. ¡°Hey can you help me hun?¡± Drake asked, snapping Alina back to reality. ¡°Sure. With what?¡± Alina asked turning to look back at Drake. ¡°Just help me carry some of the mags. They are pretty bulky and I can¡¯t fit them all into my pockets.¡± Drake answered while handing her two magazines. Alina looked over Drakes gear. With the two he was handing her, the two still on the floor, and the four he had in his pocket, he is missing four magazines. ¡°Where¡¯re the last four?¡± Alina asked Drake. ¡°Huh? Doubt I¡¯ll need even this many.¡± Drake replied. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be sniping for very long. Only take out a few main targets and then jump into the battle as quickly as we can.¡± Drake finished. ¡°Hahahaha, good!¡± Alina exclaimed excitedly. She then opened up one of her suitcases and pulled out her Katars and their sheaths. After taking off her flannel shirt, she strapped the two sheaths on her back and put the Katars in them. ¡°Why only your beater?¡± Drake asked. ¡°Easier to move around in with the holsters on than with an over shirt.¡± Alina replied. ¡°What about you?¡± She asked in return. ¡°Hum? Cuz it¡¯s comfortable, and it¡¯s really hot here. And I really don¡¯t feel like changing.¡± Drake replied A few minutes later Derek walk back with a map of the area and the camo suits he mentioned earlier. ¡°You guys know how to read a topography map?¡± He asked the two. They both nodded. ¡°Good, then here. We will call you in two hours. We expect you to be set up and ready by then.¡± Derek ordered. The two looked at the map and Drake instantly saw an excellent spot. A huge cliff roughly two and a half miles from the main base. It is a sheer cliff that overlooks the whole base giving them a perfect view and a clear line of sight. ¡°We will set up here.¡± Drake pointed out on the map. ¡°I saw that too. Think you can do it?¡± Alina asked. ¡°Course I can.¡± Drake replied confidently. ¡°Good, then get changed and get going. You have two hours.¡± Derek commanded. The order only served to get a cold look from Drake. But the two set off after Alina picked up the last two magazines on the ground without picking up the camo suits. Derek wondered why they didn¡¯t want the camo but didn¡¯t need more conflict. Those two are indeed a special case. ¡°You think we can cover two miles quick enough to get in the fight?¡± Alina asked after they got out of earshot. ¡°Sure, we just jump down the cliff and run there as quickly as we can. We should cover the ground pretty quickly.¡± Drake replied. ¡°But this should be fun¡± Drake finished with a grin. ¡°Please kill the targets with the first shot Drake. No blowing off their leg or arm so you can watch them squirm¡± Alina scolded. The smile dropped off of Drakes face instantly. He really wanted to, but he knew why he couldn¡¯t. ¡°I know¡­ I know.¡± Drake solemnly replied. ¡°Good.¡± Alina said patting Drake on the shoulder. ¡°So¡­ How is firing that thing? Looks painful from what I¡¯ve seen.¡± Alina asked to break the silence. ¡°Well at max output it hurts like hell. The recoil is absolutely insane!¡± Drake exclaimed. Alina giggled at Drakes somewhat over-reaction to the recoil, but it isn¡¯t a joke either. The one time Drake shot it at max power; the rifle pushed him back a few inches and almost broke his collar bone. At that power output, the round punched through several fully armored tanks from three miles out and still hit the target dead center; blowing it apart. The best part is that there is no noise from the gun. No flash, no bang, nothing. Since the gun relies on electrical and magnetic forces to propel the round, it only makes a small hum when it fires and then the recoil hits. The sonic boom from the round is a different story; the round is traveling over a mile per second at max power. That speed is what gives the gun such a great shooting distance and such destructive force. Alina had zoned out thinking about watching Drake fire his rifle. And before she knew it they had already covered half the distance to their target location. The only thing that snapped her back to reality was Drake stopping her. ¡°What?¡± Alina asked ¡°Nothing, you were just super spaced out ya¡¯ big doof.¡± Drake replied in a goofy voice. ¡°Ppppfffftttt. You big doof? Really?¡± Alina asked trying not to laugh. ¡°Knew that would get a smile out of you.¡± Drake gleefully answered. And it did, but it also brought Alina back to a train of thought; trying to bring up Drakes mental health to him. She knew something was off, but didn¡¯t really know how to say it. So she just went for it, after all Drake is pretty blunt himself. ¡°Hey Drake, are you okay? Like really really okay?¡± Alina asked after a few seconds hesitation. ¡°Yah. Why?¡± Drake asked. ¡°Cuz when we were walking to the main camp, you said you saw a white rabbit go down a hole. Except there was no rabbit; I looked and looked, but nothing. And shortly before that you started looking around like you heard something. But the only living things around us were the trees.¡± Alina started. ¡°Hun, I told you I¡¯m fine.¡± Drake answered quickly before Alina could say more. But that answer didn¡¯t satisfy her at all. ¡°People don¡¯t just see things that aren¡¯t there. And they definitely don¡¯t look around them like they just heard a voice or something!¡± Alina protested. ¡°Oh yah? Well what about you being a serial killer? And want to explain your impulse to drink blood? Those aren¡¯t normal either!¡± Drake responded angrily. ¡°What the hell Drake? That was before I became a GenOpS. Maybe something was wrong with me as a human I have no idea. I don¡¯t remember!¡± Alina replied, now angry as well. ¡°At least you have a fucking history! What is there to explain me? I was only created to do this then die? What kind of life is that?! I mean my personality is probably just some fabrication of King just so I¡¯ll fight longer and enjoy it!¡± Drake started ¡°I don¡¯t have an excuse why I¡¯m seeing shit, and why I¡¯m hearing shit! I just am. Why the hell can I even do what I do? My swords should be too heavy for anyone to swing. Each one weighs more than six times as much as I do. Yet guess what? I can fucking do it. Not to mention I should weigh over a ton, but somehow I don¡¯t¡­ And no one could understand or explain it? I¡¯m a walking exception to the laws of physics! There aren¡¯t only bad mysteries about me! But unlike you, I doubt I¡¯ll ever get an answer for why. So just drop it!¡± Drake yelled, clearly pissed off. After that outburst Drake stormed off; leaving Alina to her thoughts. ¡°Well that confirms that he is also hearing things. But that¡¯s what he¡¯s been thinking? That¡¯s what¡¯s been bothering him? Knowing he may never get an answer to who he is other than a fighter; that his personality may be created just so he will fight longer and enjoy the fight. He carried that with him all this time and never said a word.¡± Alina thought to herself. After Alina finished her thought she looked for Drake, who had already walked out of sight. So she looked for his aura and found it. But this time it was different, it was huge, and it was violent. His pitch black aura was thrashing about around him, and gave off a dreadful feeling. It almost made her not want to approach him and just let him cool off. But she knew better; Drake never cools off under his own power. Hell, his rage is one of his defining characteristics to her. She knew she had to go apologize. So she ran after him. Luckily he was just standing still, almost like he was waiting for her. Picking off Targets ¡°Hey Drake!¡± She yelled out to get his attention. He slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder at her. His cold, angry stare reminded her of when Drake attacked the seven tail, Mathias. Then she noticed he had drawn his Demons eye and was firmly gripping it. She saw some of the trees around him had been cut down; some had chunks missing from their trunk and others are riddled with gashes and slashes almost like Drake has just wildly swung his sword in anger. ¡°Drake¡­?¡± Alina asked slowly, not sure how he would react. ¡°What?¡± He responded coldly. ¡°Can I say something?¡± Alina asked him calmly. Drake didn¡¯t answer. Instead he just went back to looking at what was in front of him. Then he simply shrugged. So Alina took that as an okay. ¡°Hey look, I¡¯m sorry. I guess I took things too far, but I¡¯m just worried about you. I hope you know that.¡± Alina started. ¡°I know, but I don¡¯t want to talk about it. I¡¯m fine, I can still function, and I can still fight. That¡¯s all that matters.¡± Drake answered. That last bit broke Alina¡¯s heart. Sure Drake loves to fight, but part of him is questioning that and if that¡¯s really who he is or if that part of him is also created. ¡°Well then, after this we can beat the answers out of King. Or who knows, maybe he will be willing to tell us on his own.¡± Alina suggested. ¡°And who¡¯s to say he won¡¯t just tell us what we want to hear just to save his ass?¡± Drake responded. His argument was sound. King could really say anything he wanted and no one would be able to prove otherwise. They would just have to take was he says in stride. ¡°Then we can just discover it ourselves. There has to be someone out there who knows the answer to our questions, and maybe we can pressure that someone into talking to us.¡± Alina suggested again trying to get Drakes hopes up. ¡°But they will all be connected to King. He is ultimately the one who created me, and he is the one who has the answers. No one will have the complete answer but him, and he could have told them lies while they thought it was the truth. There is just too much unknown with King.¡± Drake pointed out. Again his argument was very sound. But Alina was not ready to give up yet. ¡°Then we will look into it ourselves. First confirm if personality fabrication is even possible. I think that¡¯s more a nurture than a nature sort of thing.¡± Alina countered. ¡°Personality is nurture over nature, but most mental issues are not. They are usually some sort of genetic defect, meaning that my sadism could have been created and then combined with the proper raising; give rise to my personality. And it all leads to the same thing, King created my personality.¡± Drake stated. ¡°Using that logic, he created everyone¡¯s¡¯ personality. He is the one who created the base and runs it. So he is responsible for the nurture of everyone, thus creating everyone¡¯s personality. But look, you and me are pretty different even though we both woke up around the same time and dealt with the same upbringing.¡± Alina argued. ¡°Yes, but the main difference between you and me is that I¡¯m created. With you he could only change so much since most of what he needed was already there with your DNA. And your personality may have already been set by your experiences as a human. But with me he was free to create any kind of monster he wanted. Free to create any kind of personality he wanted. I was a blank canvas.¡± Drake pointed out. ¡°Alright, you win. I won¡¯t push anymore. But will it hurt to at least ask him? He may give us useful information that we can use to expand the search.¡± Alina questioned. Drake just shook his head. It never hurts to ask, and they will just have to sort through what, if any, info he gives them. It still gave Drake some hope. ¡°Good. So then, let¡¯s hurry up. We don¡¯t have much time left but we still have a bit to go.¡± Alina pointed out. They both took a look at the map and saw they still needed to cover about nine miles, but they had just a little under a half hour to get there and get set up. So Drake attached his sword to the magnets, tightened the straps to his rifle, and booked it with Alina close behind. To them, the distance wasn¡¯t the hardest part, but the constant changing of directions. Thanks to all the trees and shrubbery, it made it impossible to just go in a straight line. So the couple had to constantly stop to look at the gps and map and then readjust. But they made it to the sniping location with five minutes to spare; just enough time for them to get set up and dialed in. Drake started by loosening the straps to his rifle and laying it down on the ground. Then he took off his swords and set them up against a tree that was close by. Next he quickly snapped off some branches and set them around his gun to give it a shrubbery look leaving space for his scope and slug guide only. Finally he laid down, extended the bi-pod on his gun and got into position. Meanwhile Alina did much of the same thing. She set down her spotter scope next to Drakes rifle and loosened the straps for her katar holsters and took the mags she was holding for Drake out. Then she took off her Katar holsters and broke off some branches and other foliage to make a quick ghillie suit. Finally she laid down next to Drake on his left and looked down her spotter scope. Drake loaded one of the mags Alina set next to him, then loaded the chamber and waited for Alinas instructions. ¡°Okay, set angle to bravo nineteen alpha five zeta one. Distance two point six, variable.¡± Alina instructed. What she was doing was giving Drake the exact angle he needed to aim his rifle to see the base and the distance to the base with a variable range depending on where he would be shooting at. Drake knew exactly what to do and moved his gun to match the settings Alina had said. Then he looked down the scope and sure enough the base was I perfect view. From there Drake ran the numbers through his head and started adjusting and magnifying his scope. Looking for any and all signs of wind, he adjusted for that as well and set the power level needed on his gun. ¡°Gun set, locate targets.¡± Drake confirmed as Alina scanned the area for high value targets. As Alina was still looking, the phone rang and Drake answered it. ¡°Hello?¡± Drake answered. ¡°All set?¡± Derek asked. ¡°Acquiring targets¡± Drake confirmed. ¡°Negative, report what you see.¡± Derek commanded. Drake then passed the phone over to Alina. ¡°What!?¡± Alina demanded. ¡°Report what you see.¡± Derek repeated. ¡°Large base with normal level of activity. However, by some hangers on the north end there is more personnel than normal. Unable to determine what is in the hangers.¡± Alina reported. ¡°Any targets of particularly high value?¡± Derek asked. ¡°Yes, several gold ridges, some with five or more gold ridges, and one with what looks like a ruby colored ridge as well. All located by the hangers I mentioned earlier.¡± Alina reported again. ¡°Fuck a Ruby Ridge?! Ok primary target is the Ruby Ridge, you cannot miss that target. Eliminate asap. Is that understood?¡± Derek commanded. ¡°Rodger¡± Alina replied. ¡°Ok Drake, Target is Ruby Ridge; angle re-set to bravo zeta bravo six nine. Distance two point seven five nine¡± Alina instructed Drake. Drake moved his scope to the northern end of the base and zeroed in on the hangers. Instantly he found the ruby ridge, but he was moving into the hangers. ¡°Negative, target moved into hangers, unable to confirm location.¡± Drake said. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Then an idea came to his mind. What if he could see the aura through the scope? He would be able to accurately locate the aura of his target and fire on that. So he tried it out and to his excitement, he could see the auras through the scope. But when he looked in the building he couldn¡¯t see anything. Then he remembered the target can¡¯t be behind anything for him to see their aura unlike Alina who could see everything within a curtain range. Then the massive hangar doors started to open up and the couple watched with confusion and interest. Alina instantly called back Derek to report on the situation. ¡°Yes?¡± Derek answered. ¡°The hangar doors are opening, but the Ruby went into the hangar before we could get a lock on him.¡± Alina explained. ¡°Ok, as soon as you locate the ruby again lock and fire.¡± Derek instructed. ¡°Rodger¡± Alina answered. ¡°That hanger is bigger than normal.¡± Drake pointed out after Alina hung up. ¡°I know. Wonder what¡¯s in it?¡± Alina curiously stated. ¡°Me too.¡± Drake replied. They didn¡¯t have to wait long for their answer. Soon after, a giant flatbed truck rolled out with a huge robot laying down on its bed. The Ruby Ridge was standing on top of the robot pointing every which way. Instantly Alina called Derek to report. ¡°Yes?¡± Derek answered. ¡°It¡¯s a giant fucking robot!¡± Alina reported. ¡°What?¡± Derek asked confused. ¡°What was in the hanger; it¡¯s a giant robot, probably around a hundred fifty feet tall. Humanoid with feet, has yet to be powered on though.¡± Alina reported. ¡°Fuck... The FEAR. And the Ruby?¡± Derek asked. Alina looked at Drake who did a slight nod. But she wondered what the FEAR is and how Derek knew what it was. However, that would have to wait til later; She had to focus on what''s going on now. ¡°Located and ready to fire.¡± Alina stated. Drake did some quick adjustments to his rifle, increasing the power to five and adjusting the scope for the increase in power. Then he switched off the safety and the gun hummed to life. ¡°Good, take him out.¡± Derek replied. Drake lined up the cross-hairs on the Rubys chest and emptied his lungs. Alina gave him the signal to fire and he squeezed the trigger in between a heartbeat. The recoil kicked into Drakes shoulder and he winced from the pain. But he kept his eye on the Ruby and watched his chest explode from the impact of the slug. The slug kept going and exploded through the head of the robot; taking out a quarter of the head. As for the Ruby Ridge, his body was blown in half thanks to the force of the round. Drake instantly covered his gun and scope to hide it from anyone who may look in their direction. They must have counter snipers as well and they would be looking everywhere for them. But Alina and Drake had a lot going for them. Firstly, the gun they used is a one of a kind; no other rail guns exist as a sniper rifle since Drake is the only one capable of withstanding the recoil; all the others are massive guns mounted to battleships, or land mortars. So they will be trying to figure out the projection of the bullet based on a regular sniper rifle. Second, they are extremely far from the target. The number of people who could pull off a shot like what Drake just did is extremely small. So they won¡¯t think to look that far out. Soon after Alina started picking out targets. She was looking for any and all with a high ranking. After a few seconds she already picked out a couple of higher ranked gold ridges. ¡°Five gold at angle bravo zeta bravo six six. Distance two point seven five one.¡± Alina instructed. Drake turned his gun to match Alinas instructions and uncovered his scope. He turned down the power to three to throw off the Ridge group with a different firing angle and adjusted the scope accordingly. He lined up the crosshairs again and emptied his lungs as he waited for Alinas signal. Once she gave it, he squeezed the trigger in between his heartbeat again. Since the power was reduced, the recoil wasn¡¯t nearly as harsh, but it still caused the gun to kick into his shoulder. After watching the five Gold Ridge drop, Drake then saw an opportunity. A few humans were running in a line just a few tens of feet in front of the five Gold Ridge he just dropped and Drake couldn¡¯t resist. He turned up the power to get a straight line of fire. Not even bothering to wait for Alinas signal; he fired. He watched as the slug punched through all three of them, ripping them apart. Drake chuckled at the sight and went out to look for more targets. However, Alina tapped his shoulder to get his attention. She was mad he fired without warning her. Now thanks to the scare she had to readjust her scope. But it mattered little to Drake, he was able to see quite a few targets and he could easily calculate the adjustments himself. So he tapped Alina on the shoulder to get her attention as he adjusted the power on his rifle to three and a half. She got the hint and got ready for Drake to fire. He only had two rounds left in the mag so he set up a quick two shot. Seeing a two Gold Ridge he quickly scanned upwards to where he would need to aim the gun if he wanted to hit the two Gold Ridge with a recoil shot. Luckly there was a six Gold Ridge just a little below where he needed him to be. ¡°Location angle bravo zeta alpha three four, distance two point three and two point four nine one.¡± Drake informed Alina. He lined up the crosshairs, recalculated the recoil and when he would need to fire again and fired. As the guns recoil pushed into him lifting the gun, he fired again knowing the power would drop down to one as well as a different angle of fire. Even Alina was amazed as she watched the two slugs hit two different targets; the first hitting the six Gold Ridge dead center of mass, the second hitting the two Gold Ridge that was significantly closer right between the eyes, blowing his head off. How Drake even knew the second target was there was beyond Alina. The two Gold Ridge should have been out of Drakes sight, but he did it none the less. As Drake was reloading his gun, Alina called Derek to report. ¡°What¡¯s the situation?¡± Derek asked. ¡°Ruby eliminated as well as a few higher ranking Golds.¡± Alina reported. ¡°Good, fall back to base. You must be tired and you took out a very high ranking target.¡± Derek commanded. ¡°Understood.¡± Alina said and hung up. ¡°Time to fall back.¡± Alina reported. Drake gave her a look of disappointment, but understood. They waited for a few minutes and then slowly started to back up farther into the tree line. Once they got far enough back, Drake sat up and started to rub his shoulder. A huge bruise was visible where his tank top wasn¡¯t covering. He knew it would heal quickly, but this is the one reason he hated using the rifle. Alina saw the damage done and felt bad, but knew it was the price to pay for such a powerful weapon. Still, after folding up her spotters scope, she scooted over to rub Drakes shoulder for him. ¡°At least you didn¡¯t need to use full power.¡± She pointed out. ¡°I didn¡¯t even use half. And it still feels like it will pop my shoulder out.¡± Drake replied. ¡°True, but that double shot you pulled off was pretty cool!¡± Alina complemented him. ¡°Hahahaha Thanks love.¡± Drake responded. ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s get back to base. Derek said we can rest while he gets everything in order.¡± Alina said. ¡°Sounds good. I¡¯m starving. We haven¡¯t eaten since before the freaking battle back at base.¡± Drake pointed out as his stomach growled. ¡°Well we got quite a long hike back to base. Want to hunt something? We can even camp out here is you want.¡± Alina offered. ¡°Sounds good. But let¡¯s look as we head back that way if we don¡¯t find anything, we can still be on the way back to base.¡± Drake said. Attack the Base ********************************* Authors Note ********************************************** Hey guys, So in this chapters end some... lets go with questionable... things happen. I''m pretty sure some, if not a lot or all, of you are starting to wonder why Drake and Alina are the way they are. I promise an explanation will happen, though it is still a few chapters out. The reason I bring that up is because at the end is really starting to show their true nature and just how little fucks they really give. Please bare with me and if you can make it to the end of the arc (where the explanation of everything revolving around Drake and Alina happens) I''m sure you will be satisfied. On another note, Thank you to all the return readers and those leaving some positive feed back. It means a lot to me and I really try to put in a lot of attention and effort into the characters and story. So your feedback is noticed and inspires me to keep working (even more on those dreaded writers block days hahahahaha) and I''ll return the favor by posting more. Shooting for an every other or every three day post from now on. Cheers guys and thanks again, Karma ********************************************************************************************** The couple gathered their stuff and started to make their way back to base. Since they were walking instead of running, it was taking them a significantly longer time to get back. About three hours into the hike Alina stopped. ¡°Hun, there¡¯s a bear over there.¡± Alina said pointing slightly left of them. Sure enough, a few seconds later the bear walked into sight of Drake who started to drool from the thought of food. It was a huge brown bear that had to weigh in over two hundred Kilograms. He dropped his rifle and swords and charged in leaving Alina confused why he didn¡¯t want to use his swords. But she got her answer; as Drake got to the bear he just simply punched it on top of the skull, completely crushing it. ¡°Come help me love.¡± Drake called out to Alina after killing the bear. ¡°Coming¡­¡± Alina replied. She walked over and pulled out one of her Katars to start skinning the bear. Drake then got up to gather his gear and came back. ¡°Look out.¡± Drake instructed. Alina moved out of the way as Drake used his Demons Eye to cut the bear into sections. ¡°Hope you don¡¯t mind it raw.¡± Drake said as he grabbed a section of the ribs. Alina didn¡¯t mind it at all. In fact she was dying to get some of the blood. So she reached for another section of ribs and started to break it apart. The sound of snapping bones was music to Drakes ears and he tore off a chunk of meat. It didn¡¯t have the flavor they were use too since it¡¯s not even cooked, but still they enjoyed the taste. More than anything however, the two of them are just happy to finally get some food. Unfortunately they didn¡¯t get to enjoy it long before the phone started to ring. ¡°Hum?¡± Alina asked impatiently with a mouthful of food. ¡°Where are you guys?¡± Derek asked. Alina took a few seconds to chew the food she had in her mouth. ¡°Eating. About ten miles from base.¡± Alina answered. ¡°What! Why so far out still?¡± Derek asked. ¡°We are starving and exhausted. We hunted a bear and are resting for a bit. We will be back at base in a few hours.¡± Alina explained. ¡°Tough luck. You need to get back here asap. You have one hour.¡± Derek commanded and then hung up. Alina sighed, rolled her eyes, and then put the phone back in her pocket. She went to look back at Drake who was still digging into the bear. He had moved from the ribs and now was tearing apart the thighs. Alina knew they couldn¡¯t fight against Dereks command, yes Drake had hit him earlier, however, that wasn¡¯t in defiance as much as it was him protecting her from what he thought was a pervert, but they desperately needed some rest. She felt like she would collapse as soon as she stood back up and she still hadn¡¯t mentally recovered. To make things worse for her, she knew Drake was still trying to recover and he took a lot more than she did. He took bullets for her and got pretty beat up fighting the Gold Ridge. While all of his wounds had healed he is still sore and it took a massive amount of energy to heal all that damage. Add to that he was eating for the first time in days. ¡°Hurry up love. We got an hour to get back to base.¡± Alina told Drake. Drake looked up, face covered in blood from eating. ¡°Ah, ok. Bummer this is good.¡± Drake replied, clearly bummed. He tore off another leg of the bear and broke off some more ribs for the two of them. Before he could even stand up Alina tackled him. He couldn¡¯t even ask her what¡¯s going on when she started licking the blood off of his face. She started at the cheeks, and move closer to his mouth. When she got there she grabbed his face and started to kiss him deeply. Drake didn¡¯t fight it; instead he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back. After a minute of that, Drake rolled the two over so he was now on top. He rested his forehead on hers and looked into her eyes. What he saw in her eyes was her wild energy and he loves it. But he also saw the love and compassion that he knew was only for him. Alina saw roughly the same thing. When she looked into Drakes eyes she saw his wild, crazy and sadistic energy, an energy that loved the thrill of a fight and the feeling of fighting to the death. But she also saw his love for her, how she is the only person in his eyes and how his world revolves around her. She couldn¡¯t help but smile knowing that he only thought of her. After looking into her eyes, Drake started kissing her again, this time slowly moving down to her neck. Once he got there, Alina let out an approving moan and squeezed Drake tightly. He did that for a few minutes, but then Alina stopped him. ¡°I would love to continue this, but we have to get going.¡± She pointed out. Drake sighed in disappointment but he understood. So he got up off of her and went to gather his things. Before he could even move though, he heard Alina chuckling. ¡°What?¡± He asked. Alina pointed at his dick and he looked down. He grew red from embarrassment at what he saw. ¡°W-w-w-ww-well.¡± He started. Alina just started cracking up. Normally Drake is the one who torments others, but now it¡¯s her turn to torment him. ¡°It¡¯s completely natural.¡± Drake tried to point out. ¡°Oh I know. I just want to torment you for a change.¡± She said while still laughing. Drake had nothing to say, so he just hung his head in defeat and went to get his stuff. When he got back Alina had already got all her things and was ready to go. Drake had managed to calm down in the minute it took him to get his things and didn¡¯t react when Alina tried to tease him. Knowing Drake was over it she stopped. Besides Drake is right; it¡¯s a totally natural reaction to the situation they were just in. They gathered a little more of the bear and took off for the base, eating as they ran. The energy from the food started to kick in and they both started to feel better. Still physically exhausted, but at least now they had some food in their systems. They reached the base with only a couple of minutes to spare. ¡°Good you made it on time.¡± Derek said as he walked up to them. The two were surprisingly out of breath. Derek knew they needed some rest, which they unfortunately wouldn¡¯t be getting anytime soon. ¡°Your new orders are to get into position for the main attack. You and one more group of GenOpS will meet at this location and wait until the main army starts. I know I had you guys take out enemies before the army was ready, but we couldn¡¯t risk that Ruby Ridge.¡± Derek started while looking over a map. ¡°So now they will be expecting something. At least you guys managed to take out a few other stronger targets as well.¡± Derek complemented. ¡°So you call us back here from the base, only to send us back to the base?¡± Drake asked. ¡°If you had gotten here faster like I thought, you two would have been on time to leave with everyone.¡± Derek informed them. ¡°We were already there you dumb fuck! We are exhausted from fighting the last battle and trying to recover since we were shipped out before we could. And now you waste our energy by pointlessly making the same trip three fucking times!¡± Drake yelled at Derek. ¡°Listen here boy, I needed to debrief you and inform you of your next assignment.¡± Derek informed them with an authoritative tone. ¡°Which you could have done over the god-damned phone. You called us to chew us out for being late, why not save us both some fucking time and do it then?¡± Drake asked clearly annoyed. ¡°Drake stop. We need-¡± Alina started. ¡°Listen here boy. I am in charge. I don¡¯t care if King and Jeff both told me to handle you with care, I will put you in your place if you disrespect me one more time.¡± Derek commanded. Drake was about to say something when Alina grabbed him from behind and covered his mouth. ¡°Just tell us what you need to tell us. It wasn¡¯t cool that you wasted our time and energy like that but we can¡¯t change that you did. So hurry up so we can get going.¡± Alina said aggravated as well. ¡°What I said goes to you too Missy. You disrespect me like him and I will put you in your place.¡± Derek said. ¡°Whatever broski, just hurry up and tell us!¡± Alina commanded. The look the two of them gave Derek sent chills down his spine. All he wanted was for them to respect his authority, which they blatantly ignored. None the less they got the results he asked for when he told them what to do. ¡°When you guys are done, we are going to have a nice long chat about your disrespect.¡± Derek said. Finally Drake couldn¡¯t take it anymore. He took Alinas hand off of his mouth to talk. ¡°I¡¯ll listen if you beat me one v one. The ONLY authority I respect is power. Otherwise you¡¯re nothing to me.¡± Drake taunted. Alina quickly tried to pull Drake away to try and prevent more confrontation, but he wouldn¡¯t budge. It felt like she was trying to move a tank. ¡°I¡¯ll accept that. I¡¯ll beat you at your own game and completely humiliate you.¡± Derek responded. ¡°Well we don¡¯t have time for a cool down now, so get over here so I can show you what needs to be done.¡± Derek said as he pulled out a map. Drake clicked his tongue but reluctantly walked over to see. ¡°We are going to hammer the southern entrance to base with mortar shells. The main army has already started to move into position, so the shells will start falling once they are ready. Once you hear the tenth one, you will start to rush in. By that time we will re-aim the mortars to the northern side so you won¡¯t be at risk.¡± Derek informed them. ¡°What time will you start the firing?¡± Alina asked. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°In three hours. That¡¯s the soonest we can get everything set up and ready and the main army should be in position by then.¡± Derek answered. ¡°Better hurry up then. It will take us a hour or two to get to the location. Where is the other team that will be with us?¡± Drake asked. ¡°Already in motion. But before you two leave take these.¡± Derek said hanging them some packaged food. ¡°These will wake you up and refresh your mind; at least for twelve hours. It should help with your exhaustion.¡± Derek explained somewhat feeling bad about their condition. The two just shrugged and took the bars. They wanted to wait until they got to their location to eat them since they just ate the bear. ¡°Hey hun, think the guns will come in handy?¡± Alina asked. ¡°Yah.¡± Drake answered. ¡°We¡¯ll leave as soon as I put this thing away and we get our guns. So where did you put our stuff? And can I lock this away someplace?¡± Drake asked showing Derek his rifle. ¡°Sure. I put all of your stuff in the barracks. You can also have the Armory lock your rifle away for you.¡± Derek answered as he pointed to the different locations. ¡°Thanks.¡± Alina said and they went to get their stuff. The armory was the closest of the two, so they stopped by there first. It¡¯s located a little over five hundred feet from the main entrance and higher up in one of the tall trees. Once they got to the tree it¡¯s just a simple climb up a rope ladder. However, Drake had to leave his swords at the bottom since the ladder couldn¡¯t support their weight. So he left them with Alina while he hurried up to drop off his rifle. When he got to the top he saw a rather large building that made him wonder how the tree was supporting it all plus all the weapons in there. But he got over it and looked over the simplistic half cylinder style building. Once he was done, he walked inside. ¡°Hey, can you lock this up for me?¡± Drake asked as soon as he walked in. The armorer looked over the rifle, and then shook his head. He spread out his arms to signal it¡¯s too big. ¡°It¡¯s too big?¡± Drake asked. The armorer nodded his head. So Drake took the gun, unlocked the slug guide, took it off and then handed it back. ¡°Now?¡± Drake asked impatiently. The armorer gave him a thumbs up and took the two different pieces. ¡°Oh and these too.¡± Drake stopped him while he pulled the extra mags out of his pocket. The armorer turned around and just put up one finger to signify a moment. He looked for an empty locker and when he found one he put the gun in. Then he returned for the extra mags and put them in the locker as well. After returning the armorer gave Drake some paperwork to fill out, which Drake quickly finished. When he was done with the paperwork the armorer gave him a thumb up to signal he was good to go. So Drake turned around and left. As he was climbing back down the rope ladder he saw Alina messing around with his swords; or at least trying to. She could barely pick them up; much less actually swing them around. ¡°I¡¯m done¡± Drake said when he got to the bottom of the ladder. Alina jumped, she didn¡¯t expect Drake to be there while she was messing with his swords. And she was entirely focused on them since they are so heavy. ¡°Already?¡± She asked trying to regain composure. But it was too late, Drake had already seen her jump. It didn¡¯t really do anything for him, it was just a small reaction so he said nothing about it. ¡°Yep it was quick since the guy up there couldn¡¯t talk.¡± Drake replied. He then grabbed his Demons Heart, which Alina wasn¡¯t messing around with, and sheathed it. Then he reached for the Demons Eye that Alina was struggling to even hold onto at this point. She tried to hand it to Drake, but it was just too heavy and she started to fall from the shift of weight. Drake quickly grabbed the sword with his left hand and swung it out of the way while he caught Alina with his right and brought her in close to stabilize her. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Normally you have no issues handing them to me, but now you can barely hold them.¡± Drake pointed out worried. ¡°It must be the exhaustion. My body feels so heavy I can barely walk.¡± Alina said slightly out of breath. ¡°Then eat that bar now! Derek said it would help.¡± Drake replied as he reached for one of the bars. ¡°Only the mental. He said it would only wake us up and not feel exhausted. He never said anything about it helping the physical symptoms.¡± Alina argued. ¡°Then eat both Dammit!¡± Drake commanded. ¡°No you need one too!¡± Alina yelled back. ¡°I feel fine after eating the bear. I don¡¯t need it.¡± Drake pointed out. ¡°Plus I ate a lot more of it than you did.¡± Drake finished. ¡°Even still. You must be exhausted too.¡± Alina said worried. ¡°I am. But I can still hold my weapons and think clearly. I¡¯ll sleep after this.¡± Drake calmly told her. Alina just sank her head, more from exhaustion than anything. ¡°Fine.¡± Was all she replied. ¡°Good, now we need to hurry. You rest here. Do you want both of your Ragnoraks? Or just the pistols?¡± Drake asked. ¡°Just the pistols. Don¡¯t feel like lugging the ¡®A¡¯ around. And all the mags I have loaded. Should only be like six of them I think.¡± Alina answered. ¡°Ok.¡± Drake replied and ran off to the barracks. Alina just plopped down next to the tree and rested a bit. She felt bad resting while Drake was still running around for her. But he was somehow in better shape than she was. Even with all the damage he received, he was still able to make those amazing shots, do all the calculations he needed, and didn¡¯t miss even once. Plus that double shot he pulled off was simply amazing, shooting twice in a single recoil and hitting two different targets in two different locations was crazy. Jeff would definitely be proud to hear that story. But the next thing Alina knew Drake was waking her up. ¡°Huh¡­. What is it babe?¡± She asked groggy and still half asleep. ¡°Wow, so even you can be groggy.¡± Drake pointed out. Alina looked around and realized she wasn¡¯t sitting against the tree at the base. ¡°Where are we?¡± She asked now alarmed and awake. ¡°At the meet up point.¡± Drake answered. ¡°Huh? How?!¡± Alina asked confused. ¡°Well I saw you sleeping against the tree and decided not to wake you up until I absolutely had to. I made it here with about an hour left to spare, met up with the other group, who are those dumbasses we ran into earlier. You know the fox tails? Anyway I rested a bit as well and now I¡¯m waking you up to get ready. The other guys just got into contact with Derek and they will be dropping the shells in five.¡± Drake explained. He then turned around and pointed to his back, where he was holding Alina¡¯s pistols. Still confused she reached for them and checked if he had loaded them as well. But he didn¡¯t, which is for the best if he was running through a forest at full speed. Then Drake lifted his Demos eye off of its magnets to reveal Alina¡¯s holster for her pistols. Finally Drake pulled out four magazines for Alina¡¯s guns. ¡°Sorry I could only find those.¡± He apologized. ¡°Huh? No it¡¯s no big deal. Thanks.¡± She replied still trying to comprehend everything. Drake turned back around and looked at her. ¡°You ready?¡± He asked her. ¡°Yep.¡± She replied as she loaded her first gun. ¡°Great!¡± Drake said excited as he checked his pistols as well. After a final check the two got into position. From that location they could see the wall that surrounded the base. They also saw several guards stationed on the wall and around the perimeter. ¡°Take cover.¡± Drake advised. So the four of them, Drake, Alina, and the other Fox Tails, hid behind thick trees. Then Alina heard it, the whistling of falling mortar shells. She smiled from the excitement and looked at Drake who is also grinning from ear to ear. Finally the explosions ripped through the base. Screams of pain echoed as bodies are torn apart, and body parts flying through the air. An arm landed next to Alina and she couldn¡¯t hold it in any longer. But Drake beat her to the punch and started laughing maniacally. ¡°Yyyeeessss! Those musical screams!¡± Drake yelled with elation. Drake yelled that as Alina reached down for the arm as another explosion ripped through the base. She picked up the arm and looked at it and then she looked at Drake. A skull had smashed into the tree by him, ricochets and landed next to him, Drake was looking at the mangled and disfigured scull with demented eyes. Still grinning from ear to ear and laughing a maniacal but satisfied laugh. Seeing that, Alina couldn¡¯t help but smile as well. Then the urge hit her, and she looked down at the arm she was holding, parts are badly burnt, but as a whole, it was still in good shape. The third explosion ripped through the base and Alina couldn¡¯t hold it any longer. She lifted up the arm and drank the blood as it came out. While she was drinking the fourth, fifth, and sixth explosions ripped through the base. ¡°Four more!¡± Drake yelled excited He looked over to Alina who had blood all over her face, but she was smiling. ¡°Man that girl is insane!¡± One of the Fox Tails said. Drake was able to hear them with his good hearing and shot them a dirty look that they failed to notice. ¡°Right! Dri-¡± The other one started. Then his eyes rolled into the back and half his head slid off. When the first Fox Tail looked he saw Drakes Demon Heart embedded into the tree they are hiding behind. Then he felt Drake Grab his throat and lift him up. As he struggled against Drake who had cold unfeeling eyes, yet a dark grin, he knew Drake was about to kill him. Drake didn¡¯t wait either, as soon as he had lifted the Fox Tail, Drake punched through his chest, grabbed the heart of the Fox Tail and ripped it out. Alina had witnessed the whole thing and as she watched the Fox tail go limp in Drakes grip, she couldn¡¯t help but smile some more. She knew deep down that Drake was protecting her again. Then she heard the final explosion of the tenth shell and signaled to Drake who grabbed his sword, sheathed it and signaled to Alina. They heard the main army attacking from a different location so both of them turned around and charged the base. Slaughter the Enemy The entrance was lifeless; Bodies, craters and debris littered everywhere for the next thousand feet. None the less they continued their charge and ran into their first enemy. It was a six gold ridge and he was mortally injured. He was missing his left arm and most of his left half was horribly burnt with skin melting off. The left half of his lower jaw was missing and he had pieces of debris lodged into his body. Alina, taking advantage of a weakened opponent, took one of her Katars and jammed it up through his jaw and out the top of his skull. Then quickly pulled it out as the Six Ridge collapsed and she ran on. The two could hear the main army starting to open fire to their left and in front of them Drake heard the sound of heavy machinery starting up. ¡°That Giant Robot thing is starting up.¡± Drake warned Alina. ¡°Just how good is his hearing? That machine is a few miles away.¡± Alina thought to herself. ¡°Shall we stop it before they can get it fully functional?¡± She asked rhetorically. Drake smiled and they headed off. Outside of killing all who stand in their way, they have no other objectives or rules. They knew others would be there and they would be powerful. So that¡¯s the direction they headed. Just a few seconds of running and they started to see parts of the base not hit by mortar shells or debris. Derek had sent more than just ten, but only ten were sent to the southern entrance that Drake and Alina entered. Almost instantly they ran into a group of normal humans ready to fight. Both Drake and Alina had the same idea and they pulled out their two pistols to quickly take care of the group. As soon as the humans noticed them, the two jumped into the air to break visual contact. They both fired a shot from each of their guns and hit all four of their targets in the head, dropping them instantly. Just before they landed, Drake holstered the pistol in his right hand, and drew his Demons Heart blade. He landed on top of the fifth human and stabbed through him as they crashed to the floor. He rolled off, picking up his sword with his tail along the way. Drake quickly fired off five more shots dropping all five targets as Alina crashed down on a different human and shoved her gun in his mouth. With a demonic grin on her face she pulled the trigger and blew his brains out. She quickly stood up and fired five shots from each gun. As each shot fired she quickly acquired a different target using her new eyesight. As she moved her arms all around her body she even hit targets behind her. She killed all but one target that ended up getting hit in the leg. With the entire group of sixteen eliminated in just a few seconds, the two reloaded their guns. Drake only needed to reload one since he only fired just one shot out of the other gun. They got ready to continue on when they heard moaning from behind them. They looked back to see the one who survived. Excited, they looked at each other and smiled and headed over to their next victim. He was trying to escape, but made too much noise in the process. Looking back, he saw Drake and Alina slowly approaching him. He panicked and tried to grab his gun, however, Drake stepped on his hand and crushed it. As the poor guy yelled out in pain, Drake let out a maniacal laugh. While he laughed Alina kicked him in the side and the sound of breaking bones could be heard. The force of her kick had broken his rib cage and impaled his lungs. He coughed up some blood from the impact and was falling into shock. ¡°Hun, let¡¯s get some info out of him.¡± Alina suggested. Drake looked at the poor soldier. He had since stopped laughing but now donned a twisted grin, eyes narrowed with insanity. ¡°Okay.¡± He said as he squatted down next to the soldier. ¡°What¡¯s that giant robot, and how can we stop it?¡± Drake asked methodically. The soldier was too far into shock to be able to answer. Drake dropped his head after a few seconds of no response. ¡°Good. I like that.¡± Drake said quietly. Drake located the gunshot wound and jammed his thumb into it. The soldier let out a yell in pain. ¡°I¡¯ll only make it worse for you if you don¡¯t talk.¡± Drake promised. ¡°I¡­. I don¡¯t¡­ know.¡± The soldier managed to muster out. ¡°Well, ain¡¯t that just a shame.¡± Drake said with his demonic grin. Next Drake grabbed the upper arm with both hands and snapped it in half. The guy was now screaming in pain, which only served to make Drakes smile grow even more. Now that Alina knew they wouldn¡¯t get the info they wanted, she wanted to get going and cleared her throat to get Drakes attention. She gave him an inpatient look that said she wanted to go. Drake sighed, pulled out his gun, shoved it down the soldier''s throat and pulled the trigger; finishing the poor guy off. After he stood up, they continued to where they had last seen the machine, the rest of the way was strangely quiet. They figured it was because the main army and other GenOpS were causing some chaos and drawing their attention while they were just a two man army. After a few more minutes of running, they got close enough to the robot to make visual. And Alina then understood how Drake could hear that thing from several miles away with all the other noise. It was loud, very loud. And the RidgeBacks had managed to get it to sit up now. When they looked, they saw someone inside of it, controlling it from inside. Now it made sense to the two, they couldn¡¯t figure out how they would operate such a complex machine, but now they understood. None the less, they had to stop it before it was fully activated. Alina turned to look at Drake, but he was busy running plans and calculations through his head. Sure the easiest way would be to kill the operator, but as soon as he saw them coming he would close the cockpit; leaving no way to get to him. And if the robot fully activated, Drake had no idea what it would be capable of. However, with all the RidgeBacks surrounding the machine, some of which have three or more Gold Ridges, he knew beating them all would be impossible. So as a last ditch effort he called up Derek. ¡°Yes?¡± Derek answered. ¡°Can you drop a few mortar shells a quarter click north of my location?¡± Drake asked. ¡°What for?¡± Derek wanted to know. ¡°We are at the location of the robot, but it is surrounded by too many GenOpS. We can¡¯t take them on alone.¡± Drake answered. ¡°What about the other two?¡± Derek asked. ¡°We got split up.¡± Drake lied. ¡°I see. Ok I¡¯ll send them out in thirty seconds. What are your coordinates?¡± Derek asked. Drake snapped his fingers for the map. When Alina handed it to him he opened it up and looked it over. ¡°Sector Zulu point nine five five.¡± Drake answered. ¡°Rodger. Sending shells¡± Derek responded and hung up. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Forty-five seconds later, Drake heard the whistling of the shells and watched as they blew up right on point. After the dust settled and much to Drake and Alina¡¯s shock they saw the machine was unscathed. Everyone else around them had been killed by the mortar fire but the robot was fine. Worse is that the cockpit had been closed and the robot was starting to stand up. ¡°We got to eliminate it now!¡± Drake commanded and took off. Alina was left behind wondering what he had planned and how they would take on something so huge. Still though, she trusted and ran after him. Along the way five lower GenOpS and twenty humans came out to try and stop the two from charging in. The first GenOpS threw a punch at Drake hoping that the force of the punch plus Drakes momentum would stop Drake. But Drake saw it coming from a mile away and blocked it with his right hand. He then quickly spun his hand around to grab the GenOpS wrist. As soon as he had a hold of it, Drake used his left palm to break the elbow. Not stopping there, he bent the arm all the way back until the GenOpS hand was touching the back of his shoulder and then Drake flipped him on to the floor. After landing with a thud, Drake quickly stomped on his head, crushing it under foot. The two seconds it took for Drake to take out the GenOpS was all that Alina needed to catch up. Once she did, she quickly drew her Katars and got into the squabble. She was amazed at how slow they were moving as she stabbed one of the GenOpS in the stomach and opened her Katar, cutting him in half. She quickly wrapped her tail around the throat of a human coming up from behind her and slammed him into the ground hard enough to break his neck. Seeing that three more humans were coming up from behind her, she threw her Katar at one of them, impaling him in the chest and throwing him back a few feet. Then she shot shot the other two in the head, killing them instantly. The couple wanted to end this quickly so they could get to the robot as quickly as possible, but they still had three more GenOpS and fifteen humans left. So Drake activated his eyes to finish things as quickly as possible. Since the group''s strongest is only a Six Ridge, he figured none would know aura manipulation; and he was correct. None did know aura manipulation, so when the Six Ridge came in after Drake, he ducked out of the way, drew his Demons Heart and cut him in half. From there he jumped into a group of five humans, and using his tail tripped one up. After he landed with a thud, Drake stomped on his chest caving it in forcing a spray of blood and liquified guts out of every opening. From there, Drake used his martial arts to kill the remaining four as quickly and efficiently as possible. The first one charged in and went for a leg tackle, in hopes of dragging Drake down. However, he couldn¡¯t even grab Drakes leg; Drake kneed him in the face with more force than he normally uses and blew the soldier''s head off. As Drake finished, three more charged him and one from behind, one from his right and one from his left. Making a few adjustments his body position so all three would reach him at the same time, Drake got ready. When they got close enough, Drake ducked low and dished out two shots to the gut to the ones on his left and right. As they were sent flying away, the third one was tripping over Drake, who pushed him up with his tail. Now as Drake stood up he raised his left elbow and connected to the chin. The blow forced the GenOpS into the air to which Drake responded by grabbing his head with his right and and smashing it into the ground. With all his GenOpS dead, Drake only had eight more humans to deal with, but they were running out of time. With a quick glimpse he saw that the robot was starting to stand. It was moving slowly, but it was moving. When he looked back at the humans, they were starting to scatter and run away. The only way he would be able to kill them all was by shooting them as they ran. So he drew his two pistols and opened fire; killing his last seven with head shots. At the same time Alina was also in the middle of a fight. She was taking on the last two GenOpS and last ten Humans. To her the fight was simple since she could see everyone it was easy for her to predict who would do what and counter it, even with her fighting as many as she was. While she was fighting she was also keeping an eye on Drake, looking for signs of his exhaustion so they could help each other out if needed. But she realized that the way he fights is a little different. He took some of the moves the Gold Ridge used against him and incorporated it into his own fighting style. Now his flexible, powerful, but simple style had fluidity. He was never rigid, but his old style lacked any fluid motion and relied completely on his powerful body, but now his moves connected and flowed with each other instead of looking forced to mesh. But Alina couldn¡¯t keep her focus on Drake for long and had to get back into her fight. The two GenOpS and three humans had surrounded her while she wasn¡¯t paying attention and began their attack. The first one to reach her was one of the GenOpS and he threw a punch. Alina leaned back just enough to dodge the punch and grabbed his arm. Swinging her body around the captured arm she wrapped her legs around his neck threw him to the ground with a thud. Along the way she used her tail to grab one of the humans and dragged him down as well. After landing Alina quickly broke the GenOpS arm and rolled over onto the human. She bashed him in the head with a full forced punch and crushed his skull. In the meantime another human jumped on her back to which she reached back and threw him to the ground as well. She saw another two coming, So she grabbed the throat of the soldier she had just thrown and used her tail to do a quick handstand as the two tried to tackle her. The weight of Alina all focused on the soldier''s throat caused it to collapse. As she came back down onto the two who had tried to tackle her she drew her Katar with her free hand and stabbed it through the two. Immediately Alina charged for her other Katar she had thrown. Along the way she passed the GenOpS she had broken the arm of and soccer kicked him in the face with enough force to rip his head from his neck and send it flying like a soccer ball that hit one of the soldiers and killed him as well. Once she had her second Katar she sheathed them and drew her pistols and quickly killed the last six humans, leaving the one GenOpS. The GenOpS was shaking in fear of Alina who was covered in the blood of her comrades. Alina, sensing her fear, charged the last standing GenOpS. She got ready for the fight, but when Alina was only a foot away she slid under the GenOpS and broke both of her knees. Collapsing to the ground the GenOpS started screaming in pain. Next Alina grabbed both of the GenOpS¡¯s arms and pulled them back. Putting her foot on the back, she pulled the arms back and then together; breaking both shoulders. Holding the arms with one hand, Alina reached back for a Katar and jammed it through the GenOpS back. The blade exploded out of the chest with a mist of blood and bone fragments. It only took but a minute for the couple to wipe out the group of twenty. But the two were once again out of breath. They knew they couldn¡¯t keep up for much longer, so they needed to hurry up with the robot. When they looked its way, they lost all hope. The robot was now fully stood up and approaching them, luckily it didn¡¯t seem to have any weapons. ¡°You ready for this?¡± Drake asked still trying to catch his breath. ¡°As much as you are.¡± Was her similar reply. Drake just laughed. ¡°Let¡¯s rock.¡± He said and charged in.
Hey Guys, Sorry about all the weird ass posts and double postings. When they updated the site last week it fucked with the thread. It caused a solid brick of words and wouldn''t allow me to space them, then started adding source code to the thread... it was nuts. Anyway, I should have it all fixed up now and everything should be good to go. On a second note So I have a small favor to ask of you... Since I don''t know how to create a poll with the new website I''ll just ask you to leave a comment. I wanna know what character is your favorite. Or if you feel no connection to the characters, a reason would be helpful so I can develop them into characters you feel something towards... Love or hate them I wanna know. It would be truly helpful for me to develop the characters if i have an idea of how you guys are feeling towards them. Yes I am very aware that my characters are crazy and mentally broken with a moral compass that points south. They can even be called villainous or evil, but everyone has a favorite villain. So some feedback would be much appreciated guys. I promise to use the information to help develop the characters in future chapters The Twin Demon Tails: Momo and Solomon ************************* Author Note ***************************** So this chapter introduces some of my favorite characters. The two are based off of my two best friends who actually interact the way they will in the story. That being said, they are highly vulgar, crude and twisted but none the less they will at least make you laugh. I know I had a blast writing this chapter hahahahahahaha. Cheers guys, and enjoy xD ********************************************************************* Alina quickly followed and charged in after Drake. As they engaged the robot, they realized it reacted very slowly. They ran behind it and tried to jump up the leg and managed to get half way up before it reacted and kicked them off. But it was very powerful and sent them flying into the hangar doors. Crashing into the doors knocked Alina out and broke several of her bones. Her only saving grace is that she has a stronger than usual body. As for Drake he had the wind knocked out of him and he was fading in and out of consciousness. It took another few seconds for the robot to turn around and start walking towards them. After Drake managed to get his breath back he tried to stand and realized his right leg was broken as well as his left arm. He could stand but it hurt like hell. He looked at Alina and saw that she was unconscious. Knowing he had to protect her gave him the drive to lead the robot away from her, even at the cost of his own life. Fighting through the pain he picked up Alina and dragged her inside the hanger. He then walked outside and darted away from Alina hoping to draw the robot''s attention. After running for a few hundred feet he turned around to see if he was being followed. But his vision started to blur and he couldn¡¯t tell if it was following him or not; then everything went black. The next thing Drake realized is that the robot had grabbed him and was crushing him as it lifted him up, swords and all. He could feel his swords cutting into him as the robot squeezed harder and harder. As his bones started to break from the force, all Drake could do was moan in pain, and soon he couldn¡¯t even breathe anymore. Finally the robot threw him back at the hanger. ¡°Fuck, he threw me back to Alina!¡± Drake thought as he was flying through the air. ¡°I¡¯m going to die for nothing!!¡± He thought angrily. Alina regained consciousness and looked around to realize Drake was missing. No sooner did she realize that, he came crashing through the wall and landed next to her with a completely mangled body. Drake woke up in a completely white room, no doors, no windows, nothing. When he sat up he saw someone standing there, just looking at him. But this person looked exactly like him, only he had red scales with black markings on him, and his eyes were two different colors. One was navy blue and the other was gold. ¡°Who¡­¡± Drake started. ¡°Don¡¯t speak without permission.¡± He commanded. ¡°You fucked up and died. So it¡¯s my turn. Now go play with the white rabbit while I take care of everything.¡± He finished and disappeared. Drake was just left speechless. The way he spoke sent chills down Drakes spine and he could do nothing but stare. And now he was all alone in the white room until he saw a white rabbit hop in front of him. ¡°Drake!!!¡± Alina shouted as she shook Drake. Unable to accept that he had died, she was desperate. But then he opened his eyes and took a deep breath. He looked at his mangled body and his limbs started popping and cracking back into proper form. The sound and sight made Alina sick to her stomach until she actually threw up. ¡°It¡¯s here.¡± He said after he finished setting all his bones. His voice sent chills down Alinas spine. Who was this person? It sure as hell wasn¡¯t Drake. The next thing she realized the robot had crashed through the hanger and swung down at Drake. All Alina could do was scream and wait for impact; but it never came. Alina looked up and this Drake was holding the robot''s arm in place. He had just reached out with his right hand and stopped the robots punch. ¡°Good, he can at least do this much.¡± He said and reached out his left arm. Drakes Demons Eye then flew to his hand. As he caught it, he threw it at the robot''s chest; just above the cockpit. The impact sent the robot flying back, but he was still holding on to the robot''s arm that had been ripped off. This Drake then threw the arm to the side and walked over to the robot; completely calm and collected. He jumped in the air as Drakes Demon Heart flew into his right hand. When he landed, he stabbed the sword through the other shoulder and cut the arm off. Slowly he got off and walked to the feet of the robot; where he grabbed one of them and swung it overhead. When it slammed to the floor Drake ripped the leg off, then grabbed the other and ripped it off as well. Finally he kicked the torso, the only part of the robot left, to flip it over so the cockpit was now facing up. Drake jumped up to the cockpit and ripped it open. ¡°NNNNOOOOOO¡± The pilot screamed as Drake punched through his chest and lifted him out. To end it all, Drake then punched his other arm into the pilot''s¡¯ chest and in a spray of blood ripped the pilot in half as he laughed maniacally. He turned to Alina and walked over calmly to her. She however, was shaking in fear. She has no idea who this person is. It definitely isn¡¯t Drake, but it is still his body. Then she saw his eyes; now one was a dark navy blue and the other was gold, but he still had his slit pupils. ¡°I will only speak to you because this body and mind hold a great affection for you. So be proud that I am even taking the time to explain things to you.¡± Drake started. ¡°When Drake comes back, tell him to search for his energy. Part of the genes he has in him made him part Creator, and a clone of one residing on this earth. That is who I am. Once you find him he can teach Drake to control his power that resides within.¡± Drake explained. With that Drake passed out and face-planted to the concrete. ¡°Drake!?¡± Alina shouted alarmed. She ran over to check on him and was relieved to see that he was just unconscious, but otherwise fine. Whoever took over Drake had completely healed his body. Back in the white room Drake was trying to catch the white rabbit but it was proving allusive. Just when he thought he had it, the rabbit jumped down a rabbit hole that just appeared. But Drake wanted to get that stupid rabbit and was about to reach into grab it. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t recommend that.¡± The other Drake said coldly. Drake jumped up not expecting anyone to be there with him. Not really sure what to do or say he just stared at him. ¡°I permit you to speak.¡± The other Drake said while rolling his eyes. ¡°Who are you?¡± Drake asked. ¡°I¡¯m part of you. Your hidden power you can say.¡± He answered. ¡°Ok¡­ So what happened?¡± Drake now asked. ¡°Irrelevant. You died, I saved us and took care of everything.¡± He answered back. ¡°How is it irrelevant?¡± Drake questioned annoyed. ¡°Again, irrelevant. Now it¡¯s time for you to wake up.¡± He replied. Drake then woke back up resting on the ground. He took in a deep breath and jolted upright. After a few seconds he took a look around and realized he was back in the hanger. Then it all came back to him; the memories of him being crushed and thrown by the robot. Urgently he looked around for the robot. What he found was the debris from the robot and the torn up body of the pilot. But what he didn¡¯t see was Alina. In a panic he started to look for her, make sure that she had survived. He found her standing at the hangar doors, bloody and tattered with a group of dead bodies around her. Then he noticed a group of ten GenOps surrounding the two of them. He tried to stand up to help her but was too physically exhausted to do so. ¡°ALINA!¡± He yelled at her. She quickly turned around to see that Drake was now conscious and she ran towards him. As soon as she did that, the GenOpS attacked. The two embraced and closed their eyes, expecting to be killed together. However, after a few seconds they heard the sound of fighting and bodies hitting the floor. When they opened their eyes they saw two twin Demon Tails standing in front of them and the ten GenOpS dead on the floor. The first was medium height female around five feet six inches and had the same build as Alina. She had medium long black hair that ran to the middle of her back and had red highlights throughout. Her skin had a light tan color and she rocked black painted nails. A solid gloss black medieval long sword was held in her right hand and two pistols on her lower back; one ebony and one ivory in color. Her tails were solid red and fleshy with spines sticking out the length of the tail and a bone spike at the end. The other was a large male, around the same height as Drake, but very muscular. His hair was short and faded on the sides. He had a thin goatee but was otherwise clean shaved. Unlike the female, he had a light skin tone, but completely covered in scars. On his back he carried two lever action rifles but didn¡¯t seem to have any melee weapons on him. Both of his tails looked exactly like the females tails. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Drake and Alina just looked on in confusion. They couldn¡¯t grasp what had just happened or who these other GenOpS were. They knew they are on the same team, but other than that they had no idea. Before Drake or Alina could utter a word the muscular one started chuckling. ¡°Well that wasn¡¯t much of a challenge at all.¡± He said arrogantly. ¡°Right! You would think that ten versus two would pose some form of a challenge.¡± The female replied. ¡°Should we move on then?¡± The male asked. The female shrugged. ¡°I guess so. We gata find that damned F.E.A.R.¡± She replied. ¡°Uuummm is it just me or do you feel someone staring at us?¡± The guy asked. The female then turned around to see Drake and Alina looking on in total confusion. Then she saw the destruction behind them; the dismantled robot and the torn up body of the pilot. ¡°Aaawww fuck we missed fighting the F.E.A.R.¡± The girl pouted. ¡°Who did all that? No way two single Fox Tails could do that.¡± The male asked. Alina, at a loss of words, just simply pointed to Drake. Drake then saw that she was pointing to him and grew even more confused. This must be what the other Drake was talking about when he said he took care of it. ¡°Oh really? Then you can explain on the way back to base. We are done here now that that thing is destroyed.¡± The female mused. ¡°Can you two even stand? You look exhausted.¡± The male pointed out. They both shook their heads. They barely had the energy to remain conscious, let alone get up and walk the twenty miles back to base. ¡°Well fuck. Guess we gata carry your asses then.¡± The female said sarcastically. ¡°My swords¡­¡± Drake managed to mutter. ¡°What about¡­¡± The female said as she reached for one. ¡°Gggaaa fuck! Why the fuck they so heavy?! The hell you even use ¡®em?¡± The female question vigorously. Drake just shrugged. He didn¡¯t really know either. All he knew is that he could. ¡°Hey babe. Catch!¡± She said as she struggled to toss Drakes Demons Heart to him. The sword slammed into him with a thud and knocked him to the ground. ¡°The fuck your problem?! The fuck these made of? THE FUCK??!!¡± the male complained angrily. ¡°Grow some fuckin¡¯ balls, pick it up and help me carry these two!¡± She yelled back at him. ¡°Bitch!¡± He grumbled. ¡°What was that?!¡± She asked annoyed. ¡°I called you a fuckin¡¯ bitch you dumb ass cunt!¡± He yelled back. In response the female picked up the Demons Eye and threw it with even more force at him. Again it slammed into him with a thud and threw him several feet back and into the wall of the hanger while the female started to crack up hysterically. Drake hated the fact that she was throwing his swords around, but he didn¡¯t have the energy to protest. ¡°Ok¡­ Cuz this one¡¯s even heavier!¡± The male complained again. ¡°Great! You get to carry both while I carry them two.¡± She commanded. The entire time Drake and Alina were cracking up at the way these two interacted with each other. ¡°Enough! Let¡¯s go.¡± The female instructed. She walked over to Drake and Alina and reached her arms out to help them stand up. As soon as they got up she wrapped her arms around their waists and lifted them up onto her shoulders. When she turned around, she couldn¡¯t help but notice how funny it was to watch her man struggle to carry the two swords. ¡°Don¡¯t slow me down fatass.¡± She retorted sarcastically. ¡°I¡¯m not the one with a fat ass.¡± He quipped. She gave him an evil death stare. ¡°I swear when we get back to base¡­¡± She started. ¡°You¡¯re gonna do what?!¡± He questioned her. ¡°Fuck your brains out!¡± She said with a dirty smile. That shut him right up. But deep down, he couldn¡¯t wait to get back to base. Drake and Alina couldn¡¯t help but look at each other and smile. That smile then turned to laughter as they couldn¡¯t contain themselves after watching these two odd balls go back and forth. ¡°So who are you guys anyway?¡± The Male asked as they walked out of the hanger. ¡°I¡¯m Alina and that is Drake.¡± Alina replied. ¡°Who are you two?¡± Drake asked bluntly. ¡°Well this big oaf is my husband Solomon. Just call him Solly or Stupid. He responds to both.¡± The female said. ¡°And this annoying broad is my wife Momo. You can also moo like a cow and she will respond.¡± Solly responded. Momo stopped in front of Solomon and turned around. She paused for a second to confuse Solly and then quickly and viciously kicked him in the balls. Solly was sent into the air from the force, but the weight of the swords prevented him from flying as high as he normally does. He landed with a loud thud and groaned in pain. ¡°This is why we don¡¯t have kids you dumb bitch!¡± He managed to mumble through the pain. Momo, who had started walking away already, stopped and shot Solly a stink eye. ¡°Or maybe it¡¯s because you have a small dick and can¡¯t finish the fucking job!¡± She retorted and stormed off. Solly slowly got up and followed while grumbling under his breath. Despite the way they talk to each other, Momo slowed down so Solomon could keep up. After a few minutes of awkward silence Drake couldn¡¯t handle it anymore. ¡°How are you two married?¡± He asked bluntly. ¡°For the tax refund.¡± Solly answered mockingly. ¡°Shut up. You know it¡¯s cuz of this sexy ass bod.¡± Momo responded in turn. ¡°Nnaaa it¡¯s all about those late night anal trips!¡± Solly retorted holding in a laugh. ¡°Nnnaa bitch, it¡¯s all about the cream pies!¡± Momo responded now laughing hysterically. ¡°Ssssoooo¡­?¡± Drake asked. ¡°Cuz we love each other ya dumb fuck!¡± Solly answered annoyed. ¡°Strange way of showing it.¡± Alina responded. ¡°We know.¡± The two said in unison. ¡°So what¡¯s your story?¡± Momo asked. ¡°Us?¡± Drake asked. ¡°Nnaa I¡¯m asking the fucking tree we just walked past! Yes you two!¡± Momo replied. ¡°She means who¡¯s fucking who.¡± Solly simplified. Drake and Alina just blushed. ¡°We haven¡¯t gotten to that yet.¡± Drake replied. ¡°Yet?!¡± Alina questioned. ¡°Ooohh shots fired!¡± Solly laughed. ¡°We just started dating yesterday, and you are already thinking about that?!¡± Alina yelled. ¡°Damn, you fucked up bro.¡± Momo said now laughing as well. ¡°Not like you didn¡¯t attack me just a few hours ago when I had the bear blood on my face!¡± Drake said with a matter of fact tone. ¡°Ooh¡­ Kinky.¡± Momo started. ¡°So why don¡¯t you ever have any bear blood on your face mister.¡± Momo scolded Solly. Solly couldn¡¯t help himself and started cracking up. But Drake and Alina weren¡¯t paying any attention to them. ¡°That¡¯s different!¡± Alina yelled back. ¡°Not really. You started it, you attacked me. I was just minding my own business eating the bear and BAM!¡± Drake started, enjoying working Alina up. ¡°Don¡¯t act like you didn¡¯t like it!¡± Alina countered. ¡°These two are almost as bad as us.¡± Solly whispered to Momo. ¡°Right!¡± Momo whispered back. ¡°Not the point. You got mad at me for saying we haven¡¯t gotten to having sex yet. But you are the only one to even instigate it; you a horny bitch.¡± Drake replied, knowing it would work up Alina. Alina had nothing to say. So instead she just punched Drake so hard he flew off Momos shoulder and landed with a thud. ¡°Oh snap!¡± Solly said in shock. ¡°That¡¯s what you get. NEVER call a woman a bitch¡­ Even if she is horny.¡± Momo laughed. ¡°Quite the comedy routine you guys have.¡± A voice came from the shadows. The group turned to where the voice came from as a female Ruby Ridge Back walked out from behind a demolished bunker. ¡°I thought I felt someone following us.¡± Solly said. But Drake was confused. ¡°I killed you. How are you alive?¡± Drake asked bewildered. ¡°What¡¯da mean?¡± The female asked. ¡°When you guys invaded us. We fought.¡± Drake stated. Drake was starting to lose his touch with reality though. Between his exhaustion and the fight with the F.E.A.R, his mind couldn¡¯t grasp onto reality. ¡°What? We never fought. I wasn¡¯t part of the invasion¡­¡± She started. ¡°Wait¡­ What happened to my sister you prick!¡± She exclaimed angrily. ¡°What do you mean ¡®your¡¯ sister?¡± Alina questioned. ¡°My twin sister. Looks just like me except she only has one gold ridge.¡± She answered. ¡°Ooohhh that bitch. I took real good care of her. Total pain in my ass though.¡± Drake said with his sadistic grin. ¡°So what was her name again?¡± Drake asked rhetorically. ¡°Her name was Lanfen. And I¡¯m Yuming. Best you remember the name of the one who will kill you.¡± She yelled on the verge of tears. ¡°Bahahahaha try me bitch!¡± Drake yelled back. Fight to the Death: Round 2 Alina knew that Drake was in no condition to fight. She wasn¡¯t even sure he would be able to stand up properly. Much to her surprise he stood up, though he was unstable. After he regained his balance he then reached back, signaling for Alina to give him his swords. So she went to Solly and grabbed the swords to give to Drake. ¡®Maybe he might be able to fight after all¡¯ Alina thought to herself. Then she handed him the Demons Heart and he dropped it almost instantly. ¡®Or not¡­¡¯ She thought. ¡°You sure you are ok?¡± She asked concerned. ¡°Fine. I started the fight¡­ I¡¯ll finish it.¡± Drake answered coldly. Drake then reached down for his sword and managed to hold on to it without dropping it. He then extended his left hand for his Demons Eye. Alina was hesitant to give it to him, but she reluctantly handed it over. Once he grabbed it she could tell he was struggling just to hold it and keep it up. ¡°You done yet? I¡¯m getting bored!¡± Yuming yelled. ¡°Hahahaha thanks for waiting but I¡¯m ready now.¡± Drake replied. Yuming looked at him and began to laugh. Just by looking at him she could tell this would be an easy fight. He could barely stand; how he could possibly do any more than that was beyond her. But she didn¡¯t care; either way he was dead. Once Drake made eye contact with Yuming she dashed in. Not even feeling the need to draw her weapons she grabbed Drake by the throat and lift him up; when she couldn''t lift him off the ground she opted to crushing his windpipe. "The hell! Why is he so heavy?!" Yuming thought to herself. Solly and Momo both looked at each other, ready to jump in to help him but paused when they felt a dreadful and menacing aura. That same feeling caused Yuming to let go of Drake and take a few steps back out of instinct. Yuming looked to see where the aura was coming from but didn¡¯t get the chance. She had to quickly draw her twin daggers to block Alina¡¯s attack. Alina had charged in with her Katars drawn and aimed for Yuming¡¯s throat and heart. Yuming skillfully blocked both and took yet a few more steps back to get out of Alina¡¯s range. It wasn¡¯t good enough and Alina was right on top of her before she could react. Alina once again aimed for Yuming¡¯s throat and heart but this time she pulled the trigger on the Katar aimed for the throat. Yuming wasn¡¯t expecting that, but she needed to stop the attack. She once again blocked the blows which is exactly what Alina wanted. As soon as Yuming¡¯s dagger was in between her blades, she pulled the trigger again to close it, snapping the dagger in half. Yuming didn¡¯t even think twice about disposing of the blade, but she still had to stop the Katar that was aimed at her throat. So she quickly pushed the Katar up causing Alina to miss. That didn¡¯t stop Alina who knew Yuming would try and jump back again. With that in mind she grabbed her left leg with her tail. At the same time Alina went to swing out her blocked Katar to free it and rotated the one that got pushed up so that the blades became vertical. She then pulled the trigger again to release the blades. However, Yuming saw through it all. Instead of taking a jump back, she simply ducked out of the way and quickly released the second dagger so her hand wouldn¡¯t get cut up. While crouched down she delivered a palm strike to Alina¡¯s stomach causing her to hunch over in pain. Before Alina could change her posture, Yuming rose up to knee Alina in the jaw; however, Alina saw the knee coming and before Yuming could fully connect Alina leaned farther forward and stopped the knee with her forehead. She knew the hit would hurt, but it would hurt Yuming even more. After the hit, Alina just started laughing. She was enjoying this; now she knew why Drake loved this feeling so much. The rush she felt fighting someone ''above'' her level, knowing full well that one mistake could be the last. Quickly Alina pulled Yuming¡¯s leg with her tail and tackled her to the ground. From there Alina tried to stab Yuming, but Yuming hit the blade away. To Yuming¡¯s surprise, Alina intentionally let go of her Katar before Yuming could hit it and grabbed it with her tail. From there Alina went to stab with both of her Katars and punch with her now free hand. Knowing that Yuming would only be able to stop two of them and that she would stop the two Katars to avoid a fatal blow; which is exactly what Yuming did. Then she got rocked by Alina¡¯s punch and she hit a lot harder than Yuming was expecting. The force of the blow contorted her face and slammed it into the ground. But she knew she couldn¡¯t keep her eyes off of Alina. She is far more dangerous than she leads to be; she is not only able to keep up with Yumings speed, but is actually faster and physically stronger. So what part of her is only one Fox Tail? Then she looked into Alina¡¯s eyes and they had changed; both in looks and the emotion they gave off. Now both eyes gave of a cold, dark, murderous intent and they had formed three black rings in the iris of her eyes. Then it happened; Alina smiled an evil, twisted grin and let go of her Katars all together. She then rocked Yuming again with another punch even more powerful than the last. Over and over again she unloaded on Yuming, each hit sending waves of pain through her whole body and knocking her senseless. Finally Alina got careless and left her torso open as she swung up to unleash the most powerful punch yet. Yuming quickly took advantage of the opening and grabbed Alina¡¯s tank top to pull her in. As she did she used her other hand, put it on Alina¡¯s stomach and flipped her off. Thinking quickly, Alina managed to flip around and land on her feet, but her back was facing Yuming, who quickly jumped on to try and put Alina into a choke hold. That plan was quickly thwarted as Alina reached back and pulled Yuming up onto her shoulder, then shoulder dived to the ground landing on Yuming¡¯s sternum. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. When they landed, Alina felt the sternum crack and give a little as Yuming groaned in pain. Now Alina knew she had to target the sternum and try to get it to break and end the fight quickly. She put up a good start, but she was getting tired very quickly and needed to end the fight. At the same time though, a part of her wanted to drag out the fight. She was enjoying it and wanted to savor every precious second of the thrill. However, both of them noticed the other one was out of breath. Alina¡¯s previous exhaustionwas taking effect and the damage that Alina did to Yuming started kicking in as well; leaving both trying to catch their breath. But Yuming wasn¡¯t going to allow it. Realizing that Alina was taking a second to recover, Yuming pulled her into a triangle choke. When Alina moved to counter it, Yuming instantly rolled out and transitioned to an omaplata. The sudden transition took Alina by surprise, but it was a tactic she used against Drake in the past. So like Drake in the past, she resisted on just her brute power alone. Straining every muscle she could, Alina pushed back against Yuming. Knowing she isn¡¯t as strong as Drake she needed to do something else or her shoulder and arm would break. Quickly she grabbed Yuming with her tail and pulled her back, slamming her into the ground. Alina tried to tighten her tail around Yuming¡¯s throat however, Yuming had already pulled the tail off her neck and had stood up. Still holding onto Alina¡¯s tail; Yuming swung her overhead slamming her into the ground. Before Alina could register what had happened Yuming was already on top of her; ready to start pounding away. As Yuming hit Alina she felt as if Yuming¡¯s hits were weak. Then again just about anyone¡¯s hits would be weak compared to Drake''s. None-the-less, those hits were doing damage and Alina needed to stop them fast. Just like how Alina telegraphed her punch earlier, Yuming made the same mistake and threw her arm back; more because she was running out of steam and it was hurting to breathe and move. Alina took full advantage of it and did a palm strike right to Yuming¡¯s sternum; sending a wave of sharp pain throughout her body. As Yuming went flying back, Alina grabbed her shirt and pulled her in for a head but right to the bridge of the nose; breaking it and making it that much harder for Yuming to breathe. ¡°She¡¯s doing this on purpose!¡± Yuming thought. ¡°Intentionally restricting my breathing; every attack she has done has been to accomplish that goal!¡± Yuming finished her thought. Yuming was right, Alina was looking to systematically disable her opponent so she could have as much fun with her as she pleased. Though the sternum was a wonderful accident, dealing all that damage to Yuming¡¯s face was for the sole intent of limiting her breathing; thus slowing and weakening her. But with the addition of the cracked sternum, Alina has now achieved her goal and can move on to targeting the joints. However, Alina knew she was short on time and she had to hurry before she was completely exhausted and could no longer fight. It was already difficult just to try and catch her breath, let alone plan and formulate on the fly like she had been. After the two of them stood up from the head but, Alina charged in for the attack. When she saw Yuming put up a guard, she changed her plan. Instead of the running kick she was planning she now ducked in low and rose up to hit Yuming¡¯s sternum again. She felt it crack more under the force and smiled. She knew it was close to completely collapsing. As Yuming rose up in the air from the blow, Alina grabbed the back of her head, pulled it in and smashed it with her knee. Yuming flipped back from the impact and landed hard on the back of her neck, briefly knocking Yuming out. Next thing Yuming realized was Alina standing over her with her foot on her chest. ¡°You know¡­ You can¡¯t save this place. And you can¡¯t stay the same.¡± Alina mumbled with a murderous smile. Alina thought about breaking joints to enjoy the anguish, but she didn¡¯t want to risk Yuming fighting back anymore. So her best plan was to finish off the sternum and end the fight. With that in mind, Alina lifted her foot up and stomped down on Yumings chest. The impact completely broke the sternum and caved the rib cage into the lungs. Yuming coughed up blood, and her breathing became very labored. Each breath more difficult than the last. But she had some final words to say before she died. ¡°I can¡­ see how¡­ my¡­ sister¡­ would lose¡­ to you¡­¡± She started between labored breaths. ¡°But not¡­ to that¡­ worthless¡­ piece of¡­ shit¡­¡± She struggled to finish. That set Alina off. Now the one thing she wanted to do was watch her die slowly. But not before she managed to get some final words in as well. ¡°That ¡®piece of shit¡¯ is the one who single-handedly took down your F.E.A.R.¡± Alina started. ¡°He is even faster and stronger than I am, but that fight took everything out of him!¡± Alina said, getting angrier by the second. ¡°A worthless bug like you wouldn¡¯t have stood a chance against him! But you are right about one thing. I am the one who killed your skank of a sister.¡± Alina said with a demonic grin. The whole time Alina was staring at Yuming. The angrier Alina got the clearer the image of Yuming burning became. At the peak of her anger, that image became reality. A glowing light came from every opening in Yuming¡¯s body. Her eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears and cuts all started to glow as she screamed in pain. Soon after her whole body started seizing up and with one final scream her body spontaneously combusted and then quickly turned to ash; leaving nothing behind. Post Fight Problems ¡°The fuck was that?!!?¡± Momo asked Drake in shock. But Drake didn¡¯t know either. He knew that Alina had always been more powerful than him, maybe not physically, but all around she has always been better. She was very calculative and smart, a great fighter, and gave off a terrifying energy when she got angry. But he had never seen anything like that happen before. None-the-less, he really wanted to go check up on her. He was exhausted, and just a little while ago she was even more exhausted than he was. Desperately he tried to get up, but couldn¡¯t do it on his own. Momo, seeing Drake struggle, reached an arm out to help him up. As soon as he stood up however, he was tackled by Alina. After they hit the ground, he realized she was sobbing. He couldn¡¯t understand why; she had just won an epic battle against someone supposedly several times stronger. ¡°What¡¯s wrong love?¡± He asked in a concerned tone. ¡°No¡­thing¡­ I¡­ just¡­ want¡­ed¡­ to¡­ hug¡­ you.¡± She stammered through her crying. Drake thought that was weird. Just a few hours ago she had no problem being separated from him. Now she is crying because she wants to be close to him. After a few minutes Alina was still crying. So Drake lifted her head to give her a kiss, but then he saw her eyes. The iris of her eyes now had three black rings in them, but her pulps had a milky cloud color to it. ¡°Alina?¡± Drake asked worried. ¡°What?¡± She responded. ¡°Can you see?¡± Drake wondered. ¡°No, my eyes are...¡± She started impatiently. Alina had tried to open her eyes mid sentence only to realize they were already open. In a panic she rubbed her eyes, hoping that would work. When it didn¡¯t she started a full on panic. ¡°Drake! I can¡¯t see!!!¡± She said panicking. ¡°Calm down hun. Can¡¯t you still see using your other vision?¡± Drake asked, more curious than concerned. Hearing that, Alina calmed down and focused. He¡¯s right, since she could see things that are outside her field of vision, maybe she could still see that way. After focusing for a second she could still see, but it looked completely different now. Before she only saw the aura or energy, but now everything looked as it would if she was looking at it with her eyes. As for the things behind other objects they now glew with a light blue hue. She also noticed the range had increased a bit; she couldn¡¯t really tell by how much but it was enough for her to notice a difference. ¡°Yah, I can¡­¡± Alina said after calming down a bit. ¡°Good. We will get your eyes looked at when we can. So that will have to do for now.¡± Drake comforted her. ¡®Huh, guess she has more of a sensing vision.¡¯ Drake thought to himself. ¡°Wait¡­ you can¡¯t see now?¡± Solly asked. ¡°I can, but I¡¯m using a different type of vision.¡± Alina answered without looking at him. ¡°Sssoooo what? You see how then?¡± Momo asked. ¡°She can see the energy of living things but she seems to use more of a sense and can ¡®see¡¯ even plants and through buildings.¡± Drake explained. ¡°Not exactly¡­ It¡¯s changed now.¡± Alina said. ¡°Now everything glows with a blueish hue. It doesn¡¯t seem like I see their energy anymore.¡± Alina explained to them. ¡°Huh?!? So you have a special vision?¡± Solly asked. ¡°It will take a while to explain everything, and we really need a break.¡± Drake replied as the adrenaline wore out and the exhaustion started to set back in. ¡°Then you can explain on the way back to base.¡± Momo commanded as she reached her hand out to help Drake up. ¡°Fine.¡± Drake reluctantly agreed as he reached for her hand. Momo tried to pull up Drake again but this time she couldn¡¯t even lift him an inch off the ground. ¡°The hell?! When you become so heavy?!¡± Momo exclaimed in shock. Still struggling to even lift him up, Momo was now using both her hands and all of her strength. None-the-less she still couldn¡¯t get him to stand up. ¡°A little help would be nice!¡± She snapped at Drake. Drake however was now unresponsive. He had a thousand mile stare for a few seconds and then went limp. ¡°Drake!!!¡± Alina yelled without missing a beat. Alina hadn¡¯t been paying attention to Drake''s energy levels; but now that she is focusing on him she noticed he¡¯s the weakest she had ever seen him. ¡°He¡¯s too exhausted. He doesn¡¯t even have enough energy to stay conscious right now!¡± Alina pointed out. ¡°Well that¡¯s just fan-fucking-tastic! But we can¡¯t even pick him up to move him much less get him to base for him to recover.¡± Momo explained. ¡°Then both of you try to drag him into that bunker! We will have to wait this out and hope he recovers quickly.¡± Alina explained while pointing to the bunker that Yuming had walked out from behind. ¡°It will offer enough cover until we can get some backup here to help us out. But for now he has to rest.¡± Alina started to explain. ¡°After we get under cover, I will call Derek and have him send some help once the fighting is over. We probably need to medivac him.¡± Alina finished. ¡°Great plan. That just leaves one thing¡­ WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH HIM?!?!?¡± Solly asked. ¡°I have no fucking idea! He probably just overexerted himself fighting the F.E.A.R. He was already exhausted and drained before then and then he used a power I had never seen before to tear it apart.¡± Alina explained in a slight panic. ¡°Speaking of¡­¡± Momo started. ¡°I¡¯ll explain everything I know. Just get him into some cover!¡± Alina pleaded. Momo and Solly looked at each other and shrugged. They both walked over to the still unconscious Drake and tried to lift him up. Both of them together managed to get him to sit up and from there they lifted him up onto their shoulders and dragged him into the bunker with Alina following behind slowly. Even with her exhaustion she still had the energy to walk, albeit highly unsteady. By the time she had reached the bunker, Solly was already running out to grab Drake''s swords that they had to leave behind. Momo also came out to help Alina navigate through to the end of the bunker. However, Alina was able to see better than Momo once they got to the back and had no light. She noticed that Momo was feeling around to make sure they wouldn¡¯t trip over anything, so Alina decided she would lead and Momo would support her. But it didn¡¯t take long for them to reach Drake. The two sat down next to him, then Alina laid down and rested her head on his chest. She had never really listened to his heart beat so when she rested on his chest she realized it was slow, yet very powerful. Even with his body in the state that it¡¯s in his heart beat was strong. Even after all this time together, she is still learning new things about Drake. She was excited to learn more. ¡°Ok I got both of them.¡± Solly said as he crawled back so he wouldn¡¯t fall with such heavy objects. ¡°Ok we are over here.¡± Momo replied to Solly would know. He let go of the swords and walked over to them. Then he plopped down next to Momo who rested her head on his shoulder. ¡°Now explain.¡± Solly commanded, short on patience. ¡°Fine¡­¡± Alina started. ¡°But even I don¡¯t know much¡± She finished. After a quick breather Alina explained everything; the invasion, their abilities and their fight with the F.E.A.R. What she left out was Drake''s mental state and his eye powers. These two didn¡¯t need to know all that or how he feels. That¡¯s none of their business. The entire time Solly and Momo sat in silence, trying to take everything in. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°Well that¡¯s a lot to take in.¡± Momo said to break the silence. ¡°Yah¡­¡± Solly second. ¡°Sorry, but that is all I know.¡± Alina apologized. ¡°It¡¯s fine. Just a question though.¡± Momo started. ¡°WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO?!¡± Momo yelled. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Alina asked confused. ¡°What I mean is DA FUCK IS WRONG WITH Y¡¯ALL?!?!? The blood drinking, the sadism, and sudden power boosts. Y¡¯all a bunch of fucking crazy ass anime characters!¡± Momo answered. While Momo was questioning Alina a loud and obnoxious laugh could be heard behind them. Momo turned around to see Solly laughing his ass off which pissed her off to the point where she punched him in the balls to shut him up. ¡°As I was saying before fatass interrupted how are you guys able to pull off all that crazy shit that you do? I mean you fucking burned that bitch to ashes without even breaking a sweat. I think Solly actually pissed himself when he saw that.¡± Momo said with a grin. Out of nowhere a loud thud was heard throughout the bunker followed by a deafening groan that made hairs on Alina¡¯s neck to stand up. ¡°What the fuck was that?¡± Alina asked; now on high alert. Alina quickly scanned for anyone approaching their location. To her surprise the only people she saw was Drake, Momo, and Solly. ¡°You son of a bitch! The fuck was that for? I swear Ima beat your ass to hell and back and then do it again.¡± Momo yelled. ¡°I did not piss myself you fucking cunt. And that was for hitting me in the fucking balls you stupid bitch.¡± Solly yelled right back. Confused, Alina asked what happened but was afraid to find out. ¡°This fucker rocked me in the back of the head. I¡¯m seeing stars right now.¡± Momo informed Alina. ¡°Yeah and there¡¯s more where that came from you stupid cow.¡± Solly answered with a sadistic tone. ¡°Oh yeah motherfucker try this on for size.¡± Momo said as he reached for Solly¡¯s crotch area. ¡°Da fuck you think you doing. Get the fuck away from me. Hey stop it. No. No. Noooooooooooooooooooo.¡± Solly screamed at the top of his lungs. But it was too late Momo had already got what she wanted and was not letting go. She continued to squeeze until Solly passed out from the pain and shock. ¡°That¡¯ll keep him quiet for a while.¡± Momo laughed. ¡°What did you do to him?¡± Alina questioned. ¡°Oh something I like to call the good ol¡¯ grab and squeeze torture method I developed to keeps boys in their place.¡± Momo replied with an evil smile on her face. ¡°Alright that¡¯s enough fun for today. You can answer my questions later, but for now get some rest and I¡¯ll try to find a way back to base.¡± Momo told Alina. Momo raised her right hand to her ear and started to talk. ¡°King we need a medivac on my location asap.¡± Momo instructed. Then a few seconds of silence. ¡°Nothing. Just my tried and true torture method.¡± Momo answered. Then Alina could hear King yelling. ¡°He hit me in the back of the head¡­ Anyway it¡¯s not for him. So hurry with the medivac.¡± Momo commanded. Again a few seconds of silence. ¡°Yyyaahhhh no. We need something more along the line of a cargo chopper.¡± Momo answered sarcastically. Alina was getting annoyed only being able to hear one side of the conversation, but kept a lid on it. ¡°Something like that. Just trust me on this.¡± Momo reassured. ¡°Thanks King. I owe ya.¡± Momo finished Momo lowered her hand and quickly turned around to meet Alina¡¯s eyes; but Alina only had a blank stare. Momo had totally forgotten that she is blind and can¡¯t see at the moment. ¡°So good news; King is going to send a medivac chopper to lift his heavy ass out of here.¡± Momo stated. Alina just stared at her waiting for the bad news that never came. ¡°And the bad news?¡± Alina finally asked. ¡°Nothing. No bad news. Why?¡± Momo replied. Alina tried to form the words she wanted to say in a kind way, but she just wasn¡¯t feeling it and she was still annoyed over the whole one sided conversation she heard just a few seconds ago. ¡°Cuz you led me on to fucking believe there was bad news! That¡¯s why!¡± Alina yelled in frustration. ¡°Woah, chill out there shorty.¡± Momo started. ¡°You¡¯re exhausted okay. Chill out and take a nap like a good little girl and everything will be fine.¡± Momo finished sarcastically. That only served to upset Alina even more. But what could she do? She was exhausted and barely had the energy to sit up, much less even trying to stand up. So she gave up for now and laid back down next to Drake who was still breathing heavy; trying to recover as much air as possible. ¡°Something¡¯s not right with him.¡± Alina pointed out in concern. ¡°No matter how strenuous the activity was, he has never taken this long to recover.¡± Alina stated starting to panic. ¡°Relax hun. You said it yourself, he used a power that you have never seen him use before. The fact that he stopped a F.E.A.R dead in its¡¯ tracks and threw it around like a ragdoll is a feat no one on earth can match. That probably took more out of him than I¡¯m sure he had.¡± Momo comforted her. ¡°Very¡­ True¡­¡± Solly started. Momo just looked at him in shock. ¡°You okay there buddy?¡± Alina asked sarcastically without looking at him. Solly simply nodded, knowing full well that she really didn¡¯t care. ¡°I¡­ pride my¡­ self as¡­ being phys¡­ically the strongest. But¡­ what he¡­ did is¡­ well be...yound me.¡± Solly said through labored breaths. ¡°That¡¯s true but still¡­ He is different.¡± Alina said incoherently. Slowly she was succumbing to the exhaustion, but wasn¡¯t fully aware of it herself. ¡°He¡­ He¡¯s¡­. He is different.¡± Alina stammered out. ¡°You ok Alina?¡± Momo asked. ¡°Just really¡­ tired¡­ can¡¯t think¡­¡± Alina said in broken pauses. ¡°Go to sleep. We will take care of everything.¡± Momo said while trying to comfort Solly. But Solly was having none of it. She was the reason he was like this to begin with, at the same time however, he knew it wasn¡¯t a one sided thing and these stunts that they pull on each other actually kept their relationship sane. Eventually he gave in and allowed Momo to cuddle up to him and hold his arm. That was the last thing Alina remembered before she finally passed out. Two Weeks Later ************************************ Authors Note ************************************* Hey Guys, So this chapter is going to be a bit longer than usual. Good for you right ;) Anyway in the previous chapter Apache you pointed out you were confused on some stuff. I know it''s been a crazy past few chapters, and now things will start winding down and some explanations will be hypothesized. With actual conclusions coming in a few chapters. However, I may have also just done a poor job explaining something, So i''ll take this time to answer any questions in hopes of clearing the fog. If it is something that will be explained I will just say so, but I would really like to hear what you guys are thinking. It can only help my writing to know how I''m lacking in some places. On another note, I understand I have been pushing that Alina is the stronger of the two. But if paying close attention, I also put in hints that Drake never uses his full power. Anyway, Alina will be confirming that this chapter. And when Drake did use full power, he destroyed what is essentially a Gundam single handed. (I was picturing the Mk. 1 from the original mobile suit gundam series when I was creating the F.E.A.R) Thats all I got for now, so please let me know what is confusing you and I will try to clear as much of the fog as I can. :) Enjoy, Karma *********************************************************************************** Alina jumped awake in a hospital bed. Looking around she noticed her vision was very milky. Still half asleep it took her a few seconds to remember that she was supposed to be blind, yet now she can see; even if it is extremely blurred vision. Excited she looked around for Drake, but her horrible vision got her nowhere. So she used her sensing vision to look for him but couldn¡¯t find him. ¡°Well look who¡¯s finally awake.¡± Came a familiar voice from Alina¡¯s right. ¡°Gabby?¡± Alina asked in shock. ¡°Yep it¡¯s me, but kinda creepy that you¡¯re not even looking at me.¡± Gabby answered. ¡°Hahahaha sorry, I can¡¯t see very well right now.¡± Alina answered remembering Gabby doesn¡¯t know about her other vision. ¡°So I have heard. Though your new friends didn¡¯t give a good explanation as to¡­¡± Gabby started. Suddenly Momo pushed Gabby out of the way. Gabby was going to say something but wasn¡¯t given the time. ¡°Yay! You¡¯re finally awake!¡± Momo yelled as she hugged Alina. Confused Alina just pushed Momo away. She then noticed that Momo didn¡¯t have her tails and figured she didn¡¯t want her saying anything. ¡°Why is everyone so excited to see me awake?¡± Alina asked. ¡°Cuz you¡¯ve been out for a couple weeks.¡± Gabby answered before Momo could. ¡°Where¡¯s Drake?¡± Alina asked in a serious tone. ¡°Huh?¡± Momo asked confused by the sudden change in tone. ¡°He¡¯s out hunting.¡± Gabby once again answered before Momo could. Momo shot Gabby a dirty look. ¡°He woke up a week ago and has been eating non-stop since.¡± Momo said to Alina. Momo ignoring Gabby only served to piss Gabby off. But once again before she could get around to saying anything she was cut off. ¡°I need to find him.¡± Alina said in a monotone voice. The tone brought back chills for Gabby who had heard that voice before. Suddenly Alina tried to get out of her bed, pulling her I.V¡¯s with her. ¡°Woah there.¡± Both Gabby and Momo said as they reached to get her back into the bed. But Alina resisted with a strength they weren¡¯t expecting. As they struggled more and more, Alina fought back with more and more strength. ¡°I must see him.¡± Alina whispered over and over as she struggled. ¡°The hell is wrong with her Ms. Friend?!¡± Momo asked sarcastically. ¡°She has severe monophobia and Drake is the focus. If he isn¡¯t around her she loses it. That¡¯s how she got the scars on her face.¡± Gabby answered. Momo just shot Gabby a look of disbelief and shock. ¡°If you know where Drake is; I HIGHLY recommend you get him¡­ NOW!¡± Gabby commanded. Momo didn¡¯t even think twice and ran to go find Drake while Gabby struggled to hold Alina down. ¡°Alina¡­ You¡­ Need¡­ To¡­ Stop.¡± Gabby struggled to say. ¡°Drake¡­ Is¡­ On¡­ The¡­ Way.¡± She finished; hoping that would calm Alina down. For a brief second Alina did stop. She looked Gabby in the eyes with a cold, unfeeling, stare. The same stare she had given her back when she though Drake had died and it once again sent shivers down Gabby''s¡¯ spine. At the same time Gabby also realized the change to Alina''s eyes and how they now had runic circles around her pupil. ¡°Where is he?¡± Alina asked in a cold monotone. ¡°On the way hun. Just be patient.¡± Gabby cautiously replied. ¡°He¡¯s not here. Where is he?¡± Alina asked again. ¡°I told you Alina, he¡¯s coming right now. Just give him a few minutes.¡± Gabby replied. ¡°How about you tell me about your fight? I want to hear about it from the mouth of the victor.¡± Gabby suggested to distract Alina. Suddenly Alina''s¡¯ eyes changed. They went from a cold, thousand mile stare to an excited and focused look. She wanted to tell the story of how she dominated and decimated a Ruby Ridge single-handedly. ¡°First, I want to know what you mean by how I got the scars on my face?¡± Alina asked. ¡°Well when you thought Drake had died during the invasion of our base, you had a severe meltdown. With Drake''s blood on your hands you clawed at your own face so his blood could be mixed with yours and you could always be together.¡± Gabby answered. That answer shocked Alina. She didn¡¯t realize it was so bad that she would have a meltdown like that. She may have just had one, but it didn¡¯t end with self harm; much less to that degree. ¡°So your victory story?¡± Gabby asked to change the topic. ¡°Well before I tell you that story I gata tell you how we got into that situation to begin with.¡± Alina started. From there she unfolded the story about the F.E.A.R, how Drake had dismantled and destroyed it. How they met Solly and Momo, but left out their tail rankings. All the while she became more and more animated telling the story. She then went to how Solly and Momo kept screwing with each other, and Drake''s exhaustion. Then she moved on to her fight with Yuming and how she was the older sister of the Gold Ridge Drake had fought and killed. At the end of the story Gabby was just awestruck. Not just because Alina had defeated one of the most powerful GenOpS the Ridge Power Group had but also because of her eye powers and her ability to spontaneously combust someone. ¡°So quick question¡­?¡± Gabby started. ¡°Hum?¡± Alina asked raising an eyebrow. ¡°You started to go blind round the time you got the rings in your eyes right?¡± Gabby asked. ¡°What rings? No I went blind shortly after Yuming spontaneously combusted.¡± Alina asked. ¡°You have these black... runic like rings around the pupil of your eyes. Guess no one told you¡­¡± Gabby started. ¡°No, no one told me anything. But I can kinda see now so I¡¯m probably thinking the same thing you are, and that my burning power is somehow related to my vision.¡± Alina confirmed. ¡°I do; but I don¡¯t understand how.¡± Gabby wondered. ¡°I don¡¯t either.¡± Alina said. After a few moments of silence and thinking, Drake barged into the room. ¡°Alina! You Ok?!!?!¡± He asked out of breath. The sudden entrance caused both Alina and Gabby to jump. ¡°Yah I¡¯m better now that you¡¯re finally here. But Gabby did a good job distracting me.¡± Alina said after she regained her composure. ¡°Good. Now everybody out.¡± Drake commanded. ¡°Everybody who Drake? It¡¯s just you me and Gabby in here.¡± Alina explained. Drake looked around confused for a second. Then his expression changed from a stressed out one to one of a calm nature. ¡°Sorry, Gabby can you please leave us alone for a bit?¡± Drake asked. ¡°Sure¡± Gabby replied and walked out. ¡°Nothing naughty you two. We are in a military hospital after all.¡± Gabby said with a dirty smile then closed the door. ¡°What was that about Drake?¡± Alina asked after a few seconds of silence. ¡°What was what?¡± Drake asked knowing full well what she meant. ¡°Don¡¯t give me that.¡± She scolded him. ¡°What was that about everyone getting out?¡± She specified. ¡°I thought Momo and Solly were behind me since Momo came and told me to get here as quickly as possible. I thought they followed me here.¡± Drake lied. Drake knew Momo and Solly didn¡¯t follow him; or more that they couldn¡¯t keep up with him as he sprinted his way back. In truth Drake thought he saw other people standing around but once Alina pointed out that no one was there they all disappeared. ¡°Don¡¯t give me that shit Drake! I know you can see the auras of everyone all around you when you activate your vision!¡± Alina yelled at him. It hit Drake like a semi-truck; he had left his eye vision activated and thus Alina could see his red eyes and could tell that he had been using it to hunt. Drake simply dropped his head in defeat. ¡°Fine.¡± He solemnly started. ¡°I thought there were orderlies in the room as well and once you pointed out that there weren¡¯t any there they disappeared. Almost like once I realized they weren¡¯t real they left.¡± Drake explained. ¡°It honestly scared the shit out of me.¡± Drake whispered under his breath. When Alina looked at him she could see the fear in his eyes and he was trembling slightly. That worried her. Drake wasn¡¯t afraid of anything, not even death as long as he was enjoying himself. But this hallucination¡­ It scared him bad. Alina felt horrible about it and wanted to reach over and hug him. However, as she was doing so she felt the tug of her I.V line. So instead she just reached out her left hand and grabbed his shirt. Gently, she tugged him closer until he lost his balance and fell onto the bed and dropped to his knees. Drake didn¡¯t even bother adjusting himself; he just layed there with his head resting on Alina''s¡¯ stomach. She gently ran her fingers through his hair that was long and messy. After a few minutes of that, Drake finally adjusted his weight to turn his head around and look Alina in the face. Her amazing eyes, beautiful face and awesome scars all mesmerize him every time he looks at her, but this time was different. ¡°I was so worried about you.¡± Drake started. ¡°Why?¡± Alina asked while she continued to stroke his hair. ¡°Cuz I woke up days before you. I spent the first day n¡¯ a half here next to you. But after I ate everything here I had to start hunting for myself. For whatever reason I have this insatiable appetite and just keep eating. But I still came back every few hours to check on you and would stay until my hunger was too much and I had to hunt again. Only early today did I stop being as hungry, and after eating another full bear before Momo found me I now feel much better.¡± Drake explained. Alina was just in shock. ¡°How much did you eat?¡± She asked. ¡°Let''s see¡­¡± Drake started. ¡°Three weird looking antelope with curved horns, two bears, and a leopard, plus what the leopard had killed¡­ A small monkey I think.¡± Drake answered. Alina shot him a ¡®the hell¡¯ look. To which Drake could only shrug; he knew he was over-eating, but what could he do? ¡°I don¡¯t know what else to do. I¡¯m so hungry it¡¯s freaking pissing me off.¡± Drake explained. ¡°But like I said, I¡¯m feeling much better now. Not so hungry.¡± Drake finished. ¡°You think it¡¯s a consequence for using that Creator power or whatever?¡± Alina asked. Drake''s head just shot up. ¡°So what happened with that?¡± Drake asked inquisitively. Alina looked at him confused. But then she remembered that he didn¡¯t remember and she never got around to explaining anything to him. ¡°Well from what you said¡­¡± Alina started. ¡°No not that. The fight¡­ I wana know about the fight!¡± Drake said excitedly. Drake was looking at her with a childish excitement in his eyes that made her smile. ¡°Hahahahaha, well that was epic¡­.ly short.¡± Alina started. A look of disappointment came over Drake''s face. ¡°But it was like that ¡®cuz you completely overpowered a giant robot.¡± Alina quickly explained to get Drake''s spirits back. It worked as Drake looked up completely interested in how he had overpowered the robot. ¡°It was crazy, first you crashed through the wall and your body was completely mangled and twisted. I thought you were dead, but then you opened your eyes and took a deep breath. Then your bones started to set themselves and the sound really made me sick. Then I saw that your eyes had changed colors again, but this time one was like navy blue and the other was gold.¡± Alina enthusiastically explained. But when she said something about the eyes, Drake knew instantly that it was that other version in his head. ¡°It was crazy. You stopped the robots punch just by holding out your arm like this.¡± She explained as she imitated Drake''s pose. Drake smiled and was totally engrossed in Alina''s story telling. ¡°Yah, then you held out your other arm and your Demons Eye flew into your hand and you threw it at the robot hard enough to send it flying back while you held onto the arm. Then¡­ Then you walked over all calm and cool and jumped up onto the chest as your Demons Heart flew into your other hand and you jammed it into the shoulder to rip off the robots other arm. Then you jumped down grabbed the robot by one of its feet and swung it over your head. The thing crashed through the roof of the hangar and everything. When it crashed to the floor you ripped both the legs off and kicked the chest to turn it around and ripped the cockpit open.¡± She told Drake in an animated fashion. ¡°But the best part, when you pulled the pilot out he was like ¡®NNNNOOOOOO¡¯, then you had punched through his chest with one hand and then you punched your other hand in and ripped him in half. It was awesome!¡± Alina finished more excited than ever. Drake was loving the way Alina was acting out the story as she told it. Well as best she could since her I.V tubes and sensor wires kept getting in the way. But she made due none-the-less. And when it got to the point where she demonstrated how Drake had ripped the pilot apart, he grew his sadistic grin ear to ear; relishing in the moment. He may not remember it, nor may he have been the one to do it, but it still excited him. ¡°Oh ya. Then the other you wanted me to tell you something.¡± Alina remembered. Drake looked at her with a serious face and she returned the expression. ¡°He told me that you have Creator genes in you, making you part Creator¡­ Whatever that is¡­ Anyway, The Creator you got your genes from is still on Earth and you have to find him to gain control of your powers.¡± Alina told Drake. Drake thought about it for a while. ¡°Did he say where he is?¡± Drake asked. Alina shook her head. He had said nothing like that, only that he must find him. So Alina honestly had no idea. ¡°I know, how about we ask Jeff if he knows how to search for a specific aura. If it¡¯s like yours then it should be easy.¡± Alina offered trying to brainstorm ideas. ¡°Maybe, but if anyone has that chance, it would be you.¡± Drake countered. ¡°My ability is limited to what my eyes would be able to see. You seem to have more of a sense that can see everything, even things that are behind other objects.¡± Drake explained. ¡°Like when I look down my scope I can see the auras of the people in my scope, but the second they walk behind something I can¡¯t see them anymore. However, with you no matter where they are within your range you can see them. But looking down a scope doesn¡¯t expand the range like it does with me,¡± Drake informed Alina. ¡°Honestly your ability is pretty badass.¡± Drake finished with a complement. ¡°Not as good as yours. You can see how people are going to move before they do. That¡¯s perfect for you. Plus we make a good team. I can find people while you can fight them.¡± Alina said trying to comfort Drake. ¡°But you¡¯re even a better fighter than me.¡± Drake started. ¡°Not even.¡± Alina interrupted. ¡°You are faster and stronger than I am. I''m lucky to do half of the things you can do. If you would actually use all of your abilities and power I wouldn¡¯t stand a chance. But you always hold back against me, even more than you do for everyone else; rather it¡¯s intentional or subconsciously I don¡¯t know, but I can tell you do.¡± Alina pointed out. What she was saying was making Drake feel better about himself. He¡¯s pretty confident in his abilities but he just strives to protect Alina as best he can. Even if she is the better fighter he would rather take the damage since he seems to recover better and always has. But Drake didn¡¯t want to argue. He wasn¡¯t feeling down or anything and didn¡¯t need to be reassured of his power. So he just raised his arms in no contest and layed back down on her belly. This time he reached out his hand and grabbed hers. They both smiled and closed their eyes. Next thing Alina knew she was being unhooked from the I.V and sensors. ¡°Huh? Whats going on?¡± She asked groggily. Then she heard Drake chuckle in the background. ¡°I forgot even you can be groggy.¡± Drake said with a huge grin on his face. Alina still didn¡¯t understand what was going on and it showed on her face. ¡°You¡¯re no longer on life support babe.¡± Drake said with a smile. Those words sent a shock through Alina''s system. ¡°I was on life support?!?!¡± Alina asked shocked. ¡°Nnnnaaaa, just on an I.V drip until you regained consciousness.¡± Drake laughed. Alina was about to yell at him for the joke when Momo barged in the door with Solly. The sudden noise of the door slamming open made both Alina and Drake jump. When Momo realized that she just started cracking up. ¡°You guys are idiots!¡± She pointed out through laughter ¡°Thanks Momo...¡± Drake said sarcastically. When he turned around to talk to Momo Alina noticed Drake now had three tails. ¡°The hell? How did he get two more?¡± She thought to herself. Curious she sat up and looked back to see if she had anymore. What she saw shocked her to the point that she gasped. Drake heard it and quickly turned around. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°What¡¯s wrong love?¡± He asked. ¡°I have¡­ I have.¡± Alina stammered out. Drake raised an eyebrow, curious as to what she had to say now. ¡°I have five tails¡­¡± Alina said in shock. ¡°About that, that¡¯s actually the reason the numbskulls are here.¡± Drake replied while pointing to Solly and Momo behind him. ¡°How can you just blow that off?!!¡± Alina questioned. ¡°What they have to say will make the tail rankings mean nil. Me having three tails and your five will mean absolutely nothing.¡± Drake replied nonchalantly. Alina just looked at him. What could be more shocking than gaining four Fox Tails? Then she looked to Momo and Solly inquisitively; almost begging them to spill what they have to say. The two got the hint and walked in. ¡°We think those tail rankings are wrong. But only for you two for some reason.¡± Momo started. ¡°No one in the history of the Group has ever had black Fox Tails, nor has someone with only one ever been able to dominate someone of the next tier like you did against Yuming.¡± Solly continued. ¡°We have no proof, just observation. But there is no way either of you guys are at your tail rank. You are much more powerful.¡± Momo finished. ¡°Wait a second. But you have never seen Drake fight, nor have you seen me fight fully recovered.¡± Alina countered. ¡°Well as for Drake we¡¯ve seen some of what he is capable of. When he was hunting, he never once used a weapon. Hell he still hasn¡¯t even picked up his swords from our room¡­ We needed a team to drag those things into the room by the way¡­ Anyway he completely overwhelmed a bear empty handed, and when he ran to your side at full speed neither of us could keep up with him.¡± Solly said impressed. ¡°And for you¡­ That¡¯s the scary thing. You dominated someone close to our power level while you were exhausted. I can¡¯t wait to see what you can do recovered.¡± Momo finished. ¡°And luckily we have some people willing to spar against you. They are both three fox tails, but they both have plenty of experience over you. And they don¡¯t know about the fight with the Ruby ridge. As far as they are concerned we killed it.¡± Solly stated excited. ¡°Who??¡± Drake asked. ¡°A three tail Captain by the name of Derek, and a Three Tail Commander by the name of Gabby.¡± Momo responded. ¡°Uuummm Momo, Gabby knows about me killing the Ruby¡­¡± Alina informed them. ¡°What? How??¡± Momo asked. ¡°You guys told her. And I told her about Drake destroying the F.E.A.R.¡± Alina finished. ¡°Why did you tell her?¡± Momo asked blowing off that she had told Gabby before hand. ¡°She was our caretaker and became a friend over the years.¡± Drake answered for Alina. ¡°Well¡­¡± Momo responded with a hint of jealousy. ¡°Anyway when is the spar?¡± Alina asked. ¡°They are ready whenever you are ready hun.¡± Momo answered. The news excited Alina. She wanted to get up and do it as quickly as possible. Slowly she turned her body to put her feet on the floor. When she touched the cold tile a sense of relief came over her. She loved the feeling of cold tile on warm feet. As she stood up she became a little unsteady, but quickly recovered. She looked around but couldn¡¯t seem to find what she was looking for. ¡°Sup?¡± Drake asked ¡°Where are my clothes? I wana change out of these stupid hospital robes. Oh and I wana take a shower and grab a bite to eat. I¡¯m hungry.¡± Alina listed. ¡°Hahahaha I¡¯ll be right back.¡± Drake said. ¡°Where are you going?¡± Alina asked. ¡°Getting your clothes. Then I¡¯ll take you to the bathhouse for a shower and finally we¡¯ll get something to eat.¡± Drake answered. ¡°Sounds like a date night to me.¡± Momo mocked. ¡°Better than being at each other''s throats all the fucking time.¡± Drake quipped back. ¡°Hey hey hey. We have date nights too.¡± Momo responded somewhat offended. ¡°That doesn¡¯t involve harming, hitting, shit talking or insulting at the others expense?¡± Drake inquired. ¡°Well¡­¡± Momo stammered. ¡°Exactly. Taking relationship advice from you two is like taking fighting advice from a pacifist, totally counterproductive.¡± Drake finished. ¡°Hey that¡¯s uncalled for!¡± Solly responded completely offended. ¡°Don¡¯t get me started on you, always taking that shit. Not saying that you have to do it back, but you just take it up the ass with no lube.¡± Drake insulted. Alina was just confused. Suddenly Drake became so hostile and she couldn¡¯t understand why. ¡°And what makes you think that we don¡¯t like it like you like causing pain?¡± Solly countered. ¡°I love causing pain and tormenting others, but causing her pain doesn¡¯t excite me like that. Sure when she flusters herself I enjoy it; hell think it¡¯s funny even. But I¡¯ve never been the one to cause her anguish intentionally. I just react to it. And when it has been my fault I¡¯ve felt horrible.¡± Drake answered coldly. ¡°Drake¡­ it¡¯s ok. Let¡¯s just go.¡± Alina suggested trying to calm him. ¡°No just stay here. I¡¯ll get your clothes n¡¯ then we can leave.¡± Drake instructed. But it was too late Solly was now pissed. ¡°What? Got nothing else to say punk?¡± Solly asked while getting in Drake''s face. Drake returned the gesture and got right back into Sollys face. ¡°Wana test me bitch?!¡± Drake taunted. Thinking the same thing, both the girls grabbed their man and pulled them away. A fight between the two powerhouses would end badly for everyone. Even more now that Drake is recovered and wouldn¡¯t hesitate against Solly. Quickly Momo pushed Solly outside and Alina tried to pull Drake to the corner. But he wouldn¡¯t budge. More like she was trying to pull a tank that didn¡¯t want to move. After a few seconds Drake finally calmed down a bit. ¡°Sorry about that. He just pisses me off for some reason.¡± Drake responded. ¡°At the same time I can¡¯t help but respect him.¡± Drake finished. ¡°Aaawww that¡¯s sweet.¡± Alina said sarcastically. Drake chuckled a bit. ¡°Alright I¡¯ll be back in a few.¡± Drake said then walked out. Alina just sat on the bed and waited for Drake to return. Alina heard some tapping coming from the window. She turned around to see Momo waving through the window. So she crawled over her bed to get to it and open it for Momo. ¡°Hey just wanna say sorry. They actually get out of hand pretty often.¡± Momo apologized. ¡°It¡¯s ok. Drake has a hell of a temper and is real quick to snap.¡± Alina giggled. ¡°Hahahaha they are more alike than they are willing to admit.¡± Momo laughed. ¡°Anyway, again I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ll keep a better eye on my Stupid.¡± Momo finished and jumped down. Alina was totally unaware they were even on a higher floor, but it was only the second floor so not too bad. When she looked out she saw the destruction of the Ridge Back groups base. Now she was confused. Why was she hospitalized in the enemy''s base? She tried to think of reasons, and came up with several but had no proof for any of them. Ten minutes later Drake walked in sporting a shiner on his left eye. ¡°What the hell happened?¡± Alina demanded. ¡°Ran into Solly on the way back. Got into each other¡¯s face and he swung first.¡± Drake answered coldly. ¡°Hahahaha so how does he look?¡± Alina asked. ¡°Didn¡¯t hit him back. The look on his face when he hit me and I didn¡¯t react or even turn my head was reward enough.¡± Drake answered holding back his elation. That wasn¡¯t the answer that Alina was expecting. But still she was proud of him. He managed to resist his violent personality and not fight back. Though that was probably only because his sadism was still satisfied. ¡°Anyway, here are your clothes. I¡¯ll be in the hall waiting for you. By the way I grabbed a change so you can have clean clothes after the bath.¡± Drake told her then shut the door behind him. Drake had brought her a change of pants and a new black tank top as well as her sports bra and skater shoes. She was happy that he brought her new clothes and a second change of clothes for after the bath. Once she finished changing she walked out of the room and saw Drake leaning against the wall waiting for her. She saw a backpack resting against his leg and she figured that was her other change of cloths. ¡°Ready.¡± Alina said cutely. ¡°Good. I¡¯m ready for a bath too.¡± Drake answered. He reached down to pick up the backpack and put it on his shoulder. Then he reached out to hold Alina''s hand. After walking through a busy hallway full of wounded humans and GenOpS alike they turned a corner and headed down some stairs. Once all the way down they walked right into the entryway and out the door. Alina didn¡¯t recognize the area, though her experience with the area was pretty limited to the hangar and the entrance they came in through. ¡°So why are we in this base?¡± Alina asked. ¡°From what Solly and Momo told me we are here ¡®cuz they have better facilities than the base we were using. Not too surprising considering that place was built as a temporary base. And since we won, this base became ours.¡± Drake answered. ¡°Wonder if that¡¯s all.¡± Alina wondered cynically. ¡°Couldn¡¯t tell ya. That was all the info I was given. Anyway I wana say I love your eyes. The rings are hella badass.¡± Drake complemented. ¡°You know¡­ I still haven''t seen them.¡± Alina pointed out. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Plenty of mirrors in the bathhouse.¡± Drake said with a smile. ¡°You¡¯re gana love them.¡± He finished. The rest of the ten minute walk not a word was said. Alina moved from holding Drake''s hand to holding onto his arm. But they are an odd couple. Drake towers over Alina by more than a head. And while they are both tone and muscular, Drake''s build is unnatural. Versus Alina who looks like a normal sporty teen. One of the few things they have in common is their cold glare that sends most people packing. So as they walked, the two garnered some stares; to which they took turns glaring back then laughing about it. Finally they got to the bathhouse and Alina was impressed by the architecture. It had a forbidden palace look, however it also had a modern twist to it. All the rough edges had been smoothed and rounded giving it a squircle look. The white paint had dirty spots scattered from the fighting and the red roof had some chips but the building itself was otherwise completely undamaged. Drake let her take it in for a few minutes then opened the door for her to walk in. ¡°Welcome, split or private?¡± The deskman asked. ¡°Private¡± Alina answered. ¡°Very well, fifteen hundred ruble for a half hour.¡± The deskman answered. ¡°Should be good, right Drake?¡± Alina asked. ¡°You sure, that means we sharing a bath.¡± Drake pointed out. ¡°Not like we don¡¯t already.¡± Alina returned. ¡°Okay.¡± Drake said as he handed the money over. ¡°You guys sure are young to be here. You actually take part in the invasion?¡± The deskman asked. ¡°We did.¡± Drake said as he showed his tails. ¡°Wow¡­ Three fox tails. But never seen any like yours before.¡± The deskman replied as he handed Drake the receipt. ¡°We know, we don¡¯t know why they are different either.¡± Alina answered. The Deskman then signaled for them to follow, but before they did Alina took a look at the interior design. All around was classical Chinese art and hakus. Alina was amazed she was able to read them even though she had never even see Chinese characters before. But still the look was exotic, she was use to the boring plain white design back at base. Even the interiors were boring and white. So she enjoyed this while she could. ¡°... young lady?¡± the deskman asked. ¡°Huh¡± Alina asked not paying attention. ¡°I said, how many tails do you have young lady?¡± The deskman asked again. ¡°Oh I have five Fox Tails like his.¡± She answered pointing to Drake''s tails. ¡°Wow five already? If you don¡¯t mind, how old are you two?¡± The deskman asked. ¡°Seventeen.¡± Drake answered. The deskman paused and looked back in disbelief. ¡°Only seventeen?¡± He asked. ¡°Yep.¡± Drake answered. ¡°You two wouldn¡¯t happen to be Drake and Alina would you?¡± The deskman asked. ¡°Huh? How do you know us?¡± Alina asked now suspicious. ¡°Hahahahaha you are. Do you remember Amanda? One of the guards that responded when you nearly killed¡­ what is his name¡­. Ah yes Mathias.¡± The deskman asked. ¡°I do¡­¡± Drake hesitantly answered. ¡°I¡¯m her boyfriend. And Sasha is actually my uncle. I have heard so many stories about you two. Though I will admit some of them aren¡¯t the greatest... Oh well, but I am actually a bit of a fan! You know I thought it was you two but I have never seen you so I wasn¡¯t completely sure so I didn¡¯t want to say anything. But wow!¡± The deskman answered excitedly. ¡°Ooookkkaaayyy¡­.¡± Drake started, not sure how to react. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, My name is Alex.¡± Alex introduced himself and reached out his hands to shake theirs. Alina quickly grabbed his hand and shook it but Drake was still lost. Alina bumped his arm to snap him back, He looked at the outstretched hand, Grabbed it and shook it. ¡°Ouch, quite the grip you two got.¡± Alex said shaking his hands. ¡°Anyway, please follow me. Your room will be just two more doors down.¡± Alex finished and led them to their room. ¡°Enjoy, and don¡¯t worry about the time limit. Take as long as you want.¡± Alex informed them as he closed the door. ¡°Well he was interesting¡­¡± Drake started after a brief silence. ¡°Sure was.¡± Alina said distracted. ¡°What¡¯s got your attention?¡± Drake asked. ¡°Just the design of this place. Everything is so beautiful and elegant. I love the art style of the paintings and the design of the architecture.¡± Alina pointed out. ¡°As beautiful as they may be, I get the privilege of looking at something even more breathtaking every single day.¡± Drake said as he put his hands on Alina''s shoulders. He turned her so she can look into a mirror and look at her face for the first time since she got her scars. She was just breathless, the scars ran deep and defined. And her eyes, she was finally seeing the runic circles and she loved them. But then she started crying. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Drake asked worried. ¡°I know how I got the scars Drake. I remember Gabby saying something to Momo to get her to run and find you. She said I had a monophobic meltdown in the past when I thought you died and I gave them to myself. I¡¯m so sorry...¡± She said almost sobbing. Drake quickly grabbed her and pulled her in close and held her tight. ¡°Sorry for what? Your scars are awesome and I love them. I always figured it had something to do with that anyway but never got any proof. But still, those scars are awesome and add to your beauty. Please don¡¯t feel bad about them.¡± Drake comforted her. After a few minutes of crying into his chest, Alina started to feel better. So she lifted her head off of Drake''s. Instantly Drake''s hand was there to wipe away her tears. She smiled for a second, if only because she knew he would do that for no one else but her. They may have their problems, but it¡¯s nothing compared to how much they care for each other. ¡°So how about that bath?¡± She said as she dried her eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll get in first. Just remember to clean off your body in the shower first. Everyone uses the bath, don¡¯t get your funk in it.¡± Drake said with a smile as he stepped into the shower to wash off. Alina quickly got undressed and jumped in the shower with Drake. It felt so good to finally take a shower. It¡¯s been nearly a month since she took a proper one and she desperately needed it. Two big battles and two subsequent hospital visits made it impossible to get into one. A few minutes later, they walked out and walked into the bath. ¡°Feels good huh?¡± Drake asked. ¡°Hell ya!¡± Alina replied as she sunk under the hot water. ¡°So how did we get all of this set up already?¡± Alina asked after she resurfaced ¡°Already? Hun remember it¡¯s been over two weeks. That¡¯s plenty of time for a army to get set up.¡± Drake reminded her. ¡°Rrriiiigggghhhttt¡­.¡± Alina dragged out. ¡°A back rub would be great ¡®bout now.¡± Alina hinted. Drake chuckled and signaled for her to come closer. Alina scooted over and in front of him and turned around so he could rub her back. ¡°Just tell me if I start going to hard ok?¡± Drake asked. ¡°Sounds dirty out of context.¡± Alina laughed. ¡°But ya I¡¯ll let you know.¡± She finished. ¡°All you have to do is say the word and it will become dirty.¡± Drake joked. ¡°Don¡¯t wait for me. Be the man and be aggressive.¡± Alina semi-scolded him. ¡°I did. Then you backhanded me remember.¡± Drake reminded her. ¡°Cuz you did that half assed and had no intent.¡± Alina fired back. Drake got the hint, but didn¡¯t want to just jump on it. Figured that would ruin any good mood she was in. Slowly he worked his way down her back, then back up. But as he move up he slid his hands to her boobs. ¡°You really like ¡®em huh.¡± Alina chuckled. ¡°Always have.¡± Drake answered. Alina scooted back until her back was against Drake''s chest. ¡°I can tell¡± Alina chuckled as she reached down. Drake twitched when she touched him, more because he wasn¡¯t expecting it to feel that way. Alina chuckled and turned around to kiss him. Team Spar Two hours later the two walked out to the entryway. ¡°Enjoy yourselves?¡± Alex asked. ¡°Sure did.¡± Alina answered. Alex looked at Drake who was completely in a haze. ¡°What happened to him?¡± Alex asked. Alina answered with a wink and walked out while holding Drake''s arm. Alex looked back towards their room and dropped his head, knowing he was going to have to clean after them. ¡°So what¡¯s to eat?¡± Alina asked to snap Drake out of his haze. ¡°Huh? Well we could find food here, or go hunt it. But I don¡¯t know what would be around here.¡± Drake answered. ¡°Let¡¯s just ask someone. I¡¯m sure this base is like ours and has food places or a cafeteria or something.¡± Alina suggested. ¡°Ok.¡± Drake answered. A few seconds later they saw a soldier walking down the street. ¡°Hey man, anything good to eat close by?¡± Drake asked him. ¡°Not really. Apparently some guy came in and ate all the rations left in the base. So we are still trying to recover from that.¡± The soldier informed them then walked off. Alina shot Drake a dirty look and he played stupid. ¡°Guess we¡¯ll have to hunt.¡± Drake offered. ¡°Nnaaa I¡¯m hungry but not that hungry. Let¡¯s find Gabby so we can get the spar started.¡± Alina suggested. ¡°I¡¯m down.¡± Drake confirmed. But they had no idea where to even start their search so they headed back to the hospital room to see if anyone was there. To their surprise not only Gabby, but Momo, Solly and Derek were there as well. ¡°Well the gang''s all here.¡± Drake said sarcastically. ¡°Aaahhh shut it. You guys ready for the spar?¡± Momo asked. ¡°You¡¯re asking the wrong people.¡± Alina responded. "Good. But first you guys gata check out. This place was freaking out cuz you just disappeared and we can¡¯t cover for you if we are here and you¡¯re not.¡± Solly informed them. Drake felt like an idiot. The same thing had happened to him after the first time he left. Luckily Momo and Solly were able to cover for him since he was with them. So he had to check out of the hospital and just slept in Alina''s room. He had totally forgot to tell her to check out as they walked down the hallway earlier. So as they walked down this time he led her to the desk so she could check out properly. After filling out all the release paperwork Alina sighed a breath of relief and was ready for the spar. ¡°So where we gana do this?¡± Alina asked impatiently. ¡°There is a training field about three miles out.¡± Momo answered pointing behind her. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Drake answered with a smile ¡°First, we getting your weapons from out place.¡± Solly responded. ¡°We able to use them?¡± Drake asked shocked. ¡°No you won¡¯t Drake. But Alina will. And both can use your guns that will be loaded with paint bullets.¡± Gabby answered. ¡°Aaawww.¡± Drake moaned out depressed. ¡°Your swords are far too dangerous for a spar Drake. There is no dumbing those things down.¡± Gabby explained. ¡°I know, but still.¡± Drake answered. ¡°I know bud. But think of it as giving us a handicap since you are just too powerful with them.¡± Gabby complemented. Derek clicked his tongue. ¡°He can¡¯t be that strong.¡± He complained. ¡°Oh you¡¯re in for a surprise my friend.¡± Momo replied. Derek shot Momo a dirty look and was about to say something when he was cut off. ¡°Okay everyone get your weapons and meet back at the training field in an hour.¡± Momo instructed. With that Gabby and Derek scattered to gather their weapons while Drake and Alina followed Momo and Solly to gather theirs. ¡°Can I at least bring my swords and carry them? I won¡¯t use them.¡± Drake complained. ¡°Fine you can bring them, but no you can¡¯t even carry them in the spar.¡± Solly answered annoyed. ¡°Why? Afraid I¡¯ll kick your ass even harder with them hum?¡± Drake taunted. ¡°Best shut your trap punk. ¡®fore I knock you cold before your spar even starts. I still don¡¯t even believe you can use them properly.¡± Solly taunted back. ¡°Like you could. This was all you could do last time.¡± Drake laughed pointing to his black eye. Solly tensed up, resisting his urge to punch Drake. ¡°Drake stop!¡± Alina commanded. Drake just shut up and stopped taunting. ¡°Hahahahaha Slave to your woman huh?¡± Solly taunted. ¡°You shut up too dumbass!¡± Momo commanded. Solly just dropped his head in defeat. Drake wanted to laugh so hard, but he held it in. The second he saw his swords he ran up to them. ¡°Aaahhh I¡¯ve missed you two.¡± He said as he looked them over. Nonchalantly, Drake lifted the Demons Heart off of its scabbard and set it down. He fastened all the straps to hold the scabbard in place then quickly re-sheathed the blade effortlessly. Then he quickly threw the Demons Eye holster around his shoulder and back, making sure the magnets were facing out. Then he once again effortlessly swung the blade over and clicked the magnets together. Momo and Solly just looked on in shock. Drake has just effortlessly lifted objects that they struggled to just move around with a team. And he threw them around like they weighed nothing. ¡°You¡­ So you can actually use those?¡± Solly asked in disbelief. ¡°Told ya¡± Drake answered coldly. Then he found his gun holsters and put them on his waist, just above his Demons Heart blade for easy access. ¡°You done love?¡± He asked Alina. ¡°Yep.¡± Alina said with a smile. Alina¡¯s setup looked more or less the same. Her Katars were holstered on her back in an X pattern and her pistols holstered under her arms. ¡°Good.¡± Drake returned with a smile. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Drake returned. ¡°Wait outside, we gonna change n¡¯ get our stuff together too.¡± Momo answered. Drake and Alina waited outside for a few minutes. When Momo and Solly walked out they signaled for them to follow, but otherwise kept to themselves the entire walk to the training ground. Once they finally got there Derek and Gabby were already waiting. ¡°You guys finally ready?¡± Gabby asked. ¡°Still need to load paint bullets.¡± Momo answered. She then walked over to Gabby and they whispered a conversation. Drake didn¡¯t care enough to listen in and loaded the paint bullets that Solly had given him into his guns while Alina did the same. ¡°What plan you wana use?¡± Alina asked. ¡°I just wana pay Derek back for everything.¡± Drake answered coldly. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll get Gabby.¡± Alina responded. They turned around to look Gabby and Derek in the eyes. Gabby nodded and they returned the gesture. Both Gabby and Derek drew their weapons. The two had never seen Gabbys sword before and it was weird. It had two blades with what looked like a second handle that ran up the center gap between the two blades. The blades themselves had a dark gunmetal color to them with an emerald colored cross guard. Derek on the other hand had drawn the two swords on his back. One was a traditional long sword while the other one was weird. It was like a scythe blade with a handle at the end. Drake looked at Alina who looked back and nodded. Drake quickly drew his swords and stuck them into the ground. He would feel weird if he didn¡¯t at least have his scabbards on his back, but this way he didn¡¯t have his swords on him. Drake and Alina both walked up towards Gabby and Derek; the energy they gave off even caused the two veterans to pause. ¡°Looks like you were right. Drake''s going to go after you.¡± Gabby confirmed. ¡°Yep, should be interesting.¡± Derek replied confidently. ¡°For your sake, I wouldn¡¯t underestimate him. He is more than lethal even without his swords.¡± Gabby warned. ¡°Yah yah.¡± Derek blew her off. Gabby just sighed, then she pushed down on half the grip of her sword and split it into two swords, She spun them in the air, and using the centrifugal force, pushed the second half of each grip down into the proper location. The action surprised Drake and Alina, but didn¡¯t deter them. They gave each other a high five and charged in. Drake quickly charged Derek, grabbed his arms and pulled him down to knee him in the face. The speed surprised Derek, and offered him no time to avoid the blow. When Drake''s knee made contact it hit with enough force to lift Derek off the ground. His head recoiling back from the blow, Dereks gut was left completely wide open. Drake took full advantage of this and punched with enough force to send Derek flying. He followed after and jumped over him. Spinning in the air, Drake windmill kicked Derek to the ground, slamming his head down hard. At the same time Alina was throwing half assed punches. Not that they didn¡¯t have power, but they were more to test Gabby¡¯s reflexes. After throwing a few of these, Alina was satisfied. She went for a head kick to distract Gabby. Gabby blocked the kick, but it hit a lot harder than she thought it would and started seeing stars already. Standing on her tails, Alina flipped back and kicked Gabby up. Instantly, Alina reached out and grabbed Gabby by the throat to pull her in. Simultaneously she headbuted Gabby on the bridge of her nose and sent a knee to her stomach. With Gabby¡¯s body recoiling Alina swung her overhead, and slammed her into the ground. ¡°Wow, you guys finished that fast.¡± Momo started. ¡°What makes you think they are done?¡± Drake answered coldly. ¡°Get your revenge?¡± Alina asked as she walked to Drake. ¡°Not really¡­ ready for round two?¡± He asked as both Gabby and Derek stood up slowly. ¡°Round two? You guys are trying to kill us.¡± Derek coughed out ¡°Nnaaa that was nothin¡¯; just having some fun.¡± Drake returned with a demented smile. ¡°And I wasn¡¯t even trying.¡± Alina returned. ¡°Hahahahaha, don¡¯t hold back on our account.¡± Gabby said. But looking at her, she was completely unsteady and her nose was bleeding pretty bad. ¡°If that¡¯s what you guys want.¡± Drake answered. Drake had no intent on using his full strength. Regardless Derek charged in wildly swinging and stabbing at Drake to which he dodged with the least amount of effort. Gabby had done much the same thing but wasn¡¯t being as wild. She knew her opponent was skill focused, that as a bonus had a vast amount of strength and would take advantage of any openings she made. It made little difference however, and as Alina was dodging the attacks she pulled out her Katars. Once she did, it was game over for Gabby. Alina skillfully blocked Gabbys swords and stopped them in their tracks. Quickly, Alina dropped her Katars and grabbed Gabbys arms. She fell back, pulling Gabby with her and rolled gabby onto her back. As they were rolling, Alina picked up her Katars with her tails and held them to Gabbys side. Holding her throat with one hand Alina unloaded punch after punch until Gabby was finally knocked unconscious. ¡°You got lucky.¡± Alina said. ¡°That I was your opponent and not Drake¡± She finished. Meanwhile Drake was still toying with Derek who was getting frustrated that he couldn¡¯t hit him. ¡°Gata come at me with more than that¡± Drake taunted. It worked and Derek dropped his scythe blade and reached back. He grabbed one of the short knives on his lower back and threw it. Drake easily dodged it but it caused him to lose sight of Derek for half a second. When he found him again, Derek had picked up his dropped blade and had charged in below Drake''s center of mass. Drake was going to knee him as punishment for trying to be sneaky but he felt a sharp pain in his left arm. Instead of kneeing Derek, Drake jumped out of the way to investigate the pain. When he looked he saw a deep cut on his left arm that was bleeding pretty badly. The knife Derek had thrown had come back like a boomerang and cut the unsuspecting Drake. ¡°Now you fucked up.¡± Drake said with a irked expression. Derek watched as Drake''s eyes changed from silver to red and it sent a chill of fear down his spine. Alina knew Derek was in trouble, but she was too far to stop Drake. Plus, like Drake, she was annoyed with the way Derek acted towards them; so she wasn¡¯t exactly willing to expend the energy to try and stop Drake. Derek was just watching Drake, waiting for a move. But suddenly he disappeared from Dereks vision and reappeared right in front of him. Instinctively Derek tried to stab at Drake, but Drake already knew it was coming and grabbed Dereks arms. Without a second thought, Drake hit Derek with an uppercut that sent him flying. However, Drake was still holding on to Dereks arm and pulled on it. The force caused Dereks arm to dislocate. Not a shred of empathy could be found on Drake while he swung him overhead only to kick him back into the air. Jumping after him, Drake appeared above Derek, staring him down with a cold and emotionless expression. Suddenly Drake smiled a demonic grin as he reached back for his two pistols and wrapped his tails around Dereks body. Spinning his pistols around his finger, he jammed the barrels into Dereks mouth. After a crash landing, Drake was standing over Derek and laughing maniacally. He still had his guns in his mouth and was ready to pull the triggers. ¡°Drake don¡¯t!¡± Alina yelled. It was too late however, and Drake pulled both triggers. His guns went off with a bang and he started laughing uncontrollably. Standing up slowly he looked down at his most recent piece of art. ¡°Drake! This was just a spar, not a death match!¡± Alina yelled. ¡°Oh chill out. Unfortunately he¡¯s still alive. Besides he¡¯s the one who tried to kill me several times..¡± Drake answered. ¡°Unfortunately?¡± Alina asked ¡°Why do you want to kill him so bad?¡± Alina asked. ¡°If I wanted him dead, He would have died. I wouldn¡¯t have held back and broke every bone in his body.¡± Drake answered coldly. Alina just looked at Derek who was still breathing. He was bleeding from the mouth and passed out due to the pain, but he was alive. ¡°How¡¯s Gabby?¡± Drake asked bluntly. ¡°Awake now. Better than your guy.¡± She answered coldly while pointing back. ¡°I really want to fight the other two though.¡± She answered while staring down Momo and Solly. ¡°I think we¡¯ll get that chance¡± Drake answered. ¡°Well thanks for proving something to us.¡± Momo said as she walked up. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Alina asked ¡°You guys are way more powerful than your tails say. Maybe even on our level.¡± Solly answered. ¡°Ya? Wana finally test that?¡± Drake answered excited. Solly just looked at Momo who shrugged. ¡°Oh and by the way, We still haven¡¯t shown you everything.¡± Alina said. ¡°First let¡¯s get them out of the way and get him treated.¡± Momo answered pointing to Derek. Derek was regaining consciousness and started coughing like crazy. He grabbed at his throat in massive pain, but he couldn¡¯t even yell. Hell, the only reason he was still alive was thanks to his GenOpS resilience. Otherwise the gunshots would have killed him. Solly picked up Derek and started to carry him to the hospital. As for Gabby she was fine; in a lot of pain, but Alina didn¡¯t cause any more damage than she needed to to end the fight. It was only because she kept fighting back that Alina went as far as she did. She really did get lucky, if she was fighting Drake she may have ended up like Derek. ¡°Once he gets back we¡¯ll fight. Don¡¯t think you¡¯ll get off that easy either.¡±Momo started. ¡°Oh and by the way¡­¡± She paused. ¡°THE FUCK IS UP WITH YOUR EYES?!?!?!¡± She asked shocked. ¡°Told you I have an eye power. This is what happens when I activate it. How did you not notice it when we went hunting?¡± Drake answered. Momo gave him a confused look and shrugged. ¡°Why do they change color?¡± She asked. Drake just shrugged. He didn¡¯t know why either. It just happened. ¡°Huh. Ok¡­ So what is your eye power?¡± She asked trying to get info. ¡°Not telling. Figure it out yourself.¡± Drake answered. ¡°Damn. thought it would work. I mean you seem pretty stupid.¡± Momo taunted. ¡°At least I¡¯m not an abusive twat.¡± Drake countered. ¡°Oh you¡¯ll see just how abusive I can you be you little shit¡± Momo finished and stormed off. An hour later Solly finally returned. He talked to Momo then shot Drake a dirty look. Drake lifted his hand and waved his fingers, beckoning them to bring it. ¡°Get ready.¡± Drake told Alina. ¡°Any plan?¡± She asked. ¡°Ya, we have to stay together. They may think they know how we fight individually, but definitely not when we team up.¡± Drake answered. ¡°But we know nothing of their fighting style.¡± Alina reminded Drake. ¡°Test them first. We won¡¯t show team work until we know how to break them. More than likely we will have to separate them and pick on one and quickly finish them.¡± Drake planned. ¡°Gotcha.¡± Alina confirmed. The entire time Solly and Momo had just been slowly walking towards the couple, and they copied the gesture. Suddenly Momo and Solly disappeared. But thanks to their vision Drake and Alina were able to follow them. ¡°To your left.¡± Alina told Drake. Without a seconds hesitation Drake caught Sollys punch and quickly swung him overhead. At the same time Alina dodged Momo¡¯s stab and grabbed her arm; then threw her overhead as well. The two collided in the air and then both received a shot to the gut. But Solly got it the worst taking a powerful punch from Drake, who sent both of them flying with his overwhelming strength. Thinking quickly Alina grabbed Sollys arm and slammed him to the ground as Momo kept flying. They had separated them just like they wanted to. Recovering quickly Solly stood up but coughed up some blood in the process. ¡°Damn he hits harder than a wrecking ball.¡± Solly thought. But that distraction was what Drake and Alina needed. They both charged in, Alina following behind Drake. Ducking in low, Drake uppercutted Solly in the stomach; using more force than last time. Alina, seeing that Drake sent him flying into the air, jumped up off of Drake''s back and winmill kicked Solly back down to Drake who was waiting. He took a step back and vertical kicked Solly back up to a falling Alina. Using her tails to shift her weight spun around and kicked Solly horizontally. As soon as she landed, Drake grabbed her and threw her towards Solly. Once she caught up to him, Alina stomped down sending Solly sliding through the earth with her riding on top of him. Drake was following close behind to try and finish off Solly as quickly as possible. Solly pushed Alina off of him. As she stumbled back, Drake caught her and threw her into the air. Then before Solly could do anything else, Drake jumped on top of him and grabbed the collar of his shirt. Lifting him up, and effortlessly threw him up to a waiting Alina. ¡°Shit! Drake behind you!¡± Alina warned as she caught Solly. Drake noticed the presence thanks to Alina and ducked just in time. Momo had done a horizontal slash that just grazed the top of Drake''s hair. ¡°Fuck man! All y¡¯all tryin¡¯ to kill me. But I can¡¯t use my swords cuz they ¡®too dangerous¡¯¡± Drake said sarcastically. Meanwhile, Alina had worked Solly into a hold, wrapping her legs around his waist and holding his legs with her arms, she slammed him into the ground. Knowing that they couldn¡¯t get separated for long, she quickly got back to Drake to start working on Momo. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Drake was dodging and evading Momo¡¯s attacks, but she wasn¡¯t leaving any room to attack back. Alina used the distraction to her advantage and got up close to Momo, but not so close that Momo would sense her. Drake saw Alina and knew what she wanted to do, so Drake took a blow to create an opening. Momo got a stab in that managed to cut Drake''s right side, but Drake grabbed the blade with his left hand and palmed her in the gut with his right hand; sending her flying to Alina. Once Momo had reached Alina, she knew she was in for a world of hurt. Alina kicked her up only to hammerfist her back into the ground. Not wanting to give the two even another second, Momo quickly jumped up and started throwing punches at Alina; who skillfully dodged all of them. But then Alina suddenly ducked low and Momo was surprised to see Drake''s fist moving to hit her. The blow once again blew Momo away and she landed next to a still recovering Solly with a thud. ¡°These two are good¡­¡± She said slowly. ¡°Tell me about it. And Drake is something else.¡± Solly confirmed. ¡°We can¡¯t even keep them separated.¡± Momo continued. ¡°No¡­ It¡¯s like they can read each other''s mind.¡± Solly added. ¡°We can¡¯t even land a solid hit on them.¡± Momo complained. ¡°I get the feeling that they are holding back too. Plus we limited Drake to no swords¡­ And Alina hasn¡¯t even used her Katars yet.¡± Solly pointed out. ¡°Common guys. We¡¯re getting bored waiting for you.¡± Drake taunted. ¡°We have ta do something!¡± Momo said as she slowly sat up. ¡°What are they planning?¡± Alina asked. ¡°Nothing. Complaining about our power.¡± Drake said with glee. ¡°So next time we get them separated¡­ I¡¯ll go after Solly and I¡¯ll let you handle Momo. That ok with you?¡± Drake inquired. ¡°Sure thing.¡± Alina said excited. They looked at the other two and saw that Momo was supporting Solly who seemed really unsteady. Momo then suddenly charged the two. The sudden move surprised Drake and Alina who became slow to react. ¡°She¡¯s gana come from¡­¡± Drake started but couldn¡¯t finish. He was rocked hard by an uppercut from Solly who had hidden his presence behind Momo¡¯s sudden charge. Solly immediately jumped after Drake who was waiting for him; almost like he was planning this. But the truth was that Drake was just taking advantage of the situation. As soon as Drake knew Solly was close enough, he used his tails to shift his weight and throw a spinning backfist. Trying to block it was futile as Solly was sent flying just from the force behind Drake''s punch. ¡°The hell is the deal with this kids strength?!¡± Solly thought as he was sent flying. ¡°It¡¯s unreal!¡± he finished as he landed hard. After tumbling a few times Solly quickly stood up and looked around only to find Drake right in front of him. Drake ducked low and spun around, using his momentum to kick Solly in the face. After the kick landed Drake, continuing his momentum, swung his fist overhead and slammed the airborne Solly back to the ground with a hammerfist. Chuckling with madness Drake got ready to soccer kick Sollys¡¯ face. When it landed, Solly was once again sent flying high in the air. Meanwhile Momo and Alina where at each other''s throat. Momo had recovered her sword and Alina had finally drawn her Katars. Blocking and attacking in a beautiful display of skill and technique they went after any opening they could find. However, Momo realized something; as the fight went on, Alina was getting faster, stronger, and more technical. She didn''t get stronger after the fight... She was getting stronger during the fight. And not only her, but Drake as well. It may not be huge increases, but it is something noticeable. Rather they were getting stronger as the fight went on or they were slowly using more of their true power, Momo couldn¡¯t tell. Spotting an opening, Momo ducked around and behind Alina and went for the K.O blow, but no sooner did she step in to take the shot did the point of Alina¡¯s Katar poke into her neck. Without a second of hesitation Alina pulled the trigger to open the blade of her Katar. However, instead of demanding a surrender, she closed and sheathed the Katars. ¡°I give, this is getting too serious.¡± Alina started. ¡°We are pretty even. You even managed to make me go serious during the exchange, but now we are actually trying to kill each other.¡± Alina continued. ¡°So I quit.¡± Alina finished. ¡°I call bullshit!¡± Momo exclaimed. ¡°You completely dominated us when you fought with Drake, yet you claim I made you go full out alone?!¡± Momo inquired. ¡°A few things. First me and Drake have a very close bond. We know exactly what the other is capable of and know how to utilise our strengths and timings to full effect. Jeff has told us it looks like we are reading each other''s minds, but honestly we just know how the other will react. Second, it¡¯s a lot harder to not kill someone with deadly weapons¡­ So once we started using them I had to hold back. And finally, while we may have shown you about ninety percent of our skill, Drake held back his strength. Using full strength would kill anyone on impact, and you two are no different from that.¡± Alina ranted off. Momo was surprised to hear that Solly had called it right, but she figured it too.She wondered just how strong that kid is as she sheathed her sword and raised her hands. ¡°Okay, okay.¡± She said in no contest. ¡°Just know that we held back so we didn¡¯t kill y¡¯all either. But since you guys are as strong as you are, we actually had to put a lot of effort into it.¡± Momo told Alina. Momo then looked past Alina for a few seconds. ¡°But what are we going to do about those numbskulls?¡± Momo asked after a facepalm. Alina looked back to see Drake and Solly standing in front of each other and taking turns punching the daylights out of each other. ¡°Well it looks like Drake''s winning that one.¡± Alina started. ¡°Wanna bet?¡± Momo countered ¡°Stakes?¡± Alina asked. ¡°Bragging rights. I know you guys ain¡¯t got a lot of money or anything, so we¡¯ll say whoever wins that fight won the spar.¡± Momo offered. ¡°Sounds good.¡± Alina confirmed. As soon as she said that it was Drake''s turn to punch. The impact caused Sollys entire body to recoil. Next was Sollys turn. He unleashed everything he had left and hit Drake right on the cheek. Drake''s head turned slightly, but he was otherwise able to keep his eyes on Solly. Solly was now completely out of steam. Drake hit way too hard for someone his size and could take an abnormal amount of abuse. ¡°I¡¯m tired of holding back. So please don¡¯t die from this.¡± Drake warned with a demonic grin. Solly looked into Drake''s eyes and saw no emotion, and he also knew that if Drake had been holding back the whole time, he couldn¡¯t survive a full hit. Not in the shape he was in anyway. ¡°No¡­ I...surrender¡± Solly stammered through labored breathing. ¡°Aaawww common man. You went and got me this pissed off and talked a big game but now you gana pussy out?¡± Drake taunted. ¡°Ya. You win.¡± Solly said as he fell backwards. ¡°Looks like we won!¡± Alina said with a smile. A roar of cheers could be heard around them. Alina looked around to see a huge crowd had gathered to watch the spar. ¡°Fuck! We gata¡­¡± Alina started. But it was too late, Drake had noticed the crowd and started to panic. Soon the panic faded and it was dead silent for Drake. He started to chuckle, and slowly that escalated to a full maniacal laughter. Carefully Alina approached Drake. ¡°Drake¡­?¡± She asked concerned. Drake''s laughter ceased and he shot a look back to Alina. Once he saw her face everything became calm. He stopped freaking out and most of the crowd had been scared away by his laughter, saving only a few brave souls. ¡°Hun¡­ Are you ok?¡± Alina asked. Drake quickly waved her away and tried to keep his face hidden from her. She wouldn¡¯t have any of it however, and instead grabbed his hand. ¡°It¡¯s ok. They all left.¡± Alina comforted him. Regardless, Drake refused to look at her. ¡°Come here.¡± Alina said gently. She sat down next to Drake and stretched her legs out. Then she gently pulled Drake down and lifted his head and rested it on her lap. Gently she stroked his long and messy hair. ¡°We¡¯ll meet you back at our room.¡± Momo informed them. ¡°But we really need to talk about some stuff.¡± Momo finished. She walked over to Solly and reached her hand out to help him up. ¡°Up you go ya big lug¡± Momo said affectionately. Though she was too short to hold him on her shoulder, she leaned against him to support him as they walked back to their room. When the two left, the stragglers walked off as well. Alina just sat there with Drake until he started to open up. ¡°Whenever you are lost or broken I will be here for you.¡± Alina comforted. Drake rolled onto his back and looked up at Alina. He smiled a small grin of thanks. ¡°So¡­. How did you two get into a punching match like that?¡± Alina asked. Drake just started laughing. ¡°It was great!¡± Drake laughed. ¡°After I soccer kicked him I turned to look at your fight with Momo. When he landed with a thud behind me I just looked back and and pointed at your fight. He slowly stood up and watched with me. Then he told me how Momo was holding back and I told him the same thing; how you were holding back. And he got in my face saying how Momo was going to win and I got back in his saying how you would win. So he punched me and this time I looked back and punched him back. Then it just continued from there.¡± Drake explained. Alina was just dumbfounded. She couldn¡¯t tell if they actually got along, or if they truly hated each other. ¡°But the more I hit him, the harder it became for me to hold back. He is the strongest person I have met and I wanted to test how far my strength could go but I only got to a little more than half before he gave up. After that one time Jeff saw me hit a punching bag full force he warned me to never use my full strength again. So I haven¡¯t since.¡± Drake explained. Alina remembered that day. Drake had been practicing his technique on a human shaped punching bag. Suddenly a loud explosion was heard throughout the gym. When Alina looked back Drake was just standing there completely dumbfounded, and the punching bag was gone. When Alina followed Drake''s gaze she started to see pieces of the bag littered across the floor until finally she looked at the wall. There was the remains of the bag plus a decently sized hole in the wall. Alina had started cracking up until Jeff went to say something to Drake. ¡°What happened?¡± He asked more in shock. ¡°I just wanted to see what would happen if I used my full strength.¡± Drake answered still baffled. ¡°The hell?! You never used your full strength yet? Why?¡± Jeff inquired. ¡°Never felt the need to. I was always strong enough to do everything. The only time I ever use my full power is during physical workouts because my body feels so heavy and the weights I lift here are pretty heavy. Oh... and when I started using my swords.¡± Drake explained. ¡°Heavy doesn¡¯t begin to describe the weight you lift regularly¡­¡± Jeff thought to himself ¡°So I wanted to see what would happen if I did and that¡¯s what happened.¡± Drake finished. ¡°Drake¡­ you understand that you sent a five hundred freaking pound object flying over two hundred feet into the wall, where what was left punched a hole into a solid concrete wall. Do you understand what kind of power that takes?¡± Jeff asked stupefied. ¡°Yah I get it.¡± Drake answered hesitantly. ¡°Good¡­ Then NEVER use your full strength on anyone you don¡¯t plan to kill. They won¡¯t survive. And if you care about Alina as much as you say you do. Never use it around her. That kind of uncontrollable strength you have could backfire and get her involved or even hurt her.¡± Jeff warned him. Even when Drake did want to kill someone, he never used his full strength. More because he was enjoying the fight and if he had used it against Lanfen it would have been game over that instant. But by the time he realized he needed to use more of his strength to win it was too late. He was already beaten, battered and broken because his inexperience and immaturity prevented him from using everything he had. The warning that Jeff gave him remained ingrained and the fear of getting Alina brought into it only ingrained it further. Even if it meant his death he would never use his full power while Alina was close by. But Alina started to wonder if what she saw him do against the F.E.A.R was what his true strength is fully capable of. Or if that Drake only used what was necessary and still didn¡¯t use full force. That incident with the punching bag happened only a few weeks after they got their weapons and now Drake is even stronger. Knowing that, Alina really wanted to know just how strong he truly is. But that would have to wait; she knew Drake would never use anything close to his full strength with her around. ¡°Well you ready to get going?¡± Drake asked, snapping Alina out of her flashback. ¡°Huh? Where?¡± She asked confused. ¡°Hey guys, can I get close now?¡± Gabby yelled from a distance. ¡°Fuck¡­ I totally forgot she was here still.¡± Alina whispered. ¡°Yah, it¡¯s all good now.¡± Alina yelled back. ¡°Remember Drake, you can take everything out on me. I¡¯ll always have your back.¡± Alina whispered before Gabby got to them. She just stared at the two for a few seconds, more in shock at their spar than anything. ¡°When¡­ no¡­ how¡­¡± Gabby stammered out in confusion. ¡°No we don¡¯t understand either.¡± Alina started. ¡°But every time we fight someone stronger than us we suddenly gain incredible strength. Honestly it feels more like I am unlocking the strength I already had more than it feels like I¡¯m are actually getting stronger though.¡± Drake finished for her. ¡°Yah me too, like for me it feels like my senses and reflexes are getting sharper; even as I was fighting Yuming I felt that I was getting better as I fought.¡± Alina continued. ¡°Yah? You too? Like when I was fighting Lanfen it felt like she was getting slower and weaker and worse at fighting. Maybe it was just me getting better as I fought but I don¡¯t know. It felt weird, but by the time I realized I it, I was already beaten and¡­ yah.¡± Drake explained. ¡°Guys!¡± Gabby commanded. They both just looked at her in confusion. ¡°Seriously¡­ What the hell is wrong with you two? And who were they?¡± Gabby questioned furiously. ¡°What do you mean what is wrong with us?¡± Alina asked offended. ¡°Oh I¡¯m sorry, let me clarify¡­ WHY IN THE HELL ARE YOU TWO SO FUCKING CRAZY??!?!?¡± Gabby yelled. ¡°The mad laughter, the sadism, and now Drake isn¡¯t the only one with a violent personality. You seemed to have picked up his volatility. Speaking of which, why are you so quick to be violent Drake? Even if they were paint bullets, shooting Derek in the mouth could have killed him!¡± She demanded. ¡°You make it sound like I should know better. I was created for the sole purpose of killing as effectively as possible, and you want to know why I¡¯m quick to be violent?¡± Drake asked pissed off. ¡°No. I know why you were created, but you take it to extreme levels. You snap in a heartbeat and beat people beyond a victory. It¡¯s almost like you enjoy killing people.¡± Gabby replied grimly. ¡°I DO enjoy killing people.¡± Drake responded nonchalantly. That answer made Gabby take a step back. ¡°You are ending a life. That person may have family and friends. I understand having to kill people to save yourself or under orders, but to enjoy it?¡± Gabby asked with terror in her voice. ¡°So what? I couldn¡¯t care less about that, or about how they are only doing this cuz they were told to. That doesn¡¯t matter to me. The only things I care about are Alina and enjoying myself. I don¡¯t care about anyone or anything else; including the life of those I killed and will kill. It¡¯s what I enjoy. As for why I¡¯m quick to snap I don¡¯t know. I do as I feel, and I have had a love for fighting from the beginning. So before you question me and my mental state how about you go and ask King what the fuck he did to me. Maybe he will tell you why I¡¯m a sadist and why I like to kill people.¡± Drake argued back, angrier than ever. Gabby was frozen with fear. As Drake became more and more upset, his bloodlust shot through the roof and the more sinister of an energy he gave off. It got to the point that Gabby felt as though Drake would kill her on the spot. ¡°I didn¡¯t mean it like that¡­¡± Gabby said trying to defend herself. ¡°Asking us ¡®what the hell is wrong with us¡¯ is pretty damning.¡± Drake retorted. ¡°Drake it¡¯s ok. She gets it.¡± Alina said to calm Drake down. ¡°But seriously Gabby, that wasn¡¯t cool. You know we were created to be killers. Same applies to you. Just because you don¡¯t take joy in what you do doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s wrong for us to.¡± Alina calmly explained. ¡°To us, whoever we kill was just a lesser being than us. No need to feel bad over killing something below you. Just like how you feel nothing killing an ant, we feel nothing killing a person. Nor will we feel bad when or if we find a being that can kill us. It just means we are below them and they are exercising their right to take our life.¡± Alina finished explaining. ¡°Ants¡­ People are ants to you two?¡± Gabby asked in shock. ¡°No, you misunderstood.¡± Drake started. Gabby breathed a slight sigh of relief. ¡°They are below ants. The strong survive while the weak are killed. I got lucky that Alina saved me once already. However, I didn¡¯t once beg for my life. I fought until I couldn¡¯t anymore, and I still feel the only reason I lost was my lack of experience. I wasn''t able to realize that I needed to fight even harder until it was too late. But that was a weakness. One I will overcome. And if I leave a trail of carnage along the way¡­ So be it.¡± Drake finished. Gabby was mortified. Drake was so much worse than she had ever thought with Alina close behind. After his rant, Drake turned around and started walking away. ¡°This is a touchy subject for him. He feels bad that he was created for only one thing and feels he was jipped out of a life with choices. Not that he doesn''t enjoy what he does, but he thinks that''s not truly who he is and who he was made to be. It¡¯s not cool to question someone for who they are; especially when you know why they are the way they are but think they should be different. Even if you didn¡¯t know why or if we were born naturally and behaved like this it is still wrong for you to judge us just because we are different from you.¡± Alina scolded then ran after Drake. Gabby was just left there dumbfounded. But now she knew what Will had been talking about; Those two aren¡¯t normal. However, they have the strength to back it all up. So there was nothing she could do about it. Battered and beaten Gabby limped back to the room she was staying in with Will. By the time Alina caught up to Drake he was picking up and re-sheathing his swords. Alina always loves the way he does it. It wasn¡¯t really different from any other way to sheath a sword, but because she knew just how crazy those blades are she appreciated it that much more. ¡°You ready?¡± She asked with a cute tone. ¡°For what?¡± Drake answered coldly. ¡°Oh don¡¯t be like that.¡± She said as she hugged him from behind. Drake paused and sunk his shoulders. ¡°Are we really that messed up? I mean, we were created to kill yet others who were created for the same reason always call us crazy. Even Gabby is saying shit now.¡± Drake opened up. ¡°Even if we are, who cares. I love you as you are, and you love me as I am. What or who else do we need?¡± Alina replied in a comforting tone. Drake smiled and reached back for her. He grabbed her arm and swung her in front of him, spinning her along the way. She giggled with enjoyment the whole way and when she finally stopped Drake was now behind her and holding her from behind. ¡°I do love you as you are. I need nothing else.¡± Drake spoke softly ¡°Good.¡± Alina whispered back. She reached back for his head and pulled it down for a kiss. ¡°Ok, let¡¯s get to Momo¡¯s room.¡± Alina said after the kiss.