Jerking awake out of another nightmare, Flitter shuddered harshly as she wrapped her arms around her stomach and rocked. The coolness of her metal arm, and the pinching skin between plates only served as reminder that her nightmares were more than just that; they were reality, one she’d live with for the rest of her life. Sounds from around the barracks began to invade her small quarters, causing her to scrunch her features and screw her eyes shut.

When the sounds refused to abate, she slowly opened her eyes again, and let out a haggard sigh. Rolling out of bed, she set her feet down on the floor, only to quickly retract them with a hiss of surprise. The floorboards were positively frigid, and her sensitive soles had suffered the burden of discovery. Laying on her belly, she began fishing for her boots, which lay discarded halfway across the room, having been left there the night prior.

Straining as she reached out, Flitter grasped weakly at the boots as she clung to the bedsheets, half on, half off the bed as she stretched. She realized her mistake the moment the fitted sheet popped free of the corner, though there was hardly a thing she could do about it as she fell forward, landing chest first onto the frigid floor.

“F-FUCK! A-AHAH!” As quickly as she had fallen, Flitter rolled, and fell completely off the bed as she tried valiantly to keep her bare chest off the frozen floorboards. A flurry of expletives came flying from her as she flailed and jerked, all in attempt to get somewhere that wasn’t frozen. Biting the bullet, she grabbed the bed frame, and hauled herself up onto her feet. Quickly dressing herself as she shivered and suffered, Flitter rubbed at her pained chest as she stumbled groggily toward the door.

Throwing open her door as she grumbled, Flitter nearly jumped out of her skin when someone immediately yelled in surprise.

“Christ! Watch the door, dammit!”

Poking her head around it, Flitter did her best to smile sheepishly toward Jack. “Sorry! Are you alright?” She took the moment of his distraction to quickly take in Jack’s half dressed form. Despite the compounding abuses it’d suffered, it was still a very welcome sight for the Knight Captain.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” Jack sighed as he pulled his warm hoodie closer. “Seems we’ve finally gotten our first chill. Weather network says it’s about minus eleven outside, so you might-” He paused for a moment, his own eyes flicking over her. Flitter immediately felt the chill burn away to her heated blush. Jack quickly redirected his gaze back to her face. “Ehum… you might want to dress a bit warmer. I’d hate to see you catch a cold.”

“Y-you’d take care of me if I did, right?” Upon speaking, the tall woman immediately clammed up, and mentally cursed herself for ever opening her mouth. Her train of thought was immediately derailed when he smiled softly, and ran a coarse hand through his hair.

“Course I would, darlin’.”

“Heeeeeee~” Flitter quickly pulled both hands up to cover her traitorous mouth, her blush expanding twofold as she went wide eyed and stared at the floor.

Staring with wide eyes, Jack grinned as much as his ruined face would allow. Gently reaching up, he took both of her hands in his. “That’s gotta be one of the most adorable things I’ve ever seen you do. Top five.”

“Sh-shuddup!” She quickly warbled, her embarrassment driving her voice up several decibels. “I’m a lean mean killing machine, I am not adorable!”

Chuckling, Jack released her hands and started toward the mess hall. “I’m not gonna argue that. You’re a badass. But you’re also fuckin’ adorable, Sparky.”

With a skip in her step, Flitter quickly caught up to him and took his arm. “I’m gonna kick your butt if you keep this up, mister.”

“Heh, feel free, I don’t think you can make me any uglier.”

“Don’t… don’t say that, Jack.” She gave his hand a mild squeeze as she spoke, before tugging his arm, signalling him to pause. “Can you… can you call me Darlin’ more often?”

Smiling softly, he gave her hand a returning squeeze. “I think I owe you more than that. Let’s go get food, darlin’.”

Together, the pair continued down the hall toward the mess hall. As they approached, the sound of loud conversation met them far earlier than they’d expected. Quirking a brow, but saying nothing, Jack pushed open the doors. Inside the mess was the usual suspects, plus another dozen faces neither Jack or Flitter recognized. Walter was at the front of the pack, laughing boisterously as he doled out food. He quickly spotted the pair, and grinned ever wider as he beckoned them forward. Out of the group, Jack’s eyes were immediately drawn to the four foot tall spider-frame, which was clearly a separate model from what Hans had used. This one was more angular and spindly, while his had been bulky and clearly built for abuse. This one was gesturing wildly with it’s manipulators as it spoke with a chirpy woman’s voice.

“-and then Kord nearly threw the guy through the window!”

“He called me a frog! The piece of shit was lucky I didn’t throw him into the deep fryer!” A skinny, mean looking man with a moderate french accent yelled back with venom as Walter handed him a cup of coffee. The man, who Jack assumed to be Kord, immediately switched gears as he smiled bright, “Ah, merci mon ami!”

Taking a seat by the newcomers, Jack smiled to Walter, though Flitter beat him to the punch in regards to talking. “So, Walter. These must be the friends you told me about earlier?” The new group turned their attentions to her, and some waved or nodded as Walter smiled sheepishly.

“Sure are, Captain. Morning!” He was quick to hand her a cup of coffee. “Though I wasn’t expecting them so early!”

A musclebound man with a moustache that could only belong to an officer set his cup of coffee down as he looked to the newcomers. “Well, Walter, are you going to introduce us to your new friends?”

Nodding quickly, Walter ushered everybody in as he smoothly slid a new pot of coffee into the machine. “Alright everyone, these are my new friends, they’re uh….” He paused, as if suddenly finding himself conflicted between the truth and a lie. Flitter chose for him.

Smiling brightly with the charisma only a pony could produce, Flitter crossed her arms over the table top. “I’m Knight Captain Falenas of the Joint Special Operations Group. We’re… not exactly from around here, but thankfully Walter has been so kind as to give us a place to stay and train.”

“In exchange for money!” Jessica was quick to chime in as she sat down by Flitter and bumped her shoulder.

Looking to Jack, Flitter began to speak, when he quickly cut her off. “Just call me Jack. I’m acting as pathfinder for the group.”

A briefly quiet moment passed, before the man with the moustache smiled, and reached forward with a hand. “Master Sergeant Irving Kleese, 401st Cazador Mechanized Infantry, retired. Always a pleasure to meet more career soldiers.” Irving stood tall and carried himself like a man much larger. His handsome face bore a twirled moustache, and a thick leather eyepatch.

As if a dam of social awkwardness had burst, the two groups immediately began to intermingle. The frenchman smirked as he moved up, coffee in one hand and the other going through his scraggly high and tight haircut. “Corporal Kord T. Adder, Legion Front Line Medical, retired. Kind of.” Jack and Flitter were quick to greet him, but were interrupted as the brainbox piloted spiderform pushed the short Kord aside.

“Git outa the way, Napoleon!”

“Don’t shove me, you robo-slut!”

“Eat my shiny metal ass!”

Laughing nervously, Walter quickly slid between the bickering pair and his alien guests. “They’re always like this! Don’t mind the- Yeow! Roxy! Not the knees!” Walter cried out as he doubled over, and the heavy spiderform skittered up his side.

Waving happily with a pair of manipulators, the spiderform quickly introduced herself. “Name’s Roxy, Roxy Shultz!” She reached out and took both Jack and Flitter’s hands, before shaking them both with mechanical vigor. “It’s been so long since we had new people join our little club, and you guys look like you’ve got tons of stor- HEY!” Roxy’s metallic limbs flailed violently as she was hefted off of Walter. “Put me down! I know my rights!”

“I wish you’d exercise the one where you’re silent.” A dour looking woman with long black hair muttered as she set Roxy down. As Roxy gestured violently at the busty woman with her manipulators, she turned her amber eyes and thousand yard stare on to the newcomers. Forcing a soft smile, the woman nodded to them. “Call me Maggie”

With the weight of Roxy’s metal body off his chest, Walter was able to pull himself up and wheeze. “Thank you, Maggie…”

“Don’t mention it.”

Hefting himself up, Walter patted Roxy’s chassis. “Have you lost weight, Rox?”

“Yeah! I swapped out the ceramic plates for carbon fibre, I lost like, thirty pounds!”

As everyone around them chattered, Flitter turned to Jack, and smiled weakly. “Well this is hardly the quiet morning I was hoping for… what did you get up to yesterday with Taven?”

Smiling slightly, Jack ran his eyes over the crowd of veterans as they intermingled with the disguised alien ponies. “Networking. I may have us an arms dealer, but we need to meet her in two days. I’ll talk to you later about it.” Turning his attentions back toward Walter’s veteran friends, Jack did his best to get to know them, as he was certain he’d be bumping shoulders with them sooner rather than later.

Agent Danner’s heels clicked loudly as she walked through the halls of the Central Intelligence Agency’s headquarters on Earth. Interns and office workers were quick to skitter out of her way like the cockroaches they were to her. It was a blessing sometimes, to have the reputation Danner did, as she didn’t bother looking up from her active omnilink as she walked. She knew where she was going; everyone else just had to stay the hell out of her way.

Entering the elevator, she took a brief moment to straighten herself out as she hit the button for her desired floor. Despite the ever present scowl she wore, she could hardly contain her current excitement. The elevator doors dinged open, and a press of agents began to enter. Her excitement could wait, it seemed. Growling angrily, Danner pushed her way through the crowd, and began her walk to the office of the Deputy Director.

Inside his office, Deputy Director Summers was about to tuck into his lunch. He was a rather portly man who’d once held the physique of a linebacker. Of course, having a high stress desk job and fast food on demand did little to help in that field. As he went in for a bite of his well deserved burger, someone short approached his door, and rapped angry knuckles off the frosted glass. He’d known who it was the moment he had seen the silhouette. Only Agent Marley Danner was so audacious for someone barely pushing five foot. “Come in, Danner.”

His door clicked open, and the severe little woman entered his office with all the contained fury of a bottled whirlwind. He could tell she was utterly pleased with herself, and that told him she’d done something substantial. “Sir.” She stood before his desk, not bothering to sit. Not that she needed to, he could look her straight in the eyes while sitting.

“I assume you’ve found something regarding Voronin? You seem giddy.”

The look of annoyance that crossed the small woman’s face was incredibly brief, but it was more than enough to repay Summers for his lunch, which would definitely be cold by the time he got back to it. She was quick to nod, and bring up her omnilink, sending him the data. “Yes sir. My tailings on her have born fruit. Seems she’s planning on leaving the planet in a few days, probably to shake us off. However-” Danners sent him some documentation, and a slew of videos and pictures. “She’s scheduled to stop by an auction held by Muhammed Bin Kalani in Seattle in two days, along with VLI’s direct competitor, Foxhound. The event is being held in Mohammed Bin Kalani’s private penthouse estate, Kalani Tower.”

“Good.” Summers nodded as he skimmed over the details himself. “This should be an excellent opportunity to get eyes and ears on her. I want to know what she’s doing.”

“Sir?” Danner did her best to hide the anger that would have definitely laced her voice had she not. “We have more than we could ever need. We could take her down right now!”

“I’m not interested in her arms dealing, Agent Danner. She’s planning something bigger, and I want to know what.” The Deputy Director leaned back in his chair as the agent stared at him. “Did you put tailings on her personal guards like I told you to?”

“...Yes. Yes sir.” Agent Danner shifted slightly, unable to hide her frown any longer. “They met with somebody the other day in Washington. I wasn’t paying it much mind. I was more focused on the new intel.” She sent him the video of the day prior at the National Mall, which he began to watch with mild interest. A moment of silence passed between the two as he watched the gun runner’s team scoop up some seemingly random man.

Summers furrowed his brow, and replayed the section again. “Do we have ID on this man?”

Slowly looking over at the image, Danners shrugged. “Tried to, but it’s Elysian Fields, apparently. Double black. I figured him for competition or a potential buyer.”

The news immediately caused his brows to furrow. “Right. Alright Danners, get your team together, and prepare to snoop on this meeting. Get back to me immediately if anything comes up.”

“Yes. Sir.” She had to all but force the words out as she turned and stormed out on loudly clicking heels. She was furious, but currently that didn’t matter to Summers.

Regarding his cold lunch, he shook his head. “Elysian Fields, double black… What the hell are you doing, messing around with a madman like Blackburn, Olivia?”

The day prior had turned into a blur of activity for both Jack and Flitter, with more of Walter’s veteran friends streaming in and filling the barracks to bursting. While it’d been nice to mingle, the numbers were starting to become alarming. Almost a hundred people had shown up to the base in personal vehicles, bringing food and other items for the impending holiday celebration. Thanks to the huge influx, Flitter was forced to put a halt on all training.

Minerva slowly panned her gaze over the fleet of vehicles, suspicion and concern etched into her features. “I don’t like it, Ma’am. What if one of ours slips up?”

Smiling lightly in an attempt to calm her sergeant, Flitter laced her fingers together across the small of her back. “If it happens, we’ll deal with it appropriately. I’ve faith that our soldiers will keep a lid on things, and I’m confident that both Jessica and Walter won’t betray our secret.”

“It’s not much of a secret, ma’am… it feels like everybody we meet ends up figuring out that we don’t fit in.”

“We look human, but we hardly play the part.” Flitter murmured in return, before sighing. “Make sure that everybody is aware of the consequences. I know they already know, but with all of this going on, it needs to be reinforced.”

Nodding sharply, Minerva smiled to her Captain. “You can count on us, Ma’am.”

A sure smile split across Flitter’s face as she nodded to Minerva. “I know I can. You guys are second to none.” Her attentions were quickly pulled down by her chiming omnilink. “Hold on, let me answer this.” Answering the call, she was greeted by Jack’s face.

“Hey guys. Can I get the lot of you alone for a few minutes? Thanks in advance, I’ll be by the tank.”

“Sure thing, Jack, what’s up?” Flitter asked, but got no response. Tilting her head, she spoke again. “Jack? Hello? What-” Without warning, the video message replayed itself, and Flitter flushed with embarrassment. “Dammit… I’ll see you around, Minerva.”

Nodding, Minerva about-faced, and began to march back to the barracks.

Rubbing at her cheek, Flitter looked up to see a small group of people headed for the tank hangar. Without needing any more prompting, Flitter set off after them. Entering the hangar, she was greeted by the smell of cold metal and oil. Leaning against the tank was Jack, before him, Taven, Jessica, Walter, and Yuma. He greeted her with a mild hand motion, before beckoning her over.

“Thanks for coming, guys. Alright, so, a couple days ago, Taven and myself made contact with an old friend of mine, Hans Drescher. He’s a bodyguard for an arms dealer who goes by the name Olivia Voronin. I’ve secured a meeting in Seattle tomorrow.”

Already knowing it all, Taven stayed quiet, as the siblings whispered to each other. Yuma was quiet as well, leaving Flitter to talk. “What kind of meeting?”

“Fancy dress, or so I was told. So that means, that I need Jessica to help you get something snazzy.”

Smirking coyly, Flitter immediately had something in mind. “Right. How many are coming along?”

“Myself, you, and a plus one for security.” Jack set his hands on his hips, and Flitter could immediately tell Taven was smug in knowing the plus one would be him. It came as a mild surprise when Jack looked to Yuma. “Yuma, do you want to be our plus one?”

As Taven coughed in surprise, Yuma seemed to light up with glee. “I am in your debt, Jack. I will be your bodyguard for this event, on my honor.” She thumped a meaty fist against her chest.

“I gotta say…” Taven started as he scratched the back of his head. “I figured I’d be coming along, considering they’ve already met me.”

“True.” Jack glanced over at him coolly. “But you’re in the time-out corner for busting my balls and sassing me.”

“Aw, what!?” Taven exclaimed as Jessica sniggered. “That’s crap!”

“Suck it up, Princess Mochaccino. Jessica, think you can help out Yuma as well?”

The short girl grinned brightly, with the look of a predator in her eyes. “You, paying for a shopping trip? Hell yeah! I’ll get these two looking all kinds of sexy!”

Sighing hard, Walter pinched the bridge of his nose. “Jess, I swear to the Martyr…” He shook his head, before looking at Jack. “So, how does this involve me?”

Relaxing against the cool plates of the tank, Jack did his best to look reassuring. “I figured you deserved to know. If you got any issue with this, I want to hear it.”

With a look crossing surprise and pride, Walter shook his head. “No sir, just don’t bring anything bad back here, alright?”

“Rah.”

With the meeting apparently over, Jessica immediately descended upon Flitter and Yuma. “Are you two ready for this shit!?”

Furrowing her brows in confused concern, Yuma nervously glanced to Flitter. “I thought we were to get clothing? What does poop have to do-”

“You are far, far too excited for this.” Flitter said as she looked to Jessica, whose grin only grew.

“Oh don’t look so scared, come on, we’ll take my car!” Herding the pair out the hangar door, Jack could only smile and shake his head at the small woman’s eagerness to pester and violate personal space.

“Well… do you guys want to get some coffee?” Walter asked as he rocked on the balls of his feet.

“I need a hand getting my Blues ready.” Jack looked to Walter, silently asking him.

The big man turned into a big kid almost instantly, nodding rapidly as he shot a stiff salute. “Sure thing!”

Taven scowled as he kicked at the floor. “I thought-”

He was quickly cut off by Jack, as the man started for the door. “Still in time-out, Princess.”

“DAMMIT!”

The drive into town was a very quick one, thanks to Jessica’s overeager lead foot. The little corolla hit dirt road corners at angles it had no right to, and by the time they arrived at the tailor’s store, she’d managed to terrify both of the other women.

Getting out on shaky legs, Flitter set her mechanical arm down on the roof of the vehicle as she sucked in a weak breath of relief. Yuma hadn’t taken it any better; the huge woman gripping the seat as if it were still a matter of life or death, her mechanical claw digging in deep.

Tugging on the heifer’s shoulder, Flitter did her best to remove the minotaur from the tiny electric car. “Come on Yuma, the ground is solid here.”

“M-N-Noooo!”

“My driving wasn’t that bad!” Jessica yelled from the door. “Come on, slowpokes! Daylight’s burnin’!”

With great effort, Flitter began to peel Yuma out of the car. Today was going to be a trying one, she could already tell.

The inside of the shop was fairly large, but utterly filled to the brim with suit pieces and dresses. “Be there in a moment!” A voice called from the depths of the store, though Jessica had already wandered deeper in to browse.

“Humans have so many things, it is… madness.” Yuma murmured to herself as she looked around the store with wide eyes. “Their race is driven by madness…”

“I’m not going to argue that.” Flitter muttered in return as she slowly made her way to the dresses. She had something very specific in mind, something that would blow Ada’s slinky red dress right out of Jack’s mind. Arms deal or no, she was dead set on it.

“Hello hello!” A voice called out to her, earning a quirked brow and a glance around from Flitter. Not finding the owner of the voice, she craned her neck to look over the racks. “Down here, miss.” Looking down, Flitter nearly jumped in surprise as her eyes fell upon what had to be the tiniest human she’d ever seen. The man was little over three feet tall, though there was no way she could confuse him for a child, as the man was wearing a finely tailored vest and slacks, and his face was a canyon network of wrinkles and age marks.

“Hello, I um-”

“Manny!” Jessica yelled behind Flitter as she peeked around the taller girl. “I’ve got two express orders, party for tomorrow!”

The tiny man sighed as he adjusted his glasses. “I see. Well, if you all could step over to the mirrors, we’ll talk this through.” Without another word, he set off, disappearing into the racks. Flitter didn’t have a moment to contemplate the request as she was herded forward by Jessica.

With the trio of women gathered, Manny the Tailor motioned toward the bench. “One at a time. Who is going first?”

“Flits is!” Jessica motioned to Flitter, who sighed and stood.

“Good afternoon, sir.”

“Military, hmm? Alright, miss. What are you looking for?”

Caught off guard by his immediate call out of her profession, Flitter hesitated for a moment. “A um… dress. Black. I’ve… I’ve kind of got some people to impress, so-”

“What style?”

“I’m sorry, I know a grand total of nothing about dresses.”

Smiling lightly, Manny set off into the back. “I’ve got just the thing.”

After a brief pause, Manny returned from the back with a small black dress. “Alright. Chiquita, scan.” A tiny drone detached itself from the ceiling above Flitter, and began circling her as Manny pulled down a holographic headset. “Mm… Six feet tall, fit, C cup, mmm… alright. That prosthetic.” He gestured to the finely wrought metal prosthetic arm. “Do you want to hide it, or accentuate it?”

“...Hide it.” Flitter shifted. “But only a little.”

“Right. How do you want this? Do you want to come off as professional, or do you want to be sexy?”

“Can I… be both?”

Smiling all the more, Manny nodded as he began modifying the reactive nanofabrics. “I can do that, yes. Single strap, double strap, or strapless?”

“Erm… single strap, and an open back?”

“Alright, let’s see what I can do…” Tucking into his work, Flitter watched as the tiny human began to give Rarity a run for her money with his talented fingers and incredible technology. Within the hour, her dress was finished, thanks to the reactive nanofabrics, which responded to the orders Manny the Tailor gave them. Slipping off to the changing room while Yuma was prodded up on to the floor, Flitter began to change into the slim jet black dress. The dress was tight, but allowed her to breath far more than she’d anticipated by looking at it. The jet black dress hugged her athletic frame like a second skin, but left plenty to the imagination. The single strap connected to a full arm glove that was tailored to slip over her prosthetic, with writhing vines opening opaque windows to allow for the excellent craftsmanship of her arm to show through, but not the twisted, abused flesh it connected to. She had an elbow length glove on the other side to even the look out, but as she turned and looked herself over with the mirrors, Flitter could only find herself stunned by her own accentuated beauty. Everything was hugged tight, perked up, and supported. The knee length dress allowed her to move easily, but the only flaw, was she had not a single place to hide a holster, save for a thigh holster.

Blushing slightly at the sight of herself, Flitter shook her head, and stepped out of the dressing room, only to find everybody waiting for her. Yuma had seemingly opted for a simply suit with a vest and suspenders; the huge woman looked like an Amazonian turned teamster. Yuma seemed very pleased with her choice as she continued to play with the soft fabrics and silk vest. “There she is. How does it fit?” Manny looked up at Flitter as Yuma got used to her new clothes. Having been distracted by the Minotauress, Jessica looked over, before her eyes went alight with stars.

“You look amazing! Like, holy fuck!”

Smiling sheepishly, Flitter looked herself over out of reflex. “It’s um… It’s great. Really great.”

“Wonderful. Would you like shoes to go with it, or no?”

“N-”

“Yes she does!” Again, Jessica butted in, grinning brightly. When Flitter shot her a disapproving glance, the shorter woman smirked. “I got just the thing in mind, it’ll make your ass look fan-fucking-tastic! With a look like that, you’ll kill the old man. Seriously, if he doesn’t fall for you the moment he sees you, I will!”

“That’s a deeply uncomfortable thought…” Flitter muttered, before nodding. “Alright, let’s do this…”

Back at the camp, Jack was taking a far more relaxed approach to his outfit. With his dress blues laid out flat on the small bed, he’d passed his medal boxes over to Walter to set them out for him.

Looking over his tailored uniform, Jack felt a pang of pain and regret toward the mare who’d made it for him as a gift. I’ll get you all back. I promise.

Before he could fall too deeply into his thoughts, Walter’s gasp ripped him back into reality. “What?”

“This… this is the Star of Terra!” The big man exclaimed with a star struck, squeaky voice. “Oh my god!”

Looking over the large medal meant to hang around his neck, Jack pursed his lips lightly. “Leave it in the box. It’ll draw too much attention. Get me the ones out of the other box.” As Walter was distracted with the Star of Terra, Jack slipped a small metal box into his breast pocket. A gift from Blackburn, and a taste of what the old man had to offer.

“This is… wow… I never thought I’d see the real thing, up close, in my hands! This medal, Jack, it’s… there was actually a search for this, like, a decade ago, they wanted to recover it and put it in a museum! It’s utterly priceless!”

“And that’s why it’s staying in the box.” Jack began to press out his jacket and shirt.

“Right, sorry.” Popping open the Equestrian medals box, he faltered again. “You… wow. I thought… Wow!” Holding up the medal Luna had presented him, Walter stared deep into the magical medal containing a million stars in the dead of night. “It’s beautiful…”

“Yeah… There should be a few medals in there. I…” Jack sighed, wanting deeply to say ‘I don’t deserve any of them’, but holding his tongue. “Can you get me the one shaped like a lance?”

Nodding, Walter dug through the small box, and produced two. The Lance of Equestria, and the Broken Lance. “What are they for?”

“Gallantry.” Jack muttered quietly, before relenting. “I was given the lance for the capture of an enemy vessel, the broken lance for this.” He gestured to his ruined features.

“And this shield?”

“Rescue of hostages and exceptional bravery in the face of overwhelming odds.” His mind wandered to the changeling hive, and the operation that’d almost gotten him killed. If it hadn’t been for Baron and Snake, he definitely would have bit the big one. At the thought of Snake, Jack’s features fell again, and he gripped the desk beside him tightly.

“Mar- Jack? Are you alright?” Walter asked quietly as he laid a huge hand over Jack’s shoulder.

“No. But I’ll live.” Slowly pulling on his dress uniform, Jack began to check himself over for any problems.

Once pleased with the condition of his dress blues, Jack turned, and had Walter begin to secure his myriad of campaign ribbons and pin on his rack of medals. A good few remained in their boxes, and even then, his rack was still rather large.

“Goddamn… I gotta say, Jack, you’ve got an amazing rack.”

“Hah!” Jack grinned, and earned one from Walter in return. “Thanks, Wally.”

With his wide grin on, Walter continued carefully placing the medals and pins in with appropriate order. “Seriously though. This is worth more to me than any amount of money. I would have never thought, in all my life, that I’d get to meet you, sir. Let alone pin medals on your chest. You’re a hero to a lot of people, and this is… yeah.”

Sighing softly, Jack did his best to remain still while the big man set medals in. “I’m not a hero, Walter. You should know that by now. I’ve… done a lot of things I regret. Said things. I cuss and bite and I’ve killed a few too many people-”

“Permission to speak freely?” Walter interrupted sharply.

“You know you don’t need it.”

Nodding, Walter did his best to relax his hardened features. “Sir- Jack. It seems to me that you... have a serious misunderstanding of what a hero is. A hero isn’t somebody with amazing powers or abilities, who takes all the bad guys alive and saves everybody in the nick of time. They’re not pretty, perfect people who can do no wrong. They’re normal people, who stand up and do what they can when awful things happen. In the end, it doesn’t matter to me that you cuss and spit and yell, that you’re hurt, or messed up. It doesn’t matter to me the mistakes you’ve made; what does matter to me is the lives you saved by putting yours on the line, your bravery, and your few good deeds. What matters, is that when nobody else would, you stood in the way of death. And… after spending this time with you, I’m insanely proud to say I know you for what you are, not what the media painted you as. You’re not some perfect super hero, bounding around in a super suit saving all the kids and pretty girls; you’re human, doing what you can in the face of impossible odds. You’re exactly why I joined the Legion.”

Smiling softly, Jack shook his head. “You know I’ll argue it all day, but… thanks. Some days it just feels like I’ve done nothing but rage against the world and spin my wheels in the muck.”

“I know the feeling. I really do.” Walter gave his shoulder a knowing squeeze. “But you know what I do when I start getting stuck on all the mistakes I’ve made? I think about the good things. I think about my friends, and the others I’d give my life gladly for, the people and things that make it a life worth living.”

Nodding slowly, Jack patted the hand on his shoulder. “I’ll try that. It’s just.. hard. I got a lot of faces, burned into my mind. But… yeah. Enough of that.”

Grinning a little, Walter set back to finishing with the medals. “I wonder how Jessica and the girls are making out.”

“Ooh, there’s a pleasant thought.”

Cringing as he blushed, Walter buried his face in his big hands. “Noooo! Come on, man! That’s my sister!”

With a cackle, Jack found himself grinning wide and actually laughing. “I gotta say, your sister is fuckin’ cute, if a complete nutjob! And the thought of her with Yuma and… Flitter…” Jack hummed happily as Walter stumbled and whined in agony at the awful thoughts driven into his head. “I’ll take that image with me. Think of it when I’m down~ Thanks for the advice, Wally.”

“I was wrong…” Walter warbled. “You’re a Villain!” Jack’s mirthful laugh only served to torture him further.

The trip in to Seattle was thankfully a quick one, though by the time the trio had arrived, it had been deep into the night. With their outfits tucked away carefully in carry bags, they’d made their way downtown, and rented a hotel room for a tentative two days.

Sleep hadn’t come easy to anybody in that room, though they all wanted it.

The morning held more interest as Jack, Yuma, and Flitter all got ready for the meeting. Slipping into her slinky dress, Flitter wobbled and struggled as she tried in vain to get used to the strong, wide backed heels. With every shaky step, they clicked and clacked on the hardwood. Pausing by the large standing mirror, she gave herself a long look over with a critical eye. “Well… if anything, Jessica was right…” With her short hair dolled up to the best of Jessica’s rather surprising abilities, Flitter felt… attractive, for the first time in a long time. With cautious strides toward the door, She pulled in a short steadying breath, and walked out of the bathroom.

Standing in the hotel room’s ‘den’ was Jack and Yuma, who were both already dressed and waiting. Without his exo skeleton filling out the jacket, Jack looked lithe and rigid in his dress blues. Both Jack and Flitter froze upon seeing each other; with Jack dropping his unlit cigarette as he went slack jawed, and Flitter growing immediately self conscious.

Blinking away his shock, Jack reached down awkwardly for his fallen cigarette, while Flitter wrung her hands together and fiddled with the dress. As if unaware of the tension, Yuma smiled brightly and waved. “You look wonderful, Knight Captain!”

“T-thank you, Yuma. You look good as well.”

“The fabric, it is so soft, I want all of my clothes to be made of it!” Yuma grinned happily as she played with her suspender straps under the open vest.

Smiling a little at the Amazonian heifer, Flitter’s eyes flicked over to Jack as he put his weight on a cane. Her smile quickly vanished, to be replaced with concern. “Jack, will you be alright without your Exo?”

With a soft, regretful look, he nodded. “Yeah. Not the first time I’ve hobbled around with a cane… Besides, you’re the one that needs to look impressive, and…” He slowly trailed off, before smiling slyly. “You look... “ He went silent, unable to find the words.

“Thank you…” Flitter smiled with awkward enthusiasm. “Prom all over again… heh. Alright, are we ready?”

“We’ve got three hours to get to the hills address. I’ve got our entry slips.” He held up his omnilink for emphasis. “Hans and his boss will be meeting us there. It’s supposed to be one hell of a shindig.”

Wincing, Flitter nodded her understanding. “Right. Have I ever told you how much I hate parties? And crowds?”

“Probably… I can relate.” Setting his hands on the suspiciously K-bar shaped handle of the cane, Jack smiled as best he could, despite the pain that crept through his bones by the simple act of standing without aid. “I’ll call us a cab. Ma’am.” He added softly as he smirked at her.

Agent Danner was angry. Granted, that was how she normally lived her life; on a gauge of annoyed, to pissed off. Currently, she was angry at the coffee cup that refused to stop leaking.

“Agent Danner, we’ve got eyes on the penthouse deck. Lots of armed guards. Handguns and flexlar vests.” One of her field agents lifted his headset off as he motioned to the screen. The tower was huge, and almost all of it was owned by Mohammed Bin Kalani’s front company. The man was wealthy beyond all reason thanks to several highly successful rare metal orbital deposit claims, and as a result, he loved to throw parties. To facilitate his needs, the penthouse deck was almost as big as the penthouse itself, with a large pool, two hot tubs, a dry bar, and a swim up bar. It could easily hold two hundred guests at a time, plus his armed security detail.

Danner’s team was deployed in a large hotel room, two city blocks away from the tower. It was only thanks to stealth drones and powerful audio-video pickups that they’d be getting anything of worth without getting spotted.

“Floyd, make sure that drone keeps its distance, Kalani will have sensors, without a doubt.”

“Sure thing, ma’am.” The weedy drone jockey answered lightly as he sipped his coffee from a cup that didn’t leak. Danner narrowed her eyes at it, letting her scowl show through.

“First of the guests are arriving by jet.” Fredericks called across the room, drawing her attention to the screen. Surely enough, a twin tilt-repulsor craft was setting down on the landing pad, and a small group of exceptionally dressed people soon climbed out. The craft left as quickly as it had come, and Kalani came out to personally greet his first guests.

Floyd sipped at his coffee again, and spoke without taking his eyes off his screens. “Do we know how many are coming in?”

He didn’t need to know. Danner almost spat that at him with vitriol, but held her tongue long enough to fight back the jealousy she held toward his unleaking cup. “No. But it’s supposed to be a big business meeting. Big enough to have VLI and Foxhound in the same city block.”

“So-” Floyd took another sip, before sighing loudly. He was doing that to annoy her. “It’s gotta be a party for more than just the sellers. Gonna have a lot of buyers.”

Feeling the vein in her forehead pulsing and the migraine inbound, Danner nodded once, sharply. “We’re documenting participants, but I want all cameras and mics on Voronin. Deputy Director Summers wants to bag her for something besides gun running, though I have no idea why. We could put her away for twenty years with what we have now.”

“The boss man has a plan. Always has, always will.” Fredericks assured her, though he knew it wasn’t going to change her mood in the slightest. His thought was reaffirmed when she sat down, and pulled a pair of headphones on. Listening to her anger management course no doubt. Shaking his head, Fredericks shot Floyd a light smirk, before settling in for the long shift of watching the fabulously rich and incredibly dangerous party and mingle.

“Got eyes on Voronin. Should I tell the boss?”

“Send it over and give her five minutes to chill the fuck out.”

The video feed quickly popped up on Fredericks’ screen, and he carefully scanned the group with her. “Huh. Small guard detail this time. The rest must be nearby.”

“Looks like Chambers, Sokolovskia, and Drescher. That leaves out Bellewood, End, and Naomi.”

“Right. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were set up in the same building as us.”

Floyd shivered slightly at the idea of being close to the less diplomatic half of the guard group. “God I hope not. I’m gonna let the Lady know.”

“Your funeral.”

“Is this the place?” Flitter asked nervously as she climbed out of the taxi, and let her eyes follow the behemoth of steel and glass all the way up.

“Yep…” Jack straightened his jacket as Yuma looked around nervously. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

With Jack hobbling heavily up toward the door and the two women flanking him closely, he drew the attention of the door man almost immediately. “This is private property sir, can you present your invitation?” The man was large and stocky, and the hard shoulders of his suit jacket betrayed a heavy bullet proof vest. Jack guessed he likely had a shoulder holster for a pistol, and had no intent of seeing it. Activating his omnilink, he flashed the invitation he’d been sent by Hans. For a moment, his heart paused in its beating as the doorman checked its authenticity. Jack was soon able to breath again when the man nodded to him. “Welcome to Kalani Tower, Mr. Korsov. Take the express elevator up to the penthouse suite, the auction will be starting in a half hour.”

“Right.” Jack answered stiffly as he fixed his jacket again. “Thank you.” Beginning his hobble to the elevator, he was only able to breath easier when the metal doors silently slid shut, and the car began to glide up. “Korsov. Korsov. My name is Jackson Korsov.”

He let out a soft breath as Flitter set her hand over his. “You’ll do fine, Jack. I trust you.”

Glancing over at the woman to his side, he couldn’t help but smile a little bit back at her. “I wish I had as much confidence in myself as you have in me.”

The elevator dinged quietly, and the doors slid open with nary a sound, revealing an opulent hall, leading to an open penthouse, filled with people. A butler bowed slightly to the three of them before he held out a leaflet and a betting chit. Taking the offered items, Jack did his best to hide his heavily pained limp and scan the crowd. The penthouse was full of people, wearing business suits, extravagant dresses, military uniforms, and tuxedos. Warlords, Dictators, Generals, and Runners mingled together, chatting in a dozen languages. They’d descended willingly into the wolves den.

Now all they had to do was find their wolf among the pack, and hope she was willing to play.

John Chambers shifted slightly, his perpetual frown stuck hard on his features as he scanned the crowd. His employer stood nearby, chatting with an acquaintance.

The mechanical clicks of Hans’ spiderform drew his attention momentarily as the old soldier went to his side. “Any sign of Foxhound?”

“No. Their thugs haven’t shown up yet, and neither has their employer.”

“Troubling. They wouldn’t pass up something like this, not with how much money it could make them.”

Having made her way back from the refreshments table, Vikki grinned at the pair over the edge of a martini glass. “You boys are worryink too much. He is just too much of coward to show face.”

John couldn’t help but snort at the idea. “I doubt that. Any sign of Mr. ‘Korsov’?”

“Yis.” Viktoriya grinned like a shark. “He just left elevator, two pretty gurls in tow.”

“Perfect. Right on time.” Hans began to skitter forward, passing through the crowd as John and Viktoriya watched.

Sighing, John continued his vigilant watch over his charge, and quietly hoped that the day would pass without incident.

Jack immediately perked when he spotted Hans skittering over on mechanical limbs, and altered his course to meet the entombed man. “You look good, for a robot.” Jack smiled weakly as he shot Hans a salute. The robotic spiderform was painted black with white accents, and had the VLI corporate logo proudly emblazoned across the chest piece.

“I never expected to see you in uniform again, Jack. And you look almost dead, are you alright?” Hans didn’t bother with a salute, which had Jack eternally grateful for.

“I’ll live long enough to finish the party.” Jack said with a slight grin, before motioning to his companions. “Yuma Stonegust, and Knight Captain Flitter Falenas.”

Hans bowed by bending his two front legs, before standing straight and beckoning them on. “Miss Voronin is eager to meet you both.”

“Lead on, Mr. Drescher.” Flitter spoke confidently as she held on to Jack’s arm. Following the spiderform through the crowd, the trio soon found themselves approaching a group by the balcony railing.

“Miss Voronin? Mr. Korsov and Knight Captain Falenas.” Hans stepped aside, leaving the arms dealer and the trio to look over each other. Olivia Voronin stood a confident five six with a very slight build. The woman was incredibly fair skinned, and her hair doubly so, almost to the point of appearing white. The tailored jacket she wore was furred around the collar, and despite it’s best attempts, it still managed to nearly swallow her diminutive frame. While the woman may not have been very much to look at it, her eyes were sharp as a razor and her small smile was calculated.

Holding out a thin hand, Olivia smiled toward them. “A pleasure to finally meet you both. I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting this when my employee came to me with a problem. Now, how can I help you?”

Taking the offered hand, Flitter shook it firmly, before lacing her hands behind her back. “I’m glad you could meet us. We’re looking to make a platoon sized purchase.”

Shaking the Gun Runner’s hand, Jack nodded in agreement. “I’d like to point out that we don’t have much in the way of money-” The moment the words left his mouth, he watched as the warm, pleasant visage of Olivia turned positively frigid within seconds. He was quick to continue as he dug into his pocket. “So, I was hoping you’d be willing to trade.” Brandishing a ruby the size of his thumb, both Jack and Flitter felt relief wash over them as the warmth and light instantly returned to Olivia’s face.

“Well, normally I only deal in cash, but I think we can come to an agreement.” Gingerly reaching forward, Olivia plucked the offered ruby up and slowly looked it over. “Vikki, can you take a look at this?”

With clear glee and a happy purr, Viktoriya took the gem and began to carefully look it over, gauging its authenticity. “This is… wery nice! Yis, is real.” She seemed to hesitate for a moment, before giving it back to her employer, who then handed it back to Jack.

Smiling, Flitter put her arm through Jack’s. “Would you like to talk details now, or-”

“We’ll be staying for the auction. We can talk business afterwards, somewhere private. For now, stick around. You may see something interesting.”

Two City Blocks Away

Agent Fredericks glanced across the hotel room as Danner paced back and forth, while Floyd made a new pot of coffee. “Seems our mystery man and this woman are making a purchase off of Voronin.”

“Run a scan on the woman.” Danner snapped as she paced back and forth.

Smothering a sigh, Fredericks turned back to his console and centered a camera on the new woman’s face. “Looks like she’s arm candy for the Elysian Fields fella. I swear, he looks really… familiar… Wait, what the hell?” Running the search again and broadening the parameters, Fredericks placed two fingers against his temple. “Danner, Floyd, I’m not getting a single network ping on this woman.”

“Run vocals.” Danner shot back snappily. “She probably had a face change at some point.”

“I already did that, she’s not on any network. I’ve broadened to fringe networks.”

Floyd rolled.his chair over, and peered at the screen from over Frederick’s shoulder. “She’s hot. But… look how she carries herself. Definitely military. Might give us something.”

Ignoring the disgusted grunt the comment got out of Danner, Frederick narrowed the parameters of his search, and let his computers run it. “Nothing… our arm candy here is a ghost, as far as the network is concerned.”

“What about the big ass guard? Someone like that has to come up.” Floyd pointed at the huge bronzed woman in a suit. “Probably a military record or a criminal record-”

“...Jesus, same deal! I’m sending this to central, they’ll find something.”

Fredericks tensed when he felt Danner’s hands press down on the back of his chair. “Two ghosts and an Elysian Operator walk into a playboy’s mansion… I don’t like this.”

“Should we contact the Deputy Director?” Floyd asked carefully, but to his surprise, it earned no ire from Danner.

“Not yet. But detail a drone to follow them. I want everything, prints, vocals, movement patterns, comms. Everything.”

“Aye aye.”

Leaning back in his chair, Fredericks slowly scratched at his chin as he thought. “I wonder if these people are what Summers meant by something more.” The thin agent sighed as he shook his head, before reaching for his coffee. “Probably means trouble.”

“People like this always mean trouble.” Danner growled in return, before turning and stalking back to her chair.

“I’ve no doubt about that…”

“Five minutes out, going dark.”

The interior of the shuttle went dark, save for a red light that made the soldiers inside look like demons. Demons clad in light power armour and packing powered one centimeter carbines. Their armour bore the label ATF, but not a single man in the shuttle belonged to the organization, or respected it in the slightest. In reality, they belonged to Foxhound Industries, the direct competitor of Voronin Logistics Intergalactic in the arms dealing market.

“ATF is starting their mobilization. When they hit, weapons free. Take out Voronin and her guards, recover her body. We’re in and out, thirty seconds tops.”

“Call on collateral?”

“They’re scumbags. Nobody’ll blink twice if they get plugged.”

Phantom smirks spread across covered faces, as the disguised mercenaries checked their weapons and went over their gear with well practiced precision.

Thirty seconds. It was all they’d ever need.

“DANNER! Marley!” Fredericks span in his chair, spilling his coffee. Agent Danner was up and by his side in a heartbeat.

“What?”

“ATF just pulled up outside, six trucks and a swat team!”

It took a mere moment for the anger to pulse into Danner’s features, a mere moment for her to go from annoyed to furious. “The ATF? What the fuck are these clowns doing here!? Floyd, get Deputy Director Summers on the priority line, now!”

“They’re moving in! Teams moving up the stairs and elevator, toward the penthouse, I- Gunship! They have a gunship, less than a minute out!”

Danner stared at the screens, before slowly looking up to the window. Even two blocks away, she could see how badly things were going to go in a matter of moments.

“Fuck.”

“Next on the block is an intact suit of Mk. 2 Titan power armour, a prototype to the series used in the Great War by Hades Longbow soldiers. Bidding starts at eight billion dollars.”

Jack winced as he looked up at the armour, and heard the price tag. “Couldn’t get me in that suit for that much money… no way.”

Hans chuckled mechanically as he stood by Jack and watched the auction with feigned interest. “Mm, bad memories?”

“They had a penchant for bad servo feeds, tendency for snapping your spine when you went to scratch your ass. Feed sensor would read the movement, and the feed would tell the onboard computer to apply six thousand times the torque it needed.”

“Isn’t it wonderful when they skip animal testing and go straight to human trials?”

“Fuck, at that point, we may as well have been guinea pigs to them.” Jack leaned back, and cast a curious eye over toward Flitter and Yuma. The pair were touring the auction items with Olivia, close to the deck railing. Chambers hovered nearby, while Vikki seemed to have disappeared off somewhere. As the auction team was busying themselves with wheeling the heavy power suit on to the stage, Jack spotted a guard out of the corner of his eye acting oddly. The man walked by quickly, finger on his earpiece as he held some sort of advanced PDW. “Something’s up.”

“I see it too. I’ve informed the others and I’m working with a colleague to crack their comms.” Hans answered cooly, just as the host of the event mounted the stage and took the microphone.

Smiling like a shark, Kalani gestured to the crowd with open palms. “My friends and esteemed guests! I hate to put a pausing on my auction, but it seems we have some uninvited guests in the way of the ATF. Do not worry yourselves too terribly, my security teams are already dealing with this unwelcome intrusion. In the meantime, help yourselves to the refreshments!” The thin man quickly hopped off stage, but if his words had been believed before, they were cast into the mud when two armed guards quickly escorted Kalani deeper into his penthouse, likely to a safe room. Disconcerted murmurs spread through the crowd as the guests began to talk about leaving.

Jack was moving the moment Kalani’s feet left the stage. With Hans by his side, he began crossing the balcony, toward Flitter and Olivia.

“Jack!” Flitter called out to him, concern etched into her features as she looked him in the eye.

“We’ll be alright.” He assured her with a smile he didn’t feel.

As the words left his mouth, his ears pricked at the sound of whining repulsor turbines. As the gunship appeared above the balcony, Jack had only a split second to think, before the nose gun raked the balcony, shattering the tempered glass with blistering cerulean bolts. It was only luck or providence that spared those around him as they dove for cover. For the split second Jack had, he cursed his broken, battered body for not listening to him, for not responding the instant he needed it to. His curse did little for him as a single roiling cerulean bolt struck his midriff. The concentrated pulse bolt burned away his uniform, and boiled the fluids in his skin and muscle within an instant. The energy transferred from the bolt to Jack’s body in a snap as the bolt exploded on contact. The world slowed to a crawl as he was flung off his feet like a doll, with a misted spray of vaporized blood, boiling fat, and liquified offal taking his previous place.

It was like being flicked in the guts by a vengeful god; the strike burning all the air out of his lungs. The burst of bolts struck nearby as he slowly fell; their intense energy shattered the tempered glass that made up the balcony floor. Olivia and Flitter began to fall, the Gunrunner beginning to scream in surprise and horror while Flitter tensed and reached for a handhold.

Chambers pulled a pistol from his coat the moment the gunship fired, though his slugs did nothing against the hardened carapace of the death machine.

Jack hit the floor and bounced, the energy that had sent him flying sending him skidding further across the cracked glass, leaving a deep red stain behind him as he tumbled. When he came to a rest, the last vestiges of his breath began to escape as a death rattle.

Flitter was falling. While she was used to the sensation in an intimate fashion, the sight of the gunship had caused her heart to fall into her stomach. When it’s nose gun had opened up and shattered the glass under her, her training kicked in, taking over while her mind still reeled at the sudden developments. Olivia was below her, skidding down the angled slope toward the edge. As Flitter tumbled and tried to right herself, the young woman crested the edge, and began her plummet of two hundred floors straight down. Allowing her body to spin on the incline, Flitter felt her shoe heels break as they impacted the edge, though she hardly needed shoes for what came next. With the impact throwing her forward, Flitter pushed off the roof, and stuck her arms tight to her side as she began to fall.

Below her, Olivia flailed her arms wildly, her scream consumed by rushing air. Reacting to her thoughts, Flitter’s wings burst from their magical tattoo trappings, and spread out through the open backing of her dress. They quickly snapped back to her sides as she turned herself into a needle, and cut through the air. With only a few feet between them, Flitter wrapped her arms around the other woman and clamped her down with muscles like steel cable. Curling her wings, Flitter cut to the side, and began her controlled descent with the terrified arms dealer clamped to her chest.

Olivia’s flailing ceased the moment Flitter snapped her wings and cut their airspeed. Anything she had to say was stolen by the wind that still ripped passed them, though it was doubtful that it was going to be overly useful. Tilting her head back up, Flitter had only a moment to decide if she was going to head back up and join the fight, or get Olivia to safety. Her decision was made for her as the gunship twisted on its axis, having disgorged its troops. It tilted down, thrusters whining as it accelerated, and began to give chase.

Beating her wings, Flitter cut to the inside of the draft between buildings, and began to plummet again, picking up airspeed, before rolling and jinking between two buildings. The gunship’s nose gun spoke again, sending a pack of blindingly bright shots zipping passed her. Jinking again, Flitter curled one wing, and snapped the other, sending her into a hard rolling dive.

She couldn’t keep this up forever, not with the deadweight against her stomach. She was reminded again as another burst stitched the air around her. It was only luck that kept her alive this time, and that the nose gunner apparently wasn’t used to firing on fast moving airborne targets. The ground was approaching quickly, and Flitter had to make another snap decision. The densely packed civilians on the ground were slow in their response to the crackling gunfire, creating a sea of bodies she hoped she could disappear into.

The third burst popped that plan like a bubble in an instant, as the boiling plasma passed by her so closely that it burned the skin on her arm from the heat. The shots impacted among the crowd, instantly killing several people with violent cerulean explosions. In that instant she knew that hiding wouldn’t be an option. The crew had just shown their complete willingness to open fire on innocent civilians; the gunship would clearly do whatever it took to kill both her and Olivia.

In a way, it simplified things. All she had to do was take down the gunship.

Flaring her wings, Flitter made a hard, fast turn that would have been impossible for anything save for a pegasus, cutting a hard ninety degree turn into an alleyway as the people below her panicked and scattered. All she needed was the right spot.

She quickly found it in an open recycling dumpster. “Sorry!” She called to her passenger, just before dropping the woman into it without a second thought. Flitter landed hard, but on her feet. The remains of her heels skidded across the pavement, before impacting another dumpster. The shoes all but flew off her feet as she coiled like a spring, and shot back out of the alley with all the speed she could muster. Without the dead weight, she could have possibly lost the gunship in the city, but that wasn’t what she was aiming for. The gunship whined as it came to a hover before the alley, but upon finding Flitter coming at it like a bullet, it bucked and jerked in an attempt to get a bead on her.

Passing under the nose gun, she reached out to grasp the running gear, before twisting her body and swinging upwards. Flitter pulsed up along the side of the gunship, surprising the door gunner as he peered over the side for a target. Grasping the grab bars, Flitter pulled her legs up, before releasing a powerfully coiled double buck into the gunner’s chest. The impact went up her spine like a shot as her bare feet struck power armour, but the pain was momentarily negligible as the gunner stumbled backwards, releasing his gun as he careened into the man on the other side. The only thing that held him in was a thin braided cable, hooked into the roof. Grasping the grips of the door gun, Flitter spun it on it’s pintle, and depressed the butterfly triggers as the tri-barrel passed over the gunners.

The powered barrels of the weapon responded instantly, spitting brilliant cerulean bolts at the men. As they impacted, the first gunner split in half at the waist, before both gunners just seemed to come apart and disappear as the compounding shots blew them apart like localized bomb strikes. With the gunners dead and vaporized, Flitter yanked the gun further out of its yoke, and aimed the barrels at the back of the cockpit. She pinned the trigger down, allowing the howling bolts to boil metal and circuitry, before they painted the canopy with vaporized blood and viscera. As the bolts cut through pilot, gunner, and control consoles, the gunship lurched and bucked, warning it’s unwanted passenger of its impending demise. With a grunt of exertion, Flitter grasped the weapon yolk with her prosthetic arm, before ripping the weapon free of it’s pintle mounting. Flaring her wings, she detached herself from the gunship as it spun and slammed into a nearby building. The doomed vehicle scrapped itself across the exterior of the building, showering the pavement below with glass, before crashing down onto the crowded street. People scattered in every direction, screaming and yelling as the twisted fuselage careened forward on the death throes of the engines, crushing several recently abandoned cars with its armoured bulk.

Landing in the alley with a pained thud, Flitter finally allowed herself to breath as she hefted the heavy door gun and surveyed the damage. The gunship had come to a stop on its side, and the engines still whined quietly as it lay still. Setting the heavy tri-barrelled weapon over her shoulder, Flitter took a moment to adjust her dress, before walking bare foot back into the alley.

“Miss Voronin?”

As Flitter spoke, she heard the other woman rustling about in the recycling dumpster, before the lid popped open, and the frazzled woman slowly climbed out. Landing with a clack, Olivia shakily brushed herself off, before looking up at her savior. Finding Flitter standing above her, easily carrying a mounted gun and with wings tucked against her body, Olivia seemed to freeze.

“Are you alright?” Flitter asked breathlessly as sirens began to approach.

Snapped out of her thoughts and staring, Olivia nodded jerkily. “Yeah, I’m alright.” Tapping her ear, Olivia spoke again. “Nate, I need that pick up, now. Good. Okay. Yes, all callsigns, I’m alright. Disengage and retreat. I-” She paused for a moment, as if listening to something. Worry crossed her face quickly. “I understand, John. I’ll do what I can to get you and the others out.”

As the sirens reached the crash, Flitter tossed the gun into the dumpster, and started in the opposite direction. “We need to go.”

“Agreed.”

The pair quickly set off down the alleys, skirting police cruisers and avoiding attention. With her wings hidden once again within the tattoo trappings, Flitter allowed the work and the pain in her feet to distract her. She needed the distraction, otherwise her mind would instantly snap back, and force her to rewatch Jack getting struck by one of the gunship’s rounds. Having seen what the guns could do to somebody in power armour...

“He’s fine… he’s okay.” She assured herself, despite the empty pit that was forming in her stomach, despite the dread that was swiftly filling her brain.

He was alright. He was going to make it.

Jack repeated the mantra in his head as he willed himself to stay alive. The pain in his body had turned into a white noise scream in the background of his mind, against the firefight taking place over him. He just had to get up, and get over to his friends. He’d been shot before, and this wouldn’t be the last time. He just had to ignore the oily stench of boiled fat and melted flesh.

His brain seemed to be turning sluggish, as his body refused to listen to his commands. All he could do was try to move, and watch the area before him. Yuma and the others were holed up behind some solid cover, trading shots with the soldiers who were pressing up along the balcony. Several others lay dead across the floor, and the security team was torn between shooting at the ATF, and the trigger happy soldiers on the balcony.

Rushing forward, one of the power armoured soldiers mounted John’s cover, and aimed his carbine at the besieged man. The soldier didn’t get a chance to fire into him, as Yuma lunged forward, forcing the barrel of the gun up with her flesh and blood hand, while grabbing the soldier’s helmet with her crude prosthetic. What the arm lacked in subtlety, it rapidly made up in raw power. With a roar befitting a minotaur, Yuma crushed the power armoured helmet in a shower of sparks, before ripping the head off, and hurling it at the closest soldier.

He just had to get up. Get over to them. He had to help.

Don’t get up Jack. I’ve put too much work into you-

Slowly but surely, Jack began to roll onto his knees. He could do this. He was okay-

His internal mantra ended when what was left of his guts fell out of the burning hole left in his stomach. Slipping on his own blood, Jack crashed back down to the deck, blood drooling out from between his open lips.

You don’t get to die, Jack. Just move your arms. Get the vial. Just hold on a little longer. You’ll die when I tell you, you’re not allowed to die.

Darkness swiftly began to crowd the edges of his vision as he continued the agonizing process of bleeding to death through a gaping chest wound. The fact he hadn’t died from shock yet was an incredible one, but a quick death would have been preferable to this.

With his eyes rolling in his skull, Jack spotted Yuma again, and internally, he cheered her on. She was using the headless soldier as a shield, while John fired around her bulk. It was a good idea, Jack thought to himself, before withering fire from the other soldiers shredded the body, and destroyed Yuma’s only remaining arm. The heavy muscle seemed to come apart like wet ribbon, causing the heifer to shriek in pain as she was dragged back behind cover just in time to avoid sharing Jack’s fate.

YOU DON’T GET TO DIE! I have come so close, I refuse to let you give up now! You are not allowed to ruin everything!

Flopping onto his side and resting his head in the pool of his own blood, Jack weakly felt at his ruined uniform. The breast pocket catch just seemed to refuse his dumb, bloody fingers. It felt like an eon, before he managed to work the flap out, and grab the little case inside his pocket. Drawing it out, he quickly lost his grip, and the case clattered onto the deck, splashing blood everywhere.

Let’s see what the mind of a human can come up with, shall we?

As Jack’s hand began to move seemingly on it’s own, he closed his eyes, and let out his last breath.

It started as a numb prick into the side of his neck, followed by the sensation of his skin crawling. The sensation quickly spread out across his dead body, infesting his brain as it fired its last neuron. Despite the crawling sensation, the lights went out, and Jack Kessle breathed his last.

“Somebody get me a sitrep.” Deputy Director Summers ordered over the video link. He was now directly tapped into every feed the team had, and he could tell that things had deteriorated.

“Situation is irretrievable sir.” Marley Danner was the first to speak. “We suspect it was Foxhound who attacked in the gunship, disguising themselves as ATF.”

“Any evidence of that?”

She nodded once. “They went immediately for Voronin, live ammo. Her contact, the Elysian double black, he’s been KIA. Voronin took a fall, and we’ve since lost track of her.”

Summers furrowed his brows as he steepled his fingers. “Explain.”

“One of the Ghosts, sir.” Floyd spoke up. “She went down after Voronin. You’ll need to see the video for yourself. It’s… we don’t know what to make of it.”

“I’ll see to it in a moment. What’s the situation like now?”

Fredericks did his best to get a better angle with the drone. “Voronin’s team is pinned down, one ghost badly wounded. Foxhound has lost one of eight, second ghost… ripped their head off. Literally. ATF is almost at the penthouse, and we’ve got the media springing into action. Won’t be long before the air is full of shuttles.”

“What a disaster…” Summers rubbed at the bridge of his nose, before sighing. “Keep on it. Try and find Voronin, if she’s vulnerable, she’ll try something risky-”

“Guys, you should take a look at this! Seems Double Black is still alive!”

Danner scowled, and immediately stalked over toward the screen in question. “I doubt it. He took a two centimeter power slug to the chest.”

“Look!”

Pain.

Jack knew pain.

Pain was something that had inundated his life for countless years, poisoning everything. But this… this wasn’t pain. It was hell, distilled into an injectable form, and shot into his veins like boiling heroin.

Twenty seconds after breathing his last breath, Jack’s eyes had fluttered open, and breath returned to his lungs. Ten seconds after that, his loose guts began to recoil, pulling themselves back into his ruined body. His mouth fell open in silent agony as white hot hell spread through him like a skittering plague.

Aww, does it hurt? You better learn to love the pain, Jack. There’s a lot more of it to come.

His blood began to pulse up and around his arms as he pushed himself up; the blood pouring back into his wounds like a branding iron spreading open his veins. As his skin pulled itself back together, his silent agony turned into a low, hellish growl. His body clicked and shifted as the serum did its work, his new wounds sealing, and his old wounds mending. Scars and stress fractures disappeared and sealed, while newly constructed muscle began to devour fat, and obsolete muscles that couldn’t handle the load any more.

Drawing up to his knees, Jack growled and hissed through clenched teeth as his head buzzed like a hornets nest. He could feel the serum, like a billion little insects flying through his body, repairing all of the damage he’d ever wrought upon himself. With every passing second, he felt less pain, and more anger.

The anger had never left him, it seemed. It had just gone cold and hibernated in the pit of his heart, until it was needed again.

And right now…

He needed a lot of anger.

Bloody fingers grasped the handle of his cane with a grip made of steel, and without a word, he willed his blade to extend. The magical monomolecular blade sprung forth on a wave of ethereal fire, before hardening into magic infused surgical steel. The length of a longsword, Jack pressed the tip into the floor under him as he used the knife turned sword as a means to pull himself off his knees.

Alright, Killer. Let’s take the new wheels for a spin.

A wicked grin spread his bloody lips wide as his grip tightened on the grip of the weapon. “Lord save my wicked soul, I just can’t stop myself.”

Without a single sound escaping him, save for his boots treading over tempered glass, Jack leapt into the fray, eager to return what these soldiers had given him.

Crouched behind the heavy cover, Vikki screamed a scathing string of curses at the men keeping her pinned down. She could feel the ballistic barrier within the bar giving out behind her; the heat from numerous impacts already burning her pale skin.

“Olivia’s made it out, now we just need to escape.” Hans spoke calmly, though it took considerable effort for him to sound worried or panicked anymore.

“Easier said than done.” John fired a loud round out of his handcannon, before going back to cinching down the tourniquet over Yuma’s singed stump. “You’ll be alright, Miss. Just keep breathing.”

Poking her head out, Vikki yelped as a chunk of bar was blown back into her face. “Cyka! I will kill you for that!”

“Oh yeah?” One of the soldiers finally spoke, just as a grenade clinked over the bar, sans spool and pin.

Before the Russian girl had a chance to curse, a massive metal paw slammed down on the grenade, smashing it deep into the floorboards and cracking the casing. The swiftly resulting thump only went as far as to buck Hans off his legs. The misguided shrapnel dug into the floor, while shredding Yuma’s finger joints.

“That’s twice now, Miss.” John said with a weak chuckle as Yuma withdrew her metal arm. “Let me try and return the favour at least.”

SNICKERSNACK

The odd sound struck like an abnormal gunshot, splitting the air. Across the room, somebody yelled, and another burst of powered shots boiled the air, but didn’t strike the bar. Peeking up, Vikki’s eyes went wide as she murmured a quiet prayer.

The soldiers turned, firing on one of their own as his headless corpse was used as a shield by the recently dead man. His power armour absorbed the blows just long enough for Jack to rip his sword out of his chest, and relieve the dead man of his carbine. Diving to the side with speed and agility that defied the pained limps he’d shown not minutes prior, Jack slid across the smooth floor, into cover. The soldiers moved forward, only to find Jack moving as well. Flinging his sword turned knife at one of them, a yell of surprise went out as a burst of unknown energy from the blade severed another man’s head from his shoulders. The knife rebounded back to the sender, as if it had a mind of it’s own, before shifting into a claymore as it was caught in a waiting hand.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS-” The scream of confusion didn’t get a chance to finish as Jack rolled over a display case, and fired a burst into a hostile soldier’s face, spraying his disintegrated grey matter across the floor and wall. The soldier behind him lifted his weapon to fire on Jack, only to have it smashed to pieces by the wildly swinging claymore. With a hellish growl and a bloodthirsty grin, Jack bore down on the soldier, forcing him back with the blade between them. Quickly half swording the big blade, Jack set it against the throat of his victim, before jerking the weapon to the side. The monomolecular edge didn’t dig as deep as he’d hoped it would, but the cut was more than enough as the vorpal magic snapped like a scythe, cleaving the soldier’s head off.

“Now or never, people!” Hans called from behind cover that he was swiftly mounting. Scooping up a fallen plasma gun, the heavy spiderform opened up on the soldier’s flanks, just as Jack crashed into them like a locomotive.

With pressure applied from three sides, the three remaining soldiers began to swiftly retreat to the stairwell, but didn’t get much further than that when they ran into the ATF swat team. Screams for lowered weapons went unheeded, and soon, bursts of automatic gunfire filled the air again.

Mantling the bar, Jack looked to his temporary companions with a grin that could freeze water. “Let’s get the fuck out of here, eh? I figure we’ve got twenty seconds before the ATF get through that door.”

Not one to let the situation get the better of him, Hans began moving toward the penthouse proper. “Kalani has an emergency elevator, straight to the garage.”

The exclamation earned a pair of glances from John and Vikki, but not from Jack, who was busy picking up Yuma. “Let’s go then! I don’t aim to spend much time in a cell today! I aim to misbehave!”

Shrugging his spidery limbs, Hans quickly began to skitter over the ruins and bodies left on the floor of the penthouse floor. As they moved for Kalani’s private room, the ATF collided with the surviving security forces and fleeing guests.

“Kalani was talking about it when the ATF first arrived.” Hans moved forward, pointing toward the open bookcase. “He was the first out.” Tapping the call button, Hans turned to face the rest of the group.

“Slippery Cyka…” Vikki muttered, before turning at the sound of crashing furniture.

Piling up Kalani’s incredibly expensive furniture against the door, Jack turned back to the group just as the express elevator dinged. Not a word was said as they all piled in, nearly overloading the car as John hit the button to descend. Just as the doors closed, the door to the bedroom blew open, and agents rushed in, shouting their allegiance.

The elevator music was pleasant, enough so to have Jack humming along and tapping the pommel of his blade as he rested the tip in the floor.

Clearing her throat, Vikki shot Jack a confident little grin. “Cyoot sword~”

“I’ll be sure to tell her you said that.”

A quiet little ding sounded out as they swiftly reached the garage. Jack couldn’t help but whistle happily at the sight of the few dozen collector cars.

“Hmmm~ Decisions decisions~ Vikki happily sashayed forward, looking over the vehicles. “Eeny, meeny, miny, mine!” She drew a finger across the glossy cherry red paint of the supercar, her smile bright enough to light the entire garage.

“Vikki!” John called out as he continued to help Yuma along. “Pick something big enough for all of us and the boss!”

With a disparaged growl, Vikki gestured around to the garage full of supercars. “I don’t see no fucking seedan, John!”

With his own eyes scanning the garage, Jack swiftly found his own grin returning. “Vikki, John, get Yuma to your doctor. Hans, ride with me and help me find your boss.”

“We need to stick together!” John yelled, but found his protest falling on deaf ears as Jack circled a car older than he was.

Turning toward the big man, Hans spoke up as Jack moved for the keybox. “John, we’ve better luck if we split up. I’ll get Olivia, you need to make sure our guest makes it back. Alright?”

Sighing as Vikki clambered into the sleek supercar, John nodded once, before turning away and helping the badly wounded Yuma into the passenger seat and onto his lap. With a bob of his chassis, Hans turned back to Jack as the man opened the door of the 1970 plum purple Dodge Charger. “I hope you know what you’re doing-” The rest of his sentence was cut off as the car started, and cleared its throat with a hefty rumble. Popping open the passenger door, Jack beckoned Hans in.

Setting down next to Jack, Hans secured his chassis, before checking the stolen carbine. “I have Olivia’s tracker, she’s with your Knight Captain.”

“Great, just navigate for me, and I’ll get them out.” Throwing the gear shift into first, the supercharged muscle car lurched from it’s resting place with squealing tires. The red super car hummed along behind them in an instant. Passing by the sensor, the garage door began to trundle open as Jack opened up the throttle, and let the old V8 roar.

Outside, the local officers and the ATF prepared their positions as the garage door began to open again, and another vehicle approached. Specialized emp spike launchers were loaded, awaiting the first vehicle to come through. They’d already captured the owner of the highrise penthouse through them, and the approaching guests would be no different.

As the ancient musclecar roared into sight, the officers fired, and perforated it’s side with the car killers.

Shifting into third, Jack feathered the brakes as he spun the wheel; the staccato thumps against the side of his stolen vehicle hardly bothering him in the slightest. As the heavy car slid sideways, he dumped the clutch, and launched forward with smoking and squealing tires. The emp spikes sank deep into the sheet metal panels, but did nothing as the energy pulses meant to scramble advanced computer systems ran through the heavy steel frame and passed harmlessly to the wheels. Officers were forced to flee as the heavy vehicle slammed into a much lighter cruiser, sending the struck vehicle skidding out of the way. The purple Charger set off down the road, supercharger howling for its freedom. A swift red supercar stuck to its tail the whole time, avoiding the killer emp spikes by virtue of being second. By the time the officers had regrouped, the red car had disappeared, and the purple musclecar was tearing away.

“They sure don’t build them like they used to!” Hans yelled over the sound of the roaring engine. “How did you know the spikes wouldn’t work!?”

“The what?!” Jack yelled back as he grinned like a banshee. It had been far too long since he’d driven, and naturally, Seattle’s traffic was god awful.

“The EMP spikes!”

“Was that what those were?”

“You had no idea…” Hans sank into his seat with a groan. “Take fifth avenue, up ahead. Turn right.” Feathering the brakes again, Jack mounted the curb and skirted the lines as he kept right. Hans muttered a curse as civilians dove out of the way of the vehicle. “Jack, we need to talk!”

“Can it wait? We’ve got the Five-Oh aiming to spank us for being naughty!” Jack continued to grin as he wheeled the heavy vehicle back onto the street and began weaving through traffic.

“This car has no right handling like this!” Hans growled, before tilting a camera to the back. Sure enough, flashing red and blue lights were closing in behind them. “Dammit, Take this next right, then immediate left!”

“Oorah!”

Flitter was in trouble.

If luck had been on her side, all she would have had to worry about was the coarse concrete and debris roughing up the soles of her feet, but now she had to deal with armed men chasing after both her and Olivia. She swiftly found herself wishing that she hadn’t tossed the heavy tri-barrel into the trash. While the weapon was hardly subtle, it was better than nothing.

“What kind of arms dealer doesn’t carry a gun!?”

“The kind that usually has six heavily armed guards!” Olivia cried back in anger as Flitter pulled her down another sidestreet. The armed men wouldn’t be far behind them, and their fancy clothes stuck out harshly among the Seattleites warm winter gear. Flitter could already feel the bite of the wind across her exposed flesh.

“Princesses fuck me galloping…” Flitter cursed, before tugging Olivia’s sleeve as she ducked into a clothing store. Ducking below the racks, Flitter began to make her way to the back of the store. As she neared it, she heard the door chime again four times.

“I am going to skin that man alive…” Olivia muttered with venom as she hunkered down behind a rack of jeans.

“Which one?” Flitter murmured back as she snagged a box of shoes and pulled them on. They were very large on her small feet, but were better than nothing.

“Elias Fox, owner of Foxhound Industries.” The woman growled as she fixed her white coat. “God-” She hardly had a moment to protest as Flitter quickly pulled her into a dressing room and clamped a hand over her mouth.

The thump of heavy boots met their ears as one of the men paced by, gun drawn. Flitter slowly licked her parched lips, before holding a single finger up to them, wordlessly shushing the arms dealer. When Olivia nodded, Flitter turned, and lunged out through the curtain. The man on the other side yelped for a brief moment, before he was dragged into the dressing room. Clamped around his back, Flitter pressed her mechanical hand against his mouth, while her other hand flicked the safety over on his gun as he tried to bring it to bear. Before he could struggle too greatly, Flitter twisted his shoulders to the left with her powerful legs, while sharply twisting his head to the right. The man’s neck snapped with a rather loud crack, causing Olivia to flinch slightly as he went limp in Flitter’s hands.

Neither woman had much of a chance to celebrate the little victory as the curtain was thrown wide by another armed man. Scooping up the fallen gun, Olivia gave the intruder a sole second to live before she put three powered slugs into him and blew him off his feet. Gunfire swiftly began tearing apart the store as the remaining two men opened fire on the changing rooms. Screams of the patrons cut the air between gunshots, while Flitter and Olivia went down low, heading for the fire exit.

Crashing through the door, Olivia pressed a finger against her ear. “Where the hell are you, Hans!?”

As Flitter turned and shoved Olivia into cover, a single round, unlike the powered slugs, slammed into her mechanical arm as it occupied the space the other woman had only moments prior. The round punched through the armoured plates with contemptuous ease, and all but blew the limb off; leaving behind a glowing, sparking stump as Flitter cried out in surprise. The armoured assailant was adjusting his aim as the alley was filled with guttural roaring and squealing tires. The man turned, and brought his weapon to bear in the new sound, only to get run down by a plum crazy purple Charger.

Skidding to a stop as the man tumbled several meters away, Jack leaned out the window and beckoned the two women. “Look alive ladies!”

Despite the pain lancing Flitter’s shoulder through her heated prosthetic, she found herself smiling brightly at the sight of him.

Not wasting a single moment, Olivia dashed toward the passenger side, where Hans was busy clambering into the back seat. As she passed by her fallen attacker, Olivia lifted her stolen pistol and sent two slugs into the offender’s head as he lay on the pavement.

Climbing through the open drivers side window, Flitter gasped in surprise as Jack reached out and grabbed her firmly by the ass, pulling her in as he gunned the throttle. The supercharger whined and howled, matching the squealing tires as the vehicle lurched forward and shot out of the alley. As they turned the corner, the fourth assailant sent a burst of rounds across the trunk of the vehicle, spurring Jack’s leadfoot down deeper.

“Welcome aboard, Boss.” Hans spoke lightly as he fired back at the fourth man as he exited the alley, shattering the back window in the process.

“You’re in for a raise, Mr. Drescher!” Olivia called out as she made room for Flitter. Crawling out of Jack’s lap, Flitter panted from the adrenaline rush.

As the sirens returned behind them, Jack gripped the wheel and grit his teeth tightly as his vision began to swim. The ruined side of his face felt like it was on fire; melting all over again. “Jack, what’s-” Flitter grabbed his shoulder, before going silent as she watched his twisted flesh remold and grow back before her very eyes. “Stars…”

His vision was instantly flooded with colour as his rebuilt right eye finally connected to his optic nerve. Blinking away tears, Jack found himself with depth perception again, as well as a vastly improved peripheral. In that peripheral, he saw the utterly horrified looks on Flitter and Olivia’s faces. Forcing his jaw to unclench, he spoke out as a pained growl. “Where do I go now!?”

“T-the… erm… g-give me a moment!” Olivia gagged slightly as she turned away from him. “Hans, where’s Nate with the shuttle?”

“They just picked up the others, they’ll meet us up ahead on the freeway. Jack, left, now!”

Every occupant was thrown to the side as the 440 big block was kicked down a gear and the brake feathered heavily; the ass end of the heavy vehicle kicked sideways, nearly clipping a vehicle passing legally through the intersection. The police cruisers made the turn far better, and were quickly back on their tail. No matter how hard Jack shifted and hauled on the big block, the lightweight cruisers with their modern power plants could easily catch up with the Charger as it grabbed asphalt.

“Through this roundabout!”

“Hold on, Ladies!” Jack called out as he brought the car around, and sent it through the roundabout nearly sideways.

Thrown against the side of the car, Olivia groaned as she gave the leather seat a terrified deathgrip. “I think I’m gonna be sick…”

Gritting her teeth against the force of the turn, Flitter was clinging on to Jack as they span around the roundabout, Police cruisers swiftly filling up several streets. “What’s the purpose of this circle!?” She screamed.

“Take a right here!” Hans cried out, before getting thrown to the other side as Jack fought the car and let it swing its heavy metal ass the other way. The whole frame twisted with the force, and the tires greedily ate up pavement. Moments later, they mounted an onramp, and found themselves in the gridlocked freeway. Ahead, a large police roadblock was waiting.

“Hans!” Jack yelled.

“I see it, just keep straight!”

“Aw hell!”

With the gridlocked vehicles rapidly approaching, and cruisers hot on his tailpipe, Jack grit his teeth, and prepared to hammer the brakes. As he reached the range of no return, a large ship floated into view, the loading ramp down all the way. The ship set down on the freeway, matching the speed of the charger as it’s loading ramp scraped up a swarm of sparks. At the last moment, the ship cut it’s speed, and the Charger leapt up the ramp. Unable to brake in time, the vehicle crashed into the back wall, causing the crew chief to dive to the side to avoid the car.

“They’re in! Gogogo!”

The shuttle lurched up as the ramp began to close, leaving behind the chaos in Seattle.

“Nate, throw on the scrambler and take us into orbit! We’ll meet up with the Halcyon and shake scans!” Olivia barked from the back seat into her earpiece, though she didn’t rise from the seat.

Finally allowing his body to relax, Jack let out a long, easy breath as he keyed off the Charger. The vehicle went silent, save for the soft ticking coming from under the hood.

“We made it…” Flitter murmured next to him as Olivia’s guards helped her out of the vehicle. The woman’s legs shook so badly she had to be carried by John.

“We made it.” Jack reaffirmed as the shuttle shot into orbit. Slowly reaching out, Flitter ran her fingertips across his rebuilt features, though she said nothing. Without a word, Jack reached up, placing his own hand over hers.

Setting his forehead against hers, Jack glanced over as Hans cleared his electronic throat. “When we land on the Halcyon, you both should see the doctor. They’ve stabilized your friend, but she’ll need surgery.”

With a nod, Jack undid his seatbelt, and slowly began to pull himself from the vehicle. He found himself shocked when the usual pain that greeted him was utterly absent. Pulling himself out a little quicker, Jack began to check over himself, while Flitter climbed out after him.

“You need a mirror, Jack. It’s… you’re…” She gestured toward him, before deflating ever so slightly. “I thought… I saw you go down, and… I thought-” Flitter jumped as the shuttle set down with a dull thump.

“Alright ladies and gents, welcome home.” The pilot, Nate, spoke over the intercom as the shuttle engines slowly winded down.

“That was… fast.” Jack turned to look about. As the loading ramp slowly lowered, Hans clicked up next to Jack and Flitter.

“Welcome to the Halcyon.”

“Doctor Blackburn? Deputy Director Summers of the CIA is on line two.”

Blackburn glanced up from his work as his receptionist called in through the intercom on his desk. Surely enough, his neglected omnilink was blinking to signify a waiting call.

“Mm. Lost track of time it seems… Send the call through. I’ll take it in the QEC.” Spinning in his chair, Blackburn stood and removed his stained smock, hanging it next to his suit jacket. The wall recessed as he approached, opening up to reveal the quantum entanglement communications system room. While something so incredibly sophisticated wasn’t needed to take a call from Earth, Ernest greatly enjoyed the device, and the QEC was quite possibly the most electronically secure space in all of human space. Stepping into the circle, Blackburn waited as Summers materialized before him. “Deputy Director.”

“Doctor.” Summers was seated at his desk with his hands clasped together before him. The portly man looked severe, which was an unusual look for him.

“I assume you have a good reason to contact me over official channels, Brad. You have my personal line.”

“It’s because this is official business, Ernest. You gave me your word back in ninety-nine that you wouldn’t have your men interfere with any work on Earth.”

Blackburn paused for a brief moment as he quickly thought back, trying to recall how many teams he had operating on the surface. Not many, save for training. “Colour me curious, Brad. What makes you think I’ve broken my word?”

On cue, the video sprung up before Blackburn, and everything clicked together in an instant. As he watched the video, the older man felt an intense knot ball up in his guts when Jack was struck by the two centimeter power bolt and sent flying. A death sentence for certain, but… He soon found himself hiding a smile as Jack took his BZ9K nanite injection, and swiftly returned to the fray. While Blackburn had been expecting quite a show from his old operative, he hadn’t expected the sword. Quirking a brow as he continued to watch, the old doctor’s brain kicked into high gear as he tried to suss out how the blade was morphing so quickly, and yet cutting through power armour like a knife through butter.

Regardless of the details, Blackburn found himself at an awkward impasse. “I don’t know what to tell you, Brad. This one isn’t one of my operatives. While, yes, I admit he’s in our system, he isn’t one of mine.” Yet.

“So you’re telling me, that this man who clearly defied death, regenerated half his guts, killed four soldiers in power armour with nothing but an unidentifiable melee weapon, escaped the ATF and the SPD, isn’t one of yours? Elysian Fields Double Black?” Summers stared hard at Blackburn, as if the glare could force the truth from him.

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you. I’ll tell you what though.” Ernest set his hands on the railing before himself. “I’ll look into it, honestly and seriously. I’ll make sure he doesn’t interfere with whatever it is you’re working on. Does that sound fair?”

Not budging an inch, Summers blinked once as he responded. “I want a report on your solution to the situation. You aren’t going to keep me in the dark over this, Ernest.”

“Of course, Brad. Was there anything else?”

“Not as of yet. I’ll be sure to contact you if something new comes up.” Summers sat up further in his seat, clearly pleased with his progress. “Be-” He didn’t get to finish his sentence as Blackburn cancelled the connection and walked back out of the QEC.

“Computer, bring up all available surveillance footage on Jack Kessle in last twenty four hours.” He sat down at his desk, and steepled his fingers before his face. “Let’s see what trouble you’ve gotten yourself into, Jack.”

One thing was certain about Olivia Voronin’s ship; The Halcyon was big. Following after Hans, Jack got a feeling for the size of the freighter as he passed through gangways and entered an elevator. He’d been quickly separated from Flitter and Yuma as the pair had been hauled off to the medical unit aboard the ship, despite his open want to follow after them. The elevator shot up, giving him a brief glimpse of the hold as his mind buzzed in ways it hadn’t for years. The hold itself was monstrously large, easily giving a seaborne mass freighter a run for their money in terms of sealed space. Thousands of tonnes worth of cargo could fit inside it, and there’d still be room for people to pass through the aisles. With some modifications, a ship like this could carry a whole battalion and their equipment.

His view swiftly ended as the elevator stopped at the residential deck, and Hans opened the gate. “Just a little further.”

“The girls will be alright, right?” Jack asked quietly as they passed by a small number of crew members.

“Yes, of course, they’re under the care of End and Olimar. You can trust us, Jack. We’ll take care of your people to the best of our abilities.”

With a soft sigh, Jack nodded. “Right… thanks man, I really appreciate this.”

“It’s not a problem. One moment, please.” Pausing by a odd looking rack that sat recessed into the residential deck wall, Hans slowly pressed his battered frame into it. Not a moment later, the machine came to life, and swiftly pulled Hans’ brainbox out of the frame. The moment the connection was severed, the frame went limp, and was pulled into another suddenly opened recess, which quickly shut again as automated actuators began to pull the beaten frame apart within for repairs. Stepping back, Jack furrowed his brow as he looked around for where Hans was now.

He didn’t have to look for long as a panel with SECURITY painted in big bold white letters slid open, and a seven foot tall suit of power armour stepped out, rolling its shoulders. The suit seemed as if it were a suit of upsized power armour, crammed full of mechanical parts and additional electronics. The chestplate alone was as wide as Jack was shoulder to shoulder.

“Apologies, I could feel my servos grinding; I hate that feeling. I’ll borrow this security drone for the time being.” Looking far up at the towering battlesuit, Jack couldn’t help but feel a little dwarfed as the sensor cluster swivelled down and focused on his face. “Follow me, we can talk in the commons, bitte.”

“Right…” Slowly following after the heavy clanging footsteps of the commandeered drone, Jack couldn’t help but ask what was on his mind. “Why do you even bother with that tiny body if you’ve got this thing to stomp around in?”

“Hah, you’re one to ask. I can only jack into the drones while on the ship. The spiderform is my outside body, save for Irma Six. But a mech is hardly subtle.” Hans opened another hatch, leading into a large common room. The room was actually quite nice, being a vaulted affair with couches, a massive TV, and carpet. There was even a little bar tucked away in the corner. “Sit down. You still take whiskey? Neat?”

“I don’t drink anymore.”

“Liar.” Hans turned his sensor cluster, and focused them on Jack as he moved to the bar.

“Just pour me whatever.” Jack grunted in return as he sank into the couch. As he waited for his heavy metal companion, he finally looked down and began to poke at the burned edges of his uniform. The hole was easily the size of a volleyball, and had spread further in odd directions thanks to the flames. A good portion of his medals had been slagged from the heat, but through the hole all he could see was tight abdominal muscles, and pale, hairless skin that was slightly off colour. As he curiously prodded his own belly, Hans set a glass of neat whiskey down before him.

“I’d like to talk.”

Picking up the glass, Jack eyed the contents as he carefully swirled it, listening to the tinkling ice. “I’m right here. Talk.”

“You’re very cheeky for someone I just watched die.” Hans responded dryly as he leaned forward, causing his seat to groan under the strain.

“I’ve always been a prick, Hans.” The softness in Jack’s voice gave Hans pause, while Jack set down the full glass.

“Yes, but you haven’t been immortal.”

“We both know I’m not-”

“BULLSHIT! What did you do, Jack!? What kind of god forsaken deal did you make to have this happen!?” Hans gestured angrily to the screen, just as video of the opening shots began to play from Hans’ view. “I watched you take a two cenny power slug to the guts! I’ve seen men reduced to vapor by that firepower! I watched your guts fall from your body, coil up under you! And then, I see this.” The video skipped, to Jack’s body regenerating. Watching silently, he watched as his guts slid back up, and his blood coiled up his arms, as if a living entity of its own. Moments after having suffered a fatal wound, he got back up. Hans leaned closer, peering at him. “What did you do? Please, Jack. Just tell me. I believed your tale of survival, but this? This is… this isn’t human.”

It was at that moment, Jack felt incredibly parched. Running his index finger across the rim of the whiskey tumbler. As he opened his mouth to speak, one of the doors to the room swished open, and his words caught in his mouth.

“There he is, Mr. Fuckin’ Invincible!” Nate called out as he meandered in, with John and Vikki on his heels.

“Are we interrupting?” John spoke as he set a heavy hand on Nate’s shoulder, stopping the smaller man in his tracks.

“No. My friend was just explaining the cause of his miraculous recovery to me.” Hans lounged back, further torturing the furniture with his bulk.

“Blyin, look at this face!” Ignoring John, Vikki passed by with him and Nate. Throwing her arms around Jack’s shoulders, she idly stroked his regenerated cheek. “So wery cyoot~ How do you do it, Cowboy? Tell Momma your sexy secrets~”

“Vikki-”

“It’s fine, Hans. I’ll talk.” Jack considered the tumbler in his hand once again, and the sweet ambrosia within. The temptation was like a vice, squeezing down on his willpower, demanding it crack like an egg. Setting the glass down on the table before him, Jack carefully pulled Viktoriya’s arms off his shoulders. As the woman pouted and the others sat down, he leaned back and considered things for a long moment. “I made a deal with Doctor Ernest Blackburn. Or rather… he made a deal with me.”

The room suddenly went very quiet.

“Ernest Blackburn, as in, Star of Terra receiver, third richest man in human space, savior of the human race, Ernest Blackburn?” Nate spoke cautiously and with well measured words, an oddity for the hyperactive man.

“The one who makes super soldiers. Yeah.”

Shaking his head, John leaned back in his chair as he adopted a disgruntled expression. “Blackburn is half the reason the Republic hasn’t recognized Humanity. He’s a terrorist, and you’ve made a deal with him.” It wasn’t so much a question from the ex-cop, but a statement of disgust.

“I didn’t have a choice. Not a real one, at least.”Jack grunted in return at the big man. “He had my number dialed the moment I set foot back on Terran soil. It was either play along and consider his offer, or get black bagged by his operatives and hauled off to god knows where; drag my friends into it. As far as his offer goes, I didn’t have a choice in that either, after getting blown in half.” Turning his scowl down at his still untouched tumbler of whiskey, Jack did his best to soothe himself mentally.

“So, my friend.” Hans set his heavy hands on his mechanical knees. “What is your next move?”

His silence swiftly turned the room quiet, as he reached up and slowly scratched at his new cheek. “I don’t know. Originally, I was going to call Blackburn. But… This Republic, tell me about it.”

John cocked an eyebrow at the request, before shrugging and getting comfortable. “The Republic and their Council govern most of known space, and the various alien empires within. They keep the peace, as best they can. Since Humanity has yet to be recognized as a class five species, we’re stuck as a sub-race, and are forced to pay additional tariffs, while limiting our naval fleet capacity.”

“Where the fuck were they when the Corvellans showed up in extermination mode?” Jack growled, already disliking the idea of being told what to do by some detached alien government that hadn’t done anything for humanity in their greatest time of need.

“Apparently their excuse was that they didn’t believe a sapient species could grow on a class twelve deathworld, and they underwent a considerable bureaucratic investigation. According to the records, Earth was within several of the Corvellan Corporate Nobility Clans contested claim zones. One side found a legal loophole and decided to mine out the planet before their rival could.”

“To hell with the people living there.” Jack rubbed his cheek a little rougher.

“It was a thirty year long court case.” Hans finally spoke. “Our lawyers ripped them to shreds, like a field suppressor through their infantry.” The mental image was enough to bring a brief smirk to Jack’s lips, but it didn’t remain long. “Jack, these… people, you’ve allied yourself with. Knight Captain Falenas and her JSOG. They deserve your help far more than Blackburn ever will; they need it more.”

“I know, Hans. I know.” Finally sinking backwards, Jack ran his thumb over his jaw. “I’ll think of something.”

“I’m sure you will, Mr. Kessle.” John spoke as he got up. “You’re a capable soldier, we saw as much when we were in that firefight.”

“What did Blackburn do?” Looking up at those around him, Jack set his hands on his knees.

Shifting awkwardly, Nate crossed one leg over the other as Vikki lounged like a busty cat. “Well… among other things, he’s been accused of Spiking three Corvellan hatchery worlds. That’s uh… where a ship drops a specialized tungsten pole while in FTL, on course with a planet.”

Vikki grinned a little as she trailed a finger along her skirt hem. “Kaboom~”

Again, the mental image of the invading aliens getting what was coming to them tickled Jack pleasantly, he tried to think objectively. The war was over, and those were innocents, non-combatants. “What else?”

“The Republic.” John started as he sipped at a glass of water. “Has a very staunch set of rules regarding genetic modifications, artificial intelligence, and WMD development. All things Doctor Blackburn and his teams are doing as we speak. The reason he hasn’t been left out to dry by the UTF is his history, and his active work at saving human lives. Since he was given open operations allowance in the Fringe, Gorsian pirate raids have dropped by seventy percent on human settlements and stations, within the last five years alone. Knocking him out of the picture would hamstring the government in far too many places for them to be comfortable with it.”

“Hmm~” With a smile, Vikki leaned forward, presenting a good look at herself as she snagged Jack’s untouched drink. “He has sunk little claws into ewerythink. Like whore who won’t stop suckink. Wery smart, too important and too big to slit throat.” She mimed the action with a slender finger.

“Mr. Kessle?” A new, quiet voice pricked Jack’s ears, drawing his attention to the door. There, a short woman with black hair and a doctor’s coat stood waiting. “Your friends are out of surgery.”

“Goddamn, you future motherfuckers work fast…” Rising from his seat, he started for the door. “It hasn’t even been an hour…”

The doctor smiled nervously as he approached. “Well, modern medicine has made some incredible technological leaps ahead since… you were around last, Mr. Martyr… I-I’m Doctor End. We haven’t had a chance to meet yet- I-I… you look exactly like the pictures, I’m um… just a little surprised… Still! It’s an honor!”

“The honor’s mine, really.” Taking the doctor’s hand and shaking it, Jack motioned to the door. “I want to see them.”

“Of course! Follow me please!” Doctor End spun on her heels, and immediately began to walk back the way she came. Throwing a wave over his shoulder as he left, Jack was quick to follow the doctor as she filled him in. “Their wounds weren’t all that severe to begin with. Miss Stonegust’s arm had to be amputated, clearly, but that process was pleasantly easy, and Olimar has already outfitted her with a cybernetic plug. I can’t even fathom how she got around with that ugly thing strapped to her. We’re printing off replacement limbs for them both right now.”

“Christ, that fast? What about the connection plugs?”

“Easy as pie. Granted, the remains of the limb on Captain Falenas was… interesting, to say the least. How it worked as it did is beyond me. It’s a shame it was destroyed… anyways, we’ve given them both a small upgrade, so to speak.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Jack nodded his thanks. “I’m sure they’ll be thrilled. Any chance of upgrading my legs?” He asked wryly, not expecting much.

Grinning happily, the doctor nodded with excitement. “I’d love to, Martyr!”

“Please, just call me Jack.”

The short doctor paced ahead of him, leading him through more large gangways and halls. Passing by a pair of security drones, she opened up the medical bay door, revealing a large white room filled to the brim with advanced medical equipment and sealed pods. Sitting on an open bed was Flitter, who was holding out her jet black arm as an older man worked diligently at the complex electronics within. Flitter looked up as the door opened, and her features immediately lit up.

“How’re you holding up, Darlin?” Jack entered, passing by the smaller doctor as he moved up to Flitter’s side.

“I’m fine! I got lucky.” Shifting nervously in her battered dress, Flitter couldn’t keep the relieved smile off her face.

“Very lucky.” Doctor Olimar chimed in, his voice sounding gruff and electronic. Turning away from Flitter as her arm panels clicked closed, the older man set down his tools as he looked to Jack. Olimar’s face was unlike anything he’d ever seen before; the man’s face and head being seemingly comprised of a battle drone’s faceplate, merged with a human skull. His optical sensors shone red like hot coals. “Sorry kid, I know the first glance is pretty startling. Your Captain here is lucky to be alive at all. If the shooter had been gunning for her, she wouldn’t have just lost an arm.”

“I’m aware.” Jack leaned against the table, idly acknowledging of the subtle crawling in his guts. “What about Yuma? Is she alright?”

“Well.” The doctor set his coarse hands on his hip as he looked over his shoulder. “She’s sedated while the cybernetics finish attaching to her nervous system. With a wound like hers, I had to put her under for her own safety.”

Moving up beside the other doctor, Hailey lightly drummed at her arm. “I’m really surprised at how much it took to put her out! We could have sedated a full grown bull, or… an elephant.” The smaller woman shifted slightly, before speaking up again. “Captain? I’d like to test out that new arm of yours.”

“Oh! Sure.” Sitting up slightly, she waited for the other woman to get ready.

“I’ll just run you through the basics, then get into the advanced features.”

“Okaaay? It’s… an arm. What kind of special features could it have?”

“Oh hun. You have no idea. This is one of the top of the line models, they give these to spec ops soldiers. Boss Lady makes sure that we have the best of everything available at a moment’s notice.” The doctor stepped back, and began running Flitter through a battery of tests to gauge how well her body had taken to the new limb. The simple tests went by quickly; move up, move down, move fingers, flex, grip fragile object, etc. With the basics cleared with ease, Doctor End began to run Flitter through the more advanced stages. As they ran down response times, Flitter finally started to smile as she worked the jet black limb about. It was lean and mean looking, with not a single wasted edge. It reacted within microseconds, exactly as her own flesh and blood limb would, only this one was made of composite dipped carbon fibre, magnesium alloys, and carbon nanotubes. It was four times as strong as she could ever hope to be, and thanks to a minor nanite treatment, the plug it was anchored in had apparently successfully married itself to her body without any side effects.

“Okay, now onto hidden weaponry.”

“W-wait, there’s weapons in this thing?” Flitter turned her arm over to examine it closer, causing the plates to shift and chitter in response.

Doctor End nodded, and set aside her holoslate. “Alright, now I want you to imagine pulling a pistol from a hip holster. Do the motion please.” The doctor stood well to the side as Flitter quirked a brow.

“Alright, here goes- WOAH!” As Flitter snapped her arm up in a quick drawing motion, the plates and tubes in her forearm shifted and withdrew, allowing a compacted pistol to spring forth on guide rods. As her hand closed around the grip of the now unfolding pistol, it charged with a short, shrill whistle, causing the weapon’s ammo counter to glow a pleasant blue. 12 shots. “This… this is amazing!” Flitter turned the weapon over, marveling at its compact design and space aged appearance.

Smiling proudly, Hailey rocked on the balls of her feet. “That’s an Aegis Arms Gabriel series Powered Defender pistol. It uses one centimeter cobalt-copper matrix disks as ammunition, and has a micro quad heatsink along the barrel and extractor. Semi automatic with a three and a quarter pound trigger. Very crisp, I’m told. Now, imagine holstering the pistol normally, do the motion if it helps.”

“Heeeeeee~” Unable to contain her excitement, Flitter all but pranced in place as the deadly weapon snapped shut without her needing to pretend to holster it. “So that’s all I need to do? Imagine it in my head?”

“Yep!” Hailey grinned toward Olimar. “I love satisfying patients, don’t you?”

Smiling softly, Jack made himself comfortable against a pod. “Gotta say, Darlin, I’m pretty jealous.”

As Flitter positively beamed at Jack, Hailey checked another box on her holoslate. “Can you extend it once more?” As the weapon leapt forward and charged with a whine, Hailey quickly showed Flitter how to reload it. “The top of the receiver lifts up like so, and you slide the clip in like so.” Showing Flitter the skinny stripper clip of ten millimeter copperish disks, Hailey ejected the current magazine and loaded the new one. “Just close the top, and you’re locked and loaded! Just um… one word of warning, we’ve found that the pistols don’t use enough coolant in the ejector, so if you decide to go rock and roll with this little baby, it might jam up around the sixth or seventh round. If that happens-” Again, Hailey grabbed the weapon and showed Flitter how to open up the extractor chamber. “Just open this up, and pull this little lever. It’ll clear out the rest of the matrix gunk. Alright, that about covers it! You can swap out the pistol for a blade, which can be HF, mono, ripper, or uh… normal. Unfortunately your arm model is a little too small for the pulse sabot punch gun, but, oh well, right?” The doctor grinned with as Flitter’s mind swam with possibilities. “Oh, Oli, could you take a look at these readings?”

“Pass them over.” The pair quickly seemed to enter a world of their own as they poured over the dataslate together.

Glancing over her shoulder at Jack, she smiled softly, and beckoned him over. As he crossed the short distance, she placed her cool cybernetic hand over his. Giving her hand a little squeeze, Jack couldn’t help but stare into her eyes. With her soft smile now rimmed by a healthy blush, Flitter began to move up, her lips parting.

Before the pair could connect, the intercom squawked, and Olivia’s voice echoed through the ship. “If our guests could make their way down to the shuttle bay, we’re ready to take you home now.”

“I guess that’s our cue…” Flitter murmured as she hopped up off the bed and flexed her new arm.

Looking to the doctors, Jack couldn’t keep the frown from his features. “What about Yuma? Is she good to be moved?”

With a light shake of his head, Olimar brought up his omnilink to check her vitals. “She’s still completely out. I cleared it with the Boss before you even came up, and Captain Falenas. She’ll be staying with us until she’s well enough.”

Glancing at Flitter, Jack could only sigh and nod his head. “Alright. Take good care of her, you hear?” He pointed a finger at the pair of doctors to drive his point home.

“She’s in good hands, Martyr. Maybe I’ll get a chance to get you some upgrades when we see you next!” Doctor End chirped happily as Flitter took him by the arm and wheeled him out of the medical bay.

While Flitter took the lead on the way to the hangar bay, Jack did his best to quiet his mind. Leaving Yuma behind on the ship wasn’t his first choice; honestly it hadn’t even been on his list at all. But, he knew that she needed the medical attention, and the best they could offer for her back at base was some bandages. He just hoped she’d forgive him. The walk to the hangar bay was a rather long one, if only thanks to the size of the ship itself. However, when they arrived, the pair found the entire away team sans Naomi, plus Olivia, waiting for them by a second shuttle. The first shuttle was still in the midst of having a wedged 1970 plum purple Charger peeled out of it’s interior.

Smiling as Jack and Flitter descended the elevator, Olivia set her hands on her hips. When the gate rattled open and the pair closed the distance, she was ready for them. “Well, I have to admit that today did not go how I wanted it to, it didn’t go nearly as badly as it could have. None of my people were hurt, and nobody was killed but the bad guys. Usually, we consider that a win. However…” Olivia paced a little, before entering the shuttle. Her team was quick to follow her, and buckle in. Jack and Flitter mirrored the sentiment as Olivia spoke. “Knight Captain, you… you saved my life. For that, I’m honestly grateful, not for giving me more time, but for not letting my crew become unemployed.” The girl grinned a little, but it wasn’t shared by anybody else. “Seriously though. I don’t like having debts, so I intend to pay this one off post haste. You want something, we’ll get it for you. On top of your original order, of course.” The shuttle rocked slightly as it set off toward Earth.

Furrowing her brow in thought, Flitter leaned against Jack as she considered her options. As Olivia began to tell her to take her time, Flitter spoke. “A ship. I want a space ship.” The gunrunner blinked in surprise, but allowed Flitter to continue. “I don’t care if it has guns. I… my world is at war for its very survival, and I’ve been given the task of saving it. Me, and my little team. If we could get a ship like yours, we could be anywhere in the world in a matter of hours, with all the gear we could ever want, at utterly untouchable heights.”

Turning to her boss, Vikki wetted her lips slightly before speaking. “Boss, we could see-”

“Don’t say it, Vikki.”

“Earl is not bad man! He has many ships, no holes and no leaky reactors!”

Olivia let out a sound that crossed between pain, mild anger, and defeat. “You’re right… alright Knight Captain, I’ll get you your warship. Don’t expect a dreadnaught though, my pockets are deep, but not that deep. Now, your order. We never got a chance to discuss it earlier. What was it you were looking for?”

Caught slightly off guard, Flitter looked to Jack for guidance. He carried on without a hitch. “Do you… do sample platters? I’m eighty years out of the loop, and Flitter’s people… kind of just recently invented cartridge weapons. We need firearms, launchers, munitions, vehicles if you can get them, erm- does modern power armour require surgery to use?” He asked with a hint of trepidation.

John shook his head in response. “No sir. All modern armours have built in power plants and motive systems.”

“Great. I want a sample platter of any available armour you can offer at a platoon level.”

“I can offer power armour, war armour, and archangels.” Olivia responded lightly in her business tone.

“Archangels?”

“Light power armour with built in repulsor thruster packs and optional hardpoint weaponry for the extendable wings.”

Grinning wide, Jack nodded. “Yeah. Gimme some of that for sure. What about fissionables?”

Shaking her head, Olivia crossed her arms. “I don’t deal in chemical, bio, or nuclear. No WMD’s of any kind. It’s bad business.”

Nodding once, Jack clasped his hands in his lap. “I can respect that. Alright, I uh… think that’s it. We need whatever you can offer, so if you happen to bring any specialist equipment outside what I detailed, we’ll gladly look it over.”

“Great.” Olivia smiled briefly at them as the shuttle rumbled slightly during it’s descent. “We’ll see you in a few weeks. I can put some of my business aside for this, but gathering everything up will take time. The ship especially.”

“And Yuma?”

“Don’t worry Jack, we’ll bring you back your ogre lady in one piece.” Hans droned lightly. “Worst case, she works for us for a little while.”

“Oh I’m sure she’ll love that…” Jack slowly shook his head, before huffing softly as the shuttle landed and the back hatch opened with a hiss. “Alright, we’ll get out of your hair.” He shivered slightly as a bitter wind swept through the bay.

Seeing her opportunity, Vikki smiled a sultry smile as she leaned on John. “Come get into my hair anytime!~”

As Flitter’s head whipped around and her features turned sour, Jack was quick to herd her out of the shuttle before the goodwill of the gunrunner evaporated in the face of a catfight. “Be seeing you, Hans!”

“Don’t get killed again while I’m gone!”

“Bah, I’ve got to have a few lives left!” Jack grinned as the shuttle door closed, and the craft dipped once, before shooting off into the sky. As the shuttle disappeared, the weight of the day all but landed squarely on Jack’s shoulders. Closing both his eyes, he let out a long breath. “Are we back at the base?”

Lacing her hands around his arm, Flitter nodded as the wind picked at her dress. “Yeah.”

“Is it on fire?”

“No.”

“Does anything look fucked up?”

Tilting her head to look at him, Flitter rubbed at his bicep. “Nope. I can see lots of lights and hear music though.”

“Okay.” Gently removing Flitter’s hands from his arm, Jack turned on his heels, marched six steps, and promptly planted himself into the snowbank. As Flitter quickly moved over to his side, she paused as he began to warble quietly into the snow.

“Do… do you need a moment?”

Rolling over so he was seated in the snow, Jack let his head fall back as he pressed both hands into his face. “Fuuuuuuuhuhuuhuckkkkkk…”

“Jack…” Carefully sitting down in his lap, Flitter gently pulled his hands from his face, and cupped his chin. “It’s okay. You’re okay. I’m okay.”

Nodding weakly, he shuddered heavily. “I just want to sleep for a hundred days and… fucking hell, Flitter… I… god dammit… I-Hnrg!” Jack tensed as Flitter lunged forward, pressing her lips tightly against his. The tension in his body slowly melted away as she kissed him. It started gently at first, but as he slowly laid a hand over the back of her head, Flitter leaned in and let out a shivering groan of happiness as she pressed the kiss in deeper with greed.

As the cold started to creep in, Flitter reluctantly broke the deep kiss. Placing her forehead against his, she sighed in contentment as she stroked both his cheeks. “Happy birthday, Jack.”

With his eyes still half lidded, Jack slowly groaned. “That was today... “

Giggling softly, Flitter slowly stroked his regenerated cheek. “Yes it was, you big oaf. I bought you a tonne of stuff, but… none of it felt right.”

“Well, Darlin, I hope you’ve got more of what you just gave me, cause after today, I’m gonna need em. All of em.”

Biting her lip, Flitter could hardly contain her excitement. The shiver of excitement and the shiver of cold fought each other for supremacy as she held his shoulders. “Can we go inside now?”

“Yes, please, I can’t feel my ass.”

“Then let’s go! You’re not losing that butt to frostbite, mister!” Prodding and pulling at him, Flitter slowly dragged Jack to his feet.

“I’m goin, I’m goin. Just hold still a moment.”

“What’re- Oh! J-jack!” Flitter yelped in surprise as Jack swept her off her feet and out of her ill fitting shoes; one hand on her back, and the other cradling her butt. “I-I… heheh… I could get used to this!”

“Let’s get inside. I can’t feel my toes either.”

“But- oh you cheeky little-”

“Ow! Not the face!”

Author's Notes:

Good lord, this chapter. AKA, BEASTLY. I ended up taking a small break to recharge, read a book, play some games. Managed to hammer this chapter out in about a weeks time. Anyways, big thanks to my team for their hard work on this one.

In addition, for those curious, Walter hails from another fic, belonging to a friend of mine. https://www.fimfiction.net/story/290142/a-second-chance
I've been doing some mild work in helping him edit and proofread, so give him some love if this sort of fic interests you.