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Entities beyond our knowlage nudging thing, having things play out the way they want to despite our best efforts.\n\nI dont know WHY i ended up writing this part this way, it just came out like this. i struggled against it for a bit, rewrote whole sections, but it always ended up turning out the same way...\n", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Part 6... long time coming.

some people have compared this to the matrix, as well as other artificial reality shows/movies... but the big problem i have with other similar stories, is that they dont show what happens AFTER they escape properly...

congrats, neo defeated smith and restored the matrix... but what happened then? did the machines stop using humans as batteries? did the humans still get exterminated?

This chapter also touches on another subject that was hinted at in the original Dangerous Lunatics with the little psychic mouse who was guided into the right place at the right time several times. Entities beyond our knowlage nudging thing, having things play out the way they want to despite our best efforts.

I dont know WHY i ended up writing this part this way, it just came out like this. i struggled against it for a bit, rewrote whole sections, but it always ended up turning out the same way...
", "writing": "Dangerous Lunatic: Zeta\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nSamuel opened his eyes and sat up, the little lizard giving a groan as he pulled the tubes from his body. He looked around the room and blinked several times. Alarms were blaring all around him and the stench of death hung thick in the room. He rubbed his eyes a little and looked around again before another groan caught his attention. Looking at the source made him smile.\n\nMarcus shivered as he sat up, his emaciated body once more moving like a zombie, but he was alive. He looked around and spotted the lizard looking at him. \"Hey scaleybutt, how did you do that?\"\n\nSam shrugged, \"I'm not sure how, I just can. We were hooked to a machine, I turned it off.\"\n\nThey both turned to look at the center of the room, but the chair that had housed the albino rat was now empty. A soft whimper drew their attention to where the badgeress has been rendered unconscious. They found the little albino rat curled up under the arm of the badgeress, whimpering the word \"Momma\" over and over again.\n\nMarcus stretched on the bed and then hopped down off of it, giving a groan as his legs struggled to work properly. Samuel was worse, he had been there longer and his body shook with just trying to stay upright. After regaining his ability to walk, Marcus looked around, \"Melina?\"\n\nBoth of them looked over to the cheetah where she lay on the bed. Her body looked heavily emaciated, but the heart monitor showed she still clung to life. Her head was looking over at Marcus, a smile on her face.\n\nHeartbroken at the sight of his predator so far gone, Marcus ran to her side. Tears welled up in his eyes as he took Melina's hand in his, holding it tightly as he looked over the cheetah he cared for so deeply. \n\nSamuel managed to get to his feet and staggered over to the pair, one hand reaching out to caress the spine of the rat. \"You can save her. Your ability is not limited to yourself.\"\n\nMarcus blinked a little and then went wide-eyed. Without hesitation he brought his arm up to the cheetahs face, pressing it into her mouth. He growled as he practically forced her to bite down, \"Dammit spots! Eat me!\"\n\nBlood poured into the mouth of the cheetah as the rat concentrated, focusing his life essence to mingle with that of his cheetah. He was unsure what he was doing, or if it would even work, but he had to try. He watched intently as the cheetah drank his blood, her teeth sinking deeper into his flesh and gnashing, further increasing the blood flow. Marcus started to feel faint, but he refused to stop, doing everything he could to heal her.\n\nSamuel turned his attention to the albino rat who was still crying against the badgeress. The rat had now pulled the limp arm of the badgeress over him and was cuddling her tightly, crying like a little child.\n\nSamuel approached the pair and stood over them, watching them for any sign of danger from either one. He could see the badgeress was still breathing, but she was clearly down for the count.\n\n\"...Why?\" The tiny voice of the albino rat barely made it to the ears of the lizard that stood above him.\n\n\"How many have you killed?\" Samuel asked coldly as he looked down at the rat.\n\n\"I don't know...\" The lab rat glared up at the lizard, \"You did this... this is all your fault...\"\n\nIn an instant, the lab rat was a snarling ball of fury leaping at the young lizard. Samuel simply side-stepped the attack, dodging again and again as the albino tried to brawl with no skill at all. Several times Sam used the rat's momentum to send him tumbling, but over and over again he would come back for more. Each attack became more and more reckless and further fuelled the rage inside the little rat.\n\nAfter a particularly strong lunge that ended up with the rat crashing into a gurney, Greg readied for another leap and let out a sound that started as a snarl, but ended as a surprised squeak. \n\nMelina had regained enough health to stand up and had picked up one of the metal poles that was holding the nutrient bags beside her gurney. The metal pole struck the rat in the back and sunk into him. She had instinctively used her ability as she swung, leaving the wheeled base of the rack intersecting his spine and stomach.\n\nAlmost immediately the albino rat lost the ability to stand and fell flat on his back. His hips and legs twitched and spasmed as he laid there, his hands trying to reach the metal sticking from his back in a futile effort.\n\nMelina, Marcus, and Samuel all gathered around the smaller rat as he writhed and tried to drag himself away. The lab rat had lost all control of his lower body, his legs limp except for the odd twitching.\n\nMelina sighed a little as she looked at the rat who had caused so much suffering, so much death, but was now suffering himself. It brought back the memories of the hunt, the look in the eyes of the buck. She stood there for several long moments, torn at what to do. The side of her that was raped and defiled over and over again savoured watching him suffer, but the tender side of her sought to put him out of his misery.\n\nMarcus put his arm around the cheetah and kissed her cheek, \"Put him down, spots. He doesn't deserve to suffer.\"\n\nGreg looked up at the cheetah and squeaked pitifully, his red eyes still filled with hatred, but with hints of pleading for his life. The last thing he saw was one of the clipboards from the end of the gurney being pressed against his neck and his airway being cut off. Greg glared hard as the life faded from his head, his body spasming in its death throes.\n\nMelina turned and walked away fro the dying albino rat, leaning into the embrace of her own pet rat, tears streaming down her face as the emotions were released.\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nPaul groaned as he stirred. His head pulsed as he blinked several times. His eyes finally focused on the ceiling and he sat up, giving another louder groan, \"...the hell?\"\n\nIt several long moments for him to register that the ringing in his ears was the alarms from the monitors, all seven of them giving the steady whine that was associated with flatlining. He blinked several times as he sat up, holding his head in his hands as he recovered from the blast of psychic energy.\n\nHe started to look around the room and let out a startled whurf as his eyes came on the form of the little lizard who had positioned himself defensively behind one of the gurneys. He tried to speak, but all that came out was another groan.\n\nSamuel quietly watched the wolf as he gathered himself, the little scaley standing there in his hospital gown with his tail hanging out the back and his hands lowered. He looked non-threatening, but as the same time completely bad-ass. \"Who are you.\"\n\nUsing the gurney beside him to haul himself to his feet and staggered a little, his legs still feeling numb. Paul flicked off the alarm from the heart monitor beside him and looked to the lizard again. The ringing in his ears blocked out the words of the little lizard completely and the wolf shook his head, \"Wha? ahhh didnsh ear thooo\"\n\nSam watched the wolf as he shut off the alarm, the little lizard repeating the same actions on the monitor beside him. The wolf sounded drunk, his words slurring hard. He repeated himself, \"Who are you.\"\n\nPaul staggered as he went to reach over the gurney and flick off another monitor and then jumped when he ended up leaning over the dead body of the little racoon boy. Paul flailed as he fell back, landing on his rear on the floor. \"Dead!\"\n\nSamuel rolled his eyes and placed his hand on the heart monitor beside him. The whole room shut down, all the alarms ceasing at once as the power to the machines was simultaneously turned off. \"Now. Who are you?\"\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nThe three survivors listened to Paul as he babbled on about his job and how he was glad that the rat was dead.\n\nThey were just about to start discussing what to do now when a scream caught their attention. The badgeress was up and awake, holding Greg's body in her arms as she cried. She hadn't even noticed the others in the room, having woken up beside the little rat.\n\n\"Shit... The bitch is awake.\" Paul growled to himself as he stepped back a little.\n\nMarcus and Melina were both heavily emaciated still, looking like third world starving children, but they both took a defensive posture. Samuel took up the same posture he had when he confronted the wolf, his arms lowered but his body tense, ready to react in a moments notice.\n\nCarrie turned at the words from Paul, tears of loss streaming from rage filled eyes as she saw the lizard. \"You... You did this to him...\"\n\nThe badgeress was on her feet and lunging at the lizard in an instant. Her vision was clouded with tears and the red haze of anger, time seemed to slow for her as she practically threw the gurney between her and the lizard out of the way.\n\nSamuel stepped back from the gurney as it was thrown into the wall by the enraged badgeress. Without looking at the others, he gave them a command that they all followed at the same time. \"Run.\"\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nMarcus and Melina were the first down the hall, followed close by Paul and Sam. The badgeress was hot on their tail, but she was not in shape enough to catch them. At the end of the hall was a metal door with a code lock on it. The guard at the station was only just waking from the blast.\n\nEveryone stopped at the door and Sam laid his hand on the code lock, it took less than ten seconds for the door to unlock, the group to scramble through it and shut it again. Melina leaned on the door and gave it a shove, her ability essentially welding the door shut.\n\nPaul blinked a little as he watched the two teens make use of their abilities; he had never seen powers used up close and personal before. \"Jeeze... I never thought those reports were real...\"\n\n\"Yeah, and unless you want them used on you next, you will help us get out of here...\" Melina growled at the wolf as she leaned on her rat.\n\n\"And I'm hungry enough to eat you if you don't comply...\" Marcus added with a toothy grin.\n\nPaul gave a low growl at the threat, but the way his tail tucked between his legs as he turned away showed that he would comply. The three teens followed the wolf as they all made their way down the hall. The signs were easy to read, and soon they came to a fork, one sign read 'Main Lobby' and 'Mess Hall' was the opposite. Almost in unison, the stomachs of the three teens gurgled.\n\n\"We need to make a stop at the mess hall, regardless of the danger.\" Samuel said in a commanding voice, taking the lead and heading down the hall.\n\nAs they approached the mess hall, they heard voices of confusion inside. Not wanting to be caught, they ducked into the first door they came across, and luckily it led to the kitchen. The cooks were still out cold, and a pot had boiled over on the stove, smoke rising up and making the air thick.\n\nThey didn't have long until the smoke alarm would go off and draw the attention of others. A quick rummaging found several protein bars and ration packs. The three teens devoured the protein bars in record time. Marcus grabbed a protein drink from the cooler and washed down his rations with it before letting out a satisfied burp.\n\nPaul watched as the rat's body plumped out in record time, returning to its normal healthy state, complete with bulging belly. The rat then laid a hand on each of his friends and used his ability, spreading the health between the three of them. The wolf nibbled on a protein bar, watching the silent camaraderie between, comparable to soldiers on a battlefield. He felt more like a prisoner than a fellow soldier. He knew there was no going back to his job now, Carrie would see to that. If he made it out of here alive, he might be able to hide from The Project and start anew, but from the level of guards in the place, that would take a miracle.\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nMr. Branson looked over his daughter, the little hyena cuddled in his arms. Shelly, the poodle bitch, had protected them from the full brunt of the psychic blast, but now he needed to assess the situation in his building. The first thing he called up was the security footage of Project Zion.\n\nHe watched as the psychic blast knocked out the badgeress and wolf, and then a few minutes later the three teens waking up. He watched as they converged on the albino rat and killed him, and then watched the interplay first with the wolf, then the badgeress.\n\nHe had seen enough. He pressed a button for speaker phone and gave a sigh, \"Shelly. It's time. Activate protocol Zeta Twelve.\"\n\n\"Sir, are you sure?\" The poodle said with some worry in her voice, \"Is it that bad?\"\n\n\"Yes. We have a full containment breach, with over ninety percent of our security forces incapacitated.\" The hyena sighed again, \"Complete lockdown and purge is mandated.\"\n\n\"But sir...\"\n\n\"No buts! It must be this way. Prep the escape route for my daughter and I before releasing him.\" The hyena hung up the speaker phone and hugged his daughter. \"Sweetie, I'm sorry, but we need to leave now.\"\n\n\"It's ok daddy, I understand.\"\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nWith a snarl, the black-furred vixen picked herself up off the floor. She ached all over from the tumble she had taken. She was on a treadmill when the blast hit and it felt like she had been run over by a truck. She growled to herself as she brushed her uniform off and looked around. The rest of the people in the gym had yet to wake up, some looked to have only minor injuries, but others looked to have more severe. In the corner, a male boar who had been using the bench-press was now crushed under the weight; his head was tilted in an unnatural angle from when the bar fell on his neck and broke it.\n\nThe vixen limped over to the phone on the wall, but found it had no dial tone. Anger swelled in her and the phone in her hand burst into flames and dripped onto the floor in a puddle of plastic. She tried the door, and found it was shut tight. She thought back to the protocols she had studied before taking her current position, and knew in an instant that things must be bad. Only containment breached would cause a full lockdown like this. Protocols dictated that if she was in one of the secured areas, to wait for instructions, but her own sense of self worth to the project demanded she do something to help contain the breach.\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nThey had just gotten into the elevator when the power was cut off completely. Paul sighed and looked to the lizard, \"Lockdown. Looks like we are screwed now.\"\n\n\"Have you learned nothing of us yet?\" Marcus snapped at the wolf, then in a softer tone, \"Hey scaleybutt, can you help us here?\"\n\nSam smirked at the nickname the rat used, this was the second time he had called him that. Sam made no reply, just closed his eyes and put his hand on the control panel for the elevator. The power came back on and the descent continued.\n\nWith no warning the elevator slammed into something solid and everyone collapsed to the floor. Paul let out a howl of pain as he landed on his ankle wrong and a loud CRUNCH mixed with the sound of metal on metal from the elevator.\n\nSam pressed his hand to the floor and scowled, \"Damn... I would have never thought of that...\" He paused and looked to the others who were staring at him, \"Bulkhead door designed to snap shut in case of emergency, it encompasses the whole shaft, and is designed to bend if impacted with the elevator, further locking it into place.\"\n\nPaul snarled as he tried to move his foot, \"Shit... Nobody told me about that one.... they really don't want anyone leaving...\"\n\nMarcus moved in and stroked over the shin of the wolf, working down towards the broken ankle of the wolf, using his ability to repair the bone. \"Here. It will be a little sensitive, but you will be fine.\"\n\nGuilt over his actions here rose up inside the wolf as he felt the pain subside from his ankle. He shivered a little and moved his foot, it was still a little stiff to move, but the pain was gone. \"Why? Why don't you just leave me behind?\"\n\n\"First off, you know the layout of the place and can help us get out of here.\" Sam paused and grinned, \"And before she died, Jennifer told me to trust you.\"\n\nPaul nodded a little and sighed, \"I don't know this place all that well, I don't have security for most areas...\"\n\n\"You know more than us.\" Marcus smirked as he looked at the wolf, \"And somehow I think you want to get out of here alive as much as we do.\"\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nGrey turned to red, paint peeled and burnt off, but the door refused to yield for her. The black-furred vixen growled as she pulled her hand off the door, letting it cool down again.\n\nShe looked around the room and sighed, there was nothing here that would help her escape the room. The others in the room with her didn't have any special talents that would help her get out. It was hard for her to accept that she should just wait for the lockdown to end.\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nThe poodle bitch sat at her computer and typed in the commands requested by her boss. She shivered a little as she hesitated in initiating the protocol, but her duty to her boss won out.\n\nThe computer screen went blank and then a window popped up with a red border.\n\nPROTOCOL ZETA TWELVE ACTIVATED\n\nCOMPLETE SYSTEM WIPE INITIATED\n\nSUBJECT ZETA RELEASED\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nThe PA system sparked to life inside the elevator and a synthetic voice spoke. \"Warning, Protocol Zeta Twelve has been activated.\" The voice said nothing more.\n\nThe four occupants of the elevator exchanged glances before all looking at Sam. The lizard placed his hand on the elevator door and it slid open with more grinding of metal on metal. They were stuck half way through the first and second floor, six, maybe ten inches of the second floor door showing at the top, not enough for any of them to squeeze through. Samuel urged the system to pull them up slowly, bringing the elevator in line with the door and opening it up.\n\n\"Second floor, mostly office space.\" Paul said as he stepped out of the elevator. He approached one of the cubicles, but stopped in mid stride as the smell hit him. \"Aww jeeze...\"\n\nThe feline that had been working in the cubicle was dead, her eyes open wide and a look of terror on her face. The smell was coming from where she had voided her bowels and bladder, the muscles relaxing after death.\n\nSamuel sighed a little and pulled the group away from the cubicle. \"Is there a set of stairs on this floor? An emergency exit?\"\n\nA shudder ran through the building and everything on the desk beside them lurched to the side.\n\n\"The hell was that?\" They all said in unison.\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nMr Branson looked at his daughter and sighed. She wasn't fighting them having to leave the building now, it was as if she knew if they stayed, they would die.\n\nThe two hyenas and the poodle made their way to the roof where a personal helicopter waited. Shelly got into the helicopter and sat in the pilot's seat, initiating the start-up procedures. Mr Branson and his daughter both got into the back seat of the helicopter as it started up.\n\nThat was when a small recording played inside the helicopter.\n\n\"I'm sorry Mr Branson, Due to your inability to maintain containment, your employment with the project has been terminated.\"\n\nThe adult hyena cursed and reacted as soon as the word 'due' was said, throwing the door open and lunging out of the helicopter. Shelly struggled with her seat belt and then cried out as a small explosive went off under her seat, shrapnel shredding her body and the controls of the helicopter alike.\n\nAfter checking to make sure his daughter was unhurt, he pulled Shelly from the pilot seat of the helicopter, laying her on the ground. She was bleeding profusely, but still clinging to life. Tears welled up in the hyena's eyes as he watched the poodle die in his arms, seeing the life fade from her eyes. He took off his jacket and laid it over her head before leaving the body there and returning to his daughter.\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nIn a secluded section of the second floor dedicated to storage, a tank of oxygenated water unsealed, spilling the contents onto the floor. A small creature let out a soft moan as it regained consciousness and stood up. With the glow of a few LEDs as the only light in the small room, the creature could not be identified as to what is was.\n\nThe small creature stepped forwards from its former home, approaching the door, which gave a creak and then launched away from the frame and impacted the opposite wall. Light burst forth into the dark room, illuminating a small lizard, its flesh and eyes pitch black.\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\n\"Do you know of any other ways out of the building?\" Sam used a calm tone of voice, but the urgency underneath was easily felt.\n\n\"Umm...\" Paul closed his eyes and reviewed the times he came in and out of the place over and over again, \"At one point I saw a helicopter take off as I was leaving...\"\n\n\"Worth a shot...\" Melina said as she looked to the lizard for confirmation of their goal. \"Will the elevator get us there?\"\n\n\"Probably not... I hate to think about what might happen if the cable snapped with us in it..\" The lizard paused and gave a smirk, \"Well, we know Marcus would survive.\"\n\n\"Scaleybutt is right... but after losing my friends, I wouldn't want to.\" Marcus grinned as he looked over to Melina, \"Losing you would be the hardest part.\"\n\nPaul looked back towards the elevator, \"The emergency stairs would work. Probably another bulkhead door sealing them on the way down as well.\"\n\n\"Alright. Lead the way then.\" Samuel motioned to the wolf and let him lead the way to the stair well.\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nZeta scowled as he looked around the room. The mess, it was a disaster... so much filth, the stench was overwhelming. He felt compelled to dispose of it. With a soft growl he raised his hands.\n\nThe cubicle in front of the lizard had been the home away from home for a middle age weasel. He had only started to wake up when he felt the air around him start to tingle. His fur stood on end and he watched as several papers off his desk started to float of their own accord. The weasel shivered as he grasped at his papers, trying to keep a hold of them, not noticing that gravity's hold on him was fading as well. He struggled to grasp everything as his body left the cubicle and floated in midair, the various items from his cubicle starting to orbit around his body.\n\nWith wide eyes, the weasel looked around until his gaze met the black lizard for the first time, their eyes locking together, coldness on one side, fear on the other. Fear turned to terror as the weasel doubled over in midair, it felt like something was crushing him, his body being forced into a ball. The weasel let out a yelp as he was squeezed tighter and tighter, bones breaking and getting clenched tighter. Blood erupted from his mouth, and flowed into orbit around him as he was crushed, the life escaping him as his body was compacted.\n\nThe crushing didn't stop after the body went limp with death, in fact, it accelerated, the body shrinking further and further until it was nothing more than a point. It was at this point that the things orbiting started to get sucked into the grain of sand sized orb. The black lizard had created a miniature black hole that was sucking everything in the room into it.\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nPaul led the three fugitives to the fire escape. Sure enough, it had been disabled as well. A solid steel door had slammed shut and blocked the passage through the stairwell down, but the passage up was still opened. Paul was still in the doorway when he felt what he thought was a burst of wind rush past him. When he turned around, he saw the quantum singularity floating in the middle of the room, tearing up everything around it. As it sucked everything up, things seemed to slow down as it approached the source, the gravitational wake making time slow.\n\nPaul slammed the door shut with wide eyes, then urged the group to run.\n\nThey made their best speed up the stairs. None of them knew what the hell had happened, but they knew that it was not good. They had just passed the door to the second floor when the concussion wave of an explosion tore through the building. They felt the wave of energy that penetrated the walls of the building, and everyone but Samuel collapsed onto the stairs.\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nCarrie looked at the security monitors, no matter what she did she couldn't get them to view other floors. She did however find the black-furred vixen locked in a room. After unsuccessfully trying to ring the room, Carrie started towards that part of the floor.\n\nInside the room, the vixen had given up on her trying to get through the door and had started pacing. Her body occasionally gave a lick of flame that traveled over her fur, and the carpet seemed to curl and melt under her feet. The vixen stopped midway down the wall and let out a howl of anger, slamming her fist into the wall. \n\nAnd found it was only drywall.\n\n\"The hell?\" She blinked as she pulled her hand back out of the wall and started to laugh. She summoned up her ability and blew a hole in the wall big enough for her to step through, then made sure to douse the flames again.\n\nCarrie yelped as the hall in front of her was engulphed in dust and flame, the badgeress giving a snarl as she threw her hands up to protect herself. When the vixen emerged from the debris, Carrie snarled and lunged at her. She had had enough for the day and was a little on edge.\n\nBlackfire deftly evaded the clumsy strike from the badgeress and followed through with an elbow to the back of her head. When the badgeress went down, the vixen pinned her to the dusty floor with one arm pulled behind her back.\n\nCarrie snarled as she squirmed on the floor, \"Get off me you bitch!\"\n\nThe vixen just laughed and twisted the arm a little further, making the badgeress growl harder, \"What is going on?\"\n\n\"They... rrrrr They killed Greg!\" The badgeress snarled as she resisted the hold of the vixen.\n\n\"Who killed him?\" The vixen snarled, her anger at the situation washing over her, the air around her starting to heat up rapidly.\n\n\"The fucking brats did! They escaped the psy-net and killed him!\" The badgeress was near to tears as she spilled everything to the vixen.\n\nThe black-furred vixen gave another growl and got off the badgeress, stepping back and giving her room to get up. \"That explains the lockdown.\"\n\nCarrie picked herself up and brushed down her skirt, wiping the dust from it. \"I lost them going through a door, they sealed it somehow.\"\n\n\"Which kids escaped?\" The cold-hearted vixen crossed her arms as she leaned against the wall, watching the badgeress pick herself up.\n\nCarrie glowered menacingly at the vixen without effect, then started to walk down the hallway towards the elevator, \"The cheetah, the rat, and the lizard. And it looked like Paul was helping them.\"\n\n\"Then he is a traitor and will be dealt with.\" A loud buzz came from the button when the vixen called the elevator. It was not the usual ding that meant the elevator was called. \"Shit... it must be locked down as well.\"\n\n\"Shall we use the stairs then?\" said the badgeress.\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nOn the second floor, the black lizard surveyed his work. The room was stripped clean of everything but the walls and support pillars. They had survived the singularity and the explosion that came after without even bending. The lizard paid no attention to this fact however and moved to the center of the room and looked up at the circle of discoloration in the ceiling. Immediately he knew that the floor above him needed to be cleansed, and that he needed to go up in this exact spot.\n\nRaising his hands, the black lizard concentrated, focusing his ability. A crack formed in the ceiling and then continued in a circle around the discoloration before working towards the center. With the sound of metal grinding against concrete, the circle of ceiling lurched upwards and then came crashing down. Screams echoed from the floor above as the floor crashed down, one unlucky feline falling down the hole and onto the cylindrical cross section of the space between the two floors.\n\nThe black lizard snarled at the fresh mess and created another singularity, letting it devour the cross section and the unlucky feline before floating up to cleanse the next floor.\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nPaul watched the lizard, rat, and cheetah as they paused to catch their breath. They had climbed as fast as they could until they realized that they were not being followed, now the urgency had faded. The breathing in the stairwell was heavy, but few words were said. The wolf watched as the rat and cheetah looked at each other and then locked lips in a kiss that had such emotion that even he felt elated by it.\n\nMarcus was the first to pull back from the kiss and grinned, \"Dammit spots... Do you know how hard it is to hide a stiffy in a hospital gown?\"\n\n\"Shaddap, ya dirty rat.\" The cheetah said as she gave her mate another hug, \"We will have plenty of time for that after we are free.\"\n\nSamuel snickered a little and looked around the stair well, a large 8 painted on the door they had stopped beside. \"Hey, how many more floors until the roof?\"\n\n\"Six I think.\" The wolf stood up and stretched his legs, \"We should get mov... OOF!\"\n\nThe door beside the wolf opened and bumped into him. All three teens went wide-eyed as they saw the badgeress in the doorway. Melina was the first to react and leapt to her feet, putting her weight against the door and forcing it closed again. She sealed the door with her ability and everyone started to run up the stairs again.\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nCarrie opened the door and blinked as she saw the teens there in the stair well. She snarled as her anger swelled, but her reaction time wasn't good enough to keep the door open. A meep came from the badgeress as she was bounced away from the door as it shut on her face, followed by her fist slamming into the metal door.\n\nMild amusement crept over the face of the black-furred vixen as she watched Carrie beat on the door with her fists. \"Move dammit.\"\n\nCarrie turned around and was about to snarl a retort, but the flames dancing across the vixen's fur told her that would be unwise. She stepped away from the door and watched as the vixen placed her hands on the metal door. Paint curled as the door heated up, the cheap aluminium becoming malleable, then the vixen gave a snarl and kicked the door, which bent inwards from the blow and knocked the hinges and latch out of alignment.\n\nAnother kick and the door swung open and slammed against the wall, allowing the two females to surge into the stairwell. They heard the patter of running from above and gave chase.\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nThe black lizard shivered as he made his way up the building floor by floor, gaining speed. It was as if each floor was built to facilitate his cleansing, walls and fixtures tore away with but a shred of his power, and the resulting explosions barely scorched the walls. He could feel something above him, drawing him closer, calling to him.\n\nHe was soon clearing an entire floor in only a few moments, moving on to the next even before the detonations had faded. The building shuddered over and over again with each successive blast, but the foundations did not crumble or even crack.\n\nMid way through the building, he erupted from the floor and prepared to create another singularity, but his concentration was interrupted as pain tore through his right shoulder. With a snarl, the black lizard turned and saw a teenage buck with a rifle.\n\nThe buck set off three more shots in rapid succession, each bullet aimed directly at the head of the lizard. The buck watched as the bullets swerved impossibly in midair, barely missing the lizard. A scowl came across the face of the deer as he missed with all four shots. He had never missed in his life.\n\nThe lizard growled as he looked at the buck in front of him. His hands raised up slowly, one to his chest and the other outstretched. He gathered the energy he needed and then released it in one incredibly burst, the outstretched hand pulling back as the other thrust outwards.\n\nA crack formed along the floor between the buck and the lizard, everything on one side being pulled forwards and everything on the other side thrown back. Everything that was caught in the middle of the gravitational shear was torn in half.\n\nThe instant reaction of the buck was to dodge, and he just happened to dodge into the side that was thrust away from the lizard. He flew back and landed against the wall, creating a dent in the plaster. It took a few moments for the buck to recover from the battering he took, but he was on his feet again with his rifle aimed at the lizard.\n\nThe lizard looked over to the buck as he stood up again, a soft growl coming from the lizard as his eyes narrowed. This time he raised his arm at the buck, his hand clenched hard. He focused as the buck lost his footing and started to drift into the air, floating helplessly.\n\nFinally the lizard opened his hand as he gave a growl, watching as the buck who had interfered screamed in pain. Arms and legs got pulled taught from the body in a spread-eagle position before one by one being torn free in a spray of gore. The last piece to be torn from the buck's body was his head, a fountain of blood spraying from his neck.\n\nWith the interference dealt with, the lizard resumed his cleansing of each floor.\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nMr. Branson looked over the cockpit of the helicopter. It was shredded, all the main instruments were out, the radio was gone, and worse off, the parachutes were shredded as well. He returned to his daughter who was sitting on the roof near the door they had come out of. He looked at her and sighed, \"I'm sorry sweetheart, I don't know how we are going to survive.\"\n\n\"It's ok, daddy.\" Savannah looked up at her father, \"Umm... Maybe the other kids could help us daddy?\"\n\nThe adult hyena blinked a little as he looked at his daughter, \"You can sense them?\"\n\n\"Yes daddy...\" The little hyena sounded almost ashamed of her psychic ability, \"They are about four levels below us, and Zeta is about six.\"\n\n\"Y.. You can sense Zeta?\" The adult hyena shivered a little as he moved over to his daughter, scooping her into his arms.\n\n\"He is doing what they trained him to do.\" The little hyena looked up into her father's eyes, her own full of tears, \"So many screams of pain and terror... Why daddy?\"\n\nWords didn't come to the father as he held his daughter, looking into those eyes. He closed his eyes and leaned in, kissing his daughter on the forehead. \"I am sorry, darling.\"\n\n\"I understand, father.\" Her tone suddenly because very mature, \"You must go and I must stay here.\"\n\nTears poured from his eyes as he held his daughter in his arms for what he knew would be the last time. Several moments passed before the pair broke up and the father walked away silently, pausing only at the door that led to the stairs. \"Go with them when they get here. They will keep you safe.\"\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nPaul skittered to a stop on the stairs as he rounded a corner, his eyes going wide as he came face to face with his now former boss. Instantly the wolf's tail tucked between his legs and he cowered a little. The lizard was the second one around the corner and he too stood his ground. The cheetah and rat came last and stood with the lizard, all three of them staring at the hyena that stood in their path.\n\nThe hyena made the first move and stepped aside. \"My daughter Savannah is on the roof. Take her with you.\"\n\nThe lizard stood there and watched the hyena in front of him, his hands lowered by his side, but at the same time still maintaining his readiness. \"Why?\"\n\n\"Because I need to stop Zeta.\" The hyena scowled, \"Hurry, you don't have much time.\"\n\nThe three teens eased past the hyena carefully, not lowering their defences until they were at the next floor. Paul stood there with his tail tucked between his legs in front of his now former boss, his head lowered. It took a few moments for the wolf to slink past the hyena and join his friends. Without any further words, they continued their ascent of the stairs.\n\nMr Branson just started to head down the stairs again when he came face to face with Blackfire. He stood his ground against his subordinate, blocking her from following the teens. \"You, I need your help.\"\n\n\"Mr. Branson...\" The vixen gasped as she stood there in the stairwell, shocked to see him, \"Where are the kids?\"\n\n\"They are unimportant.\" The hyena gave a dismissive gesture and looked over to the badgeress as she rounded the stair case, clearly out of breath. \"We have one chance to stop things, but I will need both of your help.\"\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nSavannah stood there in front of the door, she did her best to look strong like her father would have wanted her to be. She watched as the door opened and three teenagers scrambled through, followed by an adult wolf. Taking the time to survey each one of them with her eyes, she watched as they closed the door behind them and the cheetah gave the door a solid kick.\n\nAs the lizard broke off from the group and approached her, the little hyena held her hand up and splayed out her fingers, \"Samuel, thirteen years old, able to control electronics...\"\n\n\"Yes.\" Samuel stopped mid step and looked over the girl standing there with her hand raised.\n\n\"...Melina,\" The hyena girl continued after Samuel agreed with her. \"Sixteen years old, able to force matter into a different phase temporarily...\"\n\n\"Uhhh... I'm eighteen...\" Melina scowled a little at the hyena.\n\n\"No, you are sixteen. It has only been three months since you were at the summer camp.\" Savannah stated matter-of-factly.\n\nMelina's eyes went wide as memories of summer camp flooded back, particularly the shower where she had seen the hyena before. \"YOU!\"\n\nMarcus darted in front of the cheetah and held her back, \"Woah, spots. Don't do anything rash.\"\n\n\"Marcus, fifteen years old, advanced regenerative capabilities.\" Savannah continues before looking over to the wolf, \"Paul, twenty nine years old, no special powers.\"\n\n\"Very good. You know who we are and what we can do.\" Marcus quipped as he held back his cheetah still, \"How about telling us your ability?\"\n\nThe hyena turned her hand around and placed it on her chest, \"Savannah, eleven years old, memory reader and psychic suggestion.\"\n\nSam all of a sudden looked very uneasy, \"Shit... Why didn't I realize that earlier.\" He paused and looked to the others gathered on the roof, \"I will be back, wait for me at the helicopter.\"\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nMr. Branson, Carrie, and Blackfire all shivered in unison as another explosion rocked the building. They were on the second from top floor, the one Shelly had been positioned at for secretary. Using several different code-keys, the hyena opened a secret room behind where the poodle had sat. It took several moments for the power to cycle on in the small room, but as the room started up, it showed several consoles gathered around a central sphere.\n\n\"Zeta is coming for this.\" The hyena stepped up to the controls and started to tap in some commands. The sphere slowly opened up and revealed another lizard, this one glowing pure white. \"This is his sister.\"\n\nCarrie groaned and shielded herself from the glow coming off the lizard, \"Gah! She is so hot...\"\n\n\"I'm sorry, she puts off lethal doses of radiation. That's why she was under containment.\" The hyena sighed and paused, \"Just by opening the shield we are now on borrowed time.\"\n\nCarrie snarled at the hyena who had sealed her fate, \"What?! Why did you bring me here?\"\n\nThe hyena turned to glare at the badgeress, his words being spat at her like battery acid, \"Because if I didn't, you would have stopped the kids and they would not be able to save my daughter.\" \n\n\"Umm... Sir?\" The black furred vixen looked to the hyena, holding her arms out, \"I can feel the radiation... it doesn't hurt me...\"\n\nThe hyena looked to the black furred vixen and shook his head, \"It will... your body can only absorb so much before you too will start to suffer.\"\n\n\"Whatever.\" The black vixen rolled her eyes and looked to the glowing lizard, \"What do we need to do with her?\"\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nHe was so close, he could feel her. He stripped the walls and ceiling of the entire floor searching for that circle that would allow him through to the next floor. With each floor he got closer and closer to her, his body becoming more and more energized.\n\nMemories started to seep back into his mind, countless other times that he had performed this act, each time he was awakened he would carve a path of destruction to get to his sister, only to get incredibly tired beside her and go back to sleep.\n\nHe counted off the floors left as he rose up. Six... Five... He was so close he could feel her. Four... Three... He reached out for her, aching for her touch. Two... One...\n\nAfter what felt like forever, he arrived on the floor that held his sister. He could feel her warmth radiating before him already. The large desk that blocked his path shattered with a wave of his hand, splinters spraying to either side as he floated towards his sister, completely fixated on her and not seeing anyone else inside the room with them.\n\n\"Sister,\" The dark voice of the black lizard sent tremors through the building. \"I have come for you.\"\n\n\"Yes, brother, I feel your pull.\" The feminine voice returned, the glow she emanated seeming to flicker in tune.\n\n\"Gamma, Zeta. Hear me.\" The voice of the hyena seemed small in comparison, \"Please.\"\n\nBoth lizards looked to the hyena who stood to the side of the room, and the black furred vixen beside him. The first to react was the glowing white lizard, a snarl escaping her lips as she brought her hand up, pointing one finger at the mammals.\n\nBlackfire reacted in an instant and stepped in front of her boss, holding her hands out as the lance of energy poured forth from the lizard. Pain shot through her as she felt the radiation she was absorbing increase a thousand fold, the tips of her fur starting to turn from black to white as she strained to protect the hyena.\n\n\"No! Stop!\" The hyena cried out as he hid behind the vixen, \"Listen to me!\"\n\n\"Oh shut up and die, mammal.\" The feminine lizard said as she kept up the stream of energy. The black lizard seemed not to even notice the others in the room as he floated in to embrace his sister.\n\nSTOP THIS NOW.\n\nThe voice crackled as if it were the crack of thunder landing only meters away.\n\nEvery head in the room turned to stare at the little lizard standing in at the entrance to the secret room. His young face glowered hard and his eyes shone a fierce red.\n\n\"Synkris?\" The glowing white lizard gasped a little as it looked over the small lizard, \"THAT is the body you chose?\" \n\n\"You and your brother must leave this planet.\" The crackling voice came from the air around Samuel, but his mouth never once opened.\n\n\"Why would we want to do that? This planet needs a little chaos...\" The glowing white lizard swung her arms in a wide arc, a whole section of the room melting at the heat.\n\n\"This planet makes its own chaos. It does not need you to help it.\" Samuel started to lift into the air, his body rising up on unseen hands as he continued to glare at the female lizard.\n\n\"I _AM_ chaos!\" The lizard snarled as she swung her arm in the direction of the lizard. The lance of energy melted the walls and floor as it swept across the room and slashed through the body of the boy lizard.\n\nSamuel gave no reaction as his skin blistered and burnt. His right arm disintegrated into nothing but bone from the elbow down, and his chest showed exposed ribs. His now boney hand rose and held up in front of him, the young lizard shaking his head as the air around him crackled, \"Why do you bother trying? You know that this is merely a convenient vessel for us, that we don't really need them to manifest.\"\n\n\"I know that as well as you do. But without the vessel, we are weaker.\" The glowing lizard snarled in response, the lance of energy making another pass.\n\nFlesh boiled and melted across the legs of the lizard this time, leaving only a few muscles remaining, yet still there was no reaction from Sam. \"This star has many cycles left before the final cleanse, why rob it of that time?\"\n\nThe black lizard looked over at the green one, \"She is the lord of chaos, it is her nature.\"\n\n\"But you are the lord of order, and you are her mirror.\" The cracking voice filled the room as the green lizard continued to float, watching the black and white lizards side by side. \"If you say stop, she will listen.\"\n\nWith a slow turn, the black lizard addressed his sister, \"Synkris is right, my sister. There are plenty of worlds old and new that require our attention.\"\n\nThe expression on the face of the white lizard melted from its snarl into something tender as she looked into the eyes of her brother. \"My brother. You always know how to get to me. Its a shame we have to leave these bodies... They are so close to us.\"\n\n\"Yes, this has been a pleasant vacation.\" The black lizard reached out and embraced his counterpart, white cracks starting to form on his black body, black cracks starting to streak across the white lizard in mirror.\n\nThe bodies of the two lizards fragmented and then became engulphed in two spheres, one black and one white. The spheres started to shrink as they span around each other until they were no larger than a grain of sand, and they just ceased to exist.\n\n-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-\n\nSamuel limped out the door onto the roof, staggering a little as he made his way to the helicopter. His right arm hung limply at his side, the bones barely clinging to each other as he made his way across the roof. His face was dark with concentration as he forced the remnants of the muscles on his legs to work.\n\nMelina gasped hard as she turned to see the lizard as he approached, her eyes wide with horror at the sight of his body. \"Oh shit... MARCUS HELP!\"\n\nMarcus scrambled out of the cockpit where he was lounging and went wide-eyed at the sight of the lizard as he staggered closer. It a few moments for the shock to fade and allow the rat to dash over to his friend, \"Holy shit, scaleybu...\"\n\nSamuel snarled and lashed out at the rat, his right arm swinging in an arc and the bony fingers raking skin as he pushed the rat aside. He continued on his path towards the helicopter, his bony hand flexing and twitching as if it still had muscle as he scrambled into the cockpit of the helicopter. Even without power or controls, the engine started up and the rotors started to turn.\n\nMarcus gathered himself and jumped onto the helicopter as it started up, his eyes wide as he rubbed the scars on his face... they were not healing.\n\nSavannah and Paul remained silent as they buckled into the helicopter with the rat and the cheetah, the little lizard in the front seat with both hands resting on the dashboard. The helicopter ride would have been deathly quiet were it not for the chop of the rotors as they spun up. It only took a few minutes of flight, just long enough to get them to the ground safely.\n\nSam collapsed as soon as the helicopter was a meter off the ground and it landed hard, but everyone was safe and free.\n\n********************************************\n\n\n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Dangerous Lunatic: Zeta

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Samuel opened his eyes and sat up, the little lizard giving a groan as he pulled the tubes from his body.  He looked around the room and blinked several times.  Alarms were blaring all around him and the stench of death hung thick in the room.  He rubbed his eyes a little and looked around again before another groan caught his attention.  Looking at the source made him smile.

Marcus shivered as he sat up, his emaciated body once more moving like a zombie, but he was alive.  He looked around and spotted the lizard looking at him.  "Hey scaleybutt, how did you do that?"

Sam shrugged, "I'm not sure how, I just can.  We were hooked to a machine, I turned it off."

They both turned to look at the center of the room, but the chair that had housed the albino rat was now empty.  A soft whimper drew their attention to where the badgeress has been rendered unconscious.  They found the little albino rat curled up under the arm of the badgeress, whimpering the word "Momma" over and over again.

Marcus stretched on the bed and then hopped down off of it, giving a groan as his legs struggled to work properly.  Samuel was worse, he had been there longer and his body shook with just trying to stay upright.  After regaining his ability to walk, Marcus looked around, "Melina?"

Both of them looked over to the cheetah where she lay on the bed.  Her body looked heavily emaciated, but the heart monitor showed she still clung to life.  Her head was looking over at Marcus, a smile on her face.

Heartbroken at the sight of his predator so far gone, Marcus ran to her side.  Tears welled up in his eyes as he took Melina's hand in his, holding it tightly as he looked over the cheetah he cared for so deeply.

Samuel managed to get to his feet and staggered over to the pair, one hand reaching out to caress the spine of the rat.  "You can save her.  Your ability is not limited to yourself."

Marcus blinked a little and then went wide-eyed.  Without hesitation he brought his arm up to the cheetahs face, pressing it into her mouth.  He growled as he practically forced her to bite down, "Dammit spots!  Eat me!"

Blood poured into the mouth of the cheetah as the rat concentrated, focusing his life essence to mingle with that of his cheetah.  He was unsure what he was doing, or if it would even work, but he had to try.  He watched intently as the cheetah drank his blood, her teeth sinking deeper into his flesh and gnashing, further increasing the blood flow.  Marcus started to feel faint, but he refused to stop, doing everything he could to heal her.

Samuel turned his attention to the albino rat who was still crying against the badgeress.  The rat had now pulled the limp arm of the badgeress over him and was cuddling her tightly, crying like a little child.

Samuel approached the pair and stood over them, watching them for any sign of danger from either one.  He could see the badgeress was still breathing, but she was clearly down for the count.

"...Why?"  The tiny voice of the albino rat barely made it to the ears of the lizard that stood above him.

"How many have you killed?" Samuel asked coldly as he looked down at the rat.

"I don't know..."  The lab rat glared up at the lizard, "You did this...  this is all your fault..."

In an instant, the lab rat was a snarling ball of fury leaping at the young lizard.  Samuel simply side-stepped the attack, dodging again and again as the albino tried to brawl with no skill at all.  Several times Sam used the rat's momentum to send him tumbling, but over and over again he would come back for more.  Each attack became more and more reckless and further fuelled the rage inside the little rat.

After a particularly strong lunge that ended up with the rat crashing into a gurney, Greg readied for another leap and let out a sound that started as a snarl, but ended as a surprised squeak.

Melina had regained enough health to stand up and had picked up one of the metal poles that was holding the nutrient bags beside her gurney.  The metal pole struck the rat in the back and sunk into him.  She had instinctively used her ability as she swung, leaving the wheeled base of the rack intersecting his spine and stomach.

Almost immediately the albino rat lost the ability to stand and fell flat on his back.  His hips and legs twitched and spasmed as he laid there, his hands trying to reach the metal sticking from his back in a futile effort.

Melina, Marcus, and Samuel all gathered around the smaller rat as he writhed and tried to drag himself away.  The lab rat had lost all control of his lower body, his legs limp except for the odd twitching.

Melina sighed a little as she looked at the rat who had caused so much suffering, so much death, but was now suffering himself.  It brought back the memories of the hunt, the look in the eyes of the buck.  She stood there for several long moments, torn at what to do.  The side of her that was raped and defiled over and over again savoured watching him suffer, but the tender side of her sought to put him out of his misery.

Marcus put his arm around the cheetah and kissed her cheek, "Put him down, spots.  He doesn't deserve to suffer."

Greg looked up at the cheetah and squeaked pitifully, his red eyes still filled with hatred, but with hints of pleading for his life.  The last thing he saw was one of the clipboards from the end of the gurney being pressed against his neck and his airway being cut off.  Greg glared hard as the life faded from his head, his body spasming in its death throes.

Melina turned and walked away fro the dying albino rat, leaning into the embrace of her own pet rat, tears streaming down her face as the emotions were released.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Paul groaned as he stirred.  His head pulsed as he blinked several times.  His eyes finally focused on the ceiling and he sat up, giving another louder groan,  "...the hell?"

It several long moments for him to register that the ringing in his ears was the alarms from the monitors, all seven of them giving the steady whine that was associated with flatlining.  He blinked several times as he sat up, holding his head in his hands as he recovered from the blast of psychic energy.

He started to look around the room and let out a startled whurf as his eyes came on the form of the little lizard who had positioned himself defensively behind one of the gurneys.  He tried to speak, but all that came out was another groan.

Samuel quietly watched the wolf as he gathered himself, the little scaley standing there in his hospital gown with his tail hanging out the back and his hands lowered.  He looked non-threatening, but as the same time completely bad-ass.  "Who are you."

Using the gurney beside him to haul himself to his feet and staggered a little, his legs still feeling numb.  Paul flicked off the alarm from the heart monitor beside him and looked to the lizard again.  The ringing in his ears blocked out the words of the little lizard completely and the wolf shook his head, "Wha?   ahhh didnsh ear thooo"

Sam watched the wolf as he shut off the alarm, the little lizard repeating the same actions on the monitor beside him.  The wolf sounded drunk, his words slurring hard.  He repeated himself, "Who are you."

Paul staggered as he went to reach over the gurney and flick off another monitor and then jumped when he ended up leaning over the dead body of the little racoon boy.  Paul flailed as he fell back, landing on his rear on the floor. "Dead!"

Samuel rolled his eyes and placed his hand on the heart monitor beside him.  The whole room shut down, all the alarms ceasing at once as the power to the machines was simultaneously turned off.  "Now.  Who are you?"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The three survivors listened to Paul as he babbled on about his job and how he was glad that the rat was dead.

They were just about to start discussing what to do now when a scream caught their attention.  The badgeress was up and awake, holding Greg's body in her arms as she cried.  She hadn't even noticed the others in the room, having woken up beside the little rat.

"Shit...  The bitch is awake."  Paul growled to himself as he stepped back a little.

Marcus and Melina were both heavily emaciated still, looking like third world starving children, but they both took a defensive posture.  Samuel took up the same posture he had when he confronted the wolf, his arms lowered but his body tense, ready to react in a moments notice.

Carrie turned at the words from Paul, tears of loss streaming from rage filled eyes as she saw the lizard. "You...   You did this to him..."

The badgeress was on her feet and lunging at the lizard in an instant.  Her vision was clouded with tears and the red haze of anger, time seemed to slow for her as she practically threw the gurney between her and the lizard out of the way.

Samuel stepped back from the gurney as it was thrown into the wall by the enraged badgeress.  Without looking at the others, he gave them a command that they all followed at the same time. "Run."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Marcus and Melina were the first down the hall, followed close by Paul and Sam.  The badgeress was hot on their tail, but she was not in shape enough to catch them.  At the end of the hall was a metal door with a code lock on it.  The guard at the station was only just waking from the blast.

Everyone stopped at the door and Sam laid his hand on the code lock, it took less than ten seconds for the door to unlock, the group to scramble through it and shut it again.  Melina leaned on the door and gave it a shove, her ability essentially welding the door shut.

Paul blinked a little as he watched the two teens make use of their abilities; he had never seen powers used up close and personal before. "Jeeze...  I never thought those reports were real..."

"Yeah, and unless you want them used on you next, you will help us get out of here..."  Melina growled at the wolf as she leaned on her rat.

"And I'm hungry enough to eat you if you don't comply..." Marcus added with a toothy grin.

Paul gave a low growl at the threat, but the way his tail tucked between his legs as he turned away showed that he would comply.  The three teens followed the wolf as they all made their way down the hall.  The signs were easy to read, and soon they came to a fork, one sign read 'Main Lobby' and 'Mess Hall' was the opposite.  Almost in unison, the stomachs of the three teens gurgled.

"We need to make a stop at the mess hall, regardless of the danger."  Samuel said in a commanding voice, taking the lead and heading down the hall.

As they approached the mess hall, they heard voices of confusion inside.  Not wanting to be caught, they ducked into the first door they came across, and luckily it led to the kitchen.  The cooks were still out cold, and a pot had boiled over on the stove, smoke rising up and making the air thick.

They didn't have long until the smoke alarm would go off and draw the attention of others.  A quick rummaging found several protein bars and ration packs.  The three teens devoured the protein bars in record time.  Marcus grabbed a protein drink from the cooler and washed down his rations with it before letting out a satisfied burp.

Paul watched as the rat's body plumped out in record time, returning to its normal healthy state, complete with bulging belly.  The rat then laid a hand on each of his friends and used his ability, spreading the health between the three of them.  The wolf nibbled on a protein bar, watching the silent camaraderie between, comparable to soldiers on a battlefield.  He felt more like a prisoner than a fellow soldier.  He knew there was no going back to his job now, Carrie would see to that.  If he made it out of here alive, he might be able to hide from The Project and start anew, but from the level of guards in the place, that would take a miracle.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mr. Branson looked over his daughter, the little hyena cuddled in his arms.  Shelly, the poodle bitch, had protected them from the full brunt of the psychic blast, but now he needed to assess the situation in his building.  The first thing he called up was the security footage of Project Zion.

He watched as the psychic blast knocked out the badgeress and wolf, and then a few minutes later the three teens waking up.  He watched as they converged on the albino rat and killed him, and then watched the interplay first with the wolf, then the badgeress.

He had seen enough.  He pressed a button for speaker phone and gave a sigh, "Shelly.  It's time.  Activate protocol Zeta Twelve."

"Sir, are you sure?"  The poodle said with some worry in her voice, "Is it that bad?"

"Yes.  We have a full containment breach, with over ninety percent of our security forces incapacitated."  The hyena sighed again, "Complete lockdown and purge is mandated."

"But sir..."

"No buts!  It must be this way.  Prep the escape route for my daughter and I before releasing him."  The hyena hung up the speaker phone and hugged his daughter.  "Sweetie, I'm sorry, but we need to leave now."

"It's ok daddy, I understand."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

With a snarl, the black-furred vixen picked herself up off the floor.  She ached all over from the tumble she had taken.  She was on a treadmill when the blast hit and it felt like she had been run over by a truck.  She growled to herself as she brushed her uniform off and looked around.  The rest of the people in the gym had yet to wake up, some looked to have only minor injuries, but others looked to have more severe.  In the corner, a male boar who had been using the bench-press was now crushed under the weight; his head was tilted in an unnatural angle from when the bar fell on his neck and broke it.

The vixen limped over to the phone on the wall, but found it had no dial tone.  Anger swelled in her and the phone in her hand burst into flames and dripped onto the floor in a puddle of plastic.  She tried the door, and found it was shut tight.  She thought back to the protocols she had studied before taking her current position, and knew in an instant that things must be bad.  Only containment breached would cause a full lockdown like this.  Protocols dictated that if she was in one of the secured areas, to wait for instructions, but her own sense of self worth to the project demanded she do something to help contain the breach.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

They had just gotten into the elevator when the power was cut off completely.  Paul sighed and looked to the lizard, "Lockdown.  Looks like we are screwed now."

"Have you learned nothing of us yet?"  Marcus snapped at the wolf, then in a softer tone, "Hey scaleybutt, can you help us here?"

Sam smirked at the nickname the rat used, this was the second time he had called him that.  Sam made no reply, just closed his eyes and put his hand on the control panel for the elevator.  The power came back on and the descent continued.

With no warning the elevator slammed into something solid and everyone collapsed to the floor.  Paul let out a howl of pain as he landed on his ankle wrong and a loud CRUNCH mixed with the sound of metal on metal from the elevator.

Sam pressed his hand to the floor and scowled, "Damn...  I would have never thought of that..."  He paused and looked to the others who were staring at him, "Bulkhead door designed to snap shut in case of emergency, it encompasses the whole shaft, and is designed to bend if impacted with the elevator, further locking it into place."

Paul snarled as he tried to move his foot, "Shit...  Nobody told me about that one....   they really don't want anyone leaving..."

Marcus moved in and stroked over the shin of the wolf, working down towards the broken ankle of the wolf, using his ability to repair the bone.  "Here.   It will be a little sensitive, but you will be fine."

Guilt over his actions here rose up inside the wolf as he felt the pain subside from his ankle.  He shivered a little and moved his foot, it was still a little stiff to move, but the pain was gone.  "Why?   Why don't you just leave me behind?"

"First off, you know the layout of the place and can help us get out of here."  Sam paused and grinned, "And before she died, Jennifer told me to trust you."

Paul nodded a little and sighed, "I don't know this place all that well, I don't have security for most areas..."

"You know more than us."  Marcus smirked as he looked at the wolf, "And somehow I think you want to get out of here alive as much as we do."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Grey turned to red, paint peeled and burnt off, but the door refused to yield for her.  The black-furred vixen growled as she pulled her hand off the door, letting it cool down again.

She looked around the room and sighed, there was nothing here that would help her escape the room.  The others in the room with her didn't have any special talents that would help her get out.  It was hard for her to accept that she should just wait for the lockdown to end.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The poodle bitch sat at her computer and typed in the commands requested by her boss.  She shivered a little as she hesitated in initiating the protocol, but her duty to her boss won out.

The computer screen went blank and then a window popped up with a red border.

PROTOCOL ZETA TWELVE ACTIVATED

COMPLETE SYSTEM WIPE INITIATED

SUBJECT ZETA RELEASED

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The PA system sparked to life inside the elevator and a synthetic voice spoke. "Warning, Protocol Zeta Twelve has been activated."  The voice said nothing more.

The four occupants of the elevator exchanged glances before all looking at Sam.  The lizard placed his hand on the elevator door and it slid open with more grinding of metal on metal.  They were stuck half way through the first and second floor, six, maybe ten inches of the second floor door showing at the top, not enough for any of them to squeeze through.  Samuel urged the system to pull them up slowly, bringing the elevator in line with the door and opening it up.

"Second floor, mostly office space." Paul said as he stepped out of the elevator.  He approached one of the cubicles, but stopped in mid stride as the smell hit him.  "Aww jeeze..."

The feline that had been working in the cubicle was dead, her eyes open wide and a look of terror on her face.  The smell was coming from where she had voided her bowels and bladder, the muscles relaxing after death.

Samuel sighed a little and pulled the group away from the cubicle.  "Is there a set of stairs on this floor?  An emergency exit?"

A shudder ran through the building and everything on the desk beside them lurched to the side.

"The hell was that?"  They all said in unison.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mr Branson looked at his daughter and sighed.  She wasn't fighting them having to leave the building now, it was as if she knew if they stayed, they would die.

The two hyenas and the poodle made their way to the roof where a personal helicopter waited.  Shelly got into the helicopter and sat in the pilot's seat, initiating the start-up procedures.  Mr Branson and his daughter both got into the back seat of the helicopter as it started up.

That was when a small recording played inside the helicopter.

"I'm sorry Mr Branson, Due to your inability to maintain containment, your employment with the project has been terminated."

The adult hyena cursed and reacted as soon as the word 'due' was said, throwing the door open and lunging out of the helicopter.  Shelly struggled with her seat belt and then cried out as a small explosive went off under her seat, shrapnel shredding her body and the controls of the helicopter alike.

After checking to make sure his daughter was unhurt, he pulled Shelly from the pilot seat of the helicopter, laying her on the ground.  She was bleeding profusely, but still clinging to life.  Tears welled up in the hyena's eyes as he watched the poodle die in his arms, seeing the life fade from her eyes.  He took off his jacket and laid it over her head before leaving the body there and returning to his daughter.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

In a secluded section of the second floor dedicated to storage, a tank of oxygenated water unsealed, spilling the contents onto the floor.  A small creature let out a soft moan as it regained consciousness and stood up.  With the glow of a few LEDs as the only light in the small room, the creature could not be identified as to what is was.

The small creature stepped forwards from its former home, approaching the door, which gave a creak and then launched away from the frame and impacted the opposite wall.  Light burst forth into the dark room, illuminating a small lizard, its flesh and eyes pitch black.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Do you know of any other ways out of the building?"  Sam used a calm tone of voice, but the urgency underneath was easily felt.

"Umm..."  Paul closed his eyes and reviewed the times he came in and out of the place over and over again, "At one point I saw a helicopter take off as I was leaving..."

"Worth a shot..."  Melina said as she looked to the lizard for confirmation of their goal.  "Will the elevator get us there?"

"Probably not...  I hate to think about what might happen if the cable snapped with us in it.."  The lizard paused and gave a smirk, "Well, we know Marcus would survive."

"Scaleybutt is right...  but after losing my friends, I wouldn't want to."  Marcus grinned as he looked over to Melina, "Losing you would be the hardest part."

Paul looked back towards the elevator, "The emergency stairs would work.   Probably another bulkhead door sealing them on the way down as well."

"Alright. Lead the way then."  Samuel motioned to the wolf and let him lead the way to the stair well.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Zeta scowled as he looked around the room.  The mess, it was a disaster...  so much filth, the stench was overwhelming.  He felt compelled to dispose of it.  With a soft growl he raised his hands.

The cubicle in front of the lizard had been the home away from home for a middle age weasel.  He had only started to wake up when he felt the air around him start to tingle.  His fur stood on end and he watched as several papers off his desk started to float of their own accord.  The weasel shivered as he grasped at his papers, trying to keep a hold of them, not noticing that gravity's hold on him was fading as well.  He struggled to grasp everything as his body left the cubicle and floated in midair, the various items from his cubicle starting to orbit around his body.

With wide eyes, the weasel looked around until his gaze met the black lizard for the first time, their eyes locking together, coldness on one side, fear on the other.  Fear turned to terror as the weasel doubled over in midair, it felt like something was crushing him, his body being forced into a ball.  The weasel let out a yelp as he was squeezed tighter and tighter, bones breaking and getting clenched tighter.  Blood erupted from his mouth, and flowed into orbit around him as he was crushed, the life escaping him as his body was compacted.

The crushing didn't stop after the body went limp with death, in fact, it accelerated, the body shrinking further and further until it was nothing more than a point.  It was at this point that the things orbiting started to get sucked into the grain of sand sized orb.  The black lizard had created a miniature black hole that was sucking everything in the room into it.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Paul led the three fugitives to the fire escape.  Sure enough, it had been disabled as well.  A solid steel door had slammed shut and blocked the passage through the stairwell down, but the passage up was still opened.  Paul was still in the doorway when he felt what he thought was a burst of wind rush past him.  When he turned around, he saw the quantum singularity floating in the middle of the room, tearing up everything around it.  As it sucked everything up, things seemed to slow down as it approached the source, the gravitational wake making time slow.

Paul slammed the door shut with wide eyes, then urged the group to run.

They made their best speed up the stairs.  None of them knew what the hell had happened, but they knew that it was not good.  They had just passed the door to the second floor when the concussion wave of an explosion tore through the building.  They felt the wave of energy that penetrated the walls of the building, and everyone but Samuel collapsed onto the stairs.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Carrie looked at the security monitors, no matter what she did she couldn't get them to view other floors.  She did however find the black-furred vixen locked in a room.  After unsuccessfully trying to ring the room, Carrie started towards that part of the floor.

Inside the room, the vixen had given up on her trying to get through the door and had started pacing.  Her body occasionally gave a lick of flame that traveled over her fur, and the carpet seemed to curl and melt under her feet.  The vixen stopped midway down the wall and let out a howl of anger, slamming her fist into the wall.

And found it was only drywall.

"The hell?"  She blinked as she pulled her hand back out of the wall and started to laugh.  She summoned up her ability and blew a hole in the wall big enough for her to step through, then made sure to douse the flames again.

Carrie yelped as the hall in front of her was engulphed in dust and flame, the badgeress giving a snarl as she threw her hands up to protect herself.  When the vixen emerged from the debris, Carrie snarled and lunged at her.  She had had enough for the day and was a little on edge.

Blackfire deftly evaded the clumsy strike from the badgeress and followed through with an elbow to the back of her head.  When the badgeress went down, the vixen pinned her to the dusty floor with one arm pulled behind her back.

Carrie snarled as she squirmed on the floor, "Get off me you bitch!"

The vixen just laughed and twisted the arm a little further, making the badgeress growl harder, "What is going on?"

"They... rrrrr   They killed Greg!"  The badgeress snarled as she resisted the hold of the vixen.

"Who killed him?"  The vixen snarled, her anger at the situation washing over her, the air around her starting to heat up rapidly.

"The fucking brats did!  They escaped the psy-net and killed him!" The badgeress was near to tears as she spilled everything to the vixen.

The black-furred vixen gave another growl and got off the badgeress, stepping back and giving her room to get up. "That explains the lockdown."

Carrie picked herself up and brushed down her skirt, wiping the dust from it.  "I lost them going through a door, they sealed it somehow."

"Which kids escaped?"  The cold-hearted vixen crossed her arms as she leaned against the wall, watching the badgeress pick herself up.

Carrie glowered menacingly at the vixen without effect, then started to walk down the hallway towards the elevator, "The cheetah, the rat, and the lizard.   And it looked like Paul was helping them."

"Then he is a traitor and will be dealt with."  A loud buzz came from the button when the vixen called the elevator.  It was not the usual ding that meant the elevator was called.  "Shit...  it must be locked down as well."

"Shall we use the stairs then?" said the badgeress.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

On the second floor, the black lizard surveyed his work.  The room was stripped clean of everything but the walls and support pillars.  They had survived the singularity and the explosion that came after without even bending.  The lizard paid no attention to this fact however and moved to the center of the room and looked up at the circle of discoloration in the ceiling. Immediately he knew that the floor above him needed to be cleansed, and that he needed to go up in this exact spot.

Raising his hands, the black lizard concentrated, focusing his ability.  A crack formed in the ceiling and then continued in a circle around the discoloration before working towards the center.  With the sound of metal grinding against concrete, the circle of ceiling lurched upwards and then came crashing down.  Screams echoed from the floor above as the floor crashed down, one unlucky feline falling down the hole and onto the cylindrical cross section of the space between the two floors.

The black lizard snarled at the fresh mess and created another singularity, letting it devour the cross section and the unlucky feline before floating up to cleanse the next floor.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Paul watched the lizard, rat, and cheetah as they paused to catch their breath.  They had climbed as fast as they could until they realized that they were not being followed, now the urgency had faded.  The breathing in the stairwell was heavy, but few words were said.  The wolf watched as the rat and cheetah looked at each other and then locked lips in a kiss that had such emotion that even he felt elated by it.

Marcus was the first to pull back from the kiss and grinned, "Dammit spots...  Do you know how hard it is to hide a stiffy in a hospital gown?"

"Shaddap, ya dirty rat."  The cheetah said as she gave her mate another hug, "We will have plenty of time for that after we are free."

Samuel snickered a little and looked around the stair well, a large 8 painted on the door they had stopped beside. "Hey, how many more floors until the roof?"

"Six I think." The wolf stood up and stretched his legs, "We should get mov... OOF!"

The door beside the wolf opened and bumped into him.  All three teens went wide-eyed as they saw the badgeress in the doorway.  Melina was the first to react and leapt to her feet, putting her weight against the door and forcing it closed again.  She sealed the door with her ability and everyone started to run up the stairs again.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Carrie opened the door and blinked as she saw the teens there in the stair well.  She snarled as her anger swelled, but her reaction time wasn't good enough to keep the door open.  A meep came from the badgeress as she was bounced away from the door as it shut on her face, followed by her fist slamming into the metal door.

Mild amusement crept over the face of the black-furred vixen as she watched Carrie beat on the door with her fists.  "Move dammit."

Carrie turned around and was about to snarl a retort, but the flames dancing across the vixen's fur told her that would be unwise.  She stepped away from the door and watched as the vixen placed her hands on the metal door.  Paint curled as the door heated up, the cheap aluminium becoming malleable, then the vixen gave a snarl and kicked the door, which bent inwards from the blow and knocked the hinges and latch out of alignment.

Another kick and the door swung open and slammed against the wall, allowing the two females to surge into the stairwell. They heard the patter of running from above and gave chase.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The black lizard shivered as he made his way up the building floor by floor, gaining speed.  It was as if each floor was built to facilitate his cleansing, walls and fixtures tore away with but a shred of his power, and the resulting explosions barely scorched the walls.  He could feel something above him, drawing him closer, calling to him.

He was soon clearing an entire floor in only a few moments, moving on to the next even before the detonations had faded. The building shuddered over and over again with each successive blast, but the foundations did not crumble or even crack.

Mid way through the building, he erupted from the floor and prepared to create another singularity, but his concentration was interrupted as pain tore through his right shoulder.  With a snarl, the black lizard turned and saw a teenage buck with a rifle.

The buck set off three more shots in rapid succession, each bullet aimed directly at the head of the lizard.  The buck watched as the bullets swerved impossibly in midair, barely missing the lizard.  A scowl came across the face of the deer as he missed with all four shots.  He had never missed in his life.

The lizard growled as he looked at the buck in front of him.  His hands raised up slowly, one to his chest and the other outstretched.  He gathered the energy he needed and then released it in one incredibly burst, the outstretched hand pulling back as the other thrust outwards.

A crack formed along the floor between the buck and the lizard, everything on one side being pulled forwards and everything on the other side thrown back.  Everything that was caught in the middle of the gravitational shear was torn in half.

The instant reaction of the buck was to dodge, and he just happened to dodge into the side that was thrust away from the lizard.  He flew back and landed against the wall, creating a dent in the plaster.  It took a few moments for the buck to recover from the battering he took, but he was on his feet again with his rifle aimed at the lizard.

The lizard looked over to the buck as he stood up again, a soft growl coming from the lizard as his eyes narrowed.  This time he raised his arm at the buck, his hand clenched hard.  He focused as the buck lost his footing and started to drift into the air, floating helplessly.

Finally the lizard opened his hand as he gave a growl, watching as the buck who had interfered screamed in pain.  Arms and legs got pulled taught from the body in a spread-eagle position before one by one being torn free in a spray of gore.  The last piece to be torn from the buck's body was his head, a fountain of blood spraying from his neck.

With the interference dealt with, the lizard resumed his cleansing of each floor.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mr. Branson looked over the cockpit of the helicopter.  It was shredded, all the main instruments were out, the radio was gone, and worse off, the parachutes were shredded as well.  He returned to his daughter who was sitting on the roof near the door they had come out of.  He looked at her and sighed, "I'm sorry sweetheart, I don't know how we are going to survive."

"It's ok, daddy."  Savannah looked up at her father, "Umm...  Maybe the other kids could help us daddy?"

The adult hyena blinked a little as he looked at his daughter, "You can sense them?"

"Yes daddy..."  The little hyena sounded almost ashamed of her psychic ability, "They are about four levels below us, and Zeta is about six."

"Y.. You can sense Zeta?"  The adult hyena shivered a little as he moved over to his daughter, scooping her into his arms.

"He is doing what they trained him to do."  The little hyena looked up into her father's eyes, her own full of tears, "So many screams of pain and terror...  Why daddy?"

Words didn't come to the father as he held his daughter, looking into those eyes.  He closed his eyes and leaned in, kissing his daughter on the forehead.  "I am sorry, darling."

"I understand, father."  Her tone suddenly because very mature, "You must go and I must stay here."

Tears poured from his eyes as he held his daughter in his arms for what he knew would be the last time.  Several moments passed before the pair broke up and the father walked away silently, pausing only at the door that led to the stairs.  "Go with them when they get here.  They will keep you safe."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Paul skittered to a stop on the stairs as he rounded a corner, his eyes going wide as he came face to face with his now former boss.  Instantly the wolf's tail tucked between his legs and he cowered a little.  The lizard was the second one around the corner and he too stood his ground.  The cheetah and rat came last and stood with the lizard, all three of them staring at the hyena that stood in their path.

The hyena made the first move and stepped aside.  "My daughter Savannah is on the roof.  Take her with you."

The lizard stood there and watched the hyena in front of him, his hands lowered by his side, but at the same time still maintaining his readiness.  "Why?"

"Because I need to stop Zeta."  The hyena scowled, "Hurry, you don't have much time."

The three teens eased past the hyena carefully, not lowering their defences until they were at the next floor.  Paul stood there with his tail tucked between his legs in front of his now former boss, his head lowered.  It took a few moments for the wolf to slink past the hyena and join his friends.  Without any further words, they continued their ascent of the stairs.

Mr Branson just started to head down the stairs again when he came face to face with Blackfire.  He stood his ground against his subordinate, blocking her from following the teens.  "You, I need your help."

"Mr. Branson..."  The vixen gasped as she stood there in the stairwell, shocked to see him, "Where are the kids?"

"They are unimportant."  The hyena gave a dismissive gesture and looked over to the badgeress as she rounded the stair case, clearly out of breath. "We have one chance to stop things, but I will need both of your help."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Savannah stood there in front of the door, she did her best to look strong like her father would have wanted her to be.  She watched as the door opened and three teenagers scrambled through, followed by an adult wolf.  Taking the time to survey each one of them with her eyes, she watched as they closed the door behind them and the cheetah gave the door a solid kick.

As the lizard broke off from the group and approached her, the little hyena held her hand up and splayed out her fingers, "Samuel, thirteen years old, able to control electronics..."

"Yes."  Samuel stopped mid step and looked over the girl standing there with her hand raised.

"...Melina,"  The hyena girl continued after Samuel agreed with her.  "Sixteen years old, able to force matter into a different phase temporarily..."

"Uhhh... I'm eighteen..."  Melina scowled a little at the hyena.

"No, you are sixteen.  It has only been three months since you were at the summer camp."  Savannah stated matter-of-factly.

Melina's eyes went wide as memories of summer camp flooded back, particularly the shower where she had seen the hyena before.  "YOU!"

Marcus darted in front of the cheetah and held her back, "Woah, spots.  Don't do anything rash."

"Marcus, fifteen years old, advanced regenerative capabilities." Savannah continues before looking over to the wolf, "Paul, twenty nine years old, no special powers."

"Very good.  You know who we are and what we can do."  Marcus quipped as he held back his cheetah still, "How about telling us your ability?"

The hyena turned her hand around and placed it on her chest, "Savannah, eleven years old, memory reader and psychic suggestion."

Sam all of a sudden looked very uneasy, "Shit...  Why didn't I realize that earlier."  He paused and looked to the others gathered on the roof, "I will be back, wait for me at the helicopter."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Mr. Branson, Carrie, and Blackfire all shivered in unison as another explosion rocked the building.  They were on the second from top floor, the one Shelly had been positioned at for secretary.  Using several different code-keys, the hyena opened a secret room behind where the poodle had sat.  It took several moments for the power to cycle on in the small room, but as the room started up, it showed several consoles gathered around a central sphere.

"Zeta is coming for this."  The hyena stepped up to the controls and started to tap in some commands.  The sphere slowly opened up and revealed another lizard, this one glowing pure white.  "This is his sister."

Carrie groaned and shielded herself from the glow coming off the lizard, "Gah!  She is so hot..."

"I'm sorry, she puts off lethal doses of radiation.  That's why she was under containment."  The hyena sighed and paused, "Just by opening the shield we are now on borrowed time."

Carrie snarled at the hyena who had sealed her fate, "What?!  Why did you bring me here?"

The hyena turned to glare at the badgeress, his words being spat at her like battery acid, "Because if I didn't, you would have stopped the kids and they would not be able to save my daughter."  

"Umm... Sir?"  The black furred vixen looked to the hyena, holding her arms out, "I can feel the radiation...  it doesn't hurt me..."

The hyena looked to the black furred vixen and shook his head, "It will...  your body can only absorb so much before you too will start to suffer."

"Whatever."  The black vixen rolled her eyes and looked to the glowing lizard, "What do we need to do with her?"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

He was so close, he could feel her.  He stripped the walls and ceiling of the entire floor searching for that circle that would allow him through to the next floor.  With each floor he got closer and closer to her, his body becoming more and more energized.

Memories started to seep back into his mind, countless other times that he had performed this act, each time he was awakened he would carve a path of destruction to get to his sister, only to get incredibly tired beside her and go back to sleep.

He counted off the floors left as he rose up.  Six...  Five...  He was so close he could feel her.  Four...  Three...  He reached out for her, aching for her touch.  Two...  One...

After what felt like forever, he arrived on the floor that held his sister.  He could feel her warmth radiating before him already.  The large desk that blocked his path shattered with a wave of his hand, splinters spraying to either side as he floated towards his sister, completely fixated on her and not seeing anyone else inside the room with them.

"Sister,"  The dark voice of the black lizard sent tremors through the building. "I have come for you."

"Yes, brother, I feel your pull."  The feminine voice returned, the glow she emanated seeming to flicker in tune.

"Gamma, Zeta.  Hear me."  The voice of the hyena seemed small in comparison, "Please."

Both lizards looked to the hyena who stood to the side of the room, and the black furred vixen beside him.  The first to react was the glowing white lizard, a snarl escaping her lips as she brought her hand up, pointing one finger at the mammals.

Blackfire reacted in an instant and stepped in front of her boss, holding her hands out as the lance of energy poured forth from the lizard.  Pain shot through her as she felt the radiation she was absorbing increase a thousand fold, the tips of her fur starting to turn from black to white as she strained to protect the hyena.

"No!  Stop!"  The hyena cried out as he hid behind the vixen, "Listen to me!"

"Oh shut up and die, mammal."  The feminine lizard said as she kept up the stream of energy.  The black lizard seemed not to even notice the others in the room as he floated in to embrace his sister.

STOP THIS NOW.

The voice crackled as if it were the crack of thunder landing only meters away.

Every head in the room turned to stare at the little lizard standing in at the entrance to the secret room.  His young face glowered hard and his eyes shone a fierce red.

"Synkris?"  The glowing white lizard gasped a little as it looked over the small lizard, "THAT is the body you chose?"  

"You and your brother must leave this planet."  The crackling voice came from the air around Samuel, but his mouth never once opened.

"Why would we want to do that?  This planet needs a little chaos..." The glowing white lizard swung her arms in a wide arc, a whole section of the room melting at the heat.

"This planet makes its own chaos.  It does not need you to help it."  Samuel started to lift into the air, his body rising up on unseen hands as he continued to glare at the female lizard.

"I _AM_ chaos!"  The lizard snarled as she swung her arm in the direction of the lizard.  The lance of energy melted the walls and floor as it swept across the room and slashed through the body of the boy lizard.

Samuel gave no reaction as his skin blistered and burnt.  His right arm disintegrated into nothing but bone from the elbow down, and his chest showed exposed ribs.  His now boney hand rose and held up in front of him, the young lizard shaking his head as the air around him crackled, "Why do you bother trying?  You know that this is merely a convenient vessel for us, that we don't really need them to manifest."

"I know that as well as you do.  But without the vessel, we are weaker."  The glowing lizard snarled in response, the lance of energy making another pass.

Flesh boiled and melted across the legs of the lizard this time, leaving only a few muscles remaining, yet still there was no reaction from Sam.  "This star has many cycles left before the final cleanse, why rob it of that time?"

The black lizard looked over at the green one, "She is the lord of chaos, it is her nature."

"But you are the lord of order, and you are her mirror."  The cracking voice filled the room as the green lizard continued to float, watching the black and white lizards side by side. "If you say stop, she will listen."

With a slow turn, the black lizard addressed his sister, "Synkris is right, my sister.  There are plenty of worlds old and new that require our attention."

The expression on the face of the white lizard melted from its snarl into something tender as she looked into the eyes of her brother.  "My brother.  You always know how to get to me.  Its a shame we have to leave these bodies...  They are so close to us."

"Yes, this has been a pleasant vacation."  The black lizard reached out and embraced his counterpart, white cracks starting to form on his black body, black cracks starting to streak across the white lizard in mirror.

The bodies of the two lizards fragmented and then became engulphed in two spheres, one black and one white.  The spheres started to shrink as they span around each other until they were no larger than a grain of sand, and they just ceased to exist.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Samuel limped out the door onto the roof, staggering a little as he made his way to the helicopter.  His right arm hung limply at his side, the bones barely clinging to each other as he made his way across the roof.  His face was dark with concentration as he forced the remnants of the muscles on his legs to work.

Melina gasped hard as she turned to see the lizard as he approached, her eyes wide with horror at the sight of his body.  "Oh shit...  MARCUS HELP!"

Marcus scrambled out of the cockpit where he was lounging and went wide-eyed at the sight of the lizard as he staggered closer.  It a few moments for the shock to fade and allow the rat to dash over to his friend, "Holy shit, scaleybu..."

Samuel snarled and lashed out at the rat, his right arm swinging in an arc and the bony fingers raking skin as he pushed the rat aside.  He continued on his path towards the helicopter, his bony hand flexing and twitching as if it still had muscle as he scrambled into the cockpit of the helicopter.  Even without power or controls, the engine started up and the rotors started to turn.

Marcus gathered himself and jumped onto the helicopter as it started up, his eyes wide as he rubbed the scars on his face...   they were not healing.

Savannah and Paul remained silent as they buckled into the helicopter with the rat and the cheetah, the little lizard in the front seat with both hands resting on the dashboard.  The helicopter ride would have been deathly quiet were it not for the chop of the rotors as they spun up.  It only took a few minutes of flight, just long enough to get them to the ground safely.

Sam collapsed as soon as the helicopter was a meter off the ground and it landed hard, but everyone was safe and free.

********************************************



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