A palm strike of Impatient One dented in the man's sternum, killing him instantly. The shaman closed her paws, pummeling the opposition with pure iron-clad fists, not deeming them worthy of sullying her claws in their blood anymore. Everything in Anissa urged her to indulge her grief in the screams of the guilty, but she held back, mindful of her duties. Chak's warning hadn't been forgotten; she sensed tremors running underfoot, obviously distinct from the violent shaking caused by bombardment.
When it came, it wasn't a surprise. A metal limb, longer than her body, pierced the ruined sentry post. It nearly hit a male of her pack with its spinning cannon, but Anissa blocked the attack with a forearm. She scowled as she saw flashes and heard the roar of gunfire that knocked her and the soldier aside and crumpled her vambrace. Schalk burst through the ruins, sitting inside the massive loader. It was a bipedal walker, about five meters tall, and Schalk sat nestled in the cabin, partially shielded by the welded plates. Crude, weaponized limbs replaced the walkers' arms.
"Betrayer!" Anissa's eyes met his, but the man turned his mech, heading for the shield. The walker's arms swung, firing blindly around, scything two of his men and scaring away the pack.
Dragena had ordered to take him alive, intending to squeeze every ounce of information about any assistants, willing or otherwise, who had been involved in this deed. But the sight of him brought a red veil to Anissa's vision, and her fingers snatched the shardgun from her back. Zlata. Bogdan. He'll pay.
"Out of my way, honey!" Something rammed into her side.
Anissa had never been hit by a train, but she assumed it would feel similar. Her beloved skittered past her, antennas flying, his sharp legs hooking around the walker's legs and tripping it. Chak wrapped the entire length of his segmented body around Schalk's mech, lodging tips of his legs into joints and ammunition belts, jamming and slicing through them. With a single, titanic shove, the quartermaster toppled the limbless machine on its back, sinking his claws in both of Schalk's knees through the protection. The former lieutenant howled, pulling a plasma gun and pointing it at the round eyes.
"How rude," Chak chittered.
A single cut severed the arm holding the weapon.
"Well hello, fancy meeting you here, fella." The toxicognaths closed on the neck. "You seem to be a helpful sort around here, showing people every nook and cranny of this fine city. Mind giving me a hand? Ah, well, don't bother. You must be very tired. I'll help myself." A long neck stabbed into the severed arm, feeding it to the clicking mouth. "There was a boy. His name was Keon; he had a fine lady. The lad had a bright future ahead: kids, family, a new job, friends… Before you took it from him, you little shit!" Without uncoiling, the Malformed raised the loader and slammed it into the ground, ripping a scream of pain from Schalk's lips. "You owe the logistics. We are a spiteful sort, so I, as a civilized representative of our humble society, am going to pump you full of paralyzing venom, relaxing every muscle. Then, I'll chew you up, starting from your legs and going up. I assure you, it is wholly personal."
"So what's stopping you, roach?" Schalk spat at the calm mandibles.
"The enjoyment of observing you squirm and my distaste for human flesh. Well, the very least you can do is wish me bon appeti and have the decency to digest swiftly."
"Chak," Anissa said. He tensed. Few would've recognized it, but their nights spent together had taught the wolf hag how to understand his emotions based on the slightest contortion of his body, which led to the shifting of his carapace. She grinned. "The correct phrase is Bon Appétit. I heard it from Soulless One. Leave me a bite."
"My pleasure."
"Stop!" Impatient One barked, abandoning the combat to the pack. "Wolf Hag, obey the given orders."
Anissa scowled, ready to order the shaman to stand down. There was no need to take the traitor alive. But then her instincts kicked in, and she patted Chak on his head, stopping him from stabbing the man, and picked up the plasma gun, which seemed like a cub's toy in her paw. She aimed it at the bleeding stump and fired, cauterizing the wound and reveling in Schalk's agonizing thrashing.
That's for Bogdan. She planned to see the man's execution, record it, and send the video to her precious cousins.
"Why?" the wolf hag asked, shooting at another traitor who was running away. "Why help the invaders?"
"Isn't it obvious?" The former lieutenant gritted his teeth, fighting the pain.
"No." Anissa shook her head. "No matter how I look at it, I don't understand you. Was it tokens?" Schalk snorted. "Yes, you would not find any way to spend them. Authority? Brood Lord is the traitorous freak who holds no loyalty to anyone. You can't be this dumb as not to realize that he would slaughter you the moment you outlived your usefulness. And no one in the Horde will protect you! Why help the invaders?"
"It's malice," Impatient One said, stepping closer. "He wanted to hurt us."
"Not… you specifically," the man panted, struggling to sit, but Chak's coils tightened. "Invaders." He looked at them with burning hatred in his eyes, and Anissa imagined that both of his pupils seemed to gravitate toward each other. "Oh, that's rich. That's very, very rich hearing you whine about an invasion. The Reclamation Army had conquered my homeland, slaughtered my father, broken my mother's spine, and dragged us off to re-education camps as if we were the evil in need of persuasion! Who invaded who first, Anissa? I am only returning the favor!"
"And for this, my brother had to be burned alive?" She stomped on the operator's cabin, pressing a claw to his neck and panting heavily. "He never harmed you or your family, you bastard! You swore an oath to protect the citizens, damn it; your own people live in this very city, in these lands. You know damn well how painful it is to lose a family; how dare you inflict the same on the innocents!"
"No one is innocent…" He yelled in pain as Anissa stomped again, breaking bones in his shoulder.
"Don't give me that crap!" Anissa hissed, feeling Impatient One's disapproving gaze on her. The warlord had made her will known about the torture, but right now she didn't care. That… thing. My brother! Her finger on the trigger twitched; she wiped the drool from her mouth. "Any cub trampled by the Horde is innocent." Impatient One lowered, sniffed the loader, and circled the trapped man. "Every infant suffocated by the smoke, every hardworking soulmates are innocent, you son of a whore."
"Was I supposed to let it go?" Schalk smiled, sweating. His eyelids spasmed, causing him to blink too fast, and his skin paled. The corners of his lips twitched, and ripples ran down his cheeks. "To forgive and forget after the Reclamation Army had carried out that brave massacre of theirs? To ignore the decimation of my nation, the disappearance of my culture and language, to pretend that my nightmares don't exist? You asked why, but you already know the answer, Anissa! Bogdan was never my target; none of those who died in this war were my targets. I never wished them dead, but I gladly sacrificed them for a chance to get back at that snake! That emptiness you feel... I lived my life with it!"
"If you had hunted the soldiers responsible for the ruin brought to your home, I'd understand." Anissa grabbed Schalk by his pulsing, sweaty neck. "If you were feigning loyalty to get close and stab me in the back, I'd understand from the other side. Would even forgive. I am a soldier; we are expected to bear the responsibility for the deeds carried out by my comrades. But you didn't do any of that, did you, Schalk? You had caused the exact same massacre, no! You despicable worm, you created… aided in fostering more grievous tragedy aimed at those who looked up to you for protection. You betrayed your oath; you betrayed your people… How many Schalks have seen their families die in this senseless war? You have become worse than those who destroyed your nation!"
"Wolf hag!" Impatient One stood up and grabbed her shoulder. "Control yourself and look at the bigger picture. His troops were poorly equipped to handle the defenses inside the facility, much less us. After encountering us…"
"He still hurried to the facility, yet there are no explosives on him…" Anissa whispered, immediately activating communications and ordering her allies to conduct an immediate security sweep.
"What are you playing at, little snack?" Chak snapped mandibles before Schalk's face. "No answer? Let's see if we can loosen your tongue by unburdening you of one of your other limbs…"
"Worse, Anissa?" asked the traitor, his every word accompanied by a snap. Ripples ran through his skin; his jaw dislocated and reset itself. "Wrong. We are greater."
The bridge of his nose sank deep into his face, and Anissa fired, no longer concerned with taking the man alive. Schalk lifted his head; his neck snapped and stretched, and his eyes flowed together, forming a single cyclopean dish. The plasma splashed around his neck, blackening it instead of melting a canal for itself, and Chak gasped.
That was the last she heard him say. A gasp. Not a proud cry, not any last words, but a single gasp, resembling the reaction of raiders whose lungs she had skewered with claws. Chak's carapace exploded in its upper section, spraying fountains of white ichor and crimson blood into the shocked muzzle of the wolf hag. Twisted rags ending in hungry maws struck from the ruined body, and were it not for Impatient One pulling her back, Anissa would've lost her life to the fangs snapping near her nose.
The rags shot upward, gaining the appearance of rubber hoses; their sagging skin changed color from black to dirty brown, tightening in seconds, and the traitorous lieutenant broke free from his seat, standing easily on his already restored knees. In a span of less than a fraction of a second that she had lost sight of him, the man had changed.
There was a cyclopean eye, glowing malevolently green in the center of his head; his face elongated, mimicking a Wolfkin's snout to an extent, but rather than having rows of sharp fangs, he had eight teeth on each part of his jaw, eight round, blunt instruments more suited to biting and grinding than tearing and ripping. His body mass increased, tearing through his suit and armor, but overall the man remained slender, lacking any excessive muscles, though he now stood taller than Anissa. Orange and brown devoured his natural brown color, four tendrils weaving in the air, protruding from his shoulder blades. Schalk's three-fingered foot stepped on a syringe rolling on the ground. He glanced at his missing arm, tensed his shoulder muscle, and a fresh hand emerged from the smooth skin.
Anissa fired at him, shutting out her grief for Chak. She couldn't… process it now, but she knew she wished to see the bastard dead. Schalk gleefully looked at her and leaned to the side, easily evading the plasma bolt. Impatient One was already near, and the uppercut caught her in the chin. She dodged the claws, which gained the appearance of mounds of keratinized skin, but the knuckles sent her high. A single tendril slapped, laming Anissa's leg faster than she could react.
Schalk emitted a weird mix of gurgle and whistle. He leapt aside, splattering himself against the field, and ignored the shards piercing his back. His flesh swallowed and spat them back, immediately closing the lacerations as if his skin was a calm water pool, inevitably returning to its original state. Anissa crawled after him, shooting the monster in the back alongside her pack.
It was wrong. Her own knee was destroyed, tendons severed, and she already suffered from the internal bleeding, but it won't be enough to kill her. Schalk wasn't a New Breed. Short of undergoing bio-sculpture in Iterna or being exposed to the Glow, no mortal could hope to ascend beyond allocated limits. And certainly not so fast or to such an extent.
Schalk's fist rammed into the field, bending it very slightly. It immediately rebounded, shoving his fist back, and the creature gurgled-whistled, raining an avalanche of blows on the sturdy field to no avail. His tendrils stabbed at it as the turrets unfolded themselves from the walls, preparing to turn the man into a paste should the impossible happen. A beam shot from his eye, digging deep in the field, and she heard a groan from the complex's construction as the resulting sparks bathed the man. The shield, capable of withstanding multiple volcanic eruptions concentrated in the single area, strained nearly to the limit.
But it endured.
"Unexpected encounter with a New Breed!" Anissa yelled into the coms. "A warlord-level threat has manifested near the complex. Pack Anissa requests immediate assistance!"
Schalk turned as Impatient One landed heavily behind the wolf hag. She expected there to be panic or at least concern in his eyes, but his pupil narrowed, focusing on her. Shit.
He disappeared, and she stabbed with her left arm, relying on instinct rather than reaction or perception. The claws met resistance, and Schalk screamed in his strange voice, convulsing after impaling his own groin on her claws. The impact recoiled her arm, her fingers snapping, but Anissa shoved the plasma gun into his open wound, firing it immediately. An orange flame briefly traversed inside him, coloring his palate orange, and then she dropped face down, felled by a single chop that shattered her pauldron and the ground underneath.
One of her lenses remained intact, and the vision of a foot bleeding the traitor's face greeted her. Impatient One had already recovered and pressed on the creature, slashing at him without a single halt, outpacing his unnatural regeneration, and Schalk retreated, evading a thrust that had almost blinded him.
A New Breed. Not a Malformed and certainly not a bioweapon. Schalk's distorted features were even in their symmetry, and the mutation didn't leave exposed muscles or organs. He was fully functional, but his clear inexperience in handling high-speed combat had proven that he wasn't born with that sort of might. His tendrils should have closed in on the shaman, ripping her to shreds, but they hung over him, forgotten because of the stress.
Not that he needed their assistance. The difference in their abilities was like that of a Wolfkin and a Normie wearing power armor. Schalk composed himself, and his hands closed on Impatient One's wrist and elbow as she stabbed, and he broke the arm, pushing her elbow bone through the suit's joint. Then his own fist landed in the shaman's face, sending her flying into the pack, and hands closed around Anissa's neck, lifting her up.
She expected to be killed, but the monster turned, carrying her to the complex. Curse you!
"Wolf Hag Anissa here! Remove my clearances now! The enemy has taken me captive, I repeat…"
He approached the field, and she noticed the section of it preparing to open. Schalk's grin widened.
The ground trembled, and the traitor stepped back cautiously as the figure in the pitch-black cloak rose. Zero tossed her cowl back; the brightest yellow light shone through a crack in her helmet over her eye, her paws on the rifle. A claw pressed against Anissa's neck in silent threat, and the warlord tossed her weapon aside, spreading her clenched paws wide.
"Hate us? Take it on me!" Her fist pounded over the smooth curves of her armor, and Zero sauntered toward the creature. "C'om, big man. What's worth more, a wolf hag or a warlord?" Schalk mewled and grunted, baring his fangs and raising his hand. "Yes, that's right…"
A black beam sliced through the traitor's wrist, freeing Anissa. Before she could so much as try and attack him, Zero had already tossed the grenades into the open mouth, and the ensuing explosion flung Anissa away. The wolf hag landed with a twinge of pain in her shoulder. Zero pulled two expanding rods from the opened pockets on her legs and ducked, dodging the beam fired by the enraged traitor.
The banging. Anissa had understood what had happened. Zero's rifle had protruded two support platforms and 'stood' up, automatically leveling its aim based on the feed coming from the warlord's helmet while the woman was busy drawing the enemy's attention to herself.
Schalk broke through the clouds of smoke, his cyclopean eye still emitting the beam, his lips barely scorched. The tips of the stun rods stabbed into his foaming maw, unleashing enough electricity to stun even a skinwalker, and Zero drew herself high, forcing the man's gaze upward. She began pushing him away from the complex, her rifle dragging after her on a barely visible string. The tendrils tried to bite her, acting in unison.
That was a mistake. If the man had been a little more accustomed to his new body, he would've tried to attack legs, elbows, and ribs at different intervals. But by snapping their jaws at the same target, the torso, the tendril's heads butted into each other as Zero stepped back and kicked, throwing them and Schalk off balance. Using the man as a foothold, she delivered a bone-crushing blow to his jaw with her second leg, never letting him recover from the violent vibrations his brain suffered.
"Stand down!" Anissa ordered her pack. "The ultimate warlord hunts alone. Secure the area and eradicate any remaining pests."
She crawled toward Chak, still hardly believing that he wasn't any more. Her dearest wasn't breathing; none of his legs twitched; several sections of his body below the head were shaved clean of any meat and carapace, and just a single, elongated spinal column connected the two. She cradled his head, desperately trying to come up with something, and cursed herself for her arrogance. Civilians had no place on the battlefield! She knew it; why didn't she break his legs to make him stay in safety? Why didn't…
"I am so sorry," Impatient One said, coming closer. She raised her paw but didn't touch Anissa.
"For what?" Anissa looked at her with dead eyes. "It… it is all my fault. My… mistake."
*****
"And that is the outcome of using untrained personnel for the experiment," Purple Valkyrie said smugly.
"Shhh…" Academician said, raising a finger. "Elasticity, 95 percent of the expected parameters, regeneration failing. Could it be a result of antimatter poisoning? Unlikely. Need further testing. Speech distorted, minor personality degradation. Physical aptitude exceeds predicted limits, but the strain on bones is offset by the natural healing. Precision, perception… impossible to determine. Mass gain is satisfactory."
He sat on the edge of a laboratory chair, clad in dark armor and bareheaded, rifles strapped to his back. His pupils, framed by green, watched the footage relayed by a satellite. On the screen, their test subject was being driven toward the burning trees. A single sweep of his tendrils had cleared the area and missed Zero, who fired four beams into his abdomen. Purple admired the woman's efficiency.
The General Secretary had informed the organization of his displeasure over the current situation, and Purple Valkyrie eagerly volunteered to prevent contamination of the region, dragging Elder Academician by the ear to join their elite agents in anticipation. The man was worse than a child and had been whining about not needing a suit and how he could solve the situation, but she mounted one on him regardless and positioned her team to stand at the ready should the Reclaimers fail to protect the complex.
Its destruction would hurt more than non-humans, and thus it will be standing.
The group had gathered in the teleportation chamber, fully geared, armed with viral rifles and energy cannons. The random, sporadic evolution that followed no clear pattern of their virus rounds should be able to hinder even the immune system of that monster concocted by her superior, and the rays of star fire will obliterate it completely. Spaniad had gone rogue and was hiding in the city, refusing to answer communications. She hazarded a guess that the elder planned to handle Mad Hatter when the woman won.
Too bad my moronic superior doesn't share my prediction. She thought, uncaring if Academician was reading her mind. Iterna's toy folded as expected, but that factor was irrelevant in determining the outcome. It was plain to anyone with eyes that a brain-damaged byproduct of an ancient experiment stood no chance against the current pinnacle of natural evolution influenced by the Glow. Mad Hatter and Ravager's initial clash had proven enough.
Ravager had employed a tactic to divert the brunt of their combined aggression from Houstad. Laudable though that was, Mad Hatter had incorporated this factor. It didn't matter what her opponent's plan was, as either way it played into her hands, while Ravager had been forced to improvise, exposing herself.
"Wait." Academician stopped her from activating the emergency and summoning the mechanized brigade. "Look at the display, please."
She obeyed, unsure what he wanted now. The primary targets broke through the continental crust, reached the mantle, and engaged in a slugfest in the outer layers of the outer core, slowly sinking deeper. The angle and the intense heat prevented the accurate footage, and most of what the satellite picked up were mere shadows in the swirling ocean of death; their every action intensified the seismic activity running through that part of the continent, alerting other S-Classes to the conflict.
Suddenly, a roaring pillar erupted through the crack in the ground, carrying the two monsters to the surface. They broke out of the magma, slashing and cutting, kicking and elbowing, barely visible amidst the constant sonic booms plowing through the mountain range. Purple clicked her tongue.
Human perception couldn't process the situation, but they had forces of the Old World standing at the ready. What bothered her was the inevitable fallout of the khatun's victory. Based on previous observations of the woman's biology, defeating the Ravager will improve her from forty to sixty percent. Physical matters aside, neurologists have sounded the alarm, pointing out how difficult it is to calculate the change in a psyche that will occur following such a drastic change. What if Mad Hatter decided to scour the planet clean? Even if Zero would choose to unseal, even if Spaniad teamed up with her, the probability of their defeat still existed as they had no hard data on the upper limits of the mutant's intelligence to run accurate prediction models.
"Memorize this, Purple. Valkyries. Team." Academician stood up. "For every Eugenia, Spaniad and Dominator, we have Ravager, Mad Hatter, Thunder Emperor, Blood Graf, Outsider, Hive, Hunter, Devourer... Humanity, even with the addition of the Glow to the equation, simply cannot compete. We have seen it in smaller scenarios playing out around the globe, but now you have the practical result before you, a clear need for us to restore the natural order of things, or our kind will head toward extinction of our species, smidge by smidge. That is one of the two immediate reasons why the Organization must prevail and break the shackles of oppression that hinder the potential of our race. You are free to extend mercy and care to the lesser creatures. I won't begrudge nor understand that. Just don't forget what is at stake." He put a hand on Purple's shoulder. "Don't rouse the reserve. Everything is calculated. My daughter will win. She is mine to break and tame. Besides, there are other precautions…" He looked sideways at the larger display showing the map of the Reclamation Army.
Light was traveling toward the borders of the Core Lands. Purple relaxed but still seated Academician back in the chair, excusing the necessity with the need to follow the protocols. Then she mounted a helmet on his head, feeling vindictive for the stress that man-child had caused her.