Fiction:Herald of the Devourers/Part One: A Song of Retribution

Herald of the Devourers

The Thing in the Cage

It hung there a pulsating mass of albino flash slowly regerating and rooting all at the same time. A single red eye glared out at the labratory beyond whatching the scientists in their lab coats move to in frow checking its vitals and shaking their heads as they found none. However in its mind was wide awake gloating over what fools these tasty little morsels were. It had no need of organs to live, just the malign will that inhabited its body driving it on. Soon it would be free to feed on these lower beings as was its destiny, but for now it did not posses enough mass to act.

Movement caught its eye and it felt a new presences enter the room. Focusing in it saw the new figure hand over a shinny box over to one of the scientists abd motion at it. The two seemed to be in some sort of argument. However the scientists seemed to be terrified of the newcomer, it could practically feel the fear oozing from them. Eventually the newcomer left and scientists pulled a needle from the box and walked over injecting it. The thing could feel strength filling as its body began to fully regenerate. Eventually it stood, a humanoid form with flesh like marble, a head dominated by multiple glowing red eyes, angelic wings, and tentacles with gapping, fanged mouths at the end. Its telepathic laugh boomed across the room as it adressed all present.

• Thing - Now little morsels who wants to be my first meal?

---

Scream echoed from behind the the door as the newcomer turned to glance behind himself and grinned.

• ??? - Welcome to the new world cattle.

---

Far from the events taking place in the Singularity's laboratory, there was a remote fortress built on a very large asteroid. The asteroid had fusion mills built into it, allowing it to be propelled. Unknown to all but the most high-ranking Singularity members, some of the leaders of the Saucerian movement resided deep inside.

A shuttle approached the asteroid. A force field covering a hangar built into the side of the meteor shut down, allowing the ship inside. It landed and, after a quick scan, the occupant exited. The scarred, mutilated Vanara called Anthrax stepped from the shuttle, followed by a few members of his Ourokar "Angel Killers" death squad.

The Priests standing guard nodded to him, and he walked into the base. He stepped on a pad and was carried into the center of the asteriod by thermal pressure pads installed in the tunnel. He arrived directly inside the command center. It was lightly guarded, probably due to the strength of the leaders themselves.

Anthrax entered the room. It was almost completely dark, making the pale white creatures in the middle stand out even more. He walked closer to them, his gaze never leaving theirs. Unlike most Singularity Vanara, Anthrax felt no need to bow to them or show anyother form of submissiveness. As far as he was concered, he was the greatest Vanara to have ever lived. So he stood his ground.

• Anthrax - You called?
• Saucerian - We have a job for you.
• Anthrax - Oh? Well then what do you need of me?
• Saucerian - Their was a contaniment breach at one of our labs on the planet Surtr, the test subject escaped. As of yet we do not know how, but we want you to destroy it.
• Anthrax - I see. Do you know where it is?
• Saucerian - No.
• Anthrax - No leads at all?
• Saucerian - None, but you may try checking nearby systems. It cannot have gotten far yet.
• Anthrax - I am an assassin, not a boy scout. You want me to track something you do not even have a location for, it will cost you extra.
• Saucerian - How much extra?
• Anthrax - Two hundred mil up front. Six hundred when I kill it.
• Saucerian - Money does not matter as much to our organization as knowing who to trust. Do not attempt to trick us, Anthrax. We will be watching you.

Anthrax nodded and turned to leave.

• Anthrax (Mumbling) - How can you hope to watch me when you could not watch your own lab?

He headed back to his shuttle, picking up his up-front deposit first. He threw the Kaiser guarding the hangar a tip for no real reason and left.

Hybrid

Nephilim stood on the top of an icy mountain looking down over a valley with multiple horned creatures peacfully grazing down below. Black hair blew past red eyes as he grinned revealing rows of viciously sharpe teeth, even more so then a regular Vanara. Lazily sitting down on a rock he motioned for one of his soldiers to come over.

• Nephilim - Alphus 01 come here.
• Alphus 01 - Yes master.
• Nephilim - Do you see those creatures down there?
• 01 - Of course.
• Nephilim - I wonder if their like many of the other races who inhabit this bleak universe and morn their dead?
• 01 - I do not know.
• Nephilim - Well then, lets find out.

He lifted his hand high into the air and a large portion of the valley wall was blown off and sent cascading down the mountain side. The creatures turned their heads towards the sound and then bolted, the thunderous sound of their hooves echoing up to the party above in a deafening chorus. However no matter how fast the beasts were, the rocks were simply faster and most of the herd was crushed to bloody pulp. Nephilim looked down at the sceen below and scowled in disgust.

• Nephilim - How pitiful, they are too much of a bunch of bestial cowards to even remeber those they have lost.
• 01 - To be fair master they are just simple animals.

Nephilim glanced back at his second. No matter how many neural implants restricting any sense of free will these simple enuchs still every so once and a while displayed some semblence of a personality here and there.

• Nephilim - Ah, but what is the point of living if not to be rembered by others after you have passed?
• 01 - I would not know.

Nephilim sighed and began to pick his teeth bored when he noticed a flamming object falling from the sky and he stood up grinning.

• 01 - Is that what you were here for master?
• Nephilim - Yes indeed it is, stay here now. This is a private matter.
• 01 - As you wish.

Nephilim grinned even wider then before and set of casually down the mountain with his hands in his pockets.

---

A small fleet of Aeba Shuka ships were in hot pursuit of a large, slow space freighter. They were peppering it with laser blasts, attempting to cripple its engines. The freighter was already losing air, and getting even slower.

On the bridge of the lead Aeba Shuka ship, Glacier burped and threw away a can of some rancid alcholic beverage. He leaned forward, watching the freighter being shot up, and started laughing maniacally.

• Glacier - Come on, come on, burn that cocksucker up! Do not let him escape!
• Sensor Operator - Sir, his hyperdrive is crippled. He cannot-
• Glacier - Shaddup! Did I ask you? I SAID IT FOR EMPHASIS!

Finally, the freighter basically stopped. It began to drift uncontrolably due to the air venting out of it. The Aeba Shuka ships closed in. Glacier could already sense the prizes he would loot from this idiot.

• Glacier - Bring us in. Ready the boarding parties.

The Aeba Shuka ships pulled up alongside the freighter. Gaspack-equipped Patrollers lept from the hangars and clung to the side of the ship, looking for a way in. Glacier, needing no breathing or pressure suit, flung himself from the airlock and plunged his darksword into the side of the hull. He cut his way in and crawled inside. His troops followed him.

• Glacier - Find and salvage anything of value. And if you see the crew, I want them alive.

The Patrollers dispersed into the bowels of the ship. Glacier and his retinue of Elites ventured into the command block to find the ships control computer. They wanted to find crew readouts, supply manifestos, and most of all, information on why the ship had come so near the Red Veil. This was extremely unusual; almost all traders, independent or not, knew to stay away from Blood Brother territory if they valued their business or their lives.

The Brothers did not actively seek trouble anymore; not since the uneasy truce. While the were insane, misunderstood, and a little twisted, Terror and Glacier were as honest as they could be and would not backstab an ally. Even Quista would not do that, funny considering his former life as an assassin. No, all they wanted was to be left alone, to do whatever they wanted and live their lives however they saw fit, without harming anyone. Still, they did not take too kindly to intruders in the Red Veil. Those who were not snatched and devoured by the Simnu or indoctrinated by the Viterva Khmara were sure to end up under the blades of Aeba Shuka or Quista Clan scientists.

But this trader had entered their territory, and Glacier wanted to know why. His lifetime of endless war and suffering had taught him to be extremely cautious, and he knew this was no mere slip of the navigational chart.

Glacier's forces spread through the ship, using scanners to create a map of the ship. It was a standard UAE cargo ship, the kind used to transport large amounts of goods at once, usually to monopolize on the profits. They were usually composed of just the bridge, the crew quarters, the cargo, and the engine room, so the Patrollers thought it easy to search.

So the group continued onward until they reached the bridge. The Patrollers waited in front of the door for Glacier to arrive. Actually there was not much door left to wait by; it had been caved in. The bridge itself was a mess as well, with most everything having been ripped apart. There was blood, and thick globs of unidentifiable slime.

• Glacier - Analyze that mess.

One of the Patrollers scanned the puddles with an omnitool. It blipped positively when he scanned the puddle, but made an angry whirrng noise above the slime.

• Patroller - The blood belongs to an Ugandalorian. The slime does not register as any know life form.
• Glacier - Ah, probably just something they found and thought it was valuable.
• Patroller - Whatever it was, it made a meal of the cap'n and left in a hurry.
• Glacier - So where could it be now?
• Patroller - ...Cargo hold?

Glacier's comm system crackled as a Patroller from his ship reported in.

• Patroller - Glacier, sir, we have an unknown ship, Vanara design!
• Glacier - Ah, shit. It is not that goddamned Singularity, is it?
• Patroller - No idea. But those Vanara all stink either way.
• ??? - Oh, surely we Vanara are not all that bad, are we?

Glacier looked up in surprise. He knew that voice. It was a voice he had not heard in years, a voice he had heard last in a Matrukoris security cam recording, shortly before he supposedly killed himself to prevent a Grox attack. But the rumors that Frostbite had intervened must have been true...

Outside, the new ship pulled in alongside the freighter and extended a tubular boarding apparatus that drilled into the ship's hull. A moment later, Anthrax and a cohort of Angel Killers walked onto the bridge. The Patrollers raised their weapons, but Glacier motioned them to stand down. He walked forward, arms extended to his sides.

• Glacier - Anthrax! You son of a bitch! I thought you were dead!

Anthrax rubbed the hole in his face, the one that went from his chin all the way through the side of his head. The scar would always be there, a reminder to him that he was redeemed for what he did. It reminded him that he was no longer the enemy of the Vanara Empire. No, that grudge died with Besta, and he had moved on. He only stayed with the Singularity because he fit in better there.

• Anthrax - I tried, but it did not work.
• Glacier - Well, you always were a lousy shot. I just cannot believe you missed your damn brain.
• Anthrax - All I had to do was hit the control node Terrox put there.
• Glacier - Oh, do not go making excuses. Your brain is a small target, after all.
• Anthrax - Fuck off. At least I did not try to kamikaze a damn Grox Cube.
• Glacier - First, it was a Grox Diamond. Get it right. Second, I did not end up with a hole in my head. Tell me, do you work for my brother?
• Anthrax - That ugly bastard? Hell no. He tried to pull some deal with me, saying he would "sell my services" to people who need that kind of work done.
• Glacier - And?
• Anthrax - And I turned him down. I told him to find a different whore. Speaking of which, you guys still at each others' throats?
• Glacier - No, not really. Not since that incident with the Dark One.

Flashback Glacier hung from the cliff edge, the shuttle the Dark One hit him with still pinning him to the crumbling rock. He looked down. That fall would surely kill even him. In the distance, he heard Tibirix and Dark laughing as they walked away. He wondered what would become of Frostbite. Dark had turned on him just like so many other servants. Surely he would be hunted down and killed eventually.

The rock was crumbled almost to the breaking point. It started to crack and give way. Suddenly, the shuttle lifted right off of him. Frostbite had levitated it up and set it down nearby. But Glacier was still hanging, scrambling to climb up. Frostbite stood over him.

• Frostbite - Well, well, brother. Is this how our story ends?
• Glacier - ...
• Frostbite - Hmm. Too bad.

Finally, the rock completely cracked away and Glacier started to fall. But then Frostbite grabbed his arm and lifted him up. He did not use telekinesis, but actually grabbed him. Frostbite tossed Glacier to the ground. Then, he squatted down in front of him. He stared into space for a moment before turning to him and speaking.

• Frostbite - When we are gone, who will tell our story? You and I, we have seen things that would have most beings too stunned to speak. Armies converted into digital programs, entire fleets on fire, ancient artifacts illuminated under the night sky. All those memories will be gone one day, forgotten. We should try to keep them remembered for a little while longer.

Then, he stood up, got into the shuttle, and flew away.

Flashback Ends

• Anthrax - Then shall we continue our search of the ship?
• Glacier - Yes. Where have we not searched?
• Anthrax - The cargo hold.
• Glacier - Right. Shall we?

The pair started walking down towards the cargo hold, followed by their soldiers. Glacier's comm system crackled. it was one of his men.

• Patroller - Sir, you need to get down here now.
• Glacier - Why? What is the problem?
• Patroller - ...It is best if you...see for yourself.

Glacier shook his head in exasperation and stepped onto the elevator. The others followed. It was a very short trip down, given how small the ship was, and they reached the bottom in seconds. They stepped out and saw the Patrollers standing around, looking into various containment cells. Glacier and Anthrax walked into the room and took a peek inside the cells.

• Glacier - What...the hell am I looking at?
• Anthrax - ...I have no idea.

Inside the cage were two batlike reptillians. They greatly resembled one of the pterosaur-like creatures from one or two of Matrukoris' environments, where they were commonly seen flying around. But these creatures were much different. Their wings were greatly underdeveloped, with little or no webbing in between the long, twisted fingers.

Glacier and Anthrax moved down the line. The next cell held a huge centipede curled up inside. The creature lifted its head when the pair looked in, baring very large mandibles. It gazed at them through those compound eyes almost with a sheen of intelligence. The cage next to it held a half-dozen giant beetles, the next after that holding a ratlike creature the size of an average dog. This creature had no hair, only pale, wrinkled skin.

Every cage held familiar animals that had been gruesomely warped out of shape. Glacier and Anthrax had studied genetics all of their very long lives, and neither had any clue as to what had happened to these animals. But the strangest part came after they had passed by several of the cages and glaced over their shoulders.

All the animals were pressed up against their cages, staring eerily out at them in unison, none moving. It got even stranger when Anthrax and Glacier realized that they were breathing in unison as well. They took a step back, but jumped forward when they heard a roar behind them. In the cage they had bumped into was a bipedal archosaur with large claws. It was very large, twice the size of a tiger. Glacier assumed them to be some form of Dinosaur, as he recognized the species from his time on Raptoranea. But there was something quite strange about it. Neither scales nor feathers covered it's body. It was naked and pale black in color.

• Glacier - These animals are seriously FUBARed.
• Anthrax - We need to examine these in a lab.
• Glacier - Load these things up! All of them.

The two walked out as their men started pulling the cells from the wall and hovering them to the docking tubes. They were both quite concerned, and very puzzled. Anthrax wondered if it had anything to do with the beast he was hunting, and Glacier wondered how the hell he tied into any of this.

Examination

Glacier, Anthrax, and Iyoka Quista stood around a laboratory. Quista had gotten the call from Glacier and swung by to investigate. Glacier was glad for his help, and Anthrax was happy to meet his old acquaintance again. Iyoka, however, was a little less pleased to see him again.

• Iyoka - You mutilated, pussy-whipped, cat-eared son of a bitch.
• Anthrax - Nice to see you to, Quista.
• Iyoka - You must have a real big ballsack on you to show your bullet-filled snout around here again.
• Anthrax - ...What?
• Iyoka - You know damn well what. Ditching us for the Singularity, then the Grox, then Frostbite, then vanishing off the face of the fucking galaxy? You got some real shit going for you.
• Anthrax - I did not really have much of a choice working for the Singularity. If you remember, I had had my arm cut off, been practically gutted, and been severely burned. If I did not accept the Singularty's help, I would have died.
• Iyoka - You should have ditched them after they put you back together. You were working for the enemy!
• Anthrax - You know, they never did technically break the Separatist Coaliton. They just went their own direction. Like everybody else after that Gateworld shit. And they never carried out hostile action. The Coalition would have dissolved with or without them. And that, my friend, is all your fault.
• Iyoka - Yeah? We kicked Pridar in his self-righteous ass. And what excuse you cook up for working with the Grox?
• Anthrax - Forced to. But I changed that in the end, did I not?
• Iyoka - Whatever.
• Glacier - Hey, you bloody prigs, we have a lab full of mutant animals to examine. Can we focus?

Iyoka walked up to the cage with the giant centipede inside. He studied it for a moment, rubbing the hairs on his chin. Then, he formed a concerned look on his face.

• Iyoka - Yo, Glacier. This remind you of anything?
• Glacier - What do you mean?
• Iyoka - You see anything like this on Raptoranea?
• Glacier - Maybe, I do not know. I saw all sorts of tropcal things on Raptoranea. Does not mean anything.
• Iyoka - Well, I have. Ascon. In the ravine swamps, there are giant centipedes like this. The oygen level there is big enough to sustain them.
• Glacier - So? Then it is not mutated?
• Iyoka - Even in the hottest years, they do not grow half this size. This has to be a mutation.
• Glacier - How so?
• Iyoka - All I know is that they used to get right around that size.
• Anthrax - ...Dammit.

Glacier and Iyoka turned and looked at Anthrax. The time they were talking, Anthrax had been pacing about the room, examining the creatures. He had stopped by a cage containing a giant salamander-like animal.

• Iyoka - What is it?
• Anthrax - ...When I was a kid, before everything went to shit, one of my most prized possessions was the skull of a giant extinct amphibian from our homeworld. During my biological studies, I found a picture of one in an ancient book.
• Glacier - Let me guess. The thing in the cage.
• Anthrax - Whatever is mutating these animals is not actually deforming them. It is throwing them back along their evolutionary line.
• Iyoka - Genetic throwbacks...
• Glacier - Any idea who could have done this?
• Anthrax - This perfect? I have no clue. This is no Volverakai breeding project.
• Iyoka - So you are telling us that you have never seen this technology before.

Anthrax turned and looked the two in the eyes, a dead serious expression on the face.

• Anthrax - What I am telling you is that not even the Grox have this type of technology.
• Glacier - How do you know that? They made a whole galaxy.
• Anthrax - You not notice yet?
• Glacier - Notice what?
• Anthrax - What are the animals not doing?

Glacier looked around, a confused look on his face. All the animals were entirely calm, sitting in their cages and staring at the trio. Even the insects. In fact, none of them were moving at all.

• Iyoka - Umm...nothing?
• Anthrax - When is that the last time you have seen caged wild animals do that?
• Glacier - Unitech lobotomy? Again, the fact that these are animals and not sapient beings rules out that possiblity.
• Iyoka - Maybe they are tamed by whoever?
• Anthrax - Tamed bugs? We Vanara have better senses than you, Volver. I know a groupmind when I sense one.
• Glacier - What?
• Anthrax - The animals are linked up in some kind of central intelligence. I have no clue how or why. But I do know that the Grox are too machine-centered to ever do anything like this.
• Glacier - I see your point. Why make a groupmind, but then double back and make them all evelutionary throwbacks?
• Anthrax - Exactly.
• Iyoka - So...bottom line?
• Anthrax - We need to find out what is going on here. Fast.
• Glacier - Right. We will get on it.
• Anthrax - You do not understand. We must work as quickly as possible to complete our objectives, because that groupmind is getting stronger.
• Iyoka - How can you tell that?
• Anthrax - Because I can feel it a lot more than when we were on the ship. We need to hurry, because I sense no stopping in this mind.
• Glacier - Then we must be off. Try to get a lead on this shit.

The trio walked out of the laboratory. As they did, Iyoka turned to Anthrax.

• Iyoka - This groupmind. How do you know it is intelligent? How do you know it is not just a collective insectoid hive mind?
• Anthrax - If it was, all I would have felt would be orders.
• Iyoka - And what did you feel?
• Anthrax - Hatred. Pure fury and stone-cold brilliance. Whatever this intelligence is, it is hell-bent on destroying all in its path to reach what it wants.
• Iyoka - And what is that?
• Anthrax - Revenge.

Ice and Darkness

Nephilim walked down the slope whistling a slow tune as if nothing in the world was borthering him. Okay so he had been attacked by a few large and rather fearsome predators which was more than just a little annoying, but those had been easy enough to slaughter. Little more than a sparing thought was all it took. However as he was getting closer to the crash he found that there was something even more annoying then an attack by predators. Also unlike them it was something he couldn't get rid off, the smell of burning metal and flesh that permiated the air. His nose wrinkled and mouth curbed downward into a snarl at the thought of there being something he could not destroy.

• Nephilim - Of all the powers they could give me I am completely unable to control my sense of smell. Pitful really, to not have such a useful power.

Shrugging his shoulders he began to march through the twisted a burned ruins of what had once been a Singularity ship. Looking around he could see the twisted remains of what had once been the crew. However a good number of them looked like they had chewed on. Whatever it was certainly had a liking for the head. Looking down at one corpse he saw that the only thing left of the head was skin.

• Nephilim - Now what in Thanatos's void filled ass crack happened to you my unfortunate friend.

Reaching down he picked up the empty skin and and put it over his hand using it as a rather grotesque hand puppet as he spoke in a rather unusally high voice.

• Nephilim - Oh mister it was so sad, but this big bad alien came and ate me and all my friends. Look out sir he's behind you right now!
• ??? - Do you always play with your food before eating it. Shame we could have helped sire such petty, wasteful creatures.

Nephilim frowned, didn't matter if you were Persan or Singularity calling someone wasteful was a pretty major insult as far as any Vanara was concerned. His smile slowly returned though as he spun on his heels with his arms wide open to look at the newcomer.

• Nephilim - Well, well, well not much of a hunter if you blow your cover by talking to your prey.

The creature before him had no mouth with which to frown, but Nephilim could have sworn it look somewhat irked at being mouthed off to in such a way. He rather had to imagine to was used to beings cowering in fear before it rather than giving back chat. Yawning he took the skin puppet of his hand and cruched it down as the creature spoke again.

• ??? - The same could be said for you, what kind of hunter just comes strolling into a enemy's killing ground. Besides you cannot defeat me anyway.
• Nephilim - Really now.

He smiled as the ground below the creature exploded. However the thing had already started moving and jumped out of the way and onto a twisted husked of ship.

• ??? - So you have power beyond any of the others, but it still won't be enough.
• Nephilim - *yawning* So says you.

He could have sworn the creatured snarled before it pointed at him.

• ??? - You will pay for your insolence.

A bright yellow beam lanced fourth and hit Nephilim dead on burning his flesh. Nep whiched and almost fell to his knees.

• Nephilim - Are era(oh me, oh my) that was more painful then expected, guess I'll have to pay you back with pain of equal measure.

Slamming his hand into a twisted beam he send the fusion of flesh and metal streching outward to spear his new prey. The creature clapped its hands against the object and made a harsh whessing sound, almost like laughter.

• ??? - Pain is meaningless to me. I feel nothing, be it mental ot physical.
• Nephilim - Hawahsassisiaya! Hawahsassisiaya! Hawahsassisiaya! You know for some reason I think your lying.

The creature's eyes seemed to narrow as its mouthed ten tentacles sprung out at Nep grasping for him. Nep held out his hands generating a energy field that the the tentacles disintigrated upon contact with. The creature actually seemed to whince before Nep projectec the field outward into a beam that blasted the creature back in the a pile of wreackage. The creature stood slowly, bleeding heavily, staining the snow black with its blood. However it was quickly regenerating before Nep's very eyes. Nep growled in annoyance at this.

• Nephilim - You just won't stay dead won't you?
• ??? - Am I annoying you.
• Nehilim - Very much and i tend to make messes when I get annoyed.
• ??? - Then let me alleviate you of that feeling of annoyance.

The creature's blade like fingers suddanly shot from its hands connected by pale, pulsating tendrils. The vicious little blades swarmed at Nephilim cutting him over and over and over again. Try as he might to blast them all away there were just to many for him to handle. They slipped through his defenses and stabbed him over and over again until he lay as a shredded pile of flesh in the snow, soaking in his own blood.

• ??? - How impotent and petulent of you to think that the likes of you could possibly hold a candle to one as powerful as me. You are but a flickering flame that will quickly flare and burn out. I am the freezing cold, driven back, but never gone.
• Nephilim - Yeooo sertently luoove ta ba pooetec.

Nep would have smiled, but all his facial muscles were not in proper working order. What he found so amusing was the look on the creature's, eeer face? It didn't look surprised or anything, just somewhat incredulous and annoyed.

• ??? - Your alive.
• Nephilim - Wervy

Nepihilim's body began to put himself back together. Standing up he grinned and his eyes began to glow with a pitch black light.

• Nepihilim - YES!!! WHAT A GLORIOUS BATTLE THIS HAS BEEN, BUT NOW IMPUTENT LITTLE MONSTROUSITY LET ME SHOW YOU THE TRUE MEANING OF POWER!!!

A blast of pure force eminated from Nepihilim and the creature's eyes wided into what could clearly been seen as fear.

• ??? - No, they can't have brought YOU back. How could they have?!

Unleashing a counter blast it knock Nephilim back before taking the the air in high speed retreat. Nep stood and wiped the blood from his mouth.

• Nephilim - Now that was rude just flying off like that. And I was begiining to have fun!

Anthrax's Mission

Anthrax, Glaicer, and Iyoka stood around in their command center, observing some starmaps and statistical numbers. They were trying to find out where the frieghter could have come from.

• Iyoka - Well, I crunched all the data, and if this is correct...

He punched in a few numbers, and a hologram traced the frieghter's path back to where it set off from.

• Glacier - It would put it right at the center of Singularity territory.

Iyoka and Glacier turned to Anthrax.

• Glacier - Something you not telling us, buddy?

Iyoka just raised his eyebrow and stared right through Anthrax.

• Anthrax - Shit...
• Glacier - What?

Iyoka suddenly drew his pistol and pointed it under Anthrax's chin.

• Iyoka - You had better start spitting facts, or you will get another bullet hole in your fool head. And I will NOT miss.
• Anthrax - Calm down, Iyoka. I am no double agent. I am still just a mercenary. I happen to be on a mission for the Singularity. See, something stowed away on board that freighter. My job is to hunt it down and destroy it.
• Glacier - That is why we ran into you. Tell me, does it have anything to do with those mutant animals?
• Anthrax - No. I had no bloody clue what was on board that ship. But we need to find and kill that Thing before it does catastrophic damage.
• Iyoka - Anthrax, if it was any other Vanara but you, I would have repainted the ceiling with your brains. But I trust you, if not your judgement.
• Glacier - Right. How are we tracking this thing?
• Anthrax - It gives off a powerful psionic wavelength. The Singularity equipped me with a psy-detector. Now, if I plug in the data from the freighter's flight trajectory...

Anthrax computed the new data into the psy-detector. It beeped and whirred a little, then shot a burst of energy into the hologram. It lit up and illuminated a planet on the map. Glacier recognized it.

• Glacier - Ah, shit. That is Terryygry. Backwater, mostly swamp. Very small population.
• Anthrax - So? Means we can go in hard without the UAE finding out.
• Glacier - Aye. You got your men with you?
• Anthrax - Yeah. Only got about half a dozen. I hope you have more.
• Glacier - I got my Patrollers. But I can put in a call to some friends of mine.
• Anthrax - Do it. We will drop in with you.

The three left to get ready for their mission. Iyoka had not brought any soldiers with him, so it fell upon Glacier to provide the manpower. He also called his friends, who agreed to meet him on Terryygry. So they packed as many weapons as they could and brought their shuttles down. Anthrax landed first, bounding into the marsh with six Angel Killers following him. Then came Iyoka, Glacier, and twelve Patroller Elites.

They walked into the swamp until they reached another clearing with a few small shuttles parked. Two Barrio strode up to the trio, both covered in scars and looking generally menacing. Glacier pointed towards the pair.

• Glacier - Anthrax, meet Sids and Sars. These guys served with me during the Red Veil War.
• Sars - Glacier, good to see you again. And you, Iyoka.
• Iyoka - Yeah, yeah.
• Sids - Right, so what are we hunting?
• Glacier - We have no idea. Something big and nasty. We will need a lot of guns. You still got that black market shite?
• Sids - Aye. We got VAK-72s with all the mods: scopes, grips, extended clips, boron carbide parts. Fully charged Hydrogen Flouride rounds.
• Iyoka - Damn. Where you get that?
• Sars - Our crew runs all the Tar Powder trade in Northern Mirus. Those KmK prigs can have the South. No real trade there. UAE plugs those pipelines too tightly.
• Sids - In other words, we have the dough to buy the good stuff. Usually can buy the mods cheap off of the Shadow Hunters. We get the ammo from a disgruntled UAE quartermaster.
• Anthrax - You deal with the Shadow Hunters?
• Sids - Aye, we run Tar through their territory in exchange for gun discounts.
• Iyoka - Dirty business, man.
• Sars - You smoking something, ese? You are a god damn organ and slave dealer. Tell me how to run my crew.
• Anthrax - A'right, OGs, we have something to kill. How about we go kill it?

The trio and their men went into the camp. There were numerous Barrio and Quislings around. There were also several crates of guns. Glacier, Anthrax, and Iyoka each took one of the modded rifles and slung it over their shoulders. The three of them boarded rugged combat jeeps and drove into the swamp on whatever dry ground they could find while Sids and Sars boarded airboats and jetted off into the water.

The trio's convoy pulled into a clearing full of demolished buildings. There was gore and blood splattered everywhere. Glacier grabbed his rifle and jumped out of the jeep, followed closely by Anthrax. Anthrax crouched down next to a particular puddle of gore. He pulled out a scanning device and ran it over the slime.

• Anthrax - Well, this slime is definitely from the monster we track.
• Glacier - So, what? It came through and killed the villagers?
• Anthrax - Looks that way.

Suddenly, a scraggly, diseased-looking creature came staggering out of a hut. it had slime and drool dribbling all over its scabby, blistered hide. Its eyes were pure white, and its tongue drooped out of its head.

• Creature - The key is the gate...The gate is the key...The Others are the Key to the Gate to the Others...

Anthrax had a shocked expression on his face for a moment, but then got a stern look in his eye and shot the creature in the head. But the monster kept limping towards him. Anthrax simply shrugged and, holding his pistol gangster-style, pumped his clip into its chest. It staggered a little, then dropped. He walked up to it and planted a final round in its head.

But as its brains flew out of its skull, Anthrax noticed that the chunks were actually moving, wriggling about on the ground. He looked around at the huts and set off towards one.

• Glacier - Anthrax! Where you going?

He did not answer, just entered one of the shacks and closed the door behind him. Iyoka and Glacier exchanged confused looks before following him inside.

The inside of the hut stank tremendously. Hung from its walls were rotten, mutilated animals. Strange sigils lined the room and, on a table, was a shred of paper. Anthrax picked it up, already expecting what it would say.

• Anthrax - Ag èirigh bho na mairbh domhainn agus a 'frithealadh an cuid eile ann an shiorruidh gun èifeachd.
• Glacier - What?
• Anthrax - We need to leave, now.
• Iyoka - Why?

Suddenly the door flew open. In the entrance stood the creature Anthrax had killed. It levitated off the floor, shrieking at the top of its lungs. Then, it dropped to its feet and spoke in an echoing, feminine voice.

• Creature - You will all die and the Others will come.
• Iyoka - ...Oh, that is why.

Then it lifted a pistol and shot Iyoka in the shoulder. He fell backwards as he drew his own weapon and ended up firing a shot into the ceiling, caving part of it in. Glacier raised his rifle and fired a full clip into the creature. The powerful bullets almost cut it in half, but still it crawled. Anthrax walked up to it and swung an axe into its head. Then he sliced off both arms before throwing the axe down.

• Glacier - What. Was that.
• Anthrax - ...I am a fucking idot.
• Iyoka - What?
• Anthrax - That phrase I read off the paper? It translates to "Rise from the dead deep and serve the Others in eternal void."
• Glacier - What the hell does that mean?
• Anthrax - It means that we are not dealing with one escaped monster and a bunch of slimy swampfolk.
• Iyoka - Yeah? What we dealing with?
• Anthrax - I am not sure yet...
• Glacier - Well you sure as shit know something about that scrap of paper you just read off!
• Anthrax - ...All I can say for sure is that it was from an old book rumored to be a conduit to another dimension...more or less.
• Iyoka - And the creature?
• Anthrax - Put quite simply, I read the passage aloud and brought it back to life.
• Iyoka - Back to life? Shit...now I have heard it all.
• Anthrax - Not really.
• Glacier - Hey, fuck the book. That is not important right now. What is important is hunting down whatever that creature was.
• Iyoka - I suppose we could track the slime trail.
• Glacier - Good. Now get back in the jeep, both of you.

---

Nephilim sighed in mild disappoitment as his ship left the outter atmosphere of the icy world where he had fough the entity.

• Nephilim - How positivly dull. you couldn't even call that a draw. He just wimped out and ran away like coward. I don't think I have ever been so utterly disappoitted in my entire life.

He hunched over with his hands covering his mouth as he smiled a little.

• Nephilim - Well I certainly made it tremble with fear despite what it may claim about not having emotions.

Nephilim feel a feeling in his mind of a eye opening and sharpe teeth peeling back into a vicious grin.

• 2??? - What a silly little idea. All things fear something deep in their primordial hearts though they trie to deny. I know all to well.
• Nephilim - I'm very sure you do.
• 2??? - Such fear has severed me well time and time again.
• Nephilim - Oh I would imagine that it very well has... Thamarok...

For just a second, at the meer uterance of that name, everything seemed to grow unusally still. Not a light flickers, nor machine made a noise. It was as if the world was holding its entire breath from just the softest whisper of such a name, as though the whole of creation had denied its existence only to have that one thing it denied suddenly thrust forward into its face and in such away that it could no longer turn a blind eye.

• 2??? - Perhaps that name's utterance best be saved for a latter time, hmmm?
• Nephilim - Ah the truths you speak, such a pity though having to sensor my own tounge for the sake of the plan. What a shame, what a shame, what a shame.

There was no reply from the voice in his head and Nep simply shook his head in mild disappointment before giving off a maasive yawn and a streach.

• Nephilim - What a pity, you've gone all silent my friend. Do you no longer wish to speak with me? I might feel hurt!

There was still no respose. Nep just shrugged.

• Nephilim - Suit yourself. Comupter where has are little target run off to with its tail tucked behind its legs?
• Computer - A near by swamp world inhabited by primitive natives.
• Nephilim - Well set in a course, We have a run away to catch.

The area around the ship erupted in grey flames as the ship made the jump into Accel Space. For awhile the ship was susspended in the dark twilight gloom of Accel Space, only dimily lite by the flickering lights cast by many balls of flames of numerous colors. Then as soon as the ship entered the alternate world it ripped its way out and found itself in orbit around the planet

• Nephilim - Prepare for landing. We have a beast to hunt.

The Singularity ship cloaked itself and dropped down through the atmosphere. Activating the anti-grav function of its Effectuater so that it floated unaturally over the water. Nephilim jumped out and began picking his way along the shore. After awhile he stopped and cocked his head as if listening. Then he turned around and saw a dark, shadowy figure standing before him.

• Nephilim - Why hello there! If you don't mind I'm looking for an escaped labritory experiament, could you point me to where it is?

The being shook its head before coming up to Nep and whispering in his ear. Nephilim grinned devishly at this and chuckled to himself.

• Nephilim - Indeed that would be entertaining. Come now and sit with me Nelemoki. Let us watch these event unfurel.

The dark shape sat beside Nephilim on a rock jutting out of the swamp and the two waited.

Showdown

The trio headed back to their jeep, jumped in, and started down the trail of destruction the thing had left. They eventually found their way deeper into the swamp and had to get out of their jeep to continue. Glacier spoke through his radio to Sids and Sars.

• Glacier - Where are you?
• Sars - We are heading through some thick-ass trees in the water, probably about a klick and a half away from you.
• Glacier - Good, keep going, try to link up with us.
• Sars - Right, will do. Wait, what was that? Holy shit!

Glacier heard only shouts, roars, and gunshots, then static. He threw down his radio and motioned for his men to follow him. They ran on foot into the swamp. Eventually, they reached a large clearing full of tall swamp grass. There was no sign of life anywhere. Then, they heard trees crackling.

• Glacier - Get ready!

The men put their guns up, and the thing came bursting through the trees, throwing them like giant spears. The creature stood before them a pure white being with a well defined body that towered above them all. Three red eyes stared down at them from a mane of hair from which a crown of horns rose. Great angelic wings sprouted from its back and several tentacles with versiral mouths at the ends swayed around the creature. Then it spoke with a deep, calm voice that seemed almost polite.

• ??? - Who are you?
• Anthrax - The last thing your warped, pathetic eyes will ever see.

The thing looked at Anthrax and seemed to be anaylizing him before speaking again.

• ??? - Ah yes I remeber your kind, I was there on the day when we first created you.
• Anthrax - Do you seek to distract me with tales of the past that I have no knowledge or care of?
• ??? - You should, from the past doom flies on black wings. Tell me, do you have any idea why my kind created yours?
• Anthrax - Servants, soldiers, food, why does it matter?
• ??? - Food, until those usurpers the Persacron made you into weapons. Why it matters? Simply put you would all be better off as food. It is a fate far kinder then the inevitable doom that awaits you.
• Anthrax - Weapons. Our kind defeated yours once, and today I finish the job. I will take my doom when it comes, and go to my grave knowing that I feasted on your bones as your kind did to mine!
• ??? - Pathetic really, there are so many more of us waiting to remerge. It matters not though Qliphoggr will be the death of us all, you simply cannot stop it.
• Anthrax - Maybe, if the Others do not destroy him first. You and I can know not the politics of the nether worlds of which we have no sight but for the Fheadhainn.
• ??? - *snorts* Qliphoggr cannnot be stopped with weapons and force, indeed it will always exist so long as there wickedness in the hearts of mortal and immortale alike. But enough talk.

At this the creature slammed its foot down causing spikes of earth to erupt from the ground in a ring that spread outwards rapidly. Glacier's group jumped up to avoid them, but got caught in the spray of mud and momentarily disoriented. By the time they wiped the mud out of their eyes and off their visors, the thing was on them. It smacked Iyoka with a long, sinewy tendril, sending him flying into the swamp. As it raised a foot to mash Glacier, the Patroller Elites accompanying them launched multiple whitewave blasts at it. The bursts of light blew off the limb about to smash their leader to pulp, but the thing was far from phased.

It lunged once again, launching a spread of barbed tendrils from a cavity in its chest. The coiled appendages sprung out like gunshots and sank deep into the chests of five of the Elites. The thing dragged them into itself and consumed them. The seven remaining ones opened fire, their laser blasts burning deep holes through the creature's flesh. It roared in pain and sweeped out with a thick, spike-covered tentacle. The ball of hardened bone, cartilage, and muscle pulverized one Elite and threw the others down.

Anthrax was the first of the trio to recover, and he quickly pounced at the creature, pistols blazing. The heavy-caliber laser blasts hurt the creature, but not by much, and Anthrax soon put away the weapons. He flicked his wrist, and half a dozen serrated blades sprung forth from a gauntlet. He lunged into the coils of tentacles, slashing them off, only for more to grow in their place. Soon, he found himself ensnared.

The tentacles began to tighten and pull. Anthrax could feel his muscles and meat straining against the force. The creature was ripping him apart slowly, ensuring he felt the maximum levels of pain. Suddenly, Anthrax felt an explosion, and the tentacles were blasted away in a flash of light. He hit the ground hard, and saw Glacier holding the rifle of one of the dead Elites. He and the remaining six started firing again, the lasers blasting tentacles off and searing the thing's flesh. But it was not to be deterred from destroying its prey.

A tentacle covered in long quills uncoiled from the creature's innards and launched venomous spikes at the combatants. Glacier and Anthrax dodged them, but the Elites were less lucky. All six were caught in the hail of shards, impaled with neurotoxins so poisonous that they were dead before they felt the pain of being impaled.

The thing coiled back to fire again, but Iyoka came flying out of the swamp, hacking the tentacle off with his sword. He continued to fly around it, shooting the creature and dropping grenades on it. More chunks of flesh were blasted off of the creature, but it flung a tentacle up and grabbed Iyoka. It began to squeeze him to death. Anthrax and Glacier rushed to assist him, but they too were grabbed up and throttled. The world began to turn black.

From the center of the monster's mass, a bulbous mound of flesh emerged, with one large red eye and thousands of teeth and feelers.

• ??? - You will die, as all of your kind must...

Then, through the starry haze of suffocation, the trio saw a trail of fire fly from the trees and smash into the creature's "head". The explosion blew it to pieces, and the thing dropped the trio. They quickly scurried out from underneath the tentacles and saw Sids, Sars, and their men running out from the swamp. Sids held a smoking rocket launcher. The others raised their black market weapons and opened fire.

The laser-chemical rounds tore massive holes through the thing's body. It shrieked and thrashed about as thousands of bullets were pumped into it. Glacier, Iyoka, and Anthrax joined in with their own weapons, filling the monster with holes. Finally, after what seemed like a million shots, the creature collapsed with a low, heavy groan. It shuddered, then was still. The group walked up to it.

• Glacier - Is it dead?
• Anthrax - I do not believe so.

Part of it stirred, and a tendril with a small red eye slowly emerged like a periscope to stare at the group.

• The Creature - This body, it matters not. Be it a hundred years or a thousand I will return. Strike me down as hard as you can, but I WILL NEVER TRULY DIE!
• Anthrax - We shall see.

Anthrax yanked an incendiary grenade launcher out of a Quisling's hands, jammed the barrel into the center of the creature's mass, and fired. The shell caused the creature's body to erupt into large chunks of meat, covered in burning slime from the weapon. The great bulk of the creature rumbled a little, then died and began to spread out over the grass like melting plastic. Anthrax tossed the weapon back to the Quilsing and wwalked away.

• Anthrax - We are done here. Now we- What the hell is that noise?

Just then the group became aware of a slow, drawn out clapping echoing from the swamp. Just then every weapon the group had on them simultaniously exploded as a what appeared to be a third stage Vanara with black hair and grinning like a cat that ate the entire aviary stepped out from the shadows.

• ??? - Really very impressive all of you I must applaude. However, their is one little thing that still needs to be taken care of...

Moving faster then the others could react he stood in the center of the creatures once great mass and chuckled. From the creatures chest a strange, multicolored energy was beginning to gather and swarm right into the new commer. From this energy the whole group could hear a scream so horrific that it forced them to their knees and would fore its way into their nightmares for weeks to come. After the last of the energy had vanished the newcomer gave a satisfied sounding burb.

• ??? - Now that, that's done there is one more thing.

With those words the creature's remains began to melt, squelching over the group towards the newcomer, whose body was beginning to ripple like water. The two met and began to intertwin into one another in an perverse dance of twin protoplasmic masses becoming as one. When it was done the newcomer stood their changed. His body was larger, with far more muscle, wielding great black claws, and thorns sprouting from all over. His grin widened to immposible lengths as he lifted his fingure into the air. Rising above the tree line was his ship glistenning in the setting sun. He then clentched his fist and the ship shattered into a million pieces. Laughing some more, six great black wings sprouted from his back and he rose into the air flying away.

• Iyoka - Oh you gotta be fucking kidding me!
• Glacier - Anthrax! Who was that!?
• Anthrax - No idea but we had better go after him!
• Glacier - Agreed. Sids! Sars! The ships, now!

Sars pulled out his intercom and signalled the ships to beam them up. They did and the hsips began chasing the laughing Vanara as he flew through the stars.

---

Nephilim flew feeling freedom that he had never felt before in his entire life coursing through his veins. Giggilying manically he soundlessly crowed at the top of lungs into the vacuum.

• Nephilim - Oh what power the ancients possed and now its all mine. Even better more will belong to me soon as well! However...

He looked back at the ships chasing him through the void of space and snorted.

• Nephilim - I could just destroy them, although...

He looked over at the planet they were just nearing and grinned even wider.

• Nephilim - I have an idea with much more... entertainment value.

Taking a hard turn he entered into orbit around the planet and descended into the atmosphere. Landing in a secluded zone on the planets surface he chuckled as he sensed their ships coming into orbit. Rasing a claw and humming to himself, he slashed downward and ripped open a portal to Accel Space. Humming a slightly diffrent tune his whole body glowed green as a Realizer formed around it and he walked through the portal which swiftly closed behind him.

---

• Glacier - Shit!

He slammed his fist onto the ship's console.

• Iyoka - What?
• Glacier - He is gone! All readings have vanished.
• Anthrax - Shit! I have a feeling that that guy is gonna be a problem. Scan the planet, see what you can find out.

Sars ran a scanner sweep over the planet. He got a confused look on his face.

• Sars - This is a Unitech outpost.
• Glacier - What? Let me see... Well, shit. Wait, the life form readings, they are the same as the creatures we found on that freighter!
• Sars - What freighter?
• Glacier - Never mind. Anthrax! Recognize these signatures?
• Anthrax - ...Yeah, but these do not make any sense. We had better go in.
• Glacier - No. They will have traps, alerts. We need a stealthier approach. Sids, Sars, I got an idea.

Altered Minds

The leader of the former Unitech cabal, a Psiteon named Haemogoth, looked out over the waters through the windows of his command center. The cabal's main base was on an island to keep it isolated, should anything go wrong. There were other bases on larger continents, but this one was the most important. The most important for their research.

After the dissolution of the Citadel, Haemogoth's cabal had turned to making bioweapons for profit, selling to gangsters, mad scientists, even the Brotherhood of Darklings and Alpha Cyber Collective. But the project they were working on now was going through some setbacks. Bad setbacks.

Suddenly, he heard an explosion. For a moment, he was worried that something down below had gone up, but when he looked out the window, he saw a ship with flames rising all around it. A simple shuttle crash. In any case, the survivors would have to be taken care of. He called his security chief, a Raptoranean called Jaegor.

• Jaegor - Sir!
• Haemogoth - There is a fire out there. Seems like a shuttle crashed. It is giving off the signal of one of ours.
• Jaegor - I will send a search team out there.
• Haemogoth - See that you do. We cannot mess up. Not when we are so close.

As Jagor rallied his squad, Glacier, Iyoka, and Anthrax beamed down on the other side of the island, decked out in full combat armor and equipped with new weapons. They crept up the coast, keeping a lookout for any Unitech soldiers. They saw none, so they moved into a brisker pace up the beach, past the rocky part of the coast. They came upon a thin bridge of land marking the middle of the island. Based on their scan, it was actually two islands connected by that bridge of land. They were separated by electric fence several meters high. The group moved closer to investigate, but Glacier noticed something in the water.

• Glacier - Get back! NOW!

The group jumped back, but it was too late. Anthrax dislodged a rock in the sand as he moved away. It floated foreward, and a huge plume of water and metal shards flew into the air.

Glacier - Shrapnel mines. Guess we landed just in front of them. Good thing, too.

Back in the command center, a warning siren went off.

• Jaegor - A mine has been detonated!
• Haemogoth - One of our bastard creations?
• Jaegor - No, it was an outer one. Intruders!

---

The strike team Jaegor sent to the downed shuttle reached it. The first thing they noticed wa that the shuttle was intact, and that a gas fire had been lit in front of it. Nobody was around. It was deserted. The Cambion captain called Jaegor.

• Cambion - Sir, no bodies found. The shuttle appears to be undamaged.
• Jaegor - Of course! It is a trap!

Suddenly, Sars sprang out of cover with a grenade launcher and blasted the Cambion and a few of his men away. Sids and the rest of their men jumped out from behind the shuttle and opened fire, cutting down the Kabalites where they stood. Sars waved his hand and pointed at the command center. The men started up the beach, shooting any Kabalite that was still moving.

Meanwhile, Glacier, Iyoka, and Anthrax had moved deeper into the island, into a forest. Soon, they came across a large structure, another Unitech building. This one was surrounded by another electric fence. The trio were trying to figure out a way inside when they realized they were being watched.

They turned and saw a large gathering of creatures behind them, in the forest.They were completely still, all of them. None payed any attention to one another, even though some were clearly prey animals and others were predators. Some were even sentient beings, or at least seemed so. The trio thought they recognized Ugandalorians and Raptoraneans, though they were warped into primitive forms.

• Glacier - Forget them. Concentrate on... oh, fuck it.

Glacier wound back and launched a blast of electricity at the fence. The blast overloaded it, shorted it out, and shut it down. But the moment they walked towards the entrance to the lab, the creatures noticed and started moving their way. Some snuck of into the trees, while others came right at them. The trio noticed a large, scarred, primitive Ugandalorian who seemed to be the figurehead of the pack. He glanced at the trio, then turned and led his pack into the trees around the building.

• Iyoka - What the hell are those?
• Glacier - The same things we found on that ship. We need to move fast.

The trio quickly ran past the gate as the creatures came towards them. They did not know what they would do if the creatures caught up with them, but they did not want to find out.

Suddenly, an electric net dropped onto them, paralyzing them. Jaegor emerged from the trees, clapping his hands.

• Jaegor - Well done, infiltrating our facility. But surely you did not think you would win?
• Iyoka - Fuck you.
• Jaegor - Such attitude. But no matter. You are going to be Tallix's playthings now.

Jaegor gestured to his men. Some of them dragged the team into the building. Jaegor followed them. A few of his men stayed outside to guard.

Inside, it became apparent the building was a lab. There was chemistry equipment, computers, and other lab tech everywhere. Jaegor threw the trio into mobile cages. He guided them into the main lab. Inside, a Psiteon stood over his work, a dissected degenerated Raptoranean. He looked up when he saw them enter.

• Tallix - Ah! More subjects?
• Jaegor - No. These bastards broke in. but we caught 'em.
• Tallix - Broke in? Quite an incredible feat.

He walked up to the three and inspected them, even prodded Anthrax with a needle. Anthrax snarled and snapped at him. Tallix laughed.

• Tallix - Now, now, is that any way to treat your new doctor? Jaegor, bring them.

Outside, the guards were milling about, when one of them heard a noise. It sounded like a tranceiver radio with a voice, barely audible, coming through it.

• Kabalite 1 - You hear that?
• Kabalite 2 - Yeah. Sounds like a radio. We should go check it out.

The guards went around the side of the facility and found the radio: it was clutched in a severed arm laying on the ground. And the voice coming through it was nothing more than animalistic grunts. The guards backed off, confused. Then, shapes launched themselves at the guards, from the trees, from the ground, and others simply charged across the grass. The creatures dismembered the guards before they could even react. Then, they gathered up their weapons. The creatures were now armed.

Back in the lab, Tallix brought the trio into the main room. Inside were several cages, like the ones on the ship. But even the ship had not prepared the three for this.

These creatures were even more distorted. One cage held a Dragowar so degenerated it now resembled a Vechtbeast of old. Another cage held a Dragowar twice the size of a normal one. A cage across the room held a small pack of pitch-black Ackals. Tallix stood among these creatures, beaming in pride.

• Glacier - What have you turned these things into!?
• Tallix - We have...improved them.
• Glacier - How?
• Tallix - Let me explain, since you will never be leaving this place alive anyway. About a year ago, Unitech found a virus contained in the creatures of a particular planet. Studying it, we discovered that it reactivated much of the junk DNA inside a creature's genome. During tests, we discovered that adult creatures were unchanged by the virus. However, when we injected the virus into their eggs, it changed them into something better. They were turned into perfect creatures. Incapable of becoming sick, enormously strong and smart, and capable of reproduction of the perfect offspring on their own. Unfortunately, the activation of the junk DNA causes evolutionary throwbacks, gigantism, birth defects, you name it. We have not found a counter to this yet. But then we discovered something even more remarkable. The creatures generate an electromagnetic field that acts as a transmitter to the other infected creatures, effectively linking their intelligence. It is a hive-mind of such high quality that even creatures that normally die if separated from their own groupmind, like Ackals, integrate seamlessly when born. However, we have also noticed that the field has been growing. We already discovered that the field goes down the size scale so much that it is incapable of being measured, but the field is also growing outward even further. We have no idea what it will become. For now, anyway. We have to run more tests.
• Anthrax - ...You idiot.
• Tallix - What?
• Anthrax - You do not get it, do you? The creatures are connected, almost completely one mind. Hurt one, it hurts them all. You have broken and twisted that mind into something so psychotic that you cannot contain it anymore. But you are not just dealing with a psychopathic mind. This mind is expanding faster than a supercomputer and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Si'nesh help you, because nobody else has the capability.
• Tallix - Hmm. Interesting theory.

Then, Jaegor's radio went off. He answered it.

• Kabalite - Sir! The creatures are going on a rampage! They wiped out all of first squad and are using our own weapons against us! They- aggh!
• Jaegor - Tallix, your creations have revolted, and I will not lose any more men trying to reign in your fucking science project. I am going to blow up the island. You had better gather up your research now.
• Tallix - But, the specimens! We will lose years-
• Jaegor - Get the data, doctor. Whateer you do not take now will be destroyed.
• Tallix - Fine. What about them?
• Jaegor - Leave them. If the creatures do not get them, the bomb will.

The two left the room, leaving the trio alone.

• Anthrax - Well, shit. Now what?
• Glacier - We break out.

Glacier grabbed the bars of the moving cage, closed his eyes, and began to concentrate. Plasma seeped from his hands and melted the bars away. He pulled himself out of the cage and unlocked Iyoka and Anthrax's cages.

• Iyoka - We need to move. Fast.
• Glacier - Agreed. You remember the way?
• Iyoka - Yeah, through that door.
• Anthrax - You mean the locked blast door?
• Iyoka - Sheeeeeeeiiit.
• Glacier - Look! There. An elevator.

Sure enough, there was an elevator behind some lab tables.

• Anthrax - What good are those? We want to go UP, not down.
• Iyoka - Have to start somewhere.

The three got into the elevator and rode down, finding themselves in the creature holding pens. There were hundreds of cages, stacked atop each other. They were going to rush on through, but heard the elevators moving as Unitech troopers came down to secure the research and destroy the creatures. Glacier turned to think of something, and noticed all the creatures staring at them. The one closest to him was another featherless birdlike creature. In another cage, a degenerate Raptorian, almost completely devolved into a raptor, stared at them through slitted eyes, slightly scratching the force field covering his cage. A feral-looking Lagorthene solemly looked at him without making a sound. Then, they began to speak. At first it was little more than noise, but then they began to form words.

• Creatures - Help us. Help us. Help us. Help us.

The chant continued, as the trio frantically tried to figure out a way to escape. But anthrax was starting to get an idea. A clever idea.

The Kabalites opened the elevator and entered the pens. They moved in, guns at the ready.

Kabalite 1 - Alright, we have to activate the purge, burn these bastards alive in their own cages, and hightail it out of here. Kabalite - Um, sir? Why are the force fields down?

The room was silent for a moment as the Kabalites processed this. Then the creatures launched themselves out of their cages and flooded onto the Kabalites. It was a bloodbath. Most of the Kabalites were dismembered in moments. A huge birdlike creature lifted a Kabalite off the ground, flew into one of the higher-up cages, and began eating his eyeballs out. A large octopoid grabbed one with its tentacles and ripped him into five pieces.

The Lagorthene grabbed a Kabalite and bit into his neck as packs of degenerated sentient being tore the Kabalites apart with their bare fists. More cages from above came down, releasing the black Ackals, the Vechtbeast, the supersized Dragowar, and the others. The Kabalites were ripped to shreds in a fury unbound.

Once the massacre was complete, the creatures, and Glacier Iyoka and Anthrax, stormed out. The next wave of Kabalites entered. They saw the bloody remains of their comrades, then noticed the only living thing left in the room. A degenerate female Raptoranean, riddled with toxic crystals and bullet holes. She stood next to the switch that activated the firebombs contained in each cage. She let out a bit of a laugh, then made a fist and slammed the button. With no force fields to contain it, the fire burst from the cages and immolated everything in the room.

The trio climbed up a destroyed elevator shaft, almost being crushed by a gigantic snakelike creature easily a hundred feet long slithering up the shaft. They reached the top level and saw the creatures beating on the door to escape. Within minutes, it was smashed.

Jaegor ran into the command center, where Haemogoth and Tallix waited.

• Jaegor - Sir, we must leave! The island is set to self-destruct!
• Haemogoth - ...No matter. There are other facilities on this planet. We shall go to one of those.
• Tallix - Let us be off. We shall make for the shuttle.
• Jaegor - I will not. I am going to find my attack jet. I will deal with these intruders before I leave.
• Haemogoth - Good luck.

Jaegor left the room, as did the others.

Outside, it was a slaughter. The creatures worked in perfect unison, partly out of their hivemind, but also out of the fact that they had been imprisoned and tortured together for so long. They took their hate and pain out on any Kabalite too slow to flee. The degenrate sentient beings attacked with all manner of scavenged weapons, while creautures like the Vechtbeast and the Dragowar simply mauled their way through the Dark Raptoraneans. The snake devoured soldier after soldier, swallowing them whole. A few of the massive birds lifted screaming Kabalites and Wyaches off the ground, then dropped them onto the mines in the water. Glacier and Anthrax realized they were trying to clear the way. But there were not enough bodies. Soon, huge flying insects and smaller birds began dive-bombing into the water on kamikaze runs, sacrificing themselves to clear the mines away.

After that was done, gigantic fish and other sea creatures exited through the awauducts under the facility and emerged into the water. Some of the other creatures hooked makeshift rafts to their backs and piled onto them, sailing into the oceans to take their war to the mainlands. They were running on fury alone. Raptorians scampered ahead, devouring the dead and living alike. The Vechtbeast and Dragowar followed in their wake. The trio noticed Soldarians, Bygorians, and even Spydorians, the original insect-like versions of the Antroths. They also notcied the pack of black Ackals break away from the army and run back into the forest. They could only imagine what errand they were going on. Then, they saw a badly wounded Soldarian dressed in some looted military gear approach the scarred Ugandalorian. The Ugandal gazed at him, then made a farewell gesture. The Soldarian loped off in another direction.

Glacier then saw a shuttle on a raised helipad.

• Glacier - Shit! Those bastards are going to get away! I am going after them!
• Iyoka - Glacier! The island is going to blow in fifteen minutes! Hurry!

Glacier ran off to stop Tallix and Haemogoth.

The two mad scientist approached the shuttle. However, a large Soul Splitter with saber teeth blocked the way. Tallix ran past it, not noticing Haemogoth slip away. He made it on board the shuttle and told the pilot to start the engine. Glacier approached the shuttle and grabbed the doorframe. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his arm. He turned and saw the Soldarian staring back at him. It backed away from him a little and placed its hand on its stomach. With that hand, it pushed its guts back through a nasty bullet hole. In its other hand, it held a detonator. Glacier then realized that the military gear it wore was actually a large number of grenade bandoliers hooked up to a remote detonator. Glacier realized what the creature intended to do. He backed out of the way and let it on board.

Tallix sat down on his seat. He noticed someone coming through the door. He thought it was Haemogoth.

• Tallix - I see you made it-

Then he noticed it was not Haemogoth. The creature stared back at him with a malicious grin on its face. Tallix backed away from it, panicking. The Soldarian stepped further into the shuttle as it took off. Tallix had entered full-on panic mode as the Soldarian stepped further into the shuttle.

• Tallix - Help!

Before the pilot could yell back as to what was wrong, the creature raised the detonator and pressed the button. The mostly shrapnel-based grenades tore through the hull of the shuttle and sent it spinning down. It also tore the flesh from Tallix's body. He was still alive when the shuttle crashed into the water and exploded.

Jaegor ran through the forest as the countdown neared five minutes. He was not worried, but he wanted to put some distance between himself and the explosion. He was near where he kept his plane. But he heard rustling in the trees. He turned, needle pistol drawn. One of the black Ackals emerged from the trees. He shot it, sending a needle right through its shoulder. It roared in pain, and Jaegor shot it again. And again. He emptied his needles into it. The creature lied still. Jaegor did not bother to reload. He turned to flee into the forest when he came face-to-face with another Ackal. This one clamped its jaws over his arm before he could reload his pistol. He yelled in pain and began punching the creature. Then, he felt something bite his leg. A third Ackal yanked his leg out from under him. The two creatures stretched him to the point that his muscles tore and he screamed in agony. Then a fourth Ackal emerged from the treeline. And a fifth. The both took hold of his other limbs and pulled him taut. Finally, the first Ackal, still alive, limped over to him. It ripped open his body and pulled his innards out as the others slowly pulled his limbs off one by one. The Ackals slowly and surely turned Jaegor into a quivering pile of flesh. Only then did he finally die.

Haemogoth watched the shuttle hit the water and explode, and at that moment realized his chances of escape were slim. Jaegor had not yet taken off, so perhaps he could reach him... oh, fuck it, he thought. He stopped on the beach and stared out at the water.

• ??? - Going somewhere?

Haemogoth turned and found himself face-to-face with Glacier, Iyoka, Anthrax, and Sids and Sars' bunch. Haemogoth laughed a bit and raised his hands.

• Haemogoth - No, not really. Just enjoying the view.
• Glacier - Feast your eyes, for it will be the last thing you ever see.
• Haemogoth - Glacier... You do not remember me, do you?
• Glacier - ...No?
• Haemogoth - I... am your creator...
• Glacier - What? I was not created by Unitech!
• Haemogoth - Not officially, no. But yet by Unitech science you came to be, and by Unitech science you shall end. Not here, not now, but someday, it will be Unitech science that kills you.
• Glacier - You did this to me! You made me and tortured me all those years!
• Haemogoth - I did.
• Glacier - Why?
• Haemogoth - Because Solid and the Archons wanted super soldiers.
• Glacier - Solid knew? The whole time?!
• Haemogoth - Of course. You did not really think that he found you by accident?

Glacier roared and fired a blast of electricity at the ground.

• Anthrax - Glacier, fuck this guy. We need to leave, now!
• Glacier - No! He must die!
• Anthrax - He will, but not today. Neither will we!
• Glacier - No. I cannot die today. He has said as much.
• Iyoka - The bomb about to broil this island IS Unitech science, asshole! Let's GO!

Glacier pushed his friends off of him, and pointed a finger at Haemogoth.

• Glaicer - Time to die. For you, and for me.
• Haemogoth - As you wish. Time to obliterate yet another failed experiment.
• Glaicer - Then i will die with honor.
• ??? - No, you will not.

There was a flash of light, and a hulking, black, armored form stepped out. It fired a blast of plasma at Haemogoth, hitting him in the chest and stunning him. It was Frostbite.

• Glacier - Brother?! What are you doing here?
• Frostbite - It does not matter. What matters is that you not die here. Remember those memories.
• Glacier - But you cannot die here either, bastard!
• Frostbite - My role in the universe is at an end. You still need to rescue Shiver and kill Pridar.
• Glacier - ...Fine. Fuck it! You wanna die here, be my guest.

The shuttle swooped in and extended its tractor beam. Sids and Sars' men made no delay in rushing into it. Anthrax and Iyoka waited a moment, gazed back at Glacier, then followed the others into the beam. Glacier stepped back towards the beam as well. Frostbite realesed the blast he had hit Haemogoth with. The Psiteon collapsed, hacking and coughing.

• Frostbite - Glacier, if you ever see our other brothers and sisters again, tell them...sorry.
• Glacier - I will.

Then, Glacier stepped into the beam, and vanished. Frostbite turned to Haemogoth, who had finally stood up, wiping blood from his nose.

• Haemogoth - Now you'll die to save your brother. What is that worth?
• Frostbite - I have not come to save my brother. I've come to play.
• Haemogoth - What?

Frostbite took off his mask, revealing his snarling face and glowing red eyes. One by one, he dropped his weapons and left himself completely unarmed. Then, he pointed at Haemogoth and fired a red laser from his claw. The blast burned the Psiteon's flesh, who roared in pain. He swung his arms out, causing several blades and pincers to extend from his body.

Tentacles emerged from the palm of one of his hands as he levitated off the ground. He launched a thick, coiled wire that Frostbite barely dodged. He did not dodge the next one, and it sank deep into his shoulder. Frostbite grunted and yanked it out, taking his breatplate with it. He then jumped into the air and slammed his fist into the ground, causing a gravity bubble to shoot at Haemogoth and fling him into the air. Haemogoth levitated back to the ground, only to be met with lightining blasts shooting from Frostbite's fingertips.

Haemogoth cringed as the lightning coiled around him and charred his skin. Another tentacle snaked out of his palm and shot a series of sharp, triangular pieces of metal that lacerated Frostbite's exposed chest. The lightning stopped. Frostbite roared and lunged at Haemogoth, launching plasma blasts from both palms. The blasts kept hitting Haemogoth and knocking him backwards.

Frostbite drew an arm back, accumulated a mass of gravity around it, and threw it at Haemogoth. The blast knocked the Psiteon off his feet, smashing him down hard into the dirt. Frostbite approached him, raised his arms, and started to heat up the ground underneath Haemogoth. In less than a second, the grass beneath him burst into flames. Haemogoth screamed in pain and jumped up .He aimed a rusty flamethrower tube coiled on his shoulder at Frostbite and launched a scorching stream of flames at him.

Frostbite met the blast with a wave of freezing cold air. The two held that position for a few seconds until Frostbite suddenly whipped up a blast of wind that spun Haemogoth around as he was blasted with freezing air. Sensing his advantage, Frostbite rushed in for the kill-

And Haemogoth shoved a rust-coated, poisonous and serrated spike right through Frostbite's gut. The blade weakened Frostbite, but did not kill him. He snarled in anger and vomited a large wave of acid onto Haemogoth's face, boiling away his skin and burning off one of his arms. Haemogoth responded by shoving another knife into Frostbite's chest.

Frostbite grabbed Haemogoth by the head and wrenched off one of his mandibles, then jammed it into the side of his head. Haemogoth reahed up a claw to scratch at Frostbite's eyes, but he puked up a splash of liquid nitrogen that froze Haemogoth's hand and caused it to shatter. Then, Haemogoth coiled his tail around Frostbite's back and impaled him from behind, right through the chest.

Frostbite weakly coughed up a mixture of blood, liquid nitrogen, and acid, a cocktail that splashed on Haemogoth and burned even more flesh from his body. Frostbite reached up and slowly drove his claws up through Haemogoth's throat, reaching up, up towards his brain. Two of his fingers popped out of Haemogoth's eye sockets. Haemogoth screamed in pain, Frostbite drove his claws up further towards Hameogoth's brain...

And then the island exploded.

Glacier, Iyoka, Anthrax, and the others watched the island erupt into huge chunks of rock, flinging water, dirt, and fire a mile into the air. When it all settled, it caused a huge tidal wave to rise up and bury it all. The group turned away.

• Iyoka - Well, that is over with, I guess.
• Anthrax - No, it has just begun.
• Iyoka - Right. You gonna go back to the Singularity now? Get paid for killing that thing?
• Anthrax - Iyoka, have you given a fuck's bit of attention to what has happened? Those things in the swamp had a page from the Fheadhainn! If Swampfolk on a backwater world can get even a shred of the page, it means that the Others are growing in power.
• Iyoka - Others? Fheadhainn? What are you babbling on about?
• Anthrax - Do you not know, you master of secrets and manipulation? Surely your clan knows...
• Iyoka - Knows what?
• Anthrax - Never mind.
• Iyoka - Whatever, bastard. Go back to the Singularity and babble on about fucking "Others" and demon books. We Quistas are on top of the situation, now and forever.
• Anthrax - Oh, you have no idea how close to "being on top of it" you really are.
• Iyoka - Fuck you, Anthrax.
• Glacier - Enough! Anthrax is right. There is more going on than we know. This Vanara we fought, he knows something. We should focus our energy on capturing and interrogating him.
• Iyoka - You do what you like.
• Anthrax - Yeah, I aint going near that guy. There is something bad about him. I do not like it.
• Glacier Then what do you recommend?
• Anthrax - A certain "old friend" of yours happens to be still alive on a backwater world, trying to uplift a race of tribals into his own personal army. I believe you thought him lost at sea.
• Glacier - ...No way! He is dead!
• Anthrax - See him die yourself?
• Glacier - Well, no.
• Anthrax - When have you ever known him to stay dead?
• Glacier - And you say he has knowledge of this Vanara, and these Others you speak of?
• Anthrax - If my interpetations of the Fheadhainn is correct, yes.
• Iyoka - Who are we talking about here?

Nobody answered him. Instead, Glacier and Anthrax both went to the bridge to chart a new course. iyoka just grumbled and sat down, sharpening his blade.

As the mortals planned their next move, something far off in the cosmos watched and waited, planned and strategized. Beyond the walls of time, of space, of the very concept of being, something made of pure unfathomable energy yet hideous at the same time reared its non-existent head in a non-existant dimension, licking its lips of energy with a boily, swolen tongue of knowledge and time. It rumbed ina voice that was not there, but expressed itself universes away in the ripple of grass or the drift of a meteor through space.

• ????? - Through the echoes of our domain, through the wisps of shadow and light and doom in every corner of of every dimension, let this day be known as the day we rose and took back what was ours. Let this day be known as the day every mortal died and yet dreamed and served us in a time of the timeless! Let this day be known... as the day time died!

The thing howled a roar that would have driven any mortal insane, and the whole dimension shook with flurries of light and darkness. Yet there was no sound, not even a real rumble in the dimension that is lost.

Dimensions away, in a corner of a universe unfound by any, every planet in a galaxy exploded at once.