Veryl reloaded his Benelli, one shell at a time.  The fight had been brutal, and the cold weather had not been favorable at all.  He looked down at the corpse of the dead legionnaires.  He’d killed three hellhounds that night.  Nothing had gone as planned, but he trusted her judgment.

Veryl walked down the stairs of the now ruined complex.  He stopped as he neared a corner.  He committed and went around, weapon raised.  There were the bodies of both partisan and Breed lying there.  He continued, careful not to step on the bodies.  Veryl stopped and entered one of the control rooms.  It was a clouded dawn, and the snow was falling.  It looked like a bomb had gone off in the room. It was scorched and ruined.  The computers were dead and if there had been bodies there, they’d have been incinerated.

“So, you got ‘em here, huh?” a woman asked.

“Of course,” he replied.  Veryl turned, seeing a woman in gold armor, designed specifically for her body.  “I had a little trouble dealing with the hellhounds, but who doesn’t?”

“True.”  She gave him a smile.  “You did great.”

“Thanks, Skye.”  He looked up at her.  “So, exactly what happened over the past few days?”

The woman found a ruined chair and sat in it.  “It’s… complicated.  The Breed started with their typical sweeps.  I needed Echo to show up at a specific place, and I made a few appearances in the area beforehand.  The two of us, at a glance, look a lot a like.  That put her on the run.  You helped divert a lot of PDFs from finding her.”

“Okay, what about her involvement with the resistance?”

“The girl lacked discipline.  Her brief time in the resistance helped a lot.  Especially when she overdosed.  I didn’t plan that, before you ask.  It was lucky.  Harriet is a very good leader.  Her strictness in that one action of throwing those drugs overboard did wonders.  I was also impressed with how she dealt with Alysdir when he insulted her, making her his spotter.”  She looked up at Veryl.  “They worked well together.  In time, I think they’d have become a very good team.  Unfortunately, time is something we don’t have.  It’s why I had to rush her all into this.  I’d have preferred to ease her into it.  Gotten her a little more used-to her divine majiks.  Little more discipline.  Accepting the fact that when this is all over she’ll have to wait away from the world.”

He glanced up.  “Why?”

“Because of the balance of power.   You have a great evil, you need a great good.  If the great good outright defeats the great evil, that’ll leave a void for a greater evil to fill, and then you’ve gotten everything unbalanced.  Same thing happens if you reverse it with the great evil prevailing.  But when the great goods of the world have been sealed away, like The Four Titans did to me and the three other Great Phoenixkin.”

“And then they tried to make you four forget about all this.”

“Yeah.”  Skye pushed some of her brown hair out of her face.  She locked her jade green eyes with Veryl’s hazel ones.  “Some things you can never forget though.  Especially someone you’ve shared a bond with for centuries.”

He chuckled and sat beside her.  “Those dreams.  You were trying to remind me.”

“Yeah.  Just like I was trying to remind Lin.”  She put a hand on his shoulder.  “How is he?”

“Last I checked, got promoted to colonel, and transferred to the Ukraine sector.”  He looked at her.  “You knew that though, didn’t you?”

“Had to help him out.  He was a very good friend, you know that.  I…  I couldn’t stand to see him like that.  He needed to remember Sal too.”

Veryl chuckled.  “Will we see ‘em again?”

“Probably.  They might’ve had to start from scratch, but hey.”

“Yeah.”

Skye smiled.  “But back on topic.  The past few days have been different.  Needed to work out a few other things too.”

“Like?”

“Well, someone had to make sure that letter to Gaump wasn’t intercepted by the Scarab’s Claws?”

His face went wide with shock.  “You planned this entire coup?”

“Not like I’m gonna be in charge of it or anything.  I don’t want the job, but just like Echo, time was of the essence.  It had to be done.  I’d have liked to get a little more evidence, but…”

“You couldn’t have done anything to prevent Boston from getting nuked?”

“Veryl, I tried.  I know that it was a lot of lives lost.  Both Breed and who we’re both used-to.  It’s a tragedy, yes.  However, there’s an opportunity here which I’m sure Harriet has noticed.”

“What’s that?”

“Bunker Hill.  The resistance’s largest stronghold in the area.  They’ve got nukes down there, which probably survived the blast.  They also have a sizeable motor pool, including a large number of Strykers and even some tanks.  Also, with this rebellion Gaump is heading, the Emperor will likely move his ballistic missile defenses closer to Haragath.  One of the routes goes right through Boston.  We divert them to there and the resistance captures them.”

“You’re talking about high-powered lasers for shooting down nukes.”

“Exactly.”

“But what about the miniature Retribution satellites?”

“I launched them.”

Veryl was horribly confused.  “Why?  That’s just made another problem for…”

“They’re incomplete.  The four that are in orbit now, have yet to be fitted with a crystal power source, which would give it the firepower that leveled Saint Louis, but none of the fallout.  They also lack proper tracking and targeting systems.  If The Emperor wants to make use of them, then he’ll have to spend a lot of money on sending shuttles up there to make them operational.  They found out that someone was launching them prematurely, The Emperor thought that it was Gaump’s forces, and firebombed the area.”

“So, what now?”

“We wait for the next major event in this string.  It’ll be coming soon too, and we’ll have to become more involved again.”  She gave him a smile.  “We’ll probably even see Alysdir’s family then!”

“You mean Harriet again?”

“No.  I mean his love and their son.”

Veryl cocked his head.  “You told me that they would have a child, but…”

“Another precious mistake.  And very likely the only one of his kind that will ever exist.”

“So when is this gonna be?”

“Late March, early April.  Few other important things’ll happen then, but I’ll tell you after we get something to eat, okay?”

“Alright, cool.”  He stood up, followed by Skye.  They started walking.  “So, how’d you get the two phoenixes to show up?”

“Easy.  I talked to a former Holy Roman Emperor and he was able to get me two of them.”

“Oh, so you like being the phoenix queen now, huh?”

“No.  I said I’d make it up to him, and he gladly agreed to help.”  Skye gently took his hand.  “Let’s rest up.  The next few months are going to be very trying.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“Okay, good,” Harriet said.  “Move that over there, and we’ll call it good.”

The Orc grunted as he put down a huge trunk on the ground.  He wiped some sweat from his forehead and walked out.

“I don’t see why you have to have other people help you move stuff in here,” Alysdir said.  “It’s your stuff, you should move it.”

“And I have been,” she replied.  Harriet pointed at the corner of her new room.  “Put that one over there.”  She set to making her bed.  The resistance had seen the opportunity in moving into Bunker Hill.  It was far more defendable, and had many supplies which had survived the attack.  The nukes used had been neutron-based and due to the enchantments on them, the weapons had left much of the city intact.

There was the sound of feet running down the hall.  “Harriet!” someone shouted.  “We’ve got nukes in lowest levels!”

“Good to hear!” she shouted back.  “Alysdir!  Careful with that!  Those are live grenades!”

Her brother carefully put the crate down.  “Why do you get to keep your rifle and guns and stuff in your room, but the rest of us have to keep them in the armory with that crack whore?”

“Don’t call Jes a crack whore.  She did a great job fixing your goggles, again, and you have yet to thank her.  And if you get on better terms with her, I’m sure she’ll be happy to let you help take inventory on the weapons!”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  There’s a lot of stuff down there that survived.”  She gave him a pat on the shoulder.  “Thanks for the help.  You can go move into your own room now.  I’ll be down later to help you, okay?”

“Yeah…”  Alysdir left the room, and Harriet started to unpack her belongings.  Bunker Hill was far larger than the tanker and they could make better use of it.  This aside, there was even a motor pool, and they now had vehicles they could use.  There were several old Strykers, which had once served the United States as multi-purpose vehicles.  They would serve their purpose well.  There was a knock on her door.

“What?” she asked.

“Harriet?” someone asked.  “We caught someone you’d be interested in.”

She looked over her shoulder.  “Oh?”

“Yeah.”  The Orc leaned against   “A Drow was found in the old subway system, and she was lookin’ for you and your brother.”

“Any idea what she wants?”

“We knocked her out and put her in a holding cell.  Her hair’s been strung out and we’re ready to cut it.”

“Get a razor too.  She doesn’t cooperate, I want you to shave her bald.”

“Right.”

She smiled.   “And get Smati to do it.  She’s good with interrogations.”

*****
Harriet shook her head, putting some of her extra jackets and ragged clothes into the closet.  The former commander had lived there before the strike.  She smiled, finding the thin spidersilk tank top and underwear.  They were the only thing from her home she'd kept.  She carefully folded them and put them on the top of a pile of other clothes.  Moving in always is interesting, she thought.  Harriet sighed as she stood up.  No one had dropped by after everything.  She lay down on the bed with a sigh.  About fifteen minutes later there was a sharp rap on the door.

“It's open!” Harriet shouted.

The door swung open and a woman stepped into the room  Her oddly styled red hair and complete lack of armor proclaimed her difference, but it was the glow in her eyes that said she was a werewolf.  “Here to report on the status of the prisoner we took in the subway,”  She grinned wolfishly as she leaned back against the door frame.

Harriet sat up.  “Okay, what about her?”

“I believe she's told us everything she knows, but her hair looks like a checkerboard.  Oh, and she's unconscious right now too.”

“So, you knocked her out?”  Harriet pushed some of her hair out of her face.

Smati shrugged, “Had to, she went nuts on us, almost tore her way out even without her hair.”

“How much reducirium did you pump into her?”

“Quite a lot, actually,” Smati frowned, “She had adrenaline on her side, though, I think.”

Harriet sighed.  “Right...  She kill anyone?”

“Nah, I got her before she could really get out,” Smati smirked smuggly, “I'm not that irresponsible.”

“Good.”  She stood up, and grabbed her boots and pulled them on.  “Let's go.”  They started walking down one of the halls of Bunker Hill.  Two other resistance fighters passed them, one offering Smati a smile as they passed.  They reached an elevator and walked into it.

“She probably won't be up for another hour,” Smati shrugged, “I had to hit her pretty hard.  Really I don't know what she got so worked up about, either, she hadn't even been that upset when I cut her hair.”

“No surfacer could understand the connection a priestess has to her hair.”  Harriet folded her arms and looked at Smati.  “The longer the better.  It's a sign of rank.  It's also a sign of skill with magic.  The longer the better, as you'd expect.”

“Yeah, well I made a remark about flotties being easy she lost it.”

Harriet cocked her head.  “What?”

“I said something like “Damn, I thought flotties were tougher than this, but they're as easy as mumboys.”

“What...  What's a flotty...”  She blinked.  “Oh...”  She shook her head.  “Well, you compared her to a male, which is probably the biggest insult to her.”

“Like I care.” Smati snorted.  “Fuckin flotty.”

“She would probably take the whole 'flotty' thing as a complement, because I knew a lot of females who enjoyed fellatio.”

“Well, up top fellatio is enjoyed more by the male.”  She shrugged, “But I guess you've never watched the old porno.”

“Girl, you're talkin' to someone who was top of her class when it came to sexual practices.”  She sighed.  “Besides, we were pretty rough you could say.”  She blinked.  “That's... that's probably more info than you wanted though...”

“Like I care,” Smati snickered, “Lets just say the pack I was a part of long ago had some interesting mating practices.  Much more reminiscent of wolves than other packs.”

“You're from the Crimson Moon though, so I'm sure there's some differences...”  She laughed a little.  “Never thought you were the type for this sorta talk.”

“I'm not normally in a situation to discuss my sex habits.  Except with Rylin.  Then we talk about my sex habits all the time.  But that's another story.”

“Oh good God...”  She sighed.  “Has he hit on you too?”

“Um, thats one way to put it, I suppose.”  She shrugged, “Lets just say its a good thing I'm too old to have pups.”

“Hell, you're older than me and Alysdir put together I bet.”

“Lets just say I remember back when these cities were just being built.  Any time before that's a little fuzzy, but you get that after so many hundreds of years, I'm told.”

“Jeez...  I won't tell Alysdir.   He's called me an old cow...”  She shook her head, as the lift came to a stop.  “Doesn't help that I've put him through so much hell.”

Smati snorted, “He can call me whatever the hell he wants.  He'd better just expect retribution.  Very nasty retribution, or so I'm told.”  She smiled in a chilling sort of way, “Really, the intestines are tasty.  Offering them to someone was considered a compliment in the pack.  Not sure why people here don't like it.”

“You have a taste like Hannibal Lecter.  Not a lot of people do.”  She gave Smati a wink.  “You read Silence of the Lambs?  Great book.”

“Actually we used it for cooking tips.”

Harriet chuckled.  “Red wine, huh?”  She motioned to her.  “C'mon.  Drow are used to pain, so I'm sure she's awake by now.”

“Well, maybe,” Smati shrugged, “We'll see, though.”  They started walking down the hall.  They reached a door and Harriet pushed it open.  A Drow female sat tied to a chair.

The female Drow in the chair slowly sat up.  “I refuse to believe, one of our favored Priestesses, like you, have fallen so far from grace...” she said to Harriet.

“Shut-up,” Harriet said.

“Look who's talking, flotty,” Smati knelt down in front of the drow, “Or is a checkerboard the new fashion for flotties?”

“Pathetic animal,” she replied.  “You'd be put down faster than an impotent male.”

“Yeah, but I'm not the one strapped to a chair with my enemy taunting me, now am I?”

“Do you keep her muzzled, Hadassa?”

“Shut up,” Harriet replied.  “Call me that again, I'll put you in a world of pain.”

Smati smile menacingly, “Actually, if you don't have a use for her, Drow is one of my favorite delacacies.  They don't die easily, and I love my meat live and wiggling.”

Harriet shook her head to Smati.  “Why did you crawl off one of your males and come here?”

She looked at Harriet.  “Now that you're here, the ruling families are afraid that your delicious brother will be first in a growing trend.  Males found in the tunnels without supervision from a female are killed on sight, and in very spectacular ways.”  She grinned.  “You would love it.”

Harriet closed her eyes and scoffed in disgust.  “Smati, come.”  She turned and left the room.

Snorting slightly the were turned, to follow, but looked back with one toothy grin before swaggering out of the room.

Harriet closed the door to the holding cell.  “You can go ahead and kill her.  Don't make too much of a mess though, okay?”

“Right.  Can I invite the vampires?  They'll want in on this too.”

“The vampires, last I checked, were fucking each other, again.”  She shook her head.  “And Ryan says I'm aggressive sometimes...” she muttered.

“I bet he does,” Smati chuckled.  “So I finally get one to myself, eh?  Hm..I think I'll go look into that red wine.”

Harriet realized just what she had said then.  “Oh, damnit...”  She looked at Smati.  “I don't want anyone else to know about us, okay?  It's bad enough Alysdir gives me a hard enough time about it!”  She spoke in almost a whisper.

“What, you think I can't smell it when the two of you have had sex?  Please, you reek of it for at least a day, more like two.  And anyways, who the hell am I going to tell?”  She chuckled as she started to walk off, “You don't have anything to worry about unless I need blackmail.”

“I heard that!”  Harriet walked back onto the elevator with a sigh.  It started to rise and she leaned against the wall.  Least Rylin doesn’t know.  Hell, least only a few people know!  She shook her head.  The lift stopped and she got off, before heading back to her room.  She found Alysdir waiting outside with Ryan.

“I don’t want my sister wasting her time with a human if he doesn’t like her back, okay?” he said.

“I know, okay?” Ryan replied.

“Guys, get along, please,” she said.  “Alysdir, I can take care of myself, but it is nice of you to look out for me.”  She pushed the door open to her room.  “What’s up?”

“What’s up?” Alysdir asked.  “What’s up with the prisoner?”

“Smati’s enjoying a meal.  Turns out you’re a bit of a revolutionary, little brother.  The ruling families back home have had one or two problems with other males trying to escape.”  She found a chair at her new desk.  It had a computer, and the screen glowed, giving a little more light to the already dim room.  “This gives me an idea.  We start freeing slaves.”

“That’s suicide!” Alysdir said.  “You know as well as I do what’s in those tunnels!”

“That’s why we plan for it.  Use C-4 charges on the doors, and only blow certain ones, so they can’t change it all on us.  We’d have special teams, trained to deal with the beasties.  If all else fails, we smuggle a nuke in and set it off.”

“How would we do that?  You know that if we headed back we would be killed on sight!”

“I don’t know.  We’ll figure something out though.  Until then, go get your room set up.  I’ll be down to help in a bit.”

Alysdir nodded and left.

Harriet looked up at Ryan.  “So, done moving in?”

“Yeah,” he said.  “Got stuck with the Gorebag brothers again though.”

“It’s not like you spend any time in there anyway.”

“Yeah, just…”

Harriet gave him a wink, and pulled something out of a pocket on her camo pants.  “Here.  Spare key to my room.  Don’t let Alysdir know you have it.”

He slowly took it from her, and looked up at her.  “Why are you doing this?”

“You know I like you, and that those two are night owls.  No need to worry about it all, okay?  You’ve always got a bed here if you need it.”

Ryan smiled.  “Thank you.”  He sat down on the bed.  “Y’know, why didn’t we move in right after?  Why’d we have to wait until spring?”

Harriet laughed.  “We had to wait for the snow to melt, now didn’t we?  We had to first find the entrances and it is a lot easier when there’s not all that white stuff out there!”  She shook her head.  “I still can’t see how some of you enjoy that stuff!”

“Oh, come on.  Just because I hit you in the face with a snowball that one time…”

“It was cold!  And wet!”

“You could’ve grabbed some of it and thrown one at me y’know!”

“Next time there is snow, I will!”  She chuckled and looked back at the computer.  “How’s everything else?”

“Good.  We’ve about gotten everyone moved in.  Jes is looking through the motor pool with Logan right now.  They’re thinking they can repair the Abrams tanks and fit captured Breed Metal Storm weapons to them.”

“What about the Strykers?”

“Good shape.  The Sons of Liberty really knew how to take care of their vehicles.  It’ll make patrols in the city a lot easier.”

Harriet nodded, and pushed some hair out of her face.  “Um…  What about Kip?  It’s been a few months since Cassie’s death.  How’s he holding up?”

“He started working on another compressor today.  He’ll probably have it done by the end of the week.”

“He all moved-in?”

“Yeah.  No idea where he’s sleeping.  Wouldn’t be surprised if he set up his bed right in the room with all his stuff!”

She chuckled.  “Sounds like him.  So, when’s your first patrol?”

“Little later. Have to wait for Lal to get back with the Stryke.  Y’know, I wouldn’t even call it a patrol.  It’s just headin’ out to give some of the guys some fresh water and food.  Bet you’re pretty happy when Alysdir has to go on one of those long stakeouts, huh?’

“Kinda.  He’s the only family I got here, and honestly, I worry a little when he doesn’t make contact for a few days like that.”  She sighed.  “That’s just him though, but it would be nice to know a little more.”

“Yeah.”

Harriet leaned back in her chair with a sigh.  She put her arms up and held her head back.  “Do you think this war will ever end?”

“Honestly?”

“Of course, honestly.”

“Yeah.  It’ll end one way or another.  I’ll tell you this though.  There’ll always be conflict between us and The Breed.  All we can hope for is that it doesn’t get out of hand like it already has.”

“Ain’t that the truth?”  She looked back at him and smiled.  “At least…  At least we’re like a family here.  Least we can find some solace in that, huh?”

“Yeah.”  Ryan got to his feet.  “I’m gonna go grab something to eat.  Lal’ll probably be back by then.”

“Okay.”  Harriet stood up.  “Drop by when you come back, okay?  I’ll have something for you…”  She leaned in and gave him a kiss on the lips.

“No need to worry there.”

“Get going then.  I gotta finish up and then go help Alysdir.”

“Yeah.  Well, see you after another boring patrol, huh?”

“Yeah.  Guess so.”

THE END