Chapter 22: Bonus chapter part 2: Annie’s backstory.

"... And if you perish in the coming battle, may the embers of your soul shine brightly in the minds of your kin, giving them strength to carry on and prosper forevermore." Lacerated One intoned, pressing bloody paws together before thrusting her arms to the side and spraying blood across the flock. A couple of orais in the cargo hall grumbled as they detected blood on their armor, but their leaders quickly restored order with a few punches. Several drops of blood fell on Annie’s snout, soaking her fur and reaching the skin. She felt a tingle running down her spine, her heartbeat increased. She wanted to run, to crush into enemy lines, breaking bones, crushing skulls, tearing through bodies. Gulping, Annie calmed herself, accepting the blessing of the Spirits. As with each of their blessings, there was danger there and a lesson. Not reward, never reward. This ritual is meant to teach believers how to control their impulses. Danger lay in following these newfound impulses. Wolfkins were already strong, and by learning how to control themselves, they mastered how to evade unneeded dangers.

Meanwhile, nearby normies twitched their bodies in ecstasy, the sudden flush of otherworldly energy was too much for their bodies to handle. Scarred One and Earless One, two shamans who worked in the praying den near the military base, had to restrain a few normie members of the flock before they could hurt themselves. For most of the members of the flock, this was the first actual pre-battle prayer and they met Lacerated One for the first time. The patchwork of open wounds looked at the people before her in confusion, stopping spreading arcs of blood. Uncertainty was gone from her looks in a flash and the woman finished her prayer in a strict voice, abandoning the usual ritual of blood blessing to preserve the wellbeing of new believers, "May life continue to bloom forevermore thanks to your efforts and through your sacrifices," She said, "Whatever our fate, may the spirits give us the strength to live as humans rather than monsters. Bless you all."

She was one of those who stood at the foundation of the faith in the Spirits, the person who gave the tribe much needed spiritual support when Ravager left for good. Annie felt pride simply from standing in the presence of this great person. Back in the dark time of the first days of Reclamation, Lacerated One was found by Ravager herself. The parents of the Lacerated One starved to death, trying to find someplace with food, leaving Lacerated One guarding their remains in the desert. Ravager found her, a cub less than half a year old, all covered with wounds from insectoids, guarding two dried up forms of wolfkins from being devoured. The cub was hungry, dirty, had suffered an impressive loss of blood, and was half mad from fear, after being left all alone for so long. And yet, when Ravager brought the cub back and the first shamans touched the body of the cub to treat her wounds, they felt power in the cub’s blood. The shamans declared the cub to be a destined child of the Spirits and raised her as their own sister, rather than giving her up to the pits and army. The original name of Lacerated One, if she ever knew it, was never added to the records of the Tribe. Now Lacerated One was the only survivor of the old generation of shamans, younger than some warlords, but much older than everyone else. Annie once saw Lacerated One and a few other wolfkins in a photo with Zero. Lacerated One, Alpha, Dragena, Zero, and warlord Ygrite were in this photo together, the last survivors of the bygone era. Annie half expected to see some familiarity between Dragena and the Lacerated One but could notice none.

The body of the Lacerated One was covered with open wounds, torn lines ran across her eyes, her eyelids were torn asunder, the skull was covered with lacerated scratches, bloody lines revealing gleaming meat as they ran across the arms and hid underneath the breastplate of power armor. The impressive healing potential of wolfkins constantly tried to close the wounds, but the prophet of the Spirits simply ran with her crimson claws over long torn bloody channels on her body, forcibly bleeding herself and keeping the wounds ever fresh and wet. Unlike the bone-colored claws of other wolfkins, the claws of Lacerated One had crimson streaks running across them, resembling lava that appears on the ground. Her amber eyes were stained with red, her fur was always soaked and dirty from blood, the grey of her power armor changed color to that of crimson. Constant blood loss should have toppled even such a being as a shaman. And yet here she stood, powered by her faith, Spirits or perhaps something else altogether.

The ritual of blood blessing was one of the most common rituals of the faithful, prior to battle, the shaman would spray her blood on soldiers, spiritually giving them strength to move on. With Lacerated One, this ritual was different. At the mere touch of her blood, even people with the most grievous wounds found a way to fight on against death. Spirits whispered through Lacerated One, giving otherworldly endurance to others through her blood. Original shamans explained to her that it was sacrilege for her to hoard her blood for herself, thus her skin was always covered by flesh wounds, allowing her to spread her blessed blood around. Lacerated One was the one who resisted newcomers into faith the most, only agreeing to accept them when other shamans voted for this. And now, the shaman was giving the blessing of the Spirits to all, normies and wolfkin.

Kayleen stood on her knees near Annie, holding her paws in prayer. Carty stood aside, surrendered by a couple of other wolfkins, looking dispassionately at the ritual. Annie had no ill will toward her fellow scout because of her decision. It troubled her enough, however, that she asked for advice from shamans. The shamans explained this situation well enough. Life moves on, ever changing. What was usual yesterday, will be replaced by something new tomorrow. Once, no wolfkins believed in the Spirits, for they had no idea of their existence. Then faith came. In time, it too will disappear, just like countless faiths before it. Nothing is truly unchanging in the world. Life turns to death, souls of the dead go on a journey into the great beyond. They, too, change and are reborn as new living beings on this planet. Even the Spirits were bound by this law, and one day they will vanish, changing into something else. Showing anger toward the non-believers thus was a fool's errand. They too had their own values and yet worked for the Tribe none the less. It still pained Annie that, over the years, more and more wolfkins abandoned their faith, the indomitable pillar that helped the entire Wolf Tribe endure the Time of Loss, when Ravager left on her own journey and left them behind.

Lacerated One's Power Armor moved, steel sleeves closing on her column-like arms, hiding countless torn wounds from sight. With paws covered by steel gauntlets, the shaman reached for the old-fashioned helmet of power armor, a helmet bearing countless scars and traces of repair from previous battles. The thing was old, crude, and archaic; the lenses of her helmet shone purple rather than crimson. Her helmet had two sharp looking extensions to fit her ears. Normally, wolfkins keep their ears tightly pressed to their heads while wearing power armor. Such a decision was made by engineers to keep the overall round structure of the helmet. Shamans were not part of the traditional military force, and while all of them were given military grade power armor, Lacerated One still used her old one, one that was assembled for her in times of old. Shamans only had one main task in the military and that was to serve as bodyguards for warlords and the presence of a warlord on a battlefield was not something subtle, they were more of a force of nature, rather than a subtle striking force. Grumbling, the command unhappily allowed a few shamans to use their power armor of old times.

Dragena stepped forward, sending tremors through the iron floor with each step, and rocketed her shoulders, making a few loud wet pops. Annie looked at her leader with confusion. Sure enough, compared to the other wolfkins present, Annie was still a greenhorn, but she watched briefings of old missions and listened to tales of wolf hags. Dragena always moved smoothly, keeping perfect balance. The warlord even had a normal door in her office, one that required her to lean over to enter, instead of massive doorways like other warlords. Dragena did everything in her power to show restraint and moderation. Dragena brimmed with barely restrained power today, resembling warlords like Janine and Alpha rather than her usual cool and collective self.

The faithful normies regained their composure, finishing putting on their own power armors. The wolfkins, Annie among them, were already ready, standing at attention before their leader. The leader of orais troops forced his soldiers to stand up, honoring the warlord.

"ETA ten minutes," Dragena dispassionately said to the assembled troops before her, shamans flanked her on either side, lowering themselves to one knee. In war, shamans obeyed warlords, in peace their roles were reversed, "His excellency is about to begin his assault. The landing zone will be hot."

"How do you know that?" Half-spoke, half-growled orais by the name Tegrin, one of the thug masters who came along as the Outsider's guards. Just like every orais, his body was covered with thick, short black fur, his head was too close to his body on an almost non-existent neck, and his massive shoulders reached almost to the level of his ears. Four thick fangs were visible in his mouth as he spoke, rest of his teeth were square shaped and lacked sharpness. The pupils of all orais were pitch black, while the whites of their eyes were a milky white. Evil tongues said that orais evolved not from humans but from something else, this is why their arms were long enough to reach the floor, allowing them to move on all fours. But the decree of the Dynast was final, orais were humans and will be treated as such. The thug master's void eyes locked with Dragena's amber eyes, and the smaller being stood his ground unafraid of the towering creature before him, "These choppers are equipped with stealthy thingy. We use them to get a drop on foes often enough."

"The stealth generators of the Barracudas are indeed impressive by modern standards, making us all but invincible to radars," Dragena acknowledged, nodding her head and motioning to the shamans to remain calm, "Yet, I am sure you have seen the map, thug master. The enemies had purposely limited the number of places for us to land with minefields, leaving several places before our facility undefended. They want to bait us," 

"That or they are incompetent." Tegrin pointed this out stubbornly, not breaking eye contact even for a moment.

"Our enemy this time is Alsyn. She does not make mistakes when it comes to military missions." Dragena responded with steel in her voice.

It all started five hours ago. Rift Talons, a mercenary group, appeared near the Tinkov archaeological center. This was one of many archaeological centers, dedicated to finding long-lost pieces of art, technology, or simply artifacts of historical value. This facility here was built over the supposed location of the closed city of one of the countries from the Old World. Closed cities were either hubs of civilian research or military research, such places were highly sought by scientists from all three great nations. As a gesture of goodwill, Dynast allowed archeologists from Iterna to join the crew of this facility. Equipped with massive drills the size of hills, the archaeological center resembled more of a mining facility to the eyes of travelers. Researchers were busy breaking into natural caverns below the ground, sending scout parties into the remains of cities underground. Unlike the solid slabs of stone above, underground caverns still contained many intact artifacts from the past. And also dangers, so many dangers. Biological weapons of old, malfunctioned AIs, mutants, hives of insectoids, and other yet unseen horrors. And sometimes, very rarely, caverns also bear new friends and allies. Orais, a clan of warrior people, loyal to Outsider and the Dynast, were found in one such cavern, half extinct from their wars with mutants over rapidly diminishing food and water supplies. Both sides were slapped around by Outsider and forced to make peace with each other. Mutants viewed Outsider with caution, preferring to move into the Core Lands and live calm lives of peace, while orais all but worshiped the champion afterwards, becoming one of the core forces in the First Army.

The mercenary group attacked the archaeological center, taking it over within half an hour. Due to the proximity of the refugee center Gamma, police forces were bolstered with military assistance. A force of roughly one thousand people had arrived to retake the facility. They were met with the intense fire of hundreds of energy rifles, combined with fire from turrets, tanks, and even several flying vehicles. The intensity of fire was such that it drove the forces of the Reclaimers back within minutes, scattering the group and killing many people. The total number of dead was unknown as of the present moment. The command was briefly in confusion as to where such numbers of enemy forces could come from.

Recon drones brought the answer. Robots. The mass-produced automatic armies from the Old World manned the walls and rocky fields before the archaeological center. By sheer luck or with some knowledge, mercenaries found a cache of these machines in caverns underneath a facility, activating them and using them against the Reclamation Army. Each robot was a parody of the human body, covered in steel plates, yet still having the same lean build as most normies. Even hundreds of years underground could not wipe out the blue paint on their steel carcasses, with a single golden image on their left shoulder, shaped in the form of a shield with the black words "VPD" in the middle of it. Their faceplate was made from a solid piece of armor glass, tough enough to withstand bullets, as snipers learned during the initial scuffle, lights on their shoulders created constant red and blue blinking. In a cheerful voice, the machines demanded surrender, promising that otherwise "gang members" will be shot on sight.

Dragena summoned her pack at once. Annie had just returned from the refugee center and was about to clean her clothes before going to sleep when the call came. This was the first official mission of Annie, one where she was given actual command over other wolfkins. The pack that she was responsible for training were Branded. They were deemed too green by Dragena, who instead gave Annie the soldiers of another scout, a woman who recently retired due to old age and went to her final journey in the shaman’s tent. And everything was a mess. There was no time for preparation, no time to lay careful plans for the advance. Annie barely knew her new soldiers. The Dynast wanted the crisis to be over, and he wanted it now. As Dragena briefly explained to everyone, Alsyn forced the hand of Dynast. By allowing calls for help to leave the archaeological center and by humiliating the military of the Reclamation who arrived to liberate the place, the mercenaries put a shade on the state. Why would mercenaries want to announce their presence so much, Dragena had no idea so far, but warned her troops that this could be a trap. Upon consideration and reading the file about Alsyn, Annie concurred.

Alsyn, the wolf hag formerly of the Dragena pack. She had a flawless service record, but had trouble working out with others, often risking herself and putting missions in danger instead of spreading duties between her pack. Upon the suggestion of Dragena, Alsyn moved into the Omega team of Alpha’s pack. This was not something unheard of or shameful, Annie herself left the service of one warlord, Kayleen served as a scout under warlord Janine before her transfer to Dragena and raising in rank. Sometimes one can’t grow in one place but can still grow in another place. Alsyn served under Alpha for three years, continuing to flawlessly do her duty. Two years ago, she disappeared, without leaving a letter of resignation, meeting with Alpha or anything. Desertion was unthinkable among the Wolf Tribe, yet by all rights, Alsyn did just that. Upon investigation, it was revealed that she came into conflict with one of the shamans, challenging her. Domination ended up with the death of the shaman, but the council of shamans filed no charges, nor disclosed the story behind the conflict. Stubbornly, shamans declared that this was the desire of the winner.

Alsyn formed a mercenary group named Rift Talons, made up of normies with whom she met during her time as a member of the Omega team. Warlords still wondered what to do with her, desertion was unheard of in the tribe, Alsyn sometimes finished jobs for the state, and wolfkins were not slaves. Sure, by all rights, she deserved a bullet in the head for leaving her post, or at least prison time… Dragena briefly explained to Annie when the scout asked about it, such a situation happened for the first time. Shamans were worried about making decisions that would discourage other wolfkins from leaving the Wolf Tribe freely and creating resentment due to fear of punishment. A tribe divided can’t stand for long.

And now this happened, Alsyn openly went against the state, the first wolfkin to ever do such a thing. Dragena herself stepped in, leading the operation in person. This was unexpected, unless ordered to, the warlord usually stayed in the rear, waiting for the right moment to arrive on the front and turn the tide of battle with her presence. For this reason, the warlord mercilessly trained her pack, they were supposed to operate in the field without her assistance. And now Dragena was here, accompanied by bodyguards from the shamans. Never before had she used her right to claim bodyguards from shamans. Now she claimed all three available shamans to aid her. Outsider provided the group with his elite Barracuda heavy helicopters, meant for the transportation of large numbers of troops behind enemy lines. The thick armor of these behemoths could withstand even armor piercing fire for a prolonged period of time. They lacked armament, instead relying on stealth generators to keep them hidden from radars, heat vision, noise detection, and the naked eye. With other warlords and their forces spread thin on the border with Oathtakers, it left Dragena alone on this mission. Dragena asked for additional military support and received help. Wyrm Lord sent several groups of normie soldiers in power armors. Outsider sent his orais troops. And Devourer… Devourer pledged himself.

Annie put on her helmet and saw the battlefield outside through the data that was transmitted directly to her eyes from cameras and drones outside. Devourer moved forward, creating a new road in the Wastes with his slithering body. Such was Devourer's cataclysmic advance: jagged rocks turned to dust, small hills were pressed into the ground, and the remains of long-lost vehicles were crushed once more. Thunderous sounds created echoes in nearby mountains, tremors shook the front rows of the automated defenders who positioned themselves before the archaeological center. It was impossible to hide something so huge, even if the commander of the Second Army tried to conceal himself. He approached enemy defenses arrogantly, not slowing down his approach even for a moment. The facility is located in a circle of stone, pushed up as a result of massive drilling, putting it on a man-made plateau. A single road led up to the main gates of the facility, and while the ground before the ring of stone was filled with defenders, turrets looked at Devourer from the cliffs.

The advance of the commander was met with a demand to lay down his arms and surrender, coming from thousands of dynamics built inside the lean bodies of bots. Devourer stopped, his eyes located in large "pits" on the sides of his head, looking down. The tail of the commander moved up, stopping roughly at the same level as his head, producing a rattling sound that deafened the demands of the machines. The head of Devourer danced slightly, creating wild patters in the air, a forked tongue, wider than the road, came from between his lips. Looking at the movements of the commander’s head, Annie felt her body going numb, all her worries and fears and dreams were going awa… She woke up, feeling Kayleen's paw on her shoulder.

"Don’t look at him for too much." The wolf hag quietly said, moving on to check the other members of her pack.

Fire came from the rows of defenders. Machines unleashed torrents of gunfire and beams of laser weapons. Tanks, colored in blue and flashing blue and red lights, unloaded shell after shell into the bulk of Devourer. Flying vehicles, fired their energy cannons, the same cannons that melted several tanks of Reclamation on this very night. Lights linked the body of Devourer with his attackers. Shells harmlessly splattered against his skin, leaving black and metal marks on his body. The smoke from explosions slowly covered the massive figure of an enormous snake, the thunderous hell of small war could be heard even on helicopters, even without audio feedback.

The tail moved again, producing a rattling noise once more.

Devourer moved, landing a single blow with his lower jaw on the ground. Annie never thought that something so gigantic, being that it dwarfs entire buildings, could move so fast that it would utterly disappear from her eyes. And yet this was exactly what he did. The long body moved like a whip, slamming itself into defense positions of the unknown foe, sending tremors that could be heard for miles in all sides. Had Annie not been in the armored helicopter, she would have lost her footing without doubt.

The ground cracked. Countless ruins of vast megalopolises built from materials that were supposed to withstand rocket strikes, materials that were supposed to last for eons. They were all compressed into countless large slabs of stone, when the world spasmed in near death throes, during the age of Extinction. They were melted together by the flames that consumed entire countries, enduring centuries afterwards, now they were shattered. Cracks run across the battleline, devouring bots and defensive installations into seemingly endless black caverns. Dust, pieces of broken rocks, and equipment, all flew toward the skies in a mushroom cloud, hiding Devourer from the eyes of advancing forces. The sound of battle disappeared, the sound of the engine of the helicopter disappeared, and all that existed in the entire world for a moment was the loudest crack that Annie heard, the painful scream of earth that was ravaged once more with a force rivaling that which was seen during Extinction Day. Devourer moved, sending pieces of stone, bigger than five-story buildings, into the skies. One slam. That was all that it took to shatter lines of resistance that held their own against the forces of the Reclaimers for three hours.

And the commander did not stop at this. He dived forward, circling around the facility, crushing robots arrayed before the stone circle with his bulk. There were no attacks, there were no clever moves, for such being had no need for them against foes like this. Tiny bodies exploded in a shower of sparks when countless tons drove them into the ground. Tanks in the path of the march of flesh were splattered like bugs, the tail of Devourer moved up, swapping aside flying vehicles like a swarm of annoying flies. Then again, for the commander, they might as well be flies. Never before in her life, Annie had seen something so terrible and majestic at the same time. By simply moving, Devourer rearranged the ground around him. A cloud of dust rose to the very skies, hiding the facility for a short while.

And through this dust, helicopters fly. The five of them have carried the assault force of the Reclamation Army. Blades of choppers sliced through the falling stone and metal debris, few stones that managed to hit the hull of moving vehicles produced a ringing sound inside the cargo hall, left marks on the steel but failed to break the integrity of the flyers. All five machines pushed on, toward the facility and a loud wheeling sound.

Wheeling sound? Annie wondered, before her eyes widened in fear behind the lenses of her helmet.

A drill, bigger than all five helicopters combined, pushed through the cloud of dust and debris, forcing pilots to dart aside to save their lives. A drill meant to make entire caverns in the ground, large enough to fit entire settlements, moved toward Devourer, aiming at his stopping moving body. The image became bully as helicopter systems pushed all power to the engines and stealth generators, but Annie noticed something before the cameras went dark. Devourer looked amused, while the insanely fast-moving tip of the drill moved toward the middle of his neck. The facility could not move on its own, Tinkov’s corporation had to pay immense money to move the center from one place to another. But drills could reach a wide area, as was evident by man-made mountains around the facility.

Helicopters pushed through the clouds of dust, pushed through the torrents of wind created by monumentally huge drilling instruments, toward their destination. Two helicopters landed to the right of the drill, three, Annie on one of them, landed to the left. The main entrance into the facility was covered in the shadow of the drill, hiding the skies and stars above. Doors opened and troops were finally unleashed.

Prior to the attack, Kassandra Trugh and other agents mapped the area with stealth drones, pinpointing the location of the mines. Some enemy bots stood right between buried mines, no doubt hoping to draw the force of wolfkins closer. Dragena chastised her soldiers for relying on melee combat too much, but the desire to see foes lay down before them was in the hearts of every wolfkin. It was an instinct for them. And humans could resist the urge to give up to instincts, unlike beasts.

The moment stealth generators stopped working, the bots turned to face new enemies, loudly demanding surrender with their cheerful voices. It was just a moment of time, yet that moment was all that the Reclaimers needed. Shards, gunfire, missiles, and laser fire all joined together, laying low autonomous machines, deafening demands of surrender. Rows of soldiers charged down the landing ramps onto the ground, each group spreading out, seeking the path to the location that Dragena mapped for them. Kassandra and agents spoke on the com network, helping direct forces amidst the chaos.

Several of the orais soldiers carried massive missile launchers on their back, moving on all fours because of their heavy load. They unleashed their deadly weapons, exploding mines on the way toward the air shafts of the facility, while other orais pushed past them, plasma shotguns in their hands, barking deadly discharges at the enemies.

Few people would call wolfkins elegant. While some, like Carty or the deceased Kalaisa, aimed for stealth and precision strikes, most wolfkins, however, fought with controlled aggression behind them. They rend foes asunder with their claws, tear them aside, or bite them when needed. They resembled dancers in comparison to Orais soldiers, who crushed into enemy ranks with raw aggression. The orais didn't care about efficiency, they didn't care about not slamming into their comrades, and they didn't care about dignity. All they cared about was the foe before them. Kill, move on to the next, stomp the still moving body beneath steel feet, and keep moving forward. Orais only allowed ranged weapons to members of their clan, after those members had first survived in melee combat for long enough. Dragena put a ban on this condition, pulling her rank, bullying thug masters into submission, and forcing all orais to use ranged weapons on this night. The result was... impressive, as a torrent of ranged fire melted the rows of machines before them, while a howling mass of orais moved forward. The orais formed a wall of fire in front of them, charging forward in still-exploding missiles, allowing their power armor to keep them safe while they pummeled the bots ahead of them.

Annie ran down the ramp, following Kayleen. Even here, at the top of the plateau, she could feel tremors that were the result of Devourer clashing with a massive drill. The sounds of gunfire, the sounds of battle, every sound took a backseat because of the constant, non-stop wheeling sound of a gigantic drill. Shadows leaped over Annie and her group, culminating in an explosion of violence before the main gates. The warlord and her bodyguards landed right in the middle of the machines. Dragena, who always chastised her soldiers for breaking out of formation, now stood surrounded by hundreds of metal bodies. The shamans released their claws, howling into the night, revealing the slaughter. Their forms became blurred, leaving the torn forms of robots around Dragena. Energy beams reached the warlord, leaving scorched marks on her power armor, while Dragena looked at the massive main gates. The warlord paid them no more attention than to the bites of parasites, sending commands to her troops via the network.

Annie charged into her first robot, knocking down the machine. The waist of the machine was just made of a thin metal plate, protecting several metallic "spinal cords" inside. A single shot from her shardgun tore the defender in two, before the machine could even point its weapon at Annie. She crushed the head of the machine with her foot, conserving the ammo and eliminating the threat. All around her, Kayleen and other wolf hags led their packs, slicing through the sea of blood like knives through butter. With a surprise, Annie understood the reason for this. The reactions of ancient machines were slow. According to history, in the ancient ages, soldiers with superior speed were uncommon, most people in the Old World could barely react to arrows, much less stop them. Thus, engineers of the past saw no reason to improve their machines' reactions, and they never considered the possibility that their combat bots would ever face off against someone who moved too fast for the naked eye to see. Sure, there were exceptions, some malfunctioning AIs of the Old World were genuinely dangerous, and military grade technology was sometimes even superior to that of modern days. But on average, the bots of the old world were no match for the new breeds of today. Annie proved it, cleaving through three bots at once with the claws of her left paw, leaving their smoking remains beneath her boots.

"Support me with ranged fire. I am going to open up the path." Annie gave the command to her soldiers, charging forward. Against the trash cans like this, there was no reason to risk the precious lives of her soldiers. She alone was enough.

Annie kicked with her left leg, deeply burying her leg in the torso of the foe. She moved her leg down, bisecting the machine, and charged forward. She dispatched two slow-moving bots with two shots, piercing their torsos and causing the machines to twitch as they were deactivated. With a smile on her lips, the scout dodged the aim of the next machine, charging past it and slicing the metal head off the shoulders. Blood hurried across her veins, her heartbeat pumped and threatened to jump out of her chest under the effect of adrenaline. She felt herself sublime, invincible, indestructible. Machines felt like dolls before her, and there was nothing bad to feel about it. They were no humans, it was fine…

"Annie, you are too far ahead! Back into formation!" Kayleen snapped, seeing how one of the machines nearly shot Annie. The scout was saved by her own pack, who killed the bot in blind zone of Annie.

The scout snapped out of euphoria, slicing through the chests of three bots with the claws of her right paw. A sea of machines surrounded her, making her confused about just how she had moved in so fast. Her paw became stuck in the chest of one of the machines, her claws tangled in something. One of the beheaded bots behind Annie fired a shot into her, melting the pauldron of her armor. In a panic, Annie jerked her hand free, exploding the bot before her. The claw on her index finger shattered, sending a sensation of pain across her body.

The bot behind Annie was shot down by Kayleen, the pack slowly made their way toward the separated scout, when the sound of a roaring engine caught their attention. One of the enemy tanks, massive steel construction with a single cannon on top of it, moving on two gigantic caterpillar tracks. The armored vehicle moved down the bots, trying to get toward the front line. Cannon turned toward Annie, and she saw light inside it. Despite the fact that this machine spent centuries buried underground, the tank pointed its weapon flawlessly, without producing a single crack. Engineers of old built stuff for ages.

Shit. The scout jumped to the left, crashing and tangling with another bot. The machine lost its weapon and wrapped metal fingers around Annie’s neck, trying to twist her head to the left. The right paw of Annie stuck into the side of the metallic torso, reaching for wires inside and pushing them out, depowering the blue robot underneath her. A wave of energy flew over her head, melting away several bots, killing orais in its path and exploding a wolfkin behind him. Neither had any time to react, one moment they were alive, another moment only the lower part of the body was left of orais and a pair of hands, along with one foot, were all that was left of the wolfkin. The edges of the wounds were cauterized, as if in a cruel joke.

"Carty, disable the tracks of the tank. Ultis, help Annie back to safety. Tegrin, Howrige, eliminate the threat once it’s immobilized." Came the calm command of the motionless Dragena.

"Already on it, ma’am. Fight your own battles, will ya? " Tegrin spat, crushing bots in his path, making his way toward the tank. The missile launcher on his back shifted, pointing weapons at the moving tank.

Annie felt how someone jerked her by the shoulders, dragging her out from under the main gun sight and toward the ranks of wolfkin. Turning her head, Annie saw another scout, a lean woman in power armor, with two red painted scars on her shoulder, indicating her rank. Ultis, a silent scout of the Kayleen's pack, Annie had a couple of sparring battles with her, even had a few drinks with her, but never heard her voice. Ultis always used sign language to speak with others.

"Thanks." Annie said, standing up.

Ultis gestured that all was fine with her fingers and pointed at the tank. The vehicle was speeding up, trying to turn around and ram into advancing rows of enemies. Like an arrow, the armored form of Carty moved forward, flying past her enemies, pushing them aside with the slightest touch of her shoulders. She closed in upon the tank, closing on the left track of the moving vehicle. Her energy rifle was strapped behind her back, grenades were still at her belt, and Annie frowned, reading to charge and assist fellow scout. Carty dodged the moving track, throwing a single punch with her right paw. A single punch that landed on the caterpillar track broke it and sent the armored vehicle into a spiral. Smirking, Carty jumped back, shaking her right paw to throw off the pain. A pair of missiles hit the armored side of the tank, blowing up thick armor near the tower of the tank. Another armored form jumped forward, orais armed with an enormously huge tube-shaped weapon, linked to a canister behind the back of the orais. Torrents of white-hot flame unleashed into the insides of the tank, melting the automatic controls of the machine and exploding the ammunition. The explosion rocketed the ground, throwing nearby bots onto the ground and sending the orais flying backwards. She rolled on the ground, instantly surrounded by her kin who kept bots away from her temporarily weakened comrade. Orais shook her head and laughed, standing up. She ignored a few cuts on her armor, ignored the blackened color of her silver armor, and charged forward, setting even more robots on fire. Her laughter was joined by her fellows, the thug master leaped after her, smashing bots with his fists. Several orais members were so caught in assault that they ended up blowing themselves up on a mine field, despite it being mapped. Some of the orais received grievous wounds, but such explosions were not strong enough to kill new breeds in power armor. They continue to laugh as they landed on the ground, standing up and unleashing volley after volley on the foes in front of them. Those who could not walk, crawled after their comrades.

They do not care about surviving. At all. Are they mad? Annie asked herself, taking the shardgun in both her paws. It was a stupid question. If her allies were mad, it just fell on her and others to keep them alive. Whatever their differences were, all soldiers of the Reclaimers were allies. Taking aim, Annie shot one of the robots before it could open fire at the crawling orais.

"Earless One, help team C in disabling the turrets, they are under heavy fire. Scarred One, the orais team, near the underground passages, is faced with stubborn resistance. Help them break through. Lacerated One, the normies are slowed down before the entrance the second level, keep them alive and assist them," Dragena commanded, standing in the shadow of massive drill that was moving above her. She briefly looked up when the shadow beneath her stopped moving. The drill stopped with the sound of grinding metal and countless broken mechanisms. The long body showed up from behind the smoke cover, wrapping around the drill, holding it in place. Devourer looked at the warlord, holding the deadly instrument in his hold, not allowing it to make a single more turn. His skin was as pristine as before, "My liege, this is a very important and valuable piece of equipment. Please refrain from breaking it any more than you need to."

"Are you sure that it is wise to leave you alone? In your condition…" Lacerated One asked. Dragena looked at the shaman, and without asking a single more question, the shaman jumped away from the warlord, leaving Dragena all alone amidst the sea of remaining enemies. The warlord, who had strictly forbidden her soldiers from fighting alone, was now deliberately breaking her own rules.

The warlord's paws discovered the sheaths of two upper knives. Annie never saw how Dragena took them nor her initial movements. In an instant, the warlord was ten steps closer to the entrance, leaving behind dozens of slashed bodies. The foes took aim at her once more, energy unleashed from their weapons aiming to hit the warlord, but this time the warlord transformed into a storm, moving in a burst of violence around the battlefield too quickly for enemy bots to aim at her, slashing through several bodies at once, never slowing her steady advance. Dragena came to a halt when she heard roaring engines and turned her snout toward the entrance, noticing three tanks closing in on her. Thin lines appeared on robots who pointed weapons at the warlord. The warlord calmly put her weapons back into sheaths and the machines around her fell apart. The leading tank was thirty steps away from Dragena, unleashing a burst of overheating plasma into the face of Dragena. As the warlord walked toward the tank, her figure became blurry for a second. In the eyes of Annie, it looked like Dragena hopped to the left and returned to her original position in an instant. Plasma passed through the blurry image of Dragena, leaving no markings on her armor. Facing advancing tanks, the warlord leaned forward, putting her right leg ahead and placing her paws on the sheaths of the knives. The warlord resembled herself once more, fighting with deadly grace and efficiency rather than the hulking behemoth she was in helicopter.

Dragena stood still for a good solid second, breathing in. And then she disappeared from the vision. Annie blinked twice, looked through the cameras of her allies, looked through her own lenses, and could not see the warlord. The storm exploded from the place where the warlord previously stood, propelling wind toward tanks at such a speed that it caused several blue bots to be smashed against the main entrance to the facility, the sound of the sudden wrath of nature was so loud that it deafened even the sound of the struggle between Devourer and a drill for the briefest of moments. Dragena herself was nowhere to be seen. In mild desperation, Annie looked at the radar for Dragena’s blip. She found herself standing before the main gates, leaving the tanks way behind her. The sound of roaring engines died, thin lines ran across each armored vehicle. Tracks exploded from pressure, then armor began to fall apart, and finally entire forms of the tanks crumbled to the sides, revealing cross slashes across their bulk. The proud engines of war, built so long ago, finally gave their final sound and died out.

"Dragena, you are using too many superhuman movements. In your condition, such a strain might dama…" Ieshua calmly said on the main channel, causing Annie to wonder what the doctor was doing in the command center amidst an ongoing operation. This was no place for civilians and their worries. The voice of the doctor sounded even less emotional than the voices of the robots.

"Worry not, honorable doctor. I know the limits of my own body. Not once in my life have I made a mistake," Dragena stopped him and looked at the gate before herself, breathing out air and ignoring fire from lesser robots, "All teams begin infiltration. I will enter through main entrance." The warlord moved toward the massive steel gates before her, hulking like a beast. She looked like her armor was physically wearing her down, gone were the grace and efficiency that the warlord had displayed just a few moments ago.

"Yes, warlord!" Kayleen reported, leading her team toward the ventilation shafts on the side of the facility. Such a huge place was never planned to be used as a defense outpost or military base. Try as they might, the mercenaries could not turn this place into a defense formation in such a short time. The ventilation shafts were big enough for the wolfkins to stand at almost full size. A maze of oversized corridors ran across the entire facility, ensuring that no part of the gigantic machinery would become overheated and explode.

Kayleen quickly sent target points to scouts under her command. According to Kassandra and the data that she was able to gather by breaking into the main computer of the facility, the entire personnel were hauled into "examination and evaluation" zone C, located on the third floor of the facility. It was a facility with three floors, meant to be able to examine the artifacts brought from underground and contain danger if need arose. It was also equipped with several enormous generators, meant to power up whatever technological marvel from the old world was in the room. Kassandra apologized for her inability to break into cameras in the hall. To prevent any rogue AI from taking over the facility, all such rooms were cut off from the main computer. The agent used cameras that led to the hall and video evidence that was stored on the main computer to deduce the location of the prisoners.

Kayleen spread her pack into three parts, leading the largest pack herself. Annie led the smallest pack, they were supposed to enter the hall on the second floor. Meanwhile, Tegrin and his orais charged ahead, ignoring Kayleen.

"That is to be expected. Orais are not subtle soldiers, they are more like warheads that one unleashes on the foe. We should be thankful that they cooperated for so long," Dragena icily replied, when Kayleen informed her about the disobedience of the allies, "Other units are on their way, turrets are silenced. Proceed with your mission."

Annie moved through the pitch dark corridor carefully, leading her pack toward her goal. She heard explosions, no doubt some of the orais ran into mines placed in this tight space. The pack of Annie had to stop several times to remove mines from their path. According to the constantly updated map, the path of her pack was the least protected, Kayleen had to spend considerable time removing mines from her path, and Carty and her pack outright had to make a detour, such was the intensity of mines in their path. Despite this, there were no foes in their way. Other teams reported strong robot resistance within the facility, but the mercenaries themselves had to make an appearance. One group of normies fell into an ambush and had to be rescued by Lacerated One. Meanwhile, other groups pushed foes in their path. Reinforced with a team that was sent to disable turrets, soldiers made from normies were slowly grinding down their opposition.

"Damn it, there are a lot of ‘em!" Tegrin snarled over the network, his words accompanied by the screaming sound of gunfire, "Requesting back up, the bastards keep us pinned in the main hall!"

How are you there so soon? Annie thought in shock. According to the plan, all teams had to attack together. Dragena planned for the unpredictability of orais, placing routes exactly for packs to arrive roughly at the same time as orais. And those fools still managed to outrun them!

"Follow after me, top speed." Annie gave her pack a command and lowered herself on all four limbs, allowing her armor to adjust to her new position before charging into the darkness of the tunnel.

Her eyes noticed a mine on the ground, right before the corridor turned to the right, and Annie jumped at the wall and then further into darkness, running faster and faster, making giant leaps to cover distance, marking the position of mines for her pack. Her helmet closed the space around her mouth, and steel gauntlets on her paws and legs closed as well, completely encasing Annie in metal power armor protection. It was impossible not to run in one of the mines in such a confined space and at such a high speed. Annie breathed recycled air and gasped in shock when her paw stepped on one of the mines, just as she made the turn. An explosion threw her through the ceiling, causing a dent in the power armor. Annie brought her arms and legs in closer to her torso, then descended from the ceiling like a cannon ball, landing on the ground and sprinting forward. She noticed light from the exit ahead and several mines placed on the floor, walls, and ceiling. Scout ran around the walls and ceiling like a spider, grabbing steel with her fingers and using it to support her weight while the systems of her armor marked the location of the mines for her pack to pass safely. The explosion barely damaged her armor, left lens of her helmet was cracked, but aside from that, she was good. But a few more such explosions and even she will feel the pain. And Annie was done with receiving pain, wolfkins were the ones who dealt it to others, to protect peace. Her body is the temple, and she will guard it well.

Annie crashed into metal bars before herself, breaking through and landing on the walkway that ran across the second floor of the hall. The hall was spacious, massive projectors were installed, pointing down. Once filled with artifacts from the old world, large and small, this room was now half empty, save for the enormous sphere-shaped dome in the north corner. Orais soldiers were covering the entrance, just below Annie, while several mercenaries in gleaming silver power armor were shooting down from the walkway and from a small cart that hung from the wall. The six orais were already laying in the pool of dead, floor near the orais soldiers bore marks of explosions.

The scout made her presence known right away, leaping at the back of the first mercenary. Enemies were using pulse rifles, high-tech weapons from Iterna itself. Even with power armor, Annie would show no protection against such things. The scout grabbed a woman by her head, twisting it all around her body and letting the twitching body fall below. The scout felt nothing this time, no horror, no disgust at taking someone’s life away. Just urge to hurry up and save her allies. Annie turned toward the man on her left, grabbing him by his leg before he could move. She dragged him to the ground, stomping trice on his helmet, turning the round-shaped helmet into a disk and tossing the man's body into the arms of another mercenary, making them both fall on the floor below. The fourth mercenary turned to face Annie, but was thrown back at the guardrail when the scout circled him and fired her shardgun. Shards hit his side, cracking the armor and causing the man to cry out in pain. Stubbornly, he tried to stand up, and another burst of shards hit him, cracking armor on his chest this time. Annie fired a third time and noticed something strange. The man’s armor was getting thinner on his back, slowly evaporating like it was made out of ice. Meanwhile, the armor on his sides and chest, and even his cracked blue lenses were reforming before the very eyes of Annie.

"Enemies are equipped with power armor made out of nanomachines!" Annie shouted over the communication network, firing once more into the chest of the man. Let others decide where Rift Talons could get funding for such things. The power armor of the enemy fit them solidly, like a glove, it was not bulky like the power armors of wolfkins. Such custom tailoring was possible with armor made of countless small nanomachines. But such things were expensive, among the entire Third Army, only the Omega team used such things, and only Iterna knew how to mass produce such power armors reliably.

"Wait!" The man croaked, falling on his knees, pain could be heard in his voice. He dropped his gun and lifted his hands before the scout could fire one more shot and throw him off the walkway into the orais troops below, "I surrender! Surrender!"

"Accepted." Annie said, running toward him and putting the shardgun behind her back. Her pack broke from the ventilation shaft, descending upon the remaining mercs on the walkway, while Annie jumped onto the cart. One of the mercenaries pointed her gun at Annie, and the scout moved underneath the cart. Power armor unlocked her mouth and claws on paws and legs just in time for the floor of the cart to be riddled with energy bullets. One such projectile scratched across the left shoulder of Annie, burning through armor like acid through flesh and leaving a cut on her shoulder. Annie swung her body, reappearing on the other side of the cart, grabbed the guardrails of the cart, and propelled herself to the top of the cart. Her opponents were normies, fast as their reflexes were thanks to power armor, Annie herself was still faster. The mercenaries still needed to move their bodies to aim at Annie, and power armor could allow only so much mobility at the same time, otherwise, a user of power armor would literally hurt himself or herself by breaking bones or tearing muscles. Because of their improved physique, new breeds faced fewer such constraints. Annie grabbed the iron join that connected the cart to the rail that ran around the ceiling and pushed the grenade into it, jumping off the chart back onto the walkway.

The grenade exploded, covering the people on the cart in acid. Their advanced armor allowed them to withstand both explosions and acid with ease, but the acid itself melted through the connection between the cart and the rail above, causing the cart and the people on it to fall down. By sheer miracle, the orais still held their positions and the steel cart did not land on them but instead on a floor before them. The mercenaries were thrown from the cart because of impact. Trying to stand up, they found themselves under heavy fire from the orais soldiers. Three members of Annie’s pack jumped off the walkway to help their allies below, one finished tying up surrender mercenaries, and one more warrior took aim with her shardgun, planning to shoot mercenaries below.

The warrior’s head caved in, and her body flew back. One moment, she was standing in front of guardrails, her finger on a trigger. In the next moment, her helmet cracked from immense pressure and her body crashed into the wall behind her. Blood gushed from countless cracks in her helmet, mixed with the liquid from a popped eye. Following her instincts, she tried to take aim at her attacker, and four bullets pierced her chest, killing her instantly. A male wolfkin nearby stood up, reaching for the shardgun behind his back, when the attacker crashed into him next. In a blur of violence, the soldier was thrown into a wall with the sound of an explosion. A crater appeared on a wall behind a soldier, the systems of Annie’s power armor screamed warnings, indicating that the spine of the male was cracked. The male soldier attempted to warn Annie, but only whimpering came from his lips as his body slid back onto the walkway.

All of this happened while Annie was turning toward the sound. The unknown attacker killed one of her soldiers and injured another, and she did not even have time to reach for a weapon. All she could see was the black and silver form before her on a walkway. The form jumped up, spinning in the air and approaching Annie at immense speed, while the scout tried to back up to gain some distance. Seeing a leg covered by silver armor, the leg that had been aimed at Annie’s head, the scout understood that she simply did not have enough time to evade the incoming kick.

Kayleen attacked the flying foe, sending the attacker backward, while the wolf hag landed on her feet before Annie. The black and silver form landed with grace on a walkway, darting to the side just in time to evade the punch of Carty behind her.

Her? Annie finally saw who was before her. The wolfkin, an impressive statue, stood on the walkway, spreading her arms wide, her legs and torso were covered with the same power armor as that on the mercenaries, long black cape with purple trim flowed from her shoulders. In four holsters on her waist, two on each side, were silver colored pistols. The arms of the attacker were thicker than Kayleen’s legs, not a single scar covered her smooth fur, her hair was cut short. Amber eyes looked mockingly at the wolf hag.

Two wolfkins of Carty pack jump down, grabbing injured male and carefully moving back into ventilation shaft, while enemies sized each other, looking for openings.

"Greetings to the former Alpha from the former Omega," Alsyn smiled, putting one paw to her mouth in mocking horror, "Oh, my apologies, I forgot. You're a washout who couldn't tough it to the end..."

Kayleen jumped from the spot, aiming her kick at the right knee of Alsyn. The figure of the mercenary leader became blurry when she sidestepped an attack, leaving behind an afterimage. The kick of the wolf hag merely crushed the metal of the walkway, while the paw of Alsyn moved up for a chopping strike at the wolf hag’s neck. Annie fired her shardgun, causing Alsyn to scowl in annoyance and back down from the line of fire.

"For Omega, you sure trash talk a lot," Carty murmured in a sweet voice, appearing behind Alsyn, "Oh, my apologies, I forgot. You are just a stray doggie and nothing more."

Alsyn was standing with her back to Carty when the scout started punching. The scout once boasted to Annie that her punches had the same power behind them as shards. When encased in her power armor that boosted her speed and allowed the scout to withstand even greater punishment, her punches became shells fired from an artillery cannon. Carty trained her precision every day, performing grueling training and pushing her mind and muscles to their limits. Among all the members of the Dragena's pack, Carty was the strongest, even if she was just a scout.

And on this day, all her training failed to bear fruit. The punches that propelled air ahead of them with the force of flying bullets failed to connect with the body of Alsyn. The mercenary spinned around, ducking low for a kick at Carty’s legs. She had to jump up when Annie fired a shardgun at her, but aside from this, the scowl on her face was from the indignity of a missed hit, rather than from the straining of the fight. Kayleen charged at Alsyn, releasing her claws. The mercenary moved like a feather through the storm, narrowly avoiding each slash. Carty once again circled around Alsyn, aiming for her. The scout threw a punch, aiming at the back of the neck of the traitorous wolfkin. Without even looking back, Alsyn caught Carty by her wrist and, with a flick of her paw, threw the scout off the walkway. The scout had to grab guardrails in order not to fall.

Kayleen made a thrust with her right paw, aiming for the neck of the mercenary. With a smile on her face, Alsyn met the incoming thrust with her own paw, allowing the fingers of her open paw to slide underneath the incoming thrust. And then she made something that confused the scout. The mercenary pushed back, sending an incoming thrust into the shoulder of the wolf hag, making Kayleen spear herself with her own claws. The attack of the mercenary did not stop at this, her open palm closed into a fist, hitting the wrist of Kayleen, while the claws of the wolf hag were still in her own shoulder. When Annie heard the sound of bones breaking in Kayleen's wrist, she had no line of fire, and when she tried to circle around her commander, Alsyn forcibly shifted Kayleen's position, mockingly looking at the scout. This was the distraction that the wolf hag needed to grab the shardgun from her back with her left paw and point it at her opponent. Her finger reached the trigger when pain speared her.

Alsyn kicked the wolf hag, shattering the breastplate of the power armor, reaching all the way to the solar plexus and leaving the wolf hag gasping for air. Pushing through pain, Kayleen tried to aim her shardgun. Alsyn simply released her and kicked Kayleen in the face with a spinning kick, making the wolf hag fly into Annie, throw scout off her foot and land into the wall. The snout of Kayleen cracked, she spit out fangs while sliding weakly onto the walkway and trying to stand up in vain.

Turning around from her spinning kick, Alsyn ended up face to-face with Carty.

"Please don’t dodge this time, honey." The scout smiled, punching with her left arm.

Alsyn smiled back and punched with her own left paw, making the eyes of Carty widen in pain behind the lenses of her helmet. Fist of flesh connected with steel-encased fist, pressure met pressure, years of training met years of training. Something had to give in. Air was pushed in all directions from the result of the violent clash between the fists of two fighters. The power armor of Carty gave a screeching sound, the area above her left wrist cracked, showing flesh and white of the bone, the elbow of Carty was shattered as a result of a cruel hit. Alsyn smiled, pushing her left arm forward and making the scout take a step back. Scowling from pain, Carty moved her wounded hand back and kicked with her right leg, spearing the afterimage of the mercenary leader. The scout shuddered when the left paw of Alsyn grabbed the right shoulder of scout.

"For a weakling, you sure are quite a chatterbox." Alsyn kept smiling at Carty, shaking off the blood from her own bruised knuckles.

"Well, you know, it is better to be weak, than to be a murderous traito…" Carty never finished her sentence, Alsyn pushed the scout forward, making the wolfkin lean toward Annie and delivered a downward kick to Carty's spine, sending scout through the walkway onto the ground below.

"Don’t talk shit, if you can’t take a hit, honey." Alsyn drew her pistol and fired at the orais and wolfkins below. Shots from her silver pistol tore through power armor as if it was regular body armor, leaving small round holes in the bodies. And the mercenary aimed at the heads with each shot.

My team! Annie grabbed her weapon, standing up and firing at Alsyn. A fragmented capsule flew from her weapon's barrel toward Alsyn, spilling in a wide arc in mid-flight. Sharp armor-piercing shards are closing in on the Alsyn's breastplate, in just a moment, they will crack the armor and... Shards pierced the cloth of Alsyn’s cape, while she herself was long gone from the line of fire.

Wolfkins, on average, could not dodge bullets. Only the most powerful members of their tribes, warlords and shamans, could block or even outrun bullets. Alsyn was one of those beings, yet Annie noticed that the mercenary was using her ears. Without once breaking eye contact with the chaos that happened below, Alsyn kept firing down. Her ears twitched, listening to the sounds that Annie was making. Even the sound of a finger being placed on the trigger was loud enough for Alsyn to notice and dodge, just before shards were unleashed. Trice Annie fired and trice Alsyn dodged, getting closer to Annie with every burst of speed, all the while shooting at soldiers below.

The mercenary let the pistol fall from her grip, moving to Annie in another burst of movement. The scout made a thrust with her left paw, trying to release her claws at the very last moment to surprise the mercenary. She may as well not try it, Alsyn wrapped her fingers around the incoming claws and crushed them, sending a pulse of pain through the body of Annie. A single kick landed on Annie's jaws, right in the opening of the helmet, shattering the scout's fangs and forcing her to gulp blood and pieces of broken fangs. The mercenary leader smirked, grabbing the weapon from Annie’s paw and putting the barrel of a gun right between the eyes of the scout. Alsyn placed her finger at the trigger:

"What will it be, girl?" Alsyn asked in a calm tone.

"Boss, she spared me." Croaked the tied up mercenary nearby, and Alsyn briefly looked at him. The pistols on her belt looked so tempting. If Annie could just grab one and…

"Don't even think about it," Kassandra said through the communication network, "Surrender, we'll have you out in no time."

"I give up." Annie raised her paws in a gesture of surrender, making Alsyn look at her again and nod in acceptance of her surrender. Burning shame ran around the spine of Annie, making her forget about the pain of lost claws and fangs. She failed, utterly failed today.

"How are they managing to attack us from all sides? Reports say that they are closing in on us from the east and south entrances as well. Boss, I thought you knew the old hag. We were supposed to only face against wolves today, not the entire freaking army here." The mercenary asked, lifting his tied-up hands to show them to his leader.

Evidently, I don't know her as well as I would have liked, Roll. No matter, let me free you, we are getting out of…" Alsyn stopped replying to the man, when the walkway at her legs exploded, throwing Annie back. The black form crashed through the hole, grabbing the shardgun and crushing it with his left hand. Alsyn narrowly dodged the swing of the right hand of the incomer, stepping back to gain distance.

"Little missy here saved my bacon. Mind if I cut in?" Tegrin asked, climbing up on a walkway and gesturing at Annie behind him.

"I would not mind seeing you dead!" Alsyn kicked with her right leg. Her kick was caught in the paw of the orais, who closed his oversized fist around her suddenly small looking foot. Tegrin growled when claws came from the back of his fist and smashed his shoulder into Alsyn's, sending her cartwheeling backwards.

The mercenary grasped the iron walkway beneath her to stop her momentum, standing on her feet just in time to dodge the swing of the orais that ruined the nearby wall. Alsyn could only dodge the flurry of quick punches from the orais, making a step back to keep her away from the advancing foe. The eyes of the mercenary moved quickly, trying to see for an opening in the fierce assault of the thug master. Finally, Alsyn's eyes narrowed, and Annie screamed a warning to orais, seeing this, reaching for the grenades on her belt.

"Stop it. This is not an enemy you can beat. She will kill you if you try," Kassandra said in a tense voice, "Hold on, scout. Warlord is almost here."

"You ain’t half bad, girlie. Have some of these for fun!" Tegrin ducked, showing the missile launcher on his back. Two missiles were unleashed right into the face of an annoyed Alsyn. The mercenary took two steps back, her hands painted a strange tapestry of movements in the air before her, deflecting missiles into the ceiling.

"And you are nothing more than a simple brute! No finesse, no skills! How dare you waste my time!" Alsyn roared when an explosion rocked the ceiling, dropping rubbles down. The mercenary charged at the thug master and cursed when a large piece of stone fell before them. This opening allowed the orais to recover balance from the shot, swinging with his left arm at the mercenary. Alsyn took a step back to gracefully evade the hit. Anger on her face changed to confusion as her back ended up pressing against the wall. A large piece of rubble from the ceiling was just falling behind her. The mercenary raised both of her paws, taking a blow that sent her through rubble on her wrists. Claws on her legs made wide gaps in the steel walkway, halting her movement back. When Alsyn finally stopped herself, she looked at the orais with sheer hatred, reaching for her guns. She had to jump back, evading another punch that almost splattered her across the walkway.

"Fine." The mercenary spat and walked toward the orais, no longer trying to get her guns.

Tegrin threw another punch with his right and Alsyn met it with her open palm, sliding her paw under the incoming attack. She made the same strange movement as before, interrupting his attack and sending the fist of the orais straight into his face, shattering his steel helmet with his own force behind the blow. Jumping back one step, Alsyn reached for her pistols, taking one in each paw and aiming at the large orais. Her eyes widened in surprise, seeing the orais grabbing the steel floor of the walkway with his left hand and jerking the road toward himself, tearing a portion of the walkway in the air. Alsyn fell on her back, unable to maintain her balance on suddenly wobbly steel road behind her. The walkway moved up in the arc, carrying Alsyn along. At this moment, the orais punched through the metal that was rising in the air before him, hitting the mercenary right in her back and sending her across the room into the wall on the opposite side. Stone fell from the broken wall, covering wolfkin in rubble. The orais lowered himself, unleashing two more missiles into the rubble.

"Enough!" Alsyn broke through the rubble, jumping onto a floor below. The explosion ruined the wall on the upper floor, the mercenary leader herself was covered with dust and small pieces of stone, but not a single cut was on her. She only had one gun left in her holster, but she ignored it, instead grabbing some device from her belt and raising her paw, "Keep shooting, and this entire facility goes boom!"

"She is not bluffing. The generators of the facility are overloading as of this moment," When Alsyn pressed something on the device, Kassandra quickly said, "All forces, cease your attack!"

"That’s it. Calm down, everyone," Alsyn smiled, seeing that both sides had stopped fighting. While Annie and several arrived warriors raced toward the wolf hag, Tegrin jumped off the walkway to help Carty. Kayleen barely breathed, her own claws nearly shattered her shoulder. With the help of fellow soldiers, they pulled claws out, removing power armor on the shoulder to bandage the wound of the wolf hag. The mercenaries start gathering on the first floor, around their leader, climbing down from a few carts on the ceiling, "Hostages are safe and secure in a dome," Alsyn hit the steel dome with her knuckles, "Just a couple of minutes and we will all leave alive and well, no one needs to die anymore. Open the portal, we bought enough time just now!"

"Alas, I must decline." A cheerful voice came from an old-looking receiver standing near the steel dome. Miraculously, this thing endured in the incoming battle, standing on the iron barrel. Alsyn looked at the device with disbelief on her snout.

"You set me up? After everything that I have done for you?" She demanded to know.

"How quaint. You were the one who broke the contract. What part about not using a dome did you not understood?" A sly question came from the receiver.

"We got the thing!" Alsyn angrily pointed at the dome, "What does it matter if it is used or not, just get us all out of here, now! You paid us to get this…"

"This?" A laugh came from the receiver, "You think that I seriously care about this thing? This thing changes the life of a human being into energy, then uses said energy to prolong the life or heal any living being. Compared to life extenders and medicine that came after it, what good is it nowadays? Why do you think it was in a museum? I only needed you and your team to buy… a respite for Oathtakers to bolster their border. By buying into this mission, you handle the job superbly. The Reclaimers were distracted long enough and no longer had the chance to rush in and capitalize on the troubles of their rival. And if you had only played the role that was assigned to you, everything would have been fine, your team would be out well paid as well. But you chose to try and play for something bigger, right? All because you were too invested in the potential of this device. And for falling into such a trap, I adore you."

"You used us!" The mercenary shouted, looking for something on her belt frantically.

"On the contrary, my dear friend! We used each other. I gave you the choice and you broke your word, and thus I am free to act as I see fit now. Ah, but I can hear her approach," Doors leading to the hall screamed, when someone on the other side started tearing them aside, "Not an elegant this one... I almost disappointed. What do you think will happen to him, when you are gone?"

"I can buy my way out by selling you, A…"

"Ah-ah-ah!" The laughter of the voice cut off the outburst of the mercenary, making her freeze in place. "Not so fast, dearest Alsyn," he said, changing the tone of their conversation, "You are free to do as you wish, of course, but then I promise you. I will find him. On the other hand, if you keep your mouth shut, that's it, I promise not to touch him, ever. Ha!" The voice once again laughed, as if the unknown speaker could see how Alsyn was desperately looking around for some way out for herself and her group, "Don’t look so lost! You still have that thing that I gave to you, right? Power comes in response to need, not in response to desire. As your and his futures crumble all around you... Use the fear of loss and turn your fate around."

Alsyn faced the entrance just in time to see two crumbling pieces of metal falling into the room. Warlord Dragena walked into the hall, looking around. She saw injured and killed soldiers of the state, new breeds and normies alike. She saw dead mercenaries. For a brief moment, she looked at Annie, noticing her existence, but not saying anything. The shamans crushed through the roof of the hall, landing on the floor and crushing the stones underneath their feet. Dragena glanced at them as well. And then she walked forward, making the room tremble with each step. Alsyn stepped away from her troops, walking toward her former leader. They stopped fifty steps from each other, the helmet of Dragena sliding back, allowing her to look at the former soldier of the state with her own eyes. The projector on the ceiling behind Dragena made her shadow fall on the traitorous wolfkin before her, covering the former soldier in the darkness.

Alsyn said, gesturing behind herself, "The attack on this place was my decision and mine alone. Hostages are inside the dome. Give me your word that my people will be treated as mercenaries, rather than terrorists, and this place stands. No Torment for my troops."

"Agreed." Dragena responded and Alsyn pushed some buttons on the device in her paw, removing one of her fingers from the constantly pushed buttons. She threw the device toward Dragena, who briefly checked it, before giving it up to a nearby wolf hag and sending the officer away from the hall to the control room.

"The energy spike is decreasing. The robots are slowly shutting down as I speak." Said the voice of Kassandra in the helmet of Annie. The scout ignored her, helping her fellow soldiers treat the wounds of the wolf hag.

"Alsyn. You have made plenty of mistakes. Now you have a choice." Dragena said to Alsyn, but the mercenary cut her off with an angry voice.

"So now I have a choice? I hope it's the same fucking choice as the one that I had before. Let him be butchered and live on as if nothing had happened? Let me tell you this, I do not regret killing that bitch!"

"If you had just come to me or Alpha, we would have solved this situation without anyone dying. On the day of your disappearance, you betrayed your duty, took three lives from the Tribe and made us weaker…"

"Solved? How? By banishing him? By allowing him to live in shame as an outcast?" Alsyn looked genuinely shocked. She raised her paws to the level of her chest, looking at them, "How… how would he even live, without anyone to help him eat? Screw you Dragena, you know nothing about the duty of being a mother!" Alsyn snapped out of confusion, stomping on the floor and making a dent in the metal.

"If you think so." Dragena merely nodded in the face of the outburst, raising her paw to stop the growling shamans.

"Angry, eh? Step on then, I will butcher you just like your sister," The lips of Alsyn moved into a wide grin as she noticed the anger of the shamans, "You declared my boy defective, but you seem to die way easier than he."

"Ignore her. She is stalling for time. Now you have the choice, Alsyn," Dragena continued as if nothing had happened, "Surrender now. I cannot promise you life, not after your terrorist attack. Your people will be released after serving their sentences, but the law of the nation states that as responsible for the attack, you must face punishment. You dared to attack a civilian installation. You dared to take civilians as a hostages. You ruined ancient relics. You killed your kin and soldiers of the state today. I will do what I can for your son and will try to persuade the court to spare your life. Given your crimes, it is a minor chance, but a chance nonetheless, to live and see how your son grows up one day. "This is your duty as a mother," Dragena said coldly, looking Alsyn in the eyes, "Try to live on for his sake. Surrender, and I will do everything in my power to save your life. Resist and I will butcher you right now."

“This…" Alsyn pointed at the dome behind herself, her lips trembled as she continued, "… this thing can heal him. Make him normal. Can you… can you please just let it finish its work? You can do anything you want with me afterwards. I can even lick your boots afterwards, be your slave, kill myself, anything. Just this one thing. Please? For old time’s sake."

"I must retrieve the hostages. We will examine the machine and if…" Dragena made a step forward.

"Then pox upon you and your state!" Alsyn wildly screamed, throwing her left arm up.

Dragena was faster, both of her knives struck out. Forty steps separated the opponents. The swing of the warlord could not reach the target. And yet a thin line appeared on the arm of Alsyn, air propelled by the blade of Dragena struck with such ferocity that it bisected skin, muscles, and even bones. Immediately, the physiology of the new breed, strengthened through countless victories, began to labor to arrest the hemorrhaging, but the damaged area was simply too big. The arm of the mercenary leader was cut at the wrist, and, beneath her elbow, an empty vial fell from her paw. The second slash hit Alsyn across the snout. A long line appeared on her breastplate, but the warlord's wind cut failed to bisect the plate made of nanomachines. The neck and head of Alsyn, however, were cut all the way through. First jaw, then nostrils, then a line of blood ran to the top of the head of the mercenary. The blood sprayed from the wound, the legs of the mercenary gave in, the tongue, now forked because of the ugly slice on it, fell from the left side of her mouth. Amber eyes lost reason, burning light of blessed blood slowly died down behind the pupils. The mercenary toppled forward, and Annie breathed in relief. The battle was over. The slice of Dragena reached all the way to the brain of the enemy. And bisected both the neck and head of the enemy in two. The right side of Alsyn’s head began to fall on her chest.

The knees of the mercenary stopped a few inches from the ground. The woman returned herself back into upright position with the sheer power of her toes, two sides of her head moved back into position, forming a whole head once again, horrible injury aside. Empty eyes looked at the warlord, ruined lips jerked when flesh all around the massive wound on the neck and head of the mercenary flowed across the wound. The edges of the wounds joined together, healing the damage before the shocked eyes of the soldiers. Pupils dilated and bright light, light that the scout only ever saw in the eyes of warlords, shot out of them, banishing the shadow of Dragena to seek cover behind the back of the warlord. The lips opened, loudly sucking air inside, and Alsyn smiled through the pain, living once more and showing her right paw and syringe in it to the warlord, the needle of the syringe was buried deep in the wrist of the mercenary.

"Not so perfect, eh?" The mercenary asked, her voice becoming distorted with each word. Her last word was almost completely undistinguished from a growl. The left shoulder of Alsyn hung helplessly, almost as if it was broken, while the remains of her lay on the ground in a pile of blood. This did not last. Red meat shot out from the arm of the resurrected mercenary, connecting with sliced away pieces of the arm and pressing them toward the bloody stump, reforming the arm once more. Alsyn clenched her left fist and opened it, testing her renewed arm.

Alsyn's chest expanded, exploding her armor from inside, her cape fell on the floor behind her. The ruined arm of a mercenary reformed, the flesh at the edges of her wounds merged together, allowing her to clench her paw. Armor on the leg cracked when flesh enlarged as well, making her legs look like a swollen column of flesh. And yet she charged forward with unseen agility, her body becoming four times her size, making her fur fall out, her skin turned gray and cracked, unable to adjust to the instant growth of muscle mass beneath. Even the ruined nostrils of Annie caught the strange odor that came from the ruined skin of the mercenary leader, it smelled like a mix of eggs that were boiling in spoiled milk. Four of the mercenary’s fingers merged together, the flesh of her body flowed like plasticine, changing her body structure on the fly. Alsyn croaked as the second and third spine became visible on her back, claws the size of normies shooting from her fingers. The mercenary made a swing with her left arm, wildly, madly, no longer guided by precision. An upward blow was dodged by Dragena, when the warlord leaned backwards, her helmet slid back onto her head.

The creature jumped, casting its shadow on the warlord. Alsyn's head morphed into a large sack of flesh; her amber eyes merged into one massive gray eye, and her snout slid deep into flesh. Countless rows of gray fangs were shown to the world when the monster smiled. Fangs that were shot from Alsyn's mouth like a host of snakes, each blade-like fang being guided by crimson-colored appendages. The paws of the warlord moved, disappearing from the shocked eyes of Annie. A blinding dome surrounded the warlord, covering her from attacks, slicing out flesh appendages and shattering fangs. Alsyn screamed from pain, unable to break through the dome of countless strikes, her body stuck in the air. The creature looked at the ceiling and roared once more, this time in anger and pain. Her legs spread even wider, cracking skin in the lower half of her body and forming a new mouth full of teeth. The arms of Alsyn struck down, pushing through the blindingly fast dome of strikes, aiming to hold Dragena in place and mount her, gobbling up the warlord.

"Keep your distance. She is mine. Rescue the hostages." The warlord said when she saw gigantic hands closing on her. The shamans stepped back with visible disapproval.

The explosion of dust and stone came from the violent contact of two fighters. Dragena was thrown back to the doors, her helmet was once again on her head, her mighty armor bore countless scars. Alsyn, now looking like a monster from stories that parents tell cubs to keep them obedient, climbed out of the cloud, smiling like a maniac. Her body was bleeding, wet popping sounds accompanied her every move, she walked on all four limbs in short jerking bursts, resembling more a toy soldier than a living being. A single eye looked at Dragena with hungry anticipation, showing an eagerness to kill. The wicked creature still continued to grow ever so slightly.

"I will protect him. Against everyone. Even you will not take away his future!" The creature croaked, spitting forward the tongue from her upper mouth, now once again filled with fangs. Alsyn's slimy tongue hit Dragena in her right arm, wrapping around her elbow like a rope. With a push of her jaw, Alsyn started dragging the warlord toward herself.

Seeing that everyone was too captivated by looking at the battle between the two beings, Annie left Kayleen in the care of others and jumped off the walkway. The mercenaries ignored her, some men dropped their weapons, others simply sat on the ground. While Annie raced past it, silence could be heard from the receiver. She slammed against the doors of the iron dome, the sturdy metal doors refused to open, a silent humming sound was behind them. Annie's paws grabbed the door handle, praying that it would hold just long enough. Pushing the muscles of her body and the motors of her armor, Annie tore the steel door, throwing it aside. Behind her, Alsyn twitched in worry, trying to turn around. Her hesitation allowed Dragena to cut her tongue in two and leave a long slash at the monster. Alsyn threw herself at the warlord with a roar, turning both fighters into blurry figures. Only ruins on the floor and intense wind, accompanied by thunderous sounds, reminded everyone that these were the people fighting, rather than ghosts.

Annie stepped inside and saw countless people strapped to chairs, their mouths gagged with leather straps. At least two hundred people, almost the entire daily shift of this place and some more. In the center of the room stood a pedestal, with a steel closed sphere on it. Cables run on the floor from people toward the pedestal. Most of these cables had red on them. Annie stepped forward and saw that one of the people on a chair resembled a dried husk, rather than a man. His hair was white and was falling out, his skin barely covered his bones, and his oversized orange jumpsuit was far too big for him. The cable that ran from his chair toward the sphere was burning green.

Annie was unsure of what to make of this. The hand of the man fell on his chest, cable underneath him turned black. One of the cables under the other man shifted color to green and the man tried to scream. Something shifted in Annie’s head, and the scout jumped forward, burying her remaining claws in the cables, tearing through them one by one, ignoring discharges of electricity that hit her again and again.

Every wolfkin passed her or his trial during times in the pits. The task was simple, under the guidance of the instructor, you had to kill an insectoid drone. These were the common pests of the Wastes and Ravaged Lands, once they were a menace to the population, leaving behind entire empty villages devoid of life. In modern times, insectoids were still capable of killing humans, but hives adapted. Now it sends its drones to scavenge on farms, trying to sneak in by night, killing animals or devouring food. These creatures also rummaged through the garbage, taking away every scrap of food, feeding the queen of the hive and increasing their numbers. Over time, hives can grow large enough to threaten even settlements. Seeing living rivers made of chitin bodies running from the hills upon the remote village was a truly breathtaking sight. Annie stopped one such attack as a member of Dragena’s pack. Under orders from Kayleen, the wolfkins placed mines and wiped out the remains of the insects with shardguns.

Yet there was a problem with drones. Their razor-sharp claws and needle-like legs could cut through steel, but they were no match for wolfkins. Even cubs can outrun them, and even normies can outrun drones. But when cubs crashed with drones, tearing through chitin carapace with claws and fangs, the drones often bit the unexperienced cubs, injecting acid underneath the skin. For long days ahead, this nasty substance would pulsate under the skin of cubs, causing them to whimper in their sleep from pain, while the weak immune system of cubs would adapt to overcome damage. Instructors very rarely helped cubs with painkillers, the exercise's goal was to teach young people not to get hit, that injuries will make you weak not only today, but in the days ahead. And pain was the greatest teacher, in the opinion of the instructors. Annie felt the same pain now, only it was accumulated with each torn cable. It was almost like the cables were just mandibles of insectoids, with stingers inside them, that injected poison into Annie’s paws with each torn cable, poison that was gathering beneath her skin, making her paw swollen, bursting her skin…

Too late. Just a moment sooner. He died because I was too late. If I was stronger, if I was faster... No more. Annie pushed through the pain, following the teaching of shamans. The one who toughs it out to the end is the winner. It does not matter how many times you lose, how much pain you suffer, as long as you stand up and move forward. Indignity is irrelevant. Pain is temporary, like life itself. New breeds were given more power than others. They were expected to deliver more.

"Annie, your paws are about to burst!" Kassandra shouted, and Annie simply growled. Cable, slash, cable, slash. Cable… Slash?

Annie stopped, looking around, noticing that all the cables that were moving to the pedestal were cut. She blinked with disbelief, trying to shake off the pulsing pain in her paws and walked toward the first man whom she saved, tearing through his leather bonds.

"I am fine." Annie almost cried, trying not to look at her ruined paws. Shame burned in the scout when water made her vision murky. She failed to save all the hostages and now she was crying from pain. How more pathetic could she be?

Virginia would never have cried from pain… Annie shook her head angrily, trying to stop the tears that refused to disappear from her eyes.

"Like Abyss you are. I can see the data feed of your power armor. Out, immediately, other soldiers will arrive shortly and free the hostages. You sit out and rest, until the medics treat you. This is an order, scout." Kassandra commanded angrily.

Annie freed the man, took off her helmet and looked at her paws. Her fur burned away, her skin looked red, her fingers were swollen and looked like overcooked sausages that were about to burst, in some places, the skin cracked and the meat inside was torched. Her ruined fingers even smelled like a piece of cusack’s meat, when Annie overcooked it by accident, and this realization horrified her.

"Thank you, lady! Larry Kosh from WWB at your service," The man jumped out of his seat, trying to shake the paw of Annie, and she jumped back in fear, "Oh, my apologizes. Did not notice your hands at first. You are Annie, right? Sorry, your face is a bit swollen." the man asked, looking at Annie’s snout with a curious expression.

"How are Iternian…" She remembered him. She saw this person in prayer dens a couple of times, but he pretended to be local back then, "You are a faker! You dared to…"

"Eh, relax!" The blonde man smiled, raising his hands in a gesture of peace. He was dressed in the grey clothes of a travelling merchant with a badge of guest on his right shoulder. Kassandra checked the number on the badge and sent confirmation to Annie that this man really had permission to be in this facility, "We have permission from your warlord Zero to make a film about the Wolf Tribe. Well, war happened, and our attention is now split a bit, plus this place was a bit interesting… But don’t worry, we still have some good material. Once the war is over, you will see…"

"Just help others here, please. My paws… I can’t do much right now." That was half a lie. She still had her claws on her legs and a mouth full of fangs. But Kassandra is unlikely to approve if the scout stays here. The agent was not cruel by nature, but during her work in the refugee center, Annie learned to obey her. Each time she unintentionally failed to complete her tasks, the agent would send her to cleaning duty. And the toilets in the refugee center looked like hell itself and smelled like dozens of rotten bodies. After two such punishments, Annie learned to act as an obedient soldier to the agent, while working as a volunteer. Spirits only know what Kassandra will do to her if she disobeys orders during a real-life field mission. She'd probably skin her alive or something. The scout turned away from the man, wiping tears of pain off her eyes.

Putting on her helmet, Annie walked outside, seeing the ruined hall. Wolfkins, orais, and even normies were hurrying to remove themselves from the first floor, accompanied by mercenaries. Both sides worked together, trying to move the injured out of the battle zone, while the battle between Dragena and Alsyn still raged, making the floor underneath Annie’s legs tremble from shock. Cracks ran across the walls, steel beams that supported walkways were bent or outright torn asunder, several giant projectors fell from the ceiling onto the floor. Other wolf hags from the Dragena pack reported that resistance all around the facility ceased, mercenaries surrendered in every room, making only this place an active battle. Several medics from mercenaries joined the medics of Reclaimers, treating the most severely injured soldiers, trying to patch them up enough to transport them out of harm’s way, cursing ever so slightly during their work at each impact that the warlord and her opponent created.

"Blood… So much blood… Mom! Mom!" One of the soldiers on the floor screamed, his belly was riddled with bullets from the weapons of mercenaries, blood was on his lips, running all the way toward his left ear. Medics nearby tried to stop the bleeding of a nearby patient.

Lacerated One came and looked at injured soldier. He was young, barely saw twenty years in his life, his eyes were filled with tears and panic. The shaman inhaled, tasting the smell of man’s blood and insides. Shamans were rarely medics, but they knew just as much about treating wounds as other wolfkins. What a member of the Wolf Tribe could endure, a normie could not endure. If a shaman tries to treat the wounds of this man, shock may kill the soldier just as easily as injury.

"Calm yourself, cub." The shaman said, lowering herself on her knees near him, gently pressing his body to the ground with a single paw. The light from her shining amber eyes made the man's blood glow.

"Mother… Please don’t tell mom that I was crying when I…" The soldier whimpered, fighting to keep his eyes open.

"You will tell her yourself. Your wounds are bad, but the medics will save you. They can fix anyone. Just don’t sleep. Stay awake, grab the light of this life and hold it as tightly as a cub holds a mother during a scary night." The shaman took off her helmet, looking with a bloody snout at the man before her. Her free paw rose in the air, opening one of the scars over her eye and bathing the edge of the claw with blood.

"But… it hurts, hurts… I want to slee…" The soldier whispered. The shaman nodded and reached for her face once more, taking a drip of blood and spattering it across the man’s face, making him gasp for air with a sudden burst of strength. His closing eyes were open, looking at the Lacerated One with clarity.

"I know that it hurts. But your death will not bring happiness to anyone. Stick with the living for a while. Live long, find a mate, breed well, and be happy. Blessed be." The shaman stood up, allowing medics to come and work on the suddenly energized man. Lacerated One came close to Annie and lowered her snout to the ear of the scout and whispered, "You saw nothing. You will not report this to other shamans. Stay safe." Leaving a drop of blood fall on Annie’s paw, Lacerated One put her helmet on her head, turning toward the battle. The heartbeat of the scout increased, the pain in her paws receded, giving way to sheer ecstasy. She felt herself strongest, she wanted to charge at the mercenary, ripping and tearing, soaking herself in the blood of the enemy, devouring flesh and…

Annie jumped when Lacerated One lightly tapped her at the back of the head, almost making the scout fall on her knees. The shaman nodded at the fighters, silently telling Annie to calm down.

Dragena was pushed all the way to the entrance, creature known as Alsyn stood on all four limbs ten steps away from the warlord. The creature screamed from pain when one of the spinal cords pierced her waist, coming out of her body and covering itself with flesh. A massive tail landed on the floor, breaking stone slabs. Another roaring scream came from the mouth of the creature as her gray skin cracked once again, unleashing countless gray eyes on her back and arms.

"Kill… I… Kill!" The main eye of Alsyn closed on Dragena, pupil became the size of a black dot. Dragena stepped aside just in time to evade the beam of light that shot out of her naked eye, a beam that melted the remains of the steel doors and speared its way to the outside of the facility, leaving behind the smell of burning wood and the sound of molten metal running down on the floor, "Kill, kill, protect!" The rest of her eyes began to glow, and her words became clearer with each word. Devourer sent for an update, demanding to know what was happening. According to him, a beam of light raced all the way to the horizon. The warlord quickly sent him a request to stay put, if his excellency joined the fight, nothing would remain of the facility.

"Enough of this." Dragena moved forward, putting the blades back into the sheaths. Once again, the warlord put her right leg forward, disappearing from sight and reappearing behind Alsyn. The former mercenary leader roared from pain, all her countless eyes were blinded, leaking from countless eye sockets. Dragena fell on one knee behind Alsyn, breathing hard and putting one paw on the floor. The tail hit Dragena across the left side, sending the warlord through the column that supported one of the walkways.

"Warlord. This strain is too much for your body. I recommend you leave the battlefield, in your condition, you risk losing y…" Ieshua once again said on communication channel.

"I am fully fine, doctor," The warlord replied, climbing out of rubble and walking forward when the creature turned to her. The claw-like hand struck forward, and Dragena lifted her blade, piercing the enemy in the palm. Flesh flowed from Alsyn's paw, trying to close around the paw that held the handle. Dragena let go of her knife and snapped her fingers. The blade, still stuck in enemy flesh, exploded, causing the blinded creature to roar in pain. The warlord rolled to the side, evading the charge of the maddening monster. Even lacking eyes, it still somehow tracked Dragena. A blood fountain came from the sliced shoulder of the warlord as she was standing up, "Are hostages safe?" The warlord demanded to know, dodging another swing of the claws from her opponent. The massive head of Alsyn fell to the ground, mercenary gave a low growl, standing on all four limbs before the warlord. Veins, like knots of tight rope, become visible under the skin of the creature. Blood ran from her ruined eyes, creating a small pool of blood around her hands and legs.

"One of the hostages was dead, warlord. This machine… It sucked the life out of him. I have no excuses." Annie responded, feeling shame in her very bones.

"Understood. Shamans, to me. Tegrin, give command to your troops to prepare flamethrowers. Annie and Ultis move one of the carts from the ceiling in front of the projector to the south. Everyone else, open fire at the beast. Time to end it." Dragena took out the new knife, replacing the one that she had lost.

Alsyn leapt at Dragena, the enormously wide jaws of the creature opening wide in preparation to swallow Dragena whole. The creature was unbothered by the fire from the walkways to the side of her, ignoring the small fountain of blood that spread across her bulk, all her attention was on the warlord before her, the warlord who stood still, lowering her blades. Two shadows flew past the creature, claws biting deep beneath the elbows of the monstrosity. Shamans allowed the momentum to carry them forward, slicing flesh and muscles in the space between the radius and ulna bones. Blood pushed from the eye socket in the forehead of Alsyn, washing away the remains of the damaged eye and pushing a new purple eye into being. The eye gleefully looked at Dragena, while more and more fangs rose from the flesh within her jaws.

With a sound of thunder, Lacerated One landed before the warlord, grabbing jaws with her own paws and stopping the advance of the beast in midair. Scarred One and Earless One flew past the warlord and shaman, Alsyn roared in pain, understanding that her paws were ruined. With a flick of her wrists, Lacerated One broke the jaws of the mercenary and twisted the massive head of the monster to the left, struggling to snap it. Dragena leaped forward, ducking beneath Alsyn's head and burying knives in the neck of the beast, adding a kick for good measure into the strained neck of the beast.

The force behind the kick of the warlord sent Alsyn into the air, leaving parts of her jaw in the claws of the Lacerated One, her torn hands flailed helplessly. A crimson fountain flowed from the former mercenary leader's neck, stopping when the purple eye looked at the wound. The ruined lips of the creature smiled, while it fixed its neck in midair with a disgusting wet pop.

"I am getting the hang of it." In a calm voice, said Alsyn, her words clear as day, distortion and animalistic sounds gone from her voice for good. She turned her head toward the soldiers on the walkway.

Her jaws opened once more, unleashing a scream. A stream of sound hit the soldiers, splatting two normies against the wall and shattering the bones of one orais, killing all three at once. As twin wind slashes from the warlord opened the skin on the neck of the being, making the creature bleed, the monstrous snout turned toward the warlord and shaman, her massive body started to finally fall down. The wounds on her neck closed for good, her mutilated hands twitched, covered by scars. Something shifted beneath the muscles of her neck when Alsyn released one more sonic scream aimed at the shamans and warlord, an ear-piercing shriek of such force that it fully arrested her fall, stopping her in midair.

Sonic scream hit the group with enough force to fling Scarred One and Earless One off their feet and send them outside of the hall. The armor of the warlord cracked, blades shattered in her paws, the lenses of her helmet exploded. Try as she might, Dragena was forced to move backward, leaving long traces on the floor with her claws on her feet. Lacerated One was the only one who stood in her place, ignoring cracks in her armor, ignoring blood that pushed from her ruined armor. She shielded herself from the storm by raising both of her paws. The scream came as abruptly as it started, replaced with a weird "thump thump" sound that happened at regular intervals. Alsyn made a somersault in the air, landing a downward kick on the paws of Lacerated One, burying the shaman to the neck in the stone floor. And then the monster landed. On two feet, accompanied by the same "thump thump" sound. Alsyn’s features made a scowl, when she noticed a large cut on her leg, Lacerated One damaged the calf muscles of the creature with her claws even during the sudden attack of the creature.

This is the sound of her heart. Annie felt panic. The mere heartbeat of the monster could be heard all over the room. How strong was she? Through cameras on the warlord’s armor, Annie could see how Alsyn smiled, looking with a single cyclopic eye at Dragena. Her animalistic behavior was gone. Slowly, the psyche of the former wolfkin was morphing back, crawling back from the darkness of madness… back to the mind of a human? The movement of the creature looked fluid once more, and the wild jerking behavior disappeared. Step by step, Alsyn was getting used to her new body.

Tegrin was screaming orders to his group, standing over several injured orais. Sometimes he hit his own soldiers with a fist, when he felt that they were too slow, causing the orais to laugh and work harder, spreading around the hall and waiting for a chance to attack. A piece of rubble fell from a floor, threatening to land on the head of the thug master. Stone was shattered when Ultis jumped from the walkway, kicking through it. Tegrin mockingly saluted her in thanks, and the scout showed him the middle finger, charging towards Annie.

Annie understood what the fellow scout wanted. Shaking off the fear, she darted toward the small terminal near the sphere, desperately looking for a way to move the cart in accordance with Dragena’s wishes.

Hurry. Ultis gestured with her fingers.

"I can’t! Damn thing is blocked with a password!" In desperation, Annie shouted, noticing with surprise that her paws no longer hurt. Her fingers left blood fingerprints on the keyboard, but no serious pain was coming. All she could feel was minor annoyance, similar to that of having a bruise or dislocation.

Ultis nodded, showed the sign "One moment" and leaped under the terminal, tearing off the panel on her way and burying herself to the waist in the electric cords below the machine. Electric sparks covered the visible part of her body while the scout was doing Spirits know what else while she furiously reconnected the cables beneath the terminal.

The shamans rushed back into the room, past the buried Lacerated One. Alsyn smirked arrogantly at their assault, her pupil moved, tracing every step of the shaman, waiting for something. Scarred One and Earless One made a thrust with their own paws, aiming for the gigantic eye of the foe. Alsyn's smirk turned to a wide smile, and her hands moved forcefully, touching the paws of her enemies and redirecting attacks with the same ease that the mercenary demonstrated in battle with Kayleen. Like a pair of whips, massive hands moved in the next motion, sending shamans into opposite walls and making women croak in pain.

"I will never get tired of killing you, bitches!" Alsyn laughed, leaping after Earless One. Soldiers, wolfkins, normies, and even orais, tried to form ranks before the shaman, firing into the advancing mass. Earless One yelled at them, demanding that they move out of the way, but Annie saw that it was too late. The right hand of Alsyn raised up, the claws on her hand twitching in anticipation. In a flash, deadly motion moved forward, ready to slice through people in her path. And it was stopped by Lacerated One, who raced past Alsyn, stopping before her and burying claws on both of her paws into an enormous hand. The pupil of the cyclopic eye shifted to look at the shaman, while the left hand of the monster moved for a kill. Alsyn failed to land this hit as well, Dragena appeared to her left, wrapping her arms around the left arm of Alsyn and dislocating bones in the mutated instrument of destruction.

A roar of hatred came from the throat of Alsyn, but stopped just short before her sonic charge could leave her lips. The claws of Lacerated One reached the windpipe of Alsyn, making the mercenary leader choke for air, stepping back. Dragena cracked her knuckles, releasing her own claws of obsidian color.

Never before had Annie seen a warlord using her natural weapons in melee. Dragena was always a refined warrior, one who relied on weapons. Yet now she crashed into the traitor with the force of nature, driving Alsyn back and bleeding the monster before her. Bones popped in the left arm of the monster, fixing themselves in place. The palm of Alsyn moved toward the thrust of Dragena, aiming to redirect the cruel strike back to Dragena, making the warlord hurt herself with her own force and any force that Alsyn could add. This time, however, this technique failed when Dragena jerked her paw back, revealing her thrust to be just a fluke. She attacked with her second paw, bisecting the flesh on the hand of Alsyn and declawing her in one motion. The cyclopic pupil glared angrily at the massive claws that had fallen to the ground. It started to move back to look at Dragena once more, light slowly began to gather in the middle of the eye. The beam never came out of the eye this time, for the giant eye exploded from the thrust of Lacerated One, who plunged her own left paw to the elbow into the head of Alsyn, grabbing something there and pulling it out, making the mercenary scream in a wheezed voice due to lack of oxygen. The sound of heartbeats reached a crescendo, not stopping even for a moment.

"Dragena, you are losing a lot of blood. Please retreat and let His Excellency handle the situation. The facility can be repaired, your o…" Ieshua spoke in the same calm voice. Trolls never showed emotions via voice or facial features, but Annie guessed that, for some reason, the doctor was more than simply worried. 

"Be silent, please." Dragena responded to Ieshua over communication, landing one more clawed hit on Alsyn, opening her monster all the way from the jaw to the belly. Narrowly evading the angry bite of the creature, the warlord pushed her paws into the open belly of her foe, grasping its insides and causing Alsyn to scream in pain. Soldiers kept firing into the back of the monster, causing the scream of Alsyn to turn into a growl of annoyance. Alsyn's veins appeared on the neck, the skin on the back of the creature turned the color of olive gray. Where before, shards of the wolfkins left fist-sized holes in the hide of the creature, now shards merely scratched the hide of the beast. The nostrils of Annie caught the thin smell of something acidic, the warlord growled from pain, tearing out her paws and shaking a white looking substance from them, a substance that burned away fur on the paws of Dragena. Alsyn smiled, raising her declawed hand. Dragena threw her paws up just in time to take on the wrist-crushing elbow blow of the enemy. The stone floor exploded under the warlord, she was thrown on one knee from the sheer force of the enemy blow. Somehow, seeing this, the mercenary let out a laugh and followed with a kick of the left leg. The laughter of Alsyn changed into a scream of pain when the onyx claws of the warlord found their way to the knee of the enemy, piercing flesh and reaching behind the kneecap of Alsyn. Taking the brunt of the kick on her shoulder, the warlord used the momentum behind the enemy force to jerk away her kneecap. The force of the blow cartwheeled the warlord back, sending her through another steel column and into the wall behind. Bloody bone fell on the ground and the leg of Alsyn gave in, making the creature stumble right into a flurry of thrusting blows with claws from Lacerated One, blows that tore up huge holes in the flesh of the creature, revealing mighty bones and insides within. The following thrust of Lacerated One reached deep into the right shoulder of the mercenary, grabbing her by the clavicle and tearing oversized bone away from the body in a torrent of blood. The tail of the creature moved to hit the shaman, ending up being split by a casual looking slice from the claws of Lacerated One. Alsyn made a wild swing with her left arm, Alsyn made the shaman take a step back, the creature's right arm hung like a rope across her body, her left leg became useless. Alsyn pushed a new eye onto her forehead, looking at opponents with a mix of hatred and pain. The creature tried to charge and almost fell, breathing weakly with her restored windpipe. Her other wounds barely tried to close, blood was coming up in small

Her regeneration is slowing down! Annie thought, when the terminal gave a beeping sound. The display went dark for a moment, then flashed again, giving her access to the menu and commands over parts of the equipment in the room, including carts.

"How?" Annie asked in surprise, her fingers running above the keyboard, inputting data and positioning the cart in front of the projector. She prayed to the Spirits for a few moments of peace; cracks had already appeared in the ceiling, and if the battle continued, even carts would fall. This place was meant to contain possible dangers of the old world, yet a monster of today’s world nearly destroyed the place in her fury.

"Was raised as a slave by the raiders, before auntie Ygrite kicked my ass for trying to steal water from her and brought me back into the tribe. Back then, there was no loot, no food. Still have some skills from my former life. Not proud of my past, but I have paid for my crimes already," Ultis responded in a high-pitched voice that was more fitting to the voice of a cub, than to the voice of a twenty-year-old woman. This was the first time Annie ever heard her voice, the scout usually talked through text messages or gestures, "If you have any problems with me, go fuck yourself, I am not leaving." Ultis squeaked defensively, coming from below the terminal.

"Beat it! I can kiss you right now!" Annie laughed, spitting a fang on the panel and looking at the cart that was sliding on the rail, positioning itself just before the projector. A shadow fell on the ground, covering Alsyn in it. The creature raised its head up and Annie thought that she saw fear in the cyclopic eye for a brief moment. Flailing with her limbs, the creature tried to run from the shadow, one of her legs slid uselessly on the floor, leaving a trace of blood, her right arm barely moved. Lacerated One jumped toward the creature, landing two cruel kicks in her abdomen, sending the mercenary back into the center of the shadow.

The warlord stepped forward, not exactly running anymore. Annie could hear the loud breath of her commander over communication, Dragena actually spat on the ground, closing in on Alsyn. The body of the warlord was slightly wobbly, during her walk, her legs nearly tangled with each other. The pride and efficiency were gone, before Annie was just a tired-looking wolfkin in sparkling power armor. Blood flowed from the armor crack behind Dragena's left thigh, and the warlord's trembling fingers found a knife in the sheath. Mag locks spat out the blade and the form of Dragena changed, returning to the magnificently looking warlord for a brief moment. In flawless motion, she spun around, slamming her blade into the shadow, burying the blade of the weapon all the way to the handle. Alsyn roared in panic and anger when the shadow underneath her moved.

All members of the Wolf Tribe had power. Their physiology was that of a new breed, granting them enhanced abilities since birth. But aside from that, they also bore the blood of the blessed mother, the blood of the Ravager of the Dunes, the blood that gave them power. They were granted a reward by their own blood for each victory over the powerful enemy, becoming slightly stronger. Each had their own different peak, and far too few lived long enough to reach it. But this power allowed the strongest and bestest of wolfkins to reach that mysterious peak. And some, like Alpha or Dragena, also had another power. Warlord Dragena had a weak secondary power, one that required too many conditions for it to work. The source of light must be blocked by an object between her and the foe. Both she and the foe must stay in the shadow cast by this object. Using some object in her paws, the warlord had to pierce the ground in the shadow. Only then could her power work. For the wolfkins, who specialized in rapid deployment and fast attacks, such power was all but useless.

Darkness shifted below Alsyn, unleashing appendages made of pure shadow. They wrapped around the monstrous body of the mercenary, running around her legs, sliding across her arms, moving onto her neck, torn chest, wounded head. The ropes were thin like, looking more like paper than something that could stop the monster. Made of shadow, it was all but impossible for them to even halt the creature. Yet power could make the impossible possible. And right now, Shadowform, the power of Dragena, arrested Alsyn in place, stopping her movements dead, pressing her legs together, twisting her arms towards each other. Another sonic scream of Alsyn was stopped dead in her throat when a rope of darkness wrapped around her neck, biting deep and making her bleed.

"Bastard. Coward." Alsyn spat, looking at Dragena with her eye. She struggled to find the oxygen to say even a single word, fighting in vain with her restraints. The warlord left her paw up, stopping the fire of the soldiers around the hall. Dragena took off her partially ruined helmet from her head and put it on her belt. Lacerated One stopped looking at the opponent, helping other shamans to stand up. Scarred One had her left arm snapped in several places, Earless One had part of her skull caved deep inside her head.

"Soldier has no need for honor or pride," Dragena gestured for the orais with flamethrowers to come closer, "This will be ugly, I am sorry for this. Care to ease your conscience and tell me about your employers?"

"Screw. You," Alsyn ugly smirked, warily watching the progress. Her smirk disappeared and she looked pleadingly at Dragena for the first time since the fight, "Son. Painlessly. Please."

"I will not kill him. If possible, he will be healed. Ease your mind, he will be taken care off." Dragena started to turn around when Alsyn cried out.

"His. Name…" Her words were silenced by ropes of darkness that forcibly closed her mouth, pressing her jaws together and causing fangs inside her mouth to pierce through her skin. The pupil madly ran in the cyclopic eye, while the creature desperately tried to say something.

"Murderers have no right for clemency. He will remember nothing about you, even his name will be different. Your shadow will not taint his future. Pay for your crimes and be happy in the next life, kin." Dragena said to Alsyn, while walking away from the shocked creature.

The eye of Alsyn widened in fear when flame was unleashed on her. Her heartbeat became a non-stop, loud booming sound, heard by everyone in the room. The creature thrashed in her bindings, desperately trying to scream, to say a single word, to desperately say the name of her cub. A cracking fire deafened her muffed screams, a wall of white flame hid her from the eyes of Annie. Soon, only the "thumb" sound reminded her of a living creature that suffered horribly in the hellish flames. Annie turned away from the horrible sight, still hearing each beating of the dying heart.

Dragena walked away from the cracking fire, gesturing medics away from herself. She picked up the torn cape of Alsyn off the ground, making a large booming sound with each step on her way to the spherical dome. Soldiers were already getting the last of the hostages out of there. Larry stood before the entry to the dome.

"Was it really necessary? She was no longer a threat." He asked the warlord. The man looked at the warlord with ice in his eyes.

"She killed the hostage." Dragena nodded at the dead body that soldiers were carrying out of the dome, "She was the leader of a terrorist unit. She was found guilty of resisting arrest and firing at police and military personnel. Also, we do not have the means to deliver her to Torment safely either."

"Found guilty by you? You are not a judge. You could have sent her to Iterna. Because she attacked a citizen of Iterna, she is also subject to our laws. Doctors would have found a way to rehabilitate her. There was no need to kill the prisoner." Stubbornly responded Larry, looking in the eyes of the warlord, "The easy way out is not always the right one."

"Magnificent show! Bravo, bravo to you warlord!" The voice laughed from the receiver, and the warlord turned to look at this. Her paw made a gesture to Tegrin and the orais nodded, sending one of his soldiers with a strange device in their hands toward the receiver.

"Care to introduce yourself, mister?" Dragena inquired, as the orais sat near the receiver, holding the device to the back of the mechanism.

"No need, I was just along for the ride," The voice chuckled from the receiver, "but thank you for such a rich spectacle, nonetheless. I never expected that Alsyn could push herself to become a monster like that."

"We will find you, mister. If I had to guess, you were the one who provided Rift Talons with gear and even with VI to override defenses of this facility. Few have access to such expensive things." Dragena noted.

"If you want to try and catch the wind, then by all means, go on ahead, waste your time like the idiot that you are."

"If you think me ignorant, then by all means, enlighten me." Dragena offered, looking dispassionately at the receiver and working orais. The soldier shook his head, indicating that he had no luck in tracking the signal. The booming heartbeat of Alsyn finally stopped, but the orais kept emptying their weapons into the flame.

"What’s the point?" The voice laughed mockingly, "You are boring. Without feelings, there is no rage, no hatred, no way to become a true monster. You will die in some backwater one day, achieving nothing, and this will be the end of you. Ah, but I've wasted enough time on you as it is. Bye-bye, failures!" After a cheerful goodbye, the receiver went dark. It did not explode, buttons were still brightly lit, yet no words came from the machine anymore.

Dragena turned away from the receiver, walking inside the dome. Annie heard a loud tearing sound of metal and the crash of something big on the floor. Annie and Ultis came to the entrance of the dome, the only ranked wolfkins, in the hall. Kayleen and Carty were still unconscious and being taken care of, wolf hags from other packs swept over the facility. The warlord was missing for a good minute, tearing apart something inside. Annie couldn't see what was going on inside because the warlord turned off her own cameras. Finally, the ears of Annie caught the whining sound of a living being, barely audible, sounding like a person with pierced lungs trying to gasp for air and scream from pain. Heavy footsteps could be heard once more from the dome, and the warlord walked out of the dome, holding a cub wrapped in the tattered cloak of Alsyn in her paw. The limbs of the wolfkin were misshapen, the left arm was of normal size, but lacking two fingers, while the right arm was twice as small in length, but had normal fingers on it. Fur was falling from a small, screaming person. One eye was milky white, the other was barely amber.

Two-year-old cubs were already old enough to run around and fight each other in the Wolf Tribe. They could read and even write. Wolfkins grew up much faster than other new breeds and normies, thanks to the Ravager's blessing legacy. Yet this cub, who was born at least two years ago, held no sentience in his panicked eye, no words came from the tiny mouth with missing fangs. By all rights, the cub was still just an infant in mind.

"Defective." Annie looked up when she heard Lacerated One's hissing voice behind her and saw the shaman walking silently next to her. Scarred One, looking worried, came closer to them, taking off her helmet. The woman licked her lips nervously, looking at the elder shaman. Lacerated One extended her arm toward the cub, and Larry became visibly tense, forcing himself to take a step forward, trying to stand between the warlord and the shaman. Neither spared him a look. Scarred One fastened her helmet around her waist and slightly released the claws on her right paw, bending her knees and looking pleadingly at Lacerated One. The shaman faced her pleading look with a stone-faced stare, turning to Dragena. Annie took a step forward, only to be stopped by Ultis, who wrapped her arms around Annie's waist and forced her to stop. Annie clenched her fists, feeling numb pain in them. If the shaman dares to, she will try to stop it, ignoring the warlord's desire if necessary.

Defective. Annie knew the meaning behind this word. The Wolf Tribe were proud people, blessed with many advantages over the normies. Spirits and warlords existed to temper their wilder instincts, as blood of Ravager ran through their veins, pushing them to ever greater heights. And yet they were a small group of people. Many females give birth to quite a number of cubs in their first lifegiving, but out of that first litter, often only a few cubs survive. The situation was getting better with each second and onward lifegiving, but even then, other dangers were arising. The blood of the Wolf Tribe's people was too mixed up. All of them were kin in one way or another. Because of this, sometimes cubs are born with defects. Shamans were the ones who helped in lifegiving. They were the ones who judged whether cubs would survive or not. Upon the birth of new cubs, the shaman waited for two days to see which cubs would make it. After two days, the shaman will announce her verdict on the surviving cubs, if they are deemed fit to live or not. Cubs with severe defects were culled out of pity and to preserve resources, the Wastes were not an easy place to live in the past, and it was considered to be a merciful thing to cut the thread of life and give the soul of a cub an easy way to be reborn once more. Nowadays, however, many dangers have taken a step back, and rare voices among wolfkins grumble, wondering if this practice is still needed. After all, the Wastes had their own orphanages. Some normies give their own cubs, even those who need very special care, to these places. Dissatisfied wolfkins wondered why the Wolf Tribe couldn’t follow the same example.

"Remove your paw, sister," Dragena said calmly, putting her free paw on the handle of the knife in the sheath, "He is not of the Wolf Tribe anymore and not subjected to our laws any longer. If you harm a civilian, I will treat you as a criminal. "

"It is cruelty to make him suffer any longer." Lacerated One said softly, pointing at the mishappening cub.

"It is cruelty not to try and make him live." Dragena responded icily, wrapping her paw around the handle of her knife. Muscles run beneath the neck of the warlord, pushing another trickle of blood out of the warlord's shoulder. Two locked gazes for several minutes, and Lacerated One nodded, briefly baring her neck in submission. Seeing that the warlord ignored invination, the shaman took off her helmet and bit the tip of her claw in her own blood, spraying it across the temple of the cub. Wheezing screams stopped, cub looked at the shaman with a calmed eye all of a sudden.

"Blessed be then," Lacerated One looked at Dragena, "He is scared. He is also feeling pain, adjust your hold to carry him more gently, you stubborn cusack."

"I know how to hold cubs. I assure you, my hold is…"

"And you are bleeding," Lacerated One cut off Dragena in midsentence, "Let the normies clear this place, we need to come back." Dragena nodded to the shaman, giving orders to the troops, walking to the exit side-by-side with the shaman, with the cub still in the warlord’s paw. But the warlord no longer held one paw over her weapon.

The smoking remains of Alsyn were left near the door, resembling more a pool of black oil than the remains of a living being. The orais still kept their positions, waiting for any sign that the creature could regenerate once more. Passing near the scorched remains, Annie briefly glanced at her deceased foe. There were no more movements in the pool of darkness. Alsyn was truly and finally dead.

****

It was the morning when the doctors finally allowed Annie to leave. Instead of returning back to the military base, Devourer gave the order for the group to arrive at Refugee Center Gamma. His Excellency left the facility to stand guard while police and military forces arrived to transport prisoners. Upon arriving at the Refugee Center Gamma, Annie and other wounded were locked in a separate wing of the hospital, agent Kassandra posted military police at the doors of each room with wounded wolfkins, fully aware how the Wolf Tribe disliked being treated. Annie tried to explain to doctors that she will cooperate, but they simply strapped her to a chair and treated her wounds. Despite her pleas not to use painkillers, doctors deprived her even of this little shred of dignity and made the scout suffer the indignity of being operated on like a cub, unable to feel pain. Her broken teeth were pulled out, replaced with prosthetics, and regeneration injections were made into the soft tissues of the palate. In a few days, the prosthetic teeth will fall out, giving way to a new set of chompers. Her paws were treated, her claws were deemed to be salvageable. In a few weeks, they will regrow as well.

Upon leaving, Annie went to see Kayleen. The wolf hag was already awake and sour. She was strapped to a bed with chains, her wounds carefully bandaged. Doctors refused to let her out for at least two more days. From the wolf hag, Annie learned that Labiatae, a female member of her pack, was killed. This much Annie saw. Orvin, a male who had his spine broken, was still in emergency care. Kayleen directed Annie to bend over before her snout, biting the scout's neck to the blood. The wolf hag chastised the scout for breaking ahead of the group during the initial charge, for ruining her paws and for allowing herself to explode on a mine. Annie expected to be punished for losses among her pack and for failure to save all hostages, but Kayleen merely shrugged, stating that shit happens sometimes. Before losing her conscience again, Kayleen warned Annie that the scout would face another exam once the wolf hag was released.

Scratching her neck and feeling fang wounds healing under her fingers, Annie left the room of the wolf hag, allowing her to rest. Carty was still being treated in the room to her left, several of her ribs punctured her lung when Alsyn kicked scout through the walkway. Medical personnel, all normies, were hurrying along the corridor, moving treated injured patients out of the emergency care room and quickly moving new patients inside. Already overworked, today's doctors will have neither time, nor the possibility to sleep. Annie saw one of the doctors making an adrenaline injection for herself. The eyes of the woman were red, large black circles were around her eyes. When Annie saw the woman leave to perform another operation, she pressed both paws together and said a quick prayer, pleading with Spirits to help all the people here.

Leaving the hospital wing and walking toward the exit, Annie came face to-face with Lacerated One. The shaman was out of her power armor, in order to prevent blood from falling on the floor, her whole body was wrapped with rags. Once clean, her rags were now soaked in red. Only the amber eyes of Lacerated One were visible, to Annie’s eyes, she looked like a mummy.

"Scout. Dragena asked me to watch over her pack for a few hours," The shaman reached for the pocket terminal on her belt and entered some input. The shaman nodded, looking through the data on the terminal, "Doctors confirmed your release. You are officially on leave until next evening. Get yourself dressed and make sure not to do any physical work for the next five to six hours. Your paws are a mess and in need of recovering."

"Is the warlord fine?" Annie asked before the shaman could storm away.

"Muscles in her shoulder were cut, bones in her leg cracked from a glancing hit. She will recover just fine," The shaman glanced at the door to her left, noticing Ultis and Tegrin walking out of it. Ultis was dressed in a white tank top and black shorts, Tegrin walked around on all four, dressed only in green shorts. Ultis's fur barely grew on her neck, showing the ugly scars beneath. Tegrin’s wounded hand was bandaged, one arm of Ultis was wrapped around his neck, a bottle with something was in her free paw, "Scout Ultis. What are you planning to do?"

"We plan to have a good time." Ultis handed over the bottle to Tegrin and showed her the answer with signs.

"Scout, you are treating this situation too lightly. Rethink your duties before the state and your Tribe." Lacerated One narrowed her eyes.

"I am still infertile. If you are worried about possible half-breeds, I can promise to stick to o…" Ultis squeaked and rolled her eyes, annoyed by the shaman.

"That’s not what I was trying to say!" Lacerated One angrily stared at Ultis, stopping the scout before she could finish her sentence, "First. Visit the doctors and fix your old injury already, the tribe needs a diverse genetic pool. Produce whatever half-breeds you want after that," The shaman growled, seeing how Ultis rolled her eyes again. The low growl made the scout jump in place and stand at attention, "Second. We have reporters from Iterna among the rescued people. Imagine what they will think about us if they see how frivolously you spend your free time in such a situation. And third, mating rituals of orais are known to end violently and in biting…"

"Bullshit they are!" Tegrin exploded in anger, slamming one hand on the floor, "They got it all wrong in that encyclopedia, it was during the ritual of praising the Legend…"

Annie walked past arguing people. The scout noticed the large form of Earless One in the rec room meant for medics. Currently, the room was empty of medical personnel, all available hands were busy. Earless One sat on a sofa, legs crossed, busy watching some historical drama on a TV installed near the ceiling, one part of her head covered with stitches. Streams of blood run from below the stitches from time to time, coagulating on the shaman’s temple and making her scratch away dried blood from time to time. One of the plastic panels on the ceiling of the room was removed, showing the darkness of the ventilation shaft above. The shaman noticed Annie and pressed a finger to her lips, reaching out with her large paw to close the door. Annie raised her brow in surprise, but the door closed without any further explanation.

Weirdo. Annie decided while walking to a locker room on the opposite side of the corridor.

"…They are fine now. But for how long will it last? You put your future c…" Ieshua, dressed in a simple white shirt, brown pants and sandals, went silent when the warlord lifted her finger. Three pairs of eyes looked at Annie.

The warlord, dressed in a black tank top and long black shorts. The tank top strap on her injured shoulder was moved to her elbow, and the area around the wound was cleared of fur to make room for bandages. A rubber ring was placed around one of the legs of the warlord. The burned skin on her paws was already healed, and fur was slowly starting to grow anew on her fists. The warlord sat with her back to one of the lockers, enjoying the cold metal and peering out through half-closed eyes at the people around her. Kassandra, strictly dressed in black and crimson this time, with a cap on her head, was the last person in the room. Even sitting, the warlord was still taller than Kassandra.

"We will speak about this subject at length later, doctor. Trust me, I fully value your input and trust your opinion," Dragena nodded, trying to look amiable. Yet there was something off about her movement, almost as if she was not sure how to make it right. Her nod looked slightly more jerked than it should have been, "Please stay and feel free to use the room, Annie, I have something to talk about with you a bit later." Annie nodded quickly, disappearing behind a series of lockers. She found one with her ID on it and opened it. Since his excellency Devourer was the one who "kicked" wolfkins out of the military base, he was also the one who provided the clothes for the Wolf Tribe. Annie had no idea where Devourer found clothes that would fit her size exactly, how he delivered them, or even how he got her measurements. But the fact remained that her locker was stuffed with clothes her size, far outnumbering the ones she had back at the base. She picked up a green and blue leather jacket, blue jeans, and a purple t-shirt, with the markings of the Second Army on all of them. To her surprise, clothes fit her perfectly, almost like a glove. In the Wastes, new breeds of Wolf Tribe had to place orders for clothes, it was unusual for them to take over a month for orders to be made, due to how varied in size the wolfkins were. And yet, according to the writing on the tag of her new jacket, it stated that this jacket was part of the "winter collection" whatever this meant. Writing on the tag also showed to Annie that these clothes were made by the clothing store owned and working for the Ice Fang order, store that produced goods tailored for the needs of wolfkins. Annie’s eyes widened when she saw the cost on the back side of the tag. This mere jacket cost more than she earned in three months. As a scout, Annie earned four hundred tokens per month. This jacket cost one thousand, two hundred fifty tokens.

Spirits, please tell me they won't deduct this from my earnings. Looking at the number of clothes in her locker, the scout prayed desperately.

"What about cub. You finished his examination?" Dragena asked.

"He will live. Pretty much as expected. Underdeveloped limbs, brittle bones, trouble with learning… He could have been healed by the device he was in. At the cost of his mind, that is." Ieshua replied, sitting nearby.

"Pardon me?" Dragena opened her eyes and looked at Kassandra.

"We asked professors who worked on site. In short, according to the manual found in the museum, this device allows the subject to receive the so-called "living energy" of others. However, with energy comes the memories of the deceased person. While the procedure is being performed, the most powerful feelings, such as pain, circle in the subject's mind. Imagine suffering through the compressed pain of a single life over and over. This was one of the reasons why this device was banned and removed from being sold in ancient times," Kassandra produced papers from her coat and showed them to Dragena, "The life of one person will grant one more year of life at the cost of an incredibly stressful and painful experience that can potentially break the mind of even an adult. Using it on kids, well… It is good that the boy still has the mind of an infant, otherwise he would have gone mad from pain in seconds. And there is more. This device would have "healed" the boy with the lives of the first dozen. Then it would have gone "upgrading" his body. The end result might have been even scarier than what happened with Alsyn, an infant in the body of a fully grown monster, utterly mad from pain and seeking to lash out at everyone. I hope that Alsyn had no idea how the device was supposed to "heal" her child, or else may she burn in the Abyss for all eternity." The perfect features of the agent twitched in barely held disgust and anger.

"Find the person who hired Alsyn," Dragena read through papers with a dead look on her snout, "Iterna has the means to alter or even outright erase memories, right? They can also cure him, fixing problems with his mind and allowing him to learn and live as a normal human being."

"The cost will be impressive, and it is for doctors of Iterna to decide whenever they will use the memory eraser or not." Ieshua warned, "But yes, I saw the results of their work. If anyone can fix him, it’s them."

"It's just one day. Surely, they will see the reason. As for tokens, credits, whatever they use in Iterna," Dragena closed her eyes, lifting her snout to the ceiling, bathing in the electric light, "I will find enough money for treatment. Spirits only know where I will find funds, but I will take a loan if I have too. After living and serving for nearly two centuries, my credit story should be good enough for a bank to give me a loan. "Kassandra, arrange the negotiations with the best clinic in Iterna, please, I…" Dragena took a sigh, looking at the agent, "I never visited Iterna in my life, only fought against them on a few occasions. To be honest, I don’t even know how to contact them in the proper manner. If it cost tokens, just tell me, I…"

"You concentrate on relaxing and resting. I owe you from that time, remember?" Kassandra patted the warlord on her good shoulder, heading toward the exit along with Ieshua, "Zero studied there, am I right? And she is fine. Don’t worry, Iternians are not some child eaters or something," The agent giggled, pressing her gloved hand to her mouth to hide the smile, "I think things will work out just fine."

Once the door closed, Dragena allowed her snout to fall on her chest, letting out a tired sigh. Seeing the worried face of Annie, the warlord gestured for the scout to come closer:

"Sit. We have to talk."

"Warlord," Instead of sitting near the warlord, Annie lowered herself on her knees, showing her bare neck to her master. She forced herself to sound calm, banishing all traces of self-pity out of her voice, "Today I allowed one member of my pack to die, and another was seriously injured. I killed the enemy and felt nothing. I got distracted and arrived to save hostages too late, which led to one of them dying. There are no excuses for my behavior, I am ready to accept any punishment, even dea…"

"Labiatae will be missed, along with other losses. Orvin will spend approximately half a year recovering from his injury, but he will return to the unit fully healed. In our line of work, we can’t save everyone. As a commander, I ultimately bear responsibility for losses, not you. As for killing, I cannot fault you for this either. Whether we like it or not, killing enemies is part of our job, we become monsters so civilians may live. Just never, ever dare to forget about the rules and laws of the state and never dare to kill indiscriminately. Raise your head, Annie, sit and look me in the eyes," The warlord commanded.

"I deserve to be punished for allowing people to die," The scout replied stubbornly, "I cried from pain like a weakling, making a mockery of our pack."

"Annie. There is no point in dwelling on the past. The past exists merely to learn lessons from it, you cannot change it, you cannot return back to it. There is only "now" and what you can make of "now" in order to fulfill our duty better. I don't mind if you scream, cry, or do anything else as long as you complete your duty. We all make our own sacrifices too. Do you think other soldiers in my pack never felt fear or pain? Stop wasting time on self-flagellation and look at me."

Annie continued to look at the floor, waiting for a bite or any other punishment. The paw of the warlord slipped underneath her chin, lifting the snout of Annie and dragging the scout to a seat nearby, pushing her into it and making the scout look into the glowing embers of the warlord’s eyes.

"Today you made some mistakes, true," The warlord said in the same calm voice, "You allowed bloodthirst to take over you and pushed ahead of the group. Kayleen will undoubtedly question you about this and work with you to eliminate such self-destructive tendencies. Aside from that, there will be no further punishment. Your task, as before, is to train Branded. The time of their first combat mission draws ever near. But it will have to wait," The warlord said, leaning back at the locker and looking over Annie from foot to head, "For now, rest and recover, you earned that much. This is your "now" for the current moment."

"Warlord," Annie dared to ask, "Today I saw how you disappeared in the air and reappeared behind the enemy. And how Alsyn," at the mention of the mercenary's name, Dragena's ear twitched, as if scaring away an invincible fly, "redirected other people's attacks back on them..." Annie tried to replicate the motion of the mercenary’s paw with her own paw, making it crude and stupid looking, "Is it possible to learn how to do such things?"

The warlord was silent for a moment. She crossed her arms on her chest, taking up her lower jaw with a paw. Burning eyes burrowed Annie with a questionable glance, while the warlord was thinking about something. Annie was scared that she had angered her leader, but she had to ask. If she can just learn how to do such things, then she will be one step closer to one day getting even with that blasted idiot who left the marks on her face and ruined her sense of smell.

"Flash step, as the rapid movement technique is called, is not something that I can teach. By pushing myself to the utmost limits, I can go from point A to point B while attacking the enemy point that I set in my mind before starting movement. Should the enemy get out of the way or shift, the flash step is far less useful. In short, it is a one-trick pony. It took me twenty years to reach my current level in wielding it, and I am far from mastering it yet," The warlord put both of her paws on her knees, "Annie, techniques are useless unless you incorporate them into your own style, whatever your style will be. You saw me today, after performing a flash step, I was wide open for enemy attack. The flash step puts incredible strain on my body just to pull it off, even when I am in my prime, much less now. One mistake and my muscles would have been torn. Despite the best efforts of my teacher, to this day I have failed to incorporate this technique into my style. As for your other question, yes, it is possible," The warlord said, and the heart of Annie started to beat faster. If it is true, then she can become stronger, she can one day get even… Dragena gently took Annie by her paws and looked them over "If your bloodlust drives you closer to the enemy, we will have to teach you how to use the proper weapons for melee. Knife training will do for now. As for the rest… It will take years, but I will help you learn martial arts, one way or another," The fingers of Dragena pushed on the fingers of Annie, making her unleash her claws. The Warlord critically looked over the broken claws, "Your claws will grow back. I am a bit stingy with money at the moment, but if you want, I can find some way to pay for additional…"

"This will not be necessary!" Annie knew what Dragena meant. Claws meant a lot for wolfkins. During the mating season, females attracted males with the glint of their natural weapons. At least it used to be this way in the past. Nowadays, most wolfkins just date each other or copulate on impulse. Attracting with claws was a thing that only traditionalists still used, and while Annie believed in spirits, she did not believe in all the traditions of the Tribe, "I heard about your problem with tokens. I may not have much, but…"

"I will never extort my own soldiers," The warlord made Annie shiver with a stone gaze, "Your earnings are yours alone. Do not ever dare to offer me tokens. I will find a way to get the needed funds myself… Enter already." Dragena said in a low hissing voice, throwing a glance at the door.

The door cracked and a blonde, handsome man, dressed in a gray suit, stepped inside, holding the back of his head with his left hand. He had a guilty smile on his face, his eyes were closed. Larry chuckled nervously, closing the door after himself and turning to the warlord:

"Sorry to sneak up on you like this," The iternian scratched furiously behind his head furiously. Annie looked at him with suspicion. She was distracted, true, but she should have heard his steps way before he stepped close to the door. The scout decided that she will find a way to train her hearing as well, "I have overheard your speech a bit…"

Dragena appeared before a journalist before either Annie or Larry could even notice or hear her movements. Iternians, along with personnel from the facility, were transported to this center, until the end of the investigation into the facility. Citizens of Iterna were free to leave, of course, but since some of the journalists were roughed up or injured by the mercenaries, the command naturally gave orders for doctors to treat them. The reputation of the World Without Borders was well known, their journalist pushed for every scoop and piece of information that they could get. Devourer contacted the owners of WWB and made a deal with them. The reporters will behave and will not bother the locals too much, and he will give them an interview later. An agreement was made, but Annie clearly saw now that Iterna never intended to honor it from the looks of it.

Jaws, larger than the torso of the scared man, appeared in front of his face. The snout of Dragena lowered a bit, allowing her to sniff the man like a dog. Turning away from the man, Dragena loudly inhaled air through her nostrils, sounding more like a piece of industrial equipment than a human being. Her chest enlarged itself, as air was pouring into the nostrils of the warlord with the sound of a tornado. Annie felt how the sleeves of her jacket were trying to move toward the warlord, such was the force behind her sniffing. The warlord came to a complete stop, charging towards one of the lockers and searching behind it with her paw. She turned toward the man and showed him a small black mechanical ball. It took Annie a good moment before she understood that this was a listening device.

"You dare?" Once again, neither man nor woman saw the movement of the warlord, she appeared before the journalist, two claws pointing at his eyes. There was no anger or fury behind the words of the warlord, merely calm speech with a barely hidden threat in it, "We saved you. We showed hospitality. Our doctors treated your wounded colleagues. Our warlords invited you and allowed your methods, only asking you to respect our privacy. And you repay us by spitting in our faces and ignoring our only rule?"

"Please, be calm!" Larry raised his hands in the air in a gesture of surrender, "The last thing I want is to make someone in your condition worry, lady." His words caused Dragena to produce a calm growl. To the ears of Annie, not a hint of anger was in this sound. To her ears, it sounded more like a defensive instinct, "Your secret is well hidden with me, this I swear. Even our company has standards. My government will put me in prison for revealing something like this without your consent. No what, I have in mind is something else entirely. A solution to your… monetary problem," The warlord narrowed her eyes, taking the man by his jaw and making him look into her shing eyes. Larry Kosh smiled innocently, covering his face with one hand, "Listen, whatever you think of us, Iterna, do not drop weak when we can to help. I was willing to let go of the interview with big D if it meant saving the life of that little guy. Buuut, since you plan to help him and I want to see him well, how about we join forces? Your pack saved the lives of Iterna citizens. This means that your entire pack can claim our citizenship."

"I will not betray Dynast." Dragena responded in an icy tone. She threw a glance at Annie and continued, "I will announce your offer to my pack and let them choose. But not a single one of them can be a citizen of Iterna and be a member of my pack."

"I deny this offer as well." Annie quickly said.

"I never expected otherwise, dammit," The reporter replied, scratching behind his head furiously. "But here's the thing. You can still claim a reward for rescuing a citizen of Iterna. Just lie that this little guy is your relative or something and that he is in need of treatment. No one will bother to check! And voila! Free medical care is his for a lifetime."

"I will not beg. And I will not give him over to you for life," The warlord hesitated, "I can’t give him what I do not possess myself, but I can at least ensure that he will be properly taken care of here, well fed, healthy, and educated. I won’t give up my kin in the clutches of Iterna to be experimented on or something."

"Well, too bad, because he would have been far happier with us than here," Larry said, pointing out the window at the land outside the refugee center. The warlord let go of the man and folded her arms in thought, "It is true, and you know it! But fine, he won’t be "stolen". Doctors simply fix him and give him back to your Tribe…"

"Back to the state," Dragena corrected him, breathing a bit harder, "He will be given to a proper foster family, one that could provide him with a proper life. Kassandra was willing to… Why do you help me? Iterna will be my adversary for as long as the Dynast wills it. I can think of no way to thank you for your help either."

"Oh please," The reporter waved his hand at these words, "When was the last time Iterna and the Reclaimers even fought each other? A hundred years ago, or more? My parents weren’t even born during the last scramble between our countries! In today's world, we are all but official allies. As for a way to thank me, how about a private interview for the WWB after the "event"? Of course, only with you, I won’t bother the others!" The reporter once again threw his arms up, seeing the look of the warlord. He swallowed quickly and added, "And maybe it would be better for you to sit. You know in…" He stopped, seeing something in her eyes.

Dragena looked at him for a moment, sizing him up as if thinking about the pros and cons of swallowing him whole. She closed her eyes, slowing her breathing for a moment, and finally nodded, baring her neck before the man in a gesture of surrender.

"I agree to your terms. You won," Dragena calmly said, showing her neck to the man, "Please, help my kin, I beg you. Will this sound good enough?"

"Who cares about winning if we both get what we wante…" Larry's speech was cut off by the alarm signal. Annie jumped off her seat, looking at the bright lights that started shining above the entrance. Her ears caught the sound of the moving boots on the other side of the door.

Dragena walked toward the entrance, gesturing Annie to follow her. This alarm signal was meant to ensure that all guests and patients will stay in their rooms, allowing the security force to do their job. But the scout understood the intention of the warlord, if this place came under the attack of the enemy, new breeds could not stay out of it. It was their duty to protect the place. Yet who would be foolish enough to cause problems in this place, with Wyrm Lord and Outsider both nearby?

Gesturing for the reporter to stay behind them, the warlord opened the door, seeing a group of security personnel, led by the lieutenant Angoro. People were busy checking their stun guns, Ieshua, dressed in a brown jacket, was among them, armed with a long tranquilizer gun. The doctor threw a glance at Dragena and continued to put sleep darts into his weapon.

Angoro nodded to Annie and addressed the warlord, "Please stay inside, we need to deal with a few ruffians who are causing a ruckus here."

"The mercenaries managed to escape?" Annie asked, looking around the corridor. While the mercs who were unharmed went straight to prison, those who suffered injuries were brought here for treatment. If they escaped…

"Worse. Some of the wolfkins managed to escape from their rooms, before they were treated properly," Ieshua replied, checking if his gun was ready, carefully keeping one finger off the trigger, "Now we are on a bit of a hunt."

"But aren't you a doctor?" Annie inquired, "What are you..."

"I am also quite a good hunter. It comes with the territory. You really think only your new breeds are so irresponsible about their health? Ain’t none of my patients will run away before we finish with them. Now, let us begin our retrieval agent, before patients manage to hurt themselves more." Ieshua nodded to the agent.

"Ok, people, we've all done this before. The hunt will proceed as such," Angoro addressed security guards, raising his stun gun, "You see any wounded suspicious wolfkin, you shoot her or him, ask questions later. We are looking for scout Carty, shaman…"

Everyone turned their heads when the form of Lacerated One appeared down the corridor. The shaman was busy checking some data on her pocket terminal, clearly heading for one of the rooms meant to keep guests in while the alarm was going on. Hearing Ieshua raise his weapon, Lacerated One lifted her head, looking at the group of people before her with confusion.

"I think there is some mistake here…" The shaman started talking, her rags covered with dried up blood.

"Wounded wolfkin, one, checked." Angoro raised his gun. Lacerated One quickly turned toward Dragena.

The warlord calmly closed the door and gestured for Annie to be silent. She turned around to the lockers and walked to the one marked for her, while Annie and Larry were looking at her back. Scout was unsure if she should have said anything.

"Dragena, you little bitch, I will massacre you for this!" Lacerated One howled when sounds of discharging stun guns were heard from behind the door, accompanied by the sound of jumping and running of the guard.

The warlord ignored all the confusion, calmly opening her locker and taking off her brand new leather coat in a deep blue color and a pair of sandals. Dragena sat near the locker, trying to put on sandals without stressing her leg. Feeling confused looks from Annie and Kosh, she looked up:

"What? I too can hold a grudge. Can’t hold a cub properly, I'll let you know that I read all the manuals…" The warlord grumbled in an utterly calm voice, finishing putting on the sandals, "Besides, you saw her. Someone needs to do something about that level of self-mutilation. Anyhow, Annie, since we are all stuck in her for the foreseeable future, name me the proper rules of engagement during assault. Let us see if you are ready for the exam."

"Yes, ma’am!" Annie saluted, sitting nearby and beginning to give answers.

****

"All done, scout." Lucendra said, bowing to Annie.

"Enough already! We are supposed to be on leave, right? Sit in and let’s feast!" Annie laughed, taking her own food from the cook.

Dragena ordered the wolf hags to rigorously train her forces, leaving little time for Annie to rest. Waking up in the morning, training, military wargames with normies, hand-to-hand lessons with Ultis, and then precious few hours of free time. Annie had to choose between praying and working in the refugee center, in the end, after consideration, she chose to help in the Gamma center. Lacerated One approved of this option before heading deeper into the Wastes to answer warlord Janine's call. Dragena expected that orders about mobilization could be announced at any moment, the forces of Chosen Prince had already surrounded Stonehelm and should have begun their assault any day now. No one doubted that the city will fall, such was the size of the horde that arrived to capture the city. And yet no order came. According to circulating rumors, the Dynast met with the rulers of Oathtakers and Iterna, making some sort of agreement. Ever since then, elite forces of other armies have been slowly leaving the border, leaving the forces of Wyrm Lord to guard it.

Dragena herself has rarely appeared in public in the past weeks, something that was unheard of before, according to Carty and Kayleen. Normally, Dragena would spend countless hours drilling Annie and others about the art of knife fighting, ensure that all the pack had high scores on the shooting range, force soldiers to learn about how to do minimal repairs in the field, disarm mines, and so on. Now the warlord allowed wolf hags and helpers from normies to train her pack, while the warlord herself commanded from within her chambers in the barracks of Refugee Center Gamma. The warlord appeared only once in this week, giving Annie a pair of knives as a reward for completing the training course. Meanwhile, Carty was still stuck in the hospital, her broken arm now worked, somewhat, but Ieshua refused to let her go until healing was complete. With a sour face, Carty was spending time giving Annie lessons via video feed.

Wyrm Lord and Devourer left the border altogether. Orders came from the very top, according to rumors from the Dynast himself, to ease the readiness at the border. Quarantine measures were still in place and trade caravans coming from the lands of Oathtakers, be they people of Reclaimers, Iterna, or Oathtakers, all had to pass medical check-ups before coming to the lands of the Reclamation Army. But aside from that, the Reclaimers made no effort to prepare forces in case Chosen Prince decided to invade. Rumors were circulating non-stop, some even claimed that the Dynast had made some sort of a deal with Lord Steward, ruler of Oathtakers. But no one knew for sure.

What is certain is that several volunteers got the diseases from working in hospitals in the Gamma center, despite all precautions. Not wanting to risk lives, Ieshua forbade accepting help from normies. Upon reviewing the situation and confirming that wolfkins were not at risk of catching disease, warlord Dragena volunteered her entire pack to help, since they were stationed in this place by orders of command anyway. Fresh hands were always welcomed, and doctors eagerly agreed to accept this help, since most medical personnel already suffered from catastrophic lack of sleep and rest. From this day, grumbling wolfkins were stuck with cleaning toilets, floors, and other stuff in the hospital. They performed basic maintenance, helped nurses turn patients from one side to another, and administered medicine to patients. Wolf hags worked alongside their soldiers, cleaning patients and helping to bring medical capsules to hangars for repairs and resupply.

Other warlords hated to be outdone. In a short span of time, the forces of no less than three warlords showed up at refugee center Gamma, led by none other than Alpha herself. Unlike other warlords, Alpha could do little to help people due to her hands, so she took over as one of the mentors for cubs, spending time teaching them history, writing, and mathematics. With the arrival of new helpers, the inevitable happened. Domination was in the blood of wolfkins, fights started to erupt all over the place. Of course, warlords smacked up anyone who dared to break discipline, of course, but there was only so much that could be done when tradition itself demanded to know who was the strongest. Eventually, lower-ranking wolfkins were allowed to settle their differences in places other than the hospital. Warlords themselves set an example by working hard. In order not to give their soldiers any free time, warlords made their own packs to compete against each other. While refugee cubs enjoyed playing with massive fur balls that were wolfkins, agents and people in charge were confused to see how a sea of multicolored, but mostly black, fur-covered beings swarmed upon the construction sites, snarling at each other, kicking and beating each other, all while building new structures and maintaining teamwork. And then they vanished, like waves at low tide, leaving behind another built barrack for refugees, a hangar for machines, a new storage room, or some other structure, rapidly expanding the facility beyond most people's expectations. Kassandra even had to ask wolfkins to slow down, as guards were not able to expand walls in time. Naturally, this only left wolfkins to take over construction duties over walls as well as guard duties, leaving surrounded areas barren of any dangerous wildlife.

During the evening, wolfkins would gather at the large podium in the north of the refugee center, waiting eagerly for warlords to announce the result of the daily competition. Winners cheered as additional rations were served to them, while losers wailed in anger and planned to work twice as hard tomorrow. Such gatherings attracted, at first small but later massive, crowds of people. Both workers of refugee centers and refugees themselves were curious about what was the source of the noise. On the next morning after the discovery, people start making bets on which pack of wolfkins will lead, going as far as making boards that keep the current score across the refugee center Gamma.

Wyrm Lord wasted no time, pleading with both Dynast and Iterna for additional resources, as the Wastes were a poor region. Devourer and Wyrm Lord had strained relationships, yet to everyone's surprise, Devourer was the first to pledge full official material support to his rival, sending whole caravans filled with medicine, food, building materials, and equipment. The ruler of the Second Army even officially provided the Wolf Tribe with civilian and military clothes, made by some of the best tailors of the Ice Fang Order. The shamans tried to refuse this offer, stating that the Wolf Tribe could not possibly pay back the cost, but Devourer refused to listen to them, making the free supply of clothes permanent.

When some of the refugees fell under the influence of Chosen Prince and his virus took over their minds, it was Devourer who offered help from the hospitals of the Core Lands to treat the infected. Medical capsules were capable of burning away supernatural infection from victims' bodies, and those who swore an oath were somewhat resistant to the Chosen Prince's mind control, but not all refugees swore oaths, and capsules were still in short supply. Five hundred medical capsules were to arrive next week, a gift from Iterna itself, but right now possessed people had to be kept locked away and sedated. Wyrm Lord eagerly accepted the offer. Aside from that, the commander of the Third Army was giving speeches after speeches of unity and hope on TV, promising that everything will be fine and begging locals to tolerate and help refugees reach refugee centers. Annie herself felt her heart filled with pride and hope at the assured voice of her liege. Many in the tribe wanted Ravager back, she was the blessed mother, this much Annie accepted. However, Wyrm Lord and his responsible and hopeful nature were the ideal for the young scout. The massive golden wyrm, with the power to level entire cities, was nonetheless someone who gave others the idea that everything will be fine, sometimes meeting with refugees in the Ravaged Lands and helping them to reach safe places in person. Some locals grumbled, as the refugee centers that were built for refugees far dwarfed the medicine that was available to people in the Wastes. Wyrm Lord made an announcement that he is well aware of this fact and made an oath to keep working hard in order to bring free universal healthcare to all people in Wastes, as well as the fact that all medical facilities in Wastes will be renovated and brought up to a modern level. With the help and silent support of Dynast, the cost of medical assistance in the Wastes was massively slashed, allowing for the population at large to get much needed help. Annie was surprised at how much Wyrm Lord was taking advantage of the situation, with his announcement, he literally forced the hand of his liege to provide for the people of this land, as renovation of facilities in Wastes was planned to happen only in thirty or more years, after the terraforming process was ready to kick in in the local area. The locals' grumbling, fear, and dissatisfaction with refugees gradually faded as new jobs were created on a regular basis and rulers demonstrated that they cared about local demands. Yet, if troubles were to continue, even the patience of locals would reach its limit.

The Dynast still had to make his official appearance. Instead, he simply flooded the wastelands with desperately needed supplies, keeping his persona hidden as always. This was a bit sad, for Annie wanted to see her liege at least once, even if only on TV. All she ever saw of him were the massive statues of the man in purple colored power armor, holding a war scepter proudly in his right hand, his left hand outstretched to others, inviting them to join him in his quest to restore humanity and the planet to former glory.

Right now, Annie and other members of the Dragena pack were in the kitchen, a spacious, one-story tall building, located close to the center of the facility. Each warlord occupied one of the newly made barracks to the north, east, west, and south of the refugee center, trying to keep pack members as far away as possible from each other, to have some calm at least at night. Aside from Alpha and her pack, who had their own kitchen, each pack of warlords used the kitchen at different times, to avoid conflicts between various packs. Dragena lost the draw and her pack got to eat at midnight.

"Of course, scout." Lucendra's fur was still wet as she sat at the table. The Wolf Tribe hated water with a passion, but after each time they had to leave the hospital, even just to drag trash away to burn it, they had to take full showers now that the water supply was abundant. Wolfkins also now have to clean themselves before starting their daily jobs, removing parasites from their hides. Virginia and several other wolf hags loudly protested against such treatment and wrote an official letter to Alpha, begging the warlord to stop the "torture", as they put it. Instead, the warlord nearly drowned them all, later putting them on double shifts and making sure that they are working on jobs that will require them to leave the hospital at least several times a day.

Annie herself was doing her best to evade Virginia. She could not meet her, not now. Allowing her rival to see that Annie had lost her rank, she ended up being the one who was weak once more… Annie felt that she would rather die rather than live through such shame. Maybe one day, if she ever becomes a wolf hag once again, a proper wolf hag this time, she can meet the blasted idiot in proper combat and knock her down… But not right now.

The young Branded sat near Annie, reaching out to put food before herself. Unlike Annie, who mostly tore off meat from a large leg of cusack, gulping entire paw-sized pieces whole as if it was her last meal, Lucendra had a large plate with vegetables and meat before herself, the recruits from the ranks of Crippled still eat food according to the strict diet of Dragena. Lucendra's once-thin arms were now swollen with muscles, abs appeared on her once-thin belly, and her legs could now crash stone with relative ease. With each day, the young warrior resembled a proper wolfkin more and more. Soon enough, she will outgrow most normies.

Lucendra reached for her personal pocket terminal and looked at something while eating food with a fork.

"Watching cartoons?" Annie asked, cracking bone between her fangs and loudly swallowing food. Kayleen was drilling into her head that it was proper to learn more of the pack’s members under one’s control.

"Actually, just browsing through the news of the stock market, scout." Lucendra answered, without breaking eye contact with the display.

"Eh?"

"With events that are happening in the lands of Oathtakers and the sudden development of the Wastes, tons of various stocks are changing in price. I am planning to sell some of Rho’s Healthcare Universal stocks and buy some of Barjoni’s Pharma…" Lucendra smiled as she enthusiastically began explaining the situation to Annie, putting the terminal aside.

"Hold on to your stocks for a couple more days, instead of selling them for now," A calm voice said, and a large figure, shrouded in a cloak of pure dark color, sat at the table near the wolfkins, putting a plate with apples, several jars with juice, and a large bag of sugar before himself. Outsider, the leader of the First Army, one of the Reclamation Army's Trio, casually began pouring sugar into the jar with juice. While other commanders left and his own troops were gone, the commander of First Army was still around, "Rhos are not the ones to be outdone."

"How so?" Lucendra asked bluntly, and Annie hiccupped from fear. Outsider! A figure of absolute terror, someone with whom even Ravager dared not to mess with, was sitting here! This idiot will get them all killed by speaking so casually to such a great man!

"You know about the medical capsules that are heading our way?" The hand covered with chitin finished pouring sugar into the jar and lifted it in the air, toward the hood of the Outsider. With a disgusting sucking sound, the champion drank the entire jar. The warrior nodded, and Outsider continued, "Check the news about their origin. They are built by Rhos, seems like someone managed to get onto the government contracts to supply us. You know what this mean."

"Stocks of Healthcare Universal will go up, until Barjonis manages to counter it! Thank you so much for your advice, sir!" The warrior stood up and bowed in thanks to Outsider, who carelessly waved his hand in response, before taking the apple and throwing it into the darkness under his hood. In the pure darkness of the hood came the sound of something crushing the apple.

"Just don’t hold onto them for too long. Two days, three days, maybe no more. Barjonis are already trying to find some way to get their claws onto the deal to supply us and Oathtakers. His Excellency already plans to involve our own companies more, and who knows how else the world will change in the coming days. With this stupid war, the market is in a bit of turmoil. Keep an eye on the construction companies of Oathtakers, once they win, there is bound to be a boom in their homeland." The hood turned toward Annie, and something within the darkness beneath the hood gazed at the worried looking wolfkin, "You suddenly stopped eating, scout. Does my presence bother you?"

"Not at all, sir!" Annie squeaked weakly, gulping the remaining leg of cusack twice as fast as she had before. Outsider! Someone who slapped Ravager across half of city during a drunken brawl. Outsider! The man who prevented the fall of the meteor upon the planet. The first new breed that joined the Dynast on his quest. Strongest of the strongest, the prime of the Reclaimers, he was sitting right here, next to her.

Annie turned her head toward the entrance as doors slammed. Kayleen came inside, covered by dust and pieces of stone. She had been working with the south construction team since the morning. Wolfkins in the room decided to be as quiet as possible, wolf hags were slowly steaming with rage as they were being tasked with helping in the refugee center instead of training and fighting. Wolf hags were unusually restrained during working hours, remaining silent when soldiers made mistakes. Kayleen walked her soldiers through every mistake, explaining slowly how to operate construction tools and showing how to use them safely. But during rest hours, wolf hags were turning into walking menaces. They snapped at their subordinates for every mistake and at every opportunity, provoking domination fights to let out steam. Kayleen had recovered from recent injuries, with only a few scars to remind her of the wounds she received during the battle with the mercenaries.

"Lucendra! You and me, outside, now." Kayleen commanded. Lucendra let out a quick sigh before standing up, slightly trembling.

"Wolf hag, warlord gave order to…" Annie responded, putting away her food.

"Half a year had passed, Annie, unless you missed. Time to get them a good taste of what it is to be a part of the Tribe."

"Wolf hag, it was a hard day and…" Annie tried to find a way to calm down her superior.

"Shut it, Annie. People can’t grow without walls that they need to climb before them. You know the drill, they will be fine." Kayleen smiled, cracking her knuckles as Lucendra walked away from the table.

Keep our new allies out of trouble, scout Annie. Came the voice in Annie’s head, and the scout slammed the plate with her food onto the table. Lucendra and the others were part of her pack, they were given to her. She won’t let others lay even a finger on her subordinates, not when she can still stand.

"You know what, wolf hag, I don’t think I know. Lucendra, back to your food. I will be Kayleen's sparring partner for tonight. No claws?" Anni rocked her shoulders, hearing nice popping sounds. She was still missing some claws and two fangs, but aside from that, she was as good as she could ever hope to be.

"Agreed. Begin." Annie barely had time to dodge, as the wolf hag was on her. The left arm of Kayleen was behind her back, while her right paw crossed around the neck of Annie, pushing scout back. The back of Annie moved the table to the side and Outsider caught plates with food in his arms.

"Take it elsewhere, will you? Others are trying to eat here." The champion calmly said, putting Annie’s food aside and giving Lucendra her own plate.

"Of course, sir." Annie felt herself flying as the wolf hag lifted her in the air with one arm. Kayleen grunted when the scout grabbed the wrist of her opponent with both hands and landed a heavy kick into the stomach of the wolf hag. Annie used the belly of her opponent as a platform, trying to do a backflip away from Kayleen. The hold on her neck became tighter for a moment, preventing Annie from breathing. Then the world started spinning around as Kayleen threw Annie into the passage between tables with a flick of the hand.

The scout fell on her shoulder, jumping back onto her feet just in time to evade the kick of Kayleen. With her back to the counter and with Kayleen blocking the road to the entrance, the scout had little room for maneuver.

So what? I have a duty.

Annie made a feint with her right paw, stopping her hit just as Kayleen caught her paw. Annie pushed her muscles to the limit, not allowing the wolf hag to twist her arm away. She blocked the incoming left knee with the palm of her left paw, sending it aside just as Carty had shown her. Still holding Annie by the wrist, Kayleen made a quick attack with her right elbow. Annie took this attack onto her own right forearm, stopping the swing before it could gain power. Anger appeared on the snout of the wolf hag, as she pushed her elbow further, winning in a battle of strength. With a thin smile, the scout punched with her left paw, aiming at the lower jaw of the wolf hag. Carty showed her numerous times that sometimes a single hit can make an opponent groggy, if you hit the right point on the head and make their brain go spinning.

The smile disappeared from the lips of the scout when Kayleen caught the wrist of Annie with her left paw.

She is using both paws! A panicked thought came and Kayleen stepped on the left foot of Annie, locking the scout in place. Holding the scout in place, Kayleen made a demonstratively big swing with her right paw, aiming to bring both pain and fear into the scout's heart. Unable to back away, Annie ducked, allowing her fist to pass overhead with a loud sound. Pushing herself forward with her right foot, Annie launched herself forward like a bullet, aiming her head at the neck of Kayleen. The scout felt the hold on her wrist disappear, and Kayleen stopped Annie’s charge with the palm of her left paw. Not allowing Annie to get even a moment of respite, Kayleen grabbed the scout by the nape of her neck with her right paw and kicked with her left knee, forcing Annie to block the incoming hit with her forearms.

Pain from this simple hit caused Annie to groan, it was as if Kayleen had whipped her across Annie's arms with steel rope. The area where the knee connected with the scout's arms had already begun to swell. And yet this time, Annie refused to be scared and retreat. With a roar, she pushed aside the knee before her, spreading her arms wide and sending them into the sides of the wolf hag in a thrusting motion.

Just below the ribs, push with all your might and… She was met with a flurry of quick blows. Kayleen pushed the head of Annie back, freeing her paws and punching forward. Throat. Belly. Head. Nose. Belly again. Annie raised her paws before herself, taking hits upon her forearms. Incoming pain caused her to groan in pain, the shower of hits felt as if someone was unleashing a full volley from a rifle into the arms of the scout. Left, right, left, right, belly, left, belly, right. Left shoulder…

Now! Annie smiled through pain as the fist of the left paw of the wolf hag connected to her left shoulder. She half turned to the left, allowing the left fist to slide way behind her and opening Kayleen up for a massive punch with her right paw. Annie clenched the fist of her right paw and punched, certain that she had perfectly timed the attack.

She did time the moment right. Kayleen lost her balance for the briefest of moments. And yet the difference in strength and speed remained. The wolf hag ruled over her pack with an iron fist, the wolf hags were the best of their subordinates. Strongest. Most durable. And fastest.

Despite her mistake, Kayleen made a blindingly fast uppercut with her right arm. The fist moved between the wolf hag's left arm and the scout's body, rubbing across Annie's skin before finding her jaw and landing with such force that Annie flew over the counter, right into the kitchen area, scaring the cook away. The wolf hag made a mistake in the fight. However the sheer speed allowed her to not suffer the consequences of her mistake.

I can’t beat her. The horrible realization hit Annie as she landed on the cold stone floor, sending tremors across the hung-up plates, frying pans, and knives. Pain hit across her body while drool and blood reached toward her mouth, but worse than the pain was the shame. She can’t even protect her pack. The Branded were given into her care. And she was weak. Weak. Wea..

She turned on the side and saw a crate with hot peppers and wildly smiled. Who said that victory needs to be fair?

"Come out or I will come after you!" Kayleen shouted.

Annie tore the cover of the crate and grabbed several crimson chili peppers in her paws, putting them into her mouth. Crushing them with her fangs, Annie spat the drool, mixed with the remains of pepper, onto her paws.

"Come and get me, you ugly bitch!" Annie laughed back, standing up.

With a roar, Kayleen jumped over the counter, landing on her feet just in time to meet Annie’s charge. The wolf hag nimbly evaded the punch of the right paw of her opponent and punched Annie in the stomach, sending the scout a step back. A close-range hit usually lacks power, but Kayleen's was so powerful that Annie briefly lost her breath. In panic, she kicked with her left leg, only for her leg to be kicked into the ground as the left foot of Kayleen landed on the knee of the scout.

"Weakling." The wolf hag fiercely smiled as Annie fell onto one knee from sudden pain.

Enough of the fear. Annie decided and jumped forward, ignoring the pain of the beat, ignoring the pain in her knee. The palms of her paws closed on Kayleen's eyes as the wolf hag caught her by the wrist, landing another brutal knee kick into Annie's belly and causing the scout to throw out in pain.

And then Kayleen stopped blinking, feeling a burning sensation in her eyes. She tried to rub her eyes and missed the moment when Annie punched her in the side, forcing the wolf hag to step backwards. Kayleen made a wide swing with her right paw, blindly trying to hit Annie. Tears were flowing from the eyes of the wolf hag and she could barely see because of the pepper in her eyes. The scout caught her opponent by the hand, throwing her foe over herself, face down into the floor and cracking stone with the snout of Kayleen. Before the wolf hag could stand up, Annie was on her back, punching repeatedly into the back of the head of the foe.

The head of Kayleen was slammed into stone each time she tried to stand up, leaving blood smeared across the cracked floor. The wolf hag roared and managed to turn her body around, wildly smacking the jaw of Annie with the fist of her right hand during the turn. The world became blurry for a second, yet Annie pushed on, still sitting on her foe and punching wolf hag into her face, evading incoming hits as best she could, feeling how bruises appeared on her cheeks just from glancing blows.

Kayleen grabbed the sides of Annie with both hands and pushed on. Annie let out a groan, as she felt her ribs cracking and raised both of her fists overhead, clenched together. Wielding her fists like a hammer, she sent them down, with full force behind her, right across the lower jaw of Kayleen. The world spun for the wolf hag this time, and her cruel hold on the ribs of Annie weakened.

Kayleen put her paws onto the floor, breaking stone beneath her palms as she tried to slide from underneath Annie. Yet Annie only tightened the grip of her legs around her opponent’s torso and continued to strike. With each hit, Kayleen hit the ground with the back of her head, after the tenth hit, the wolf hag no longer lifted her head, trying desperately to get out from underneath Annie. After the twentieth punch, blood flowed from the nostrils of the wolf hag, blood bubbles appeared on the lips of the wolf hag.

Again. Again. One more. And another! Annie was shocked that her opponent was still conscious. She was pummeling the wolf hag with all her might, and still, Kayleen refused to give up, refused to be knocked out. The blood showed up from the left ear of the wolf hag, the knuckles of Annie started bleeding as her shin got torn, yet she punched and punched.

Just one more. Annie hesitated briefly before landing another hit. Each morning, Kayleen would check her pack. The wolf hag knew exactly where each member of her soldiers was, who needed support and who needed a break. She always checked the gear of soldiers, made plans for training, found time for personal training when needed, and was present during briefings in command, always checking out and knowing who was sick and who faked not being sick. As horrible as Kayleen was, could Annie do the same bare minimum for her fellow soldiers? No.

"Listen," Annie whispered, as she crushed her fist into the ground near the head of the wolf hag and grabbed Kayleen by the collar of her jacket, "Listen, let’s say that you have won. Spirits, you can even knock me out, just don’t lay a finger on my pack anymore, ever."

"Why… stop?" Kayleen spat words along with blood and two fangs, "You won. Go on, take the titl…"

"Because I can’t do things that you can!" Annie whispered in desperation, feeling how her jeans were suddenly getting a tiny bit tighter. Power acknowledged that she had won and that a reward was in order, shifting her body slightly, "I can’t… command the same way you do. I don’t know logistics as you do, and I don’t know people as you do. Soldiers have no need for honor, but we have a duty! My duty tells me to let you stay in charge because it is better overall because you are a better officer, but I also won’t allow you to lay even a finger on my pack! I know that you feel the same, you know that you are a better commander! Please, for the sake of our duties, for the sake of those under our command, let’s cut a deal, please. Promise not to beat up soldiers anymore and I will tell everyone that you won."

Kayleen rubbed her eyes, trying to look at Annie’s face through tears. She spat blood again and nodded, still rubbing her eyes. When she spoke, her voice sounded strained and filled with pain: "Fine. You won, the loser has to do what the winner wants. I won’t touch anyone else from my pack with as much as a finger. When you feel like you are ready, tell me and I will give up my position."

"Thank you!" Annie hushed in response, helping the wolf hag to stand up and clean her eyes with water from a nearby sink. Hearing that the sound of fighting had ended, the cooks came back, and Annie along with Kayleen, apologized for the mess.

When the pair left the kitchen area, they came face to-face with Dragena. The warlord was dressed in loose black shorts, a simple white shirt, and a green jacket. Two ugly scars were on her knees, not even fur was growing back on the deformed skin. She had not a single trace of dirt or dust on her, her fur was cleaned with water and combed with a hairbrush. Dragena partially confined herself to her chambers on the orders of Wyrm Lord. The warlord appeared on television during an award ceremony organized by Iterna officials to thank her for rescuing Iterna citizens. During the ceremony, the warlord lowered herself on her knees before Iterna’s ambassador. Dragena put her head to the ground and humbly begged the ambassador to provide healthcare for the cub of Alsyn. Naturally, the confused ambassador quickly agreed, but this scene caused an uproar back in Iterna, civilians were insisting that government officials of Iterna humiliated warlord's on purpose to assert their dominance over the Reclaimers and Wolf Tribe. Annie had no idea why this would be a bad thing in the eyes of citizens of a rival country, seeing rivals grovel before you is merely a sign of superiority, that is all. One day, Annie will make Virginia stand on her knees before her, and this will be the happiest day of her life. According to rumors, Dynast laughed at the ensuing chaos in the rivalling state, while Wyrm Lord and Dragena gave interviews to several reporters from Iterna, trying to mitigate the situation and clear up the confusion. Annie herself received an exquisite looking golden pin with diamond engraving on it at that award ceremony, which was now the most precious and beautiful thing in her possession by far. Annie, and all others who participated in the operation, also received free access to healthcare from Iterna for the remainder of her lives, but that was far less interesting than the golden pin.

Outsider and scared-looking Lucendra were still sitting on their seats. From time-to-time, Outsider asked Lucendra to show him something on terminal and gave her advice about investment, utterly ignoring the chaos that ruled in the room just a minute ago.

"Annie, Kayleen. Who won?" Dragena asked with her hands behind her back.

"Wolf hag Kayleen won as usual, warlord." Annie quickly bowed, while Kayleen simply shrugged and pointed at Annie wordlessly.

"Wise choice, scout. Your mischief annoys me, however. My pack is supposed to hold themselves to greater standards. As a punishment, both of you will fix the broken floor and serve as cooks for next week. Cleaning duties will also be on you both for next month. If you have so much energy to spare, you will manage to keep our toilets clean," Dragena's one ear moved slightly, and she narrowed her eyes, putting her right hand on her own belly, "Both of you look unworthy. Off to the barracks to clean yourselves up, then back here for repair duty. I will appraise the damage and apologize to the personnel, after using the restroom. "

"Yes, warlord!" Saluted both Kayleen and Annie before storming out of the kitchen.

The wolf hag leaped forward, ignoring Annie or her own wounds, crossing several meters with each leap. Annie wanted to charge after her, but noticed the familiar figure near the entrance, outside of the kitchen building. Lia, the cub of the Insect Commune, was standing close to the entrance. Her outer chitin was shredding bit by bit, revealing a gorgeous looking blue chitin shell underneath. She now possessed both arms that resembled those of a human, one of her eyes changed to a square shaped compound eye of yellow coloration. Before, the thin arms of the girl were thinner than the wrists of a normie, now however, all of her limbs looked much thicker. Annie once saw Lia turning a piece of stone into dust with a simple hit of her palm, all under the guidance of Alpha.

Next to a girl stood a man on one knee. He was dressed in a simple-looking green suit, one that many traders wore in the region. The man had short black hair, his skin was unusually pale for the region. He looked just like every other person in the Wastes, there were nothing remarkable or memorable about him, aside from his calm posture. Most locals were uneasy when speaking with members of the Insect Commune.

"… Please think about your future. If you decide to go back, you will have no choice. They will force you, not persuade, force you to give an oath. Is this what you really want?" The man’s words sounded like a snake that was wrapping around the hypnotized victim, "Choice and free will are the two greatest things in this world."

"But… Ma will miss me." Lia muttered, and the man put his hand on her shoulder, showing no sign of distress upon touching the chitin. This cemented the idea that he was a trader in Annie's mind. These people often go for goods in Oathatker's lands.

"Of course, she will miss you. I fully understand your concerns, and this is why she and anyone else whom you want to see will be allowed to see you at any given time, you may even invite others to go and live with you in the Core Lands. Don’t worry, you won’t lose anyone anymore. But please, right now you must make the right choice. You are not a thing, you do not owe anything to anyone. You are a living being, a being who has free will. Please do not throw away your ability to choose, at least not until you have seen the world. You deserve a better life than this."

"Sir, I want to see my mother. I will go back to my homeland," Lia almost whispered these words, "Please let me go, I have things to do."

"I appreciate your honesty and I do not want to hold you against your will, but are you sure that you understand the consequences of losing free will? You will not be able to choose right from wro…" The man continued to speak, refusing to remove the arm from the shoulder of a cub.

Annie felt increased annoyance at the situation. One, the cub should not be outside at such a late time. Two, the soldiers should be here, escorting this weirdo to the closest cell and leading Lia back to the safety of the ward. And yet, patrols seemingly ignored the situation.

Fine, I will do it myself if needed, you lazy bastards.

"Hey, asshole!" The man turned toward Annie in a surprise, looking at her with purple eyes, "The cub asked you to leave her alone. Get your paw off her, before I shove it down your as…"

She squeaked in sudden pain as someone lifted her in the air like a child lifting a doll. Annie saw neither the attacker, nor the movement, in one moment she was standing on the ground, the next moment she was looking at the top of the kitchen building with her legs dangling in the air, unable to reach the ground, while an unknown attacker was choking the life out of her with a hold, more resembling an industrial press.

"How dare you speak like this with…" Annie finally saw the one who grabbed her. Outsider. His clawed hand covered with chitin was holding her by the throat. His calm voice disappeared, burning fury ready to be unleashed into a storm was now behind his every word. A sense of utter despair fell on Annie, she could find no strength to even resist his hold. Once something underneath the black hood looked at her, her will to resist was just gone in an instant, scout no longer even had the strength to breath, much less to speak. Outsider’s grasp held her neck close to the point of snapping, however Annie made no attempt to frantically fight back for her life or try to unclench his cruel grasp. What’s the point in anything…?

"Commander! Let go of the scout, no harm was meant to anyone." Calmly said the purple-eyed man.

The hold on Annie’s throat disappeared, and she nearly fell to the ground. And yet somehow, her fall slowed to a crawl, as if her entire body was wrapped in a thin membrane that held her entire body in the air. The desire to breathe, the desire to live came back once again and the scout blinked in surprise, unsure of what just happened. The strange force that enveloped her lowered her to the ground gently, and Outsider stepped back, not once stopping looking at the man. Annie tried to touch her neck and understood that she couldn’t reach either skin nor even fur. Like a collar made of air, something was around her neck, massaging it and helping blood run freely. In a couple of moments, the mysterious force was gone and the fingers of the scout reached her neck.

Annie took a deep breath before Lia ran toward her, asking if she was fine.

"Yes, of course I am fine." She swallowed, unsure of what had just happened to her. How could she not even try to defend herself? Was it because her opponent was Outsider? Was she really this cowardly to abandon the fate of her pack and accept death?

You are reading story Duty, empty dreams and trying not to become a monster. at novel35.com

"But you have blood on you knuckles and…" The cub argued, pointing to the injuries and bruises.

"That’s not my doing. She was in brawl before…" Outsider started.

"You will have to prove it in court, mister! Annie, you should sue his ass for physical assault and possible sexual harassment!" Lia stomped on the ground.

"The what?!" Outsider and Annie asked in unison.

"Her mother works for the Oathtakers as a lawyer, the girl does not really understand what she is saying." said the purple-eyed man.

Before Annie could say anything else, she felt a tingle of fear, as if some unknown predator was closing in on her. She looked around: the refugee center was still brightly lit, soldiers and patrols were inspecting the area, tired-looking maintenance teams were hauling broken items into hangars for repair, and trucks carrying food and medications were arriving even now. And yet every single bone, every single hair on her screamed: Grab the cub and run. Hide! Run!

Something softly landed from the roof two steps away from Outsider. Warlord Alpha raised her head, standing up. Her topknot was gone, her crimson hair freely running across her back. She was dressed in half a shirt and black pants, long gloves made of reinforced material covered her paws, running all the way to her elbows. At her paws, gloves formed a sphere, fully hiding the dreaded claws and giving Alpha an uncanny resemblance to a boxer. Lia whimpered from fear as Alpha looked around. The eyes of the warlord looked at the cub, and a wave of fear disappeared, as if someone had turned on the light in a dark room, revealing scary silhouettes to be nothing more than a pile of clothes.

"What are you doing outside the ward at such a late hour, child?" Alpha demanded to know, utterly ignoring everyone around her.

"I wanted…" Lia staggered for a moment, then quickly continued, "I wanted to ask something Annie, yes that it!"

"What exactly?" Annie asked in confusion.

"It’s… uh… it’s a secret. Not for the ears of the others. And then this strange man started speaking with me, and Annie saved me, and then an even scarier man appeared and beat up Annie…"

"Slander and exaggerations!" Outsider snapped with anger in his voice, but quickly calmed himself as the purple-eyed man lifted his hand, "I only choked the scout a bit, after she dared to threaten…"

"That is what is called assault in our lands, commander Outsider." Kassandra said in a cheerful voice, coming to them from the corner of a building. Despite black circles around her eyes and sweat on her skin, her eyes gleamed with energy. The agent tugged at the collar of her coat, making sure it still fit perfectly, "You are not a Wolf Tribe member, so you have no right to lay hands on a fellow soldier," she said fearlessly as she approached a figure shrouded in a cloak, smiling to the darkness beneath the hood, "The soldiers here are all volunteers, and you initiated the fight with one of them right in front of the refugee's eyes. Breach of protocol aside, in what light does it paint us before ourselves and others, commander?"

"It was my fault," The man in green clothes said in an assured voice, spreading his arms wide in a gesture of peace, "I merely wanted to help you with persuading our little guest from making the worst mistake in her life."

"And by doing this…" As Kassandra turned to him, her long coat swirled and created a black circle around her legs, "… You scared our guest. Will this help us in any way? Please stop helping us like this, sir, we no longer live in the days of the Fall. Today are civilized times and we must settle everything with civilized methods just as y…"

"I accept this reproach and will strive to become better," The man placed his right hand on his chest, right over his heart, and bowed, "Agent Kassandra, I will leave this place in your care. Please watch over the weak and vulnerable, keep them safe from harm."

Saying this, the man turned away from the kitchen and walked toward the hangars in the north, waving his hand over his head in goodbye. Annie briefly wondered what sort of trader he was when she noticed that the eyes of Alpha were still burrowing into the scared cub, making Lia grab the clothes of the scout in fear.

"Your scent was all around camp. If you merely wanted to find Annie, you sure went out of your way. Will you give me an honest answer, or do you no longer trust me?" The warlord's voice was surprisingly calm and soothing, despite her appearance.

"I wanted to find some apples. He screams at night again," Lia looked at the ground in shame, "Please don’t tell anyone, I don’t want others to tea…"

"It makes sense, boy lost his arm after all. Lia, you should have come to me right away, kid needs someone to speak with, not treats right now. He raced from your hometown to refugees in the Ravaged Lands, carrying you in his arm and severely injured. Most people will be scared after such a trial," Alpha stopped for a moment, then looked at Outsider, "Outsider." Kindness was gone from the voice of the warlord, her regular threatening speech returned in just a single word.

"Alpha." Outsider responded with an icy tone.

"You ever lay a hand on one of my kin again, I will take this hand away. We clear?"

"We are all allies here and in front of guest. Please do not fight on my…" Annie tried to say something, but both beings ignored her while looking at each other. Outsider was slightly lower than Alpha, but surely the warlord could not hope to threaten someone of his rank and power.

"You may take it right now," Outsider extended his arm, "I messed up and mistakes must always be repaid. Go on, doctors will grow a new arm for me in a couple of days."

"Too big of an honor for you to get off so easily. You heard the girl, she wanted to find apples. You got my clue?"

"Tomorrow the wards will be flooded with apples, strawberries, oranges, and treats. I will order delivery right n…" The eyes of Alpha kept burrowing Outsider and he sighed, "Fine. Tonight. I will fly after them myself, not like anything can happen here, not with you around."

"Then, if we are all friends once more, let us escort young Lia back to the ward." Kassandra clapped her hands together and smiled and extended her arm toward Lia, but the young cub went to Alpha instead. The agent, still smiling, only shrugged her shoulders carelessly.

Alpha nodded at her own right shoulder and Lia jumped on it, crossing the distance in a single leap and holding herself tightly with four limbs.

"Thank you for trying to help, Annie!" Lia waved her hand.

"Don’t mention it! Sleep well!" The scout returned the smile.

"Come, we have a boy to speak with." Said Alpha, walking away.

"One more thing, please! Mister Outsider, are you a former member of the Insect Commune?" Lia asked, and Alpha slowed down her walk.

"Unfortunately, I do not have an honor of being a member of such noble people, nor do I have any blood ties with them. Have a good night, young one." Outsider leaped into the air, a shimmering disk appeared under his feet, a disk that lifted him above the buildings. The edges of the disk flowed upward, encasing the being on the disc within a bright sphere that hung in the air for a couple of moments before shooting outside the borders of the refugee center, leaving a shining trace behind like a comet.

"Well, all is well, that ends well. You play cards?" Kassandra asked.

"Sorry, I have a kitchen to repair and food to serve." Annie smiled back with a guilty face.

****

"We are in place and ready, wolf hag. Mines are defused." Lucendra said quietly over the communicator.

"Right on time. Good job," The wolf hag sounded as if saying these words physically hurt her, "I already told you, report to the scout. She is the one in charge of tonight’s mission." Kayleen angrily snapped back at the warrior.

A group of sixteen wolfkins was currently busy sneaking into the camp of raiders. Border patrols were usually in charge of apprehending criminal elements sneaking into the Wastes from the Ravaged Lands. Using the military against mere smugglers or small bands of raiders was like using a bomb against an insectoid drone, it will work, but at the same time, this was a waste of resources.

Sadly, due to the war in the lands of Oathtakers, the resources of the state became strained. A convoy of humanitarian aid that was sent by Iterna, through the lands of Reclaimers, was found to be destroyed near the refugee center Gamma, with precious food and medicine destroyed. The raiders were still not found. Having to deal with a stream of refugees put a toll on the border patrols, allowing smuggling operations to resume in full. Recently, border patrol captured a large group of criminals, who were busy transporting captured children back to the Ravaged Lands. The leaders of the group cracked during the investigation and admitted that they were planning to sell kids to illegal pleasure houses in the city state of Pearl.

This enraged Wyrm Lord, Scorpio, and Ivar. Lesser wyrms were enraged that border security had become so frail, making the state look bad. Wyrm Lord was enraged by the heinous level of such crime, the Wastes banned slavery over a century ago, during the reclamation of the land by the Dynast. Ivar immediately involved military units to bolster the ranks of border patrols, while Scorpio called in the ruling government of Pearl, unleashing the police upon illegal establishments. Right after this, the black wyrm put a hit list on the leaders of smugglers, allowing criminals to devour themselves for the sake of bounty. With the ones who were buying slaves in hiding, Scorpio saw little reason to risk the lives of soldiers to solve this problem. With the permission of the Dynast and Wyrm Lord, Scorpio invited agents of Iterna to help track raiders involved in an attack on the convoy.

Meanwhile, Ivar wanted a demonstration. Hideouts of smugglers across the border burned as Alpha unleashed her pack. Only a few of the groups that were crushed by packs of wolfkins were involved in human trafficking, most of the criminals were busy selling moonshine and drugs. Naturally, after taking samples and video evidence for the court, everything else was burned away on the spot. Caught criminals will face several years in prison, but aside from that, their lives were safe.  Only the fools who tried to resist the law lost their lives, Ivar's goal was not unrestricted cruelty, but a demonstration of power and the futility of smugglers' efforts. Even human traffickers were taken alive, Annie saw Virginia during the evening news, the wolf hag rescued five slaves and put down a raider group made of thirty fighters. The usually bold wolfkin looked miserable, as she tried to answer questions from journalists, clearly hating every second of being in the spotlight and always looking to Alpha for answers. Smugglers involved in this operation will most likely be given life sentences and will be sent to work at some remote mines.

All these events led to today’s night. Right after they dared to assault one of the trader convoys near refugee center Gamma, agent Angoro called for help from Dragena to find and neutralize a group of raiders. The trade convoy was made up of eighteen trucks and one large sand cruiser, an all-terrain vehicle that reached nearly eighty meters in length. At noon, two APM hit the side of the sand cruiser, with an interval of fifteen seconds. After the first explosion, the rest of the convoy immediately ran, following the orders of the caravan master. The first explosion exposed the generator, the second missile set the generator aflame, flooding all decks with smoke. Fire protection systems ended up being disabled when the generator finally exploded, leaving most of the sand cruiser in the dark. Part of the crew died at once. Part died slowly as a result of being locked in various compartments and unable to open doors when fire reached them. Some desperately tried to put off the fire, following the instructions of a mechanical voice, but the damage was simply too great for them to handle. This is when raiders hit, stealing whatever they can and retreating, leaving people choked to death within the coffin of steel. Annie and her pack arrived shortly after, tearing out door after door between compartments and saving whoever they could, while lieutenant Angoro was busy locating retreating enemy forces. Thankfully, Pack A saved almost everyone they could, nearly five hundred people. Dead people numbered in the dozens, and their charred remains called for swift retribution.

Tracking down foes was easy enough, like a group of madmen, they retreated to the border of Oathtakers, not bothering to cover their tracks well. According to survivors of the convoy, the group of raiders was made up of at least ten armed people, and they took eight hostages with them. Dragena approved Kayleen's decision to keep Annie in charge and the decision that this would be a good time to test green recruits in actual combat. Kayleen took two scouts with her, along with veteran soldiers and Annie with her Branded pack, the once weak and frail cubs were no more, now their bodies were up to the standards of the Wolf Tribe. The results were so good that Kayleen was thinking about changing the nickname of the Annie’s pack to something other than Branded. Lucendra might have been the weakest warrior in Dragena’s pack, but she earned her position by right now, although Kayleen often complained to Annie that Lucendra spent too much time tinkering with mechanical equipment instead of physical training.

Ever since the day that Annie managed to win against the wolf hag, Kayleen has stopped daily beatings, creating a sort of confusion in her pack. The wolf hag clearly felt uneasy, having been limited to normal punishments and words, but she, like all members of the Wolf Tribe, quickly adapted to her new circumstances. The weakest members of the pack were getting additional training courses, once Kayleen had free time. The wolf hag could no longer lay claw or paw on her subordinates, so she tired them all out with drill exercises until they were half-dead. Annie herself, too, was subjected to grueling training, Kayleen worked with the scout for hours, showing her how to transition from one hit to the next. Carty, finally released from the hospital, was teaching Annie how to make precision hits and evade or deflect attacks. Kayleen, instead, was showing Annie how to tough through damage, linking her individual strikes into a flurry of blows, ensuring that when one attack fell, you could always follow up with another.

And on this night, The wolf hag declared that Annie would remain in command of the mission. Annie was now responsible for inspecting the combatants' equipment prior to the mission, making decisions about weapons and gear, deciding how to approach the enemy location, and deciding how the wolfkins would reach the target area. The wolf hag was always nearby, when Annie made a mistake and forgot to include the drone, it was Kayleen who reminded her about it, but primary the scout was the one in charge of tonight’s operation. Kayleen also gave Annie codes to call back up in case of an emergency. At least one wolfkin pack was busy monitoring the area, ready to arrive and help allied forces via high-speed plane. The Alpha team, the pack in which Virginia served, was in charge of the area where Annie and her allies were. And the scout would rather die than call for help from her rival.

Drones of Angoro tracked enemy forces to a small location surrounded by stone cliffs on all four sides. Annie requested two armored personnel vehicles for this operation, one was meant to bring wolfkins in and out of the area, the other carried a small squad of border patrol members along with a medic team. Prisoners were supposed to be loaded onto the first armored vehicle, while hostages would be escorted out on the second vehicle. To the surprise of the scout, Hans ended up as a driver for a second vehicle, the mishappen person just shrugged his shoulders at the question, saying that as long as payment is good, he is fine with driving even into a warzone. Pack K, pack under the command of Kayleen, was made of Branded. Pack C was Carty's pack, and Pack U was Ultis' pack, a quiet and competent scout who was rarely involved in domination fights and was perfectly content with her current rank. Annie tried to get to know Ultis better, but aside from helping with combat training, Ultis was unwilling to spill any more beans about either her past or hobbies.

Upon arrival at the destination, Hans unleashed a stealth drone of wolfkins, following orders from Annie. The small machine flew up in the skies, stopping over the enemy camp. Inside each helmet of a wolfkin was a micro display, which transmitted all the information coming from numerous armor sensors directly to the retina. The data stream from the drone was delivered directly to Annie via her armor. The raiders kept eight hostages in a cage, mercifully allowing people to keep their clothes against the heat of the day. Mines surrounded the enemy camp, yet the discipline of the foes was lacking. Out of fifty visible foes, only fifteen carried weapons, simple shotguns and rifles, and armor. The rest were hired hands, people who maintained vehicles and ensured that stolen goods were not lost. Aside from that, several workers were busy burying large metal crates filled with something into the ground, most likely filled with drugs. Once raiders leave this place, they will most likely send a signal to criminals from locals who will dig out the crate and sell drugs in nearby cities. Annie threw these thoughts out of her head, such things were not important. The lieutenant and his people will take care of the crate.

Dirty looking tents were filling the surface of the natural clearing, several people were cooking food on bonfires, uncaring about the chance that smoke would give out their location. Surprisingly, bandits used large trucks for transportation, instead of more mobile all-terrain light vehicles like the ones most other bandit groups used. Annie understood the answer to this soon enough. Several large missile launchers were installed on the back of the trucks. These were not ugly and old missile launchers, instead these weapons were almost pristine in their condition, giving sharp dissonance when compared to old and ugly trucks that served as chassis to carry proud means of destructions.

Now where did you get such shiny things? Or from whom? Annie wondered, sending the image to Angoro and asking him to check this information. If someone discovers a long-lost stash or bunker from the Old World and now sells weapons of destruction instead of surrendering them to authorities, he or she will be apprehended and prosecuted.

Following orders of Annie, the packs spread out around the area. Carty and her pack took the north approach, Kayleen took the west, while Annie and her pack were busy at the south and east. Mines were removed and all were ready for the attack.

"For the record, I still think that we should have started with lethal force. No need to risk your lives over something so… mundane." Lieutenant Angoro said over communication. He was along with soldiers of the border patrol, attending the mission in person this time. Soldiers of the border patrol took positions behind the wolfkins, guarding medics. They were not supposed to join the fight.

"Agreed." Kayleen and Carty say in unison, giving signals to Annie, showing that their packs are ready to start the mission. Ultis merely sent her own signal, stating that her pack was ready, and she was not against a bit of training.

"You said it yourself, lieutenant. This mission is mundane. We are here to save hostages and to hone our skills," Annie responded, sending a command to begin the operation, "So let us save everyone and put our skills to the test, everyone."

Despite all the recent developments, the power armor of the Wolf Tribe was still a bulky thing. It made the wolfkins stand head and shoulders taller than their usual height. And yet, the newest models of power armor have really great noise suppressors installed. At the cost of increasing energy consumption, for a short while, wolfkin could move in utter silence, as devices installed in the armor consume all internal sounds, such as sounds of servo motors, shifting of exoskeleton, and movements of artificial muscles. The only sound that armor could give was the sound of friction of metal against stones and stones, and all wolfkins were trained to avoid it. Whatever little noise they were making on the move, ended up being deafened by the drunken singing of the enemies.

First crawling, then moving on all fours, the wolfkins approached the outskirts of the raider’s camp. Carty and Ultis shot a sedative from sniper rifles, poisoning the pots with stew over bonfires. The wolfkins waited for a moment in the shadows of the tents, the crimson light of the helmets turned off. As one of the raiders came across the usual patrol route, Lucendra appeared behind the man, knocking him out and putting one paw over his mouth. Even outside of armor, wolfkins could easily reduce the bones of a normie to dust with a single punch. Taking foes alive while in armor, required precision and control.

Annie waited until one of the camp's guards came close to a tent, the one scout was hiding behind. Grabbing the unsuspected man by his feet, the scout jerked the foe back, slamming the head of the bandit onto the ground and dragging the man into darkness. It took Annie a few moments to strangle the bandit into unconsciousness, but as she glanced at the camp once more and moved to secure the weapon of the foe from the circle of light, she confirmed with her own eyes that no one in camp noticed or heard anything.

Through sensors in her armor, Annie saw how Kayleen and her team knocked out workers who were busy digging the crate. Their unconscious bodies were dragged back into darkness. Through the lenses on Carty’s helmet, Annie saw how several people who had tasted the stew lazily lay on the ground, as the sedatives slowly took effect on them. Other thugs laughed with drunken voices and kicked sleeping comrades.

One by one, the wolfkins were busy taking down their foes. To the eyes of an outsider, their movements might look slow. Yet in just under two minutes, the wolfkins were close to the center of the camp, where cages with prisoners were. People were dragged behind tents and knocked out. Annie and others charged into tents themselves, knocking the lights out of still-asleep men and tying them up. Lucendra dragged a trio of partying thugs from the rocks into the newly cleared tent, and the young warrior and other male Branded knocked out three targets before any of the drunks could even scream.

Annie knocked up one of the workers and came close to the cell with hostages. Only one guard was near the large metal cage that stood by the side of a single clean tent in the area. A woman in a camouflage cloak, a long rifle in her hands. She was one of the few people in camp wearing something resembling power armor. Annie released her claws, thinking about quickly killing the foe. Then she retracted her claws, according to information that her armor projected onto the retina. So far, packs have been capturing enemies alive. It would be a shame to break such a good score first.

Like an arrow shot from a bow, Annie leaped forward, almost soundlessly landing behind the woman. She grabbed the foe by the shoulder with her left paw and tore the weapon away with her right paw, before the woman could react. After slamming the confused bandit into the ground, Annie made a crack in the helmet of the enemy with a single hit of her knuckle of her middle finger. The ring and index fingers slid under the crack, widening the gap just enough for Annie to see the scared face of the woman. She tried to scream, but the paw of the wolfkin had already slid into the crack fully, shutting the woman's mouth shut. The second paw of Annie closed around the neck of the bandit, tearing through the armored collar with claws and choking the woman with fingers. The raider desperately tried to reach for a gun on her belt, but Annie was on her, blocking the gun with her own leg. By Annie’s standards, she was barely holding the neck of the woman, acting as gently as she could, yet it was enough to fully block her ability to breath. Tears and panic appeared in the eyes of the bandit, while consciousness was leaving her. Annie turned her head to the side, just in case the raider should vomit while unconscious.

Checking the information from the drone and other pack members, it seemed as if camp was as good as taken. Kayleen secured vehicles, Carty was still a bit salty about the fact that she had no opportunity to fire lethal rounds, but she was keeping it to herself at the moment. Lucendra and others were coming to the position of Annie. Something caught her attention, and Annie frowned:

"Lieutenant? It seems there are four places where thugs buried crates. This unburied one is just the last one. What exactly could they try to bury? These crates are massive, far too big for mere drugs."

"We will soon know, scout. Keep your distance away from them, judging by how easy it was to find attackers and how brazen they are about hiding these things, they are either greenhorns or there is something dangerous inside those things. Allow me to congratulate you on a successful mission, we will…"

Annie saw the attack before it came. She was still looking at the hostages, standing over her downed opponent, when fire came from the tent behind her. She heard the hissing sound of fire, of course, but had she relied strictly on her ears, she would have been hit. No, she saw the strange movement through the lenses of Carty’s helmet, through the sensors of the power armors of her pack.

Fireball set the fabric of the tent aflame and flew from inside the tent aiming at Annie’s back. She had time to jump aside, yet it would potentially put prisoners in danger. Instead, the wolfkin turned around, shardgun in her arms, and fired a single round into the approaching ball of flame.

Sharp shards crushed into flames, separating it in several parts. Heat melted the steel shards into molten steel that splashed across the burning tent with a hissing sound. One of the fire parts of the former fireball nearly fell on the face of the unconscious bandit, and Annie had to kick it away with her leg, lest it burn away the woman’s face. Even so, even such a tiny part of the fireball managed to slightly melt the armor on her leg, armor that was meant to withstand flamethrowers without loss of paint.

"Move an inch and I'll kill him." said a nervous voice, and from inside of the burning tent came a half-dressed woman, dragging a scared naked man after herself, holding him by his neck. A ball of fire was floating in the free hand of the woman. Bandit had hair the color of straw, and a few scars covered her face. Brown eyes nervously run across the camp, trying to see other bandits. "Intruders!" A thin stream of sickly green fluid was coming from the woman's nostrils, "To arms!"

Annie quietly let out a chuckle, as no one answered the woman, who was supposedly the leader of enemies.

"Your gang are all asleep, miss. Let go of the poor fellow and we can all live through this. No need to throw your life away." Annie tried to speak as calmly as she could, despite the grin on her face. Carty sent a request for permission to fire, and Annie responded with a signal to Carty to hold up for just a moment.

"The fuck is…" The woman's face twisted, first in surprise, then in pain, and she spat on the ground, nearly letting go of her hostage, "Enough, you can't just...No! Foolishness. Boasted so much yet delivers mere dregs."

Annie blinked for a second as the woman spoke in a calm, but strained and rasping voice all of a sudden. The hand of the woman with a fireball moved, ready to send flame into the face of a man. A single shot was fired from stone cliffs, evaporating the upper half of the woman’s head as the projectile smashed through the skull of a bandit.

And yet the dead body did not fall. The woman's lower lips twisted into a scowl, and the hand with fire moved toward the face of the man. Annie grabbed a knife from her belt and in a single motion sliced through bones and muscles, slashing away the hand of the dead creature. A fountain of sickly green came from a horrible wound in the head of a woman, and the man screamed in her embrace, as fire began to form behind his neck. With another slash, Annie sliced away the fingers of the dead woman, dragging away the man from fiery hell in the woman’s palm. The back of his neck was all dark, gleaming red meat was visible through cracks in his now pitch-black skin.

"Serve me." The mangled and gurgled words came through the lower lips of the woman as the deceased creature threw a fireball at the iron cage, melting the entrance and making the people inside scream in fear as the dead body limped toward them.

"Lucendra! Acid grenade!" Annie kicked the creature in the chest, piercing its body all the way to the spine and sending human remains five steps away. The body of the deceased woman fell on the ground, nearly torn in two, the white bones of her spine were visible from her back, the skin of her chest was pushed deep into the body.

In the Wastes, many creatures had some sort of resistance to heat and fire. While heavy weapons like rockets worked just fine against insectoids, fire alone was often too inefficient against insectoids. To remedy this, the military forces of the Reclaimers were sometimes equipped with acid grenades. Upon explosion, a small capsule filled with deadly liquid was released, liquid that was capable of melting through power armor, burning away even the tough chitin skin of insectoids, and turning the bones of normal humans into a melted mess.

This was the weapon that Lucendra was preparing to use right now. She took out a grenade's safety pin and prepared to throw it.

"N.. no!" The remains of the deceased woman said. Her upper head was missing, leaving only her lower and upper jaw intact. The shot of Carty sliced away the upper part of the skull, along with the eyes and nose. Somehow, with ruined lips and through blood mixed with green liquid that was streaming through the teeth, the woman spoke in her previous voice, now filled with fear and agony. She should not be able to speak, much less be alive, not with her brain missing. And yet she lived, "Please! I surrender, Save me!"

The warrior stopped in horror as the ruined body crawled toward her, extending a single ruined arm in a pleading motion.

Shit! The girl is lost in shock! Annie understood. She could hardly blame her fellow soldier. This was the first actual mission of Branded, seeing horrible shit like this…

Annie leaped away from the scene, bridging the gap between herself and Lucendra in an instant.

"I can’t stop him! I beg you, help m… Be silent, flesh." The woman’s wailings were abruptly cut off as the strained voice came back. The belly of the woman exploded, her insides shot toward the warrior like knots of sentient worms. Annie's nostrils were filled with a foul odor, one of sickness, which she sniffed repeatedly in the hospital. Before wet ropes of flesh managed to reach Lucendra, the scout was before her, slicing them apart with her knives, creating a blurring wall of slashes before her fellow soldier. The cadaver's neck was burgled as something moved from belly to mouth, cracking bones with a loud noise along the way. Sickly green pus appeared on the ruined lips of the woman, her mouth opened wide, tearing itself all the way to the ears. The upper half of the mouth almost fell back, as the mouth opened wide, ready to unleash steam of pus on Annie.

It never came, as the warrior finally snapped from her fear, throwing the grenade. The wicked remains of guts moved toward the grenade, trying to stop it, blow it away. However, the throw was too powerful, and even when wrapped around a grenade, the insides were unable to prevent it from reaching the torn belly of a dead body.

"Annoying pests. Weapon, arri…" despite torn mouth, despite liquid in mouth, strained words came clear. The calm was broken by the explosion of a grenade in the beast's belly; a hidden charge with acid inside the grenade went off, spreading the deadly weapon in a wide arc, melting away the woman's meat and bones. For a moment, she screamed in her previous voice, a scream full of primal horror and suffering, the scream of an animal begging for release from the death that lingers at bay. This sound was mercifully short and yet Annie remembered it well. The sufferings of the foe burned deep into her memories.

"Wolf hag, I am sorry for my incompetence and am ready to pay for my…" Lucendra said with disbelief in her voice, disbelief that was slowly being mixed with numbness. The warrior looked at the remains of the foe, struggling to finish her sentence.

"Energy spikes!" Angoro snapped over the communicator and the silent night turned into a chaotic mess.

"Hans, send a request for back up to any nearby packs!" Annie managed to say, before the explosion, she saw new foes.

Four metal crates half buried around the camp exploded, sending sand and metal from the top of the crates high into the air. With a cacophony of countless mechanic parts moving together, gigantic forms charged out of metal crates. Newcomers resembled ugly versions of insectoid warriors, whose chassis with four long piston-driven legs stepped onto the ground, creating tremors with each step. Mounted on top of the chassis was the torso of a human being, swollen to an unimaginary degree with sickness, rot, and stuffed with mechanical parts inside, spreading torment and bulk even further, the lower part of the torso was seemingly melted together with the chassis. Half of the heads of newcomers were replaced with metal, gleaming green lenses that turned on, spreading sickly-looking light around camp. The hands of the creatures were replaced with two sharp pincers, Annie saw how one creature snapped the truck in two with a single pincer, while mighty mechanical legs turned the remains of the truck into a pile of rubble. The skin of the creatures was a dark pink color, with numerous purple veins underneath. In many places, the skin of the torso was torn asunder, revealing horribly smelling insides and rotating mechanical parts underneath the skin. Tongues of creatures dangle from their mouths, swollen to the point of tearing the mouth open, giving each creature a stupid grin. The single remaining human eye of each being was milky white, rolling furiously in its eye socket. A mechanical limb of one of the creatures hit the truck, sending it eight steps into the air. As the truck fell, it crushed one of the unconscious raiders.

The line breakers are the elite troopers of Chosen Prince. People who succumbed to Chosen Prince's disease power were brutally mutilated, their bodies augmented with pre-Extinction technology. These chassis and pincers were meant to be used in mining, yet a foul foe turned them into weapons of murder. Large wires or cables run across the massive bodies of foes, connecting flesh and machine and bringing energy across various parts of the chassis. This was not a pretty creature, nor even truly efficient, as the cruel union of human flesh and metal was bound to rot eventually, not to mention that if humans were in their own minds, they would’ve gone mad with pain or had to live only on painkillers in order to preserve their sanity. Exposed wires with energy flowing through them, a never-ending cacophony of cogs and other machine parts as line breakers move, and unending pain from swollen organs... Line breakers should be dead or mad. Yet, thanks to the power of the tyrant, such a union was made to work. In battle, Chosen Prince send these mutilated cadavers forth to break the frontlines of the foes, allowing the rest of his horde to pour in. According to the report, some small part of Chosen Prince's psyche controlled these poor souls.

The wolfkins were in shock for only a moment. And yet it was a moment too long, as one of the line breakers swung a massive pincer, leaving a long slash across the arm of one of the Branded, slicing through power armor with disgusting ease.

"Packs, spread out. The enemy forces are tougher than you individually, tire them out with precision fire and melt them away with acid grenades," Annie blinked, returning to reality as Kayleen sent her silent question, asking if she was able to continue, "Wolf hag Kayleen and Branded, guard the hostages, wounded are to retreat from camp. Scouts, take aim at mechanical parts of enemy heads, let us see if they can see without lenses. Lieutenant, please bring your group to a nearby hill and assist us from afar."

"What about the knocked-out raiders?" Kayleen asked, jumping away from a massive pincer. The wolf hag landed two meters away, firing her shardgun right into the bloated face of the line breaker. The shards connected with the hideous face with a torrent of blood, flesh and sparks. The eye of the creature exploded, along with the eye socket, the tongue was torn asunder, along with pink skin. Metal parts inside withstood shards, sharp projectiles ricocheted away, breaking just a few moving parts and unable to reach the diseased brain hidden inside a cage of steel. Instead of a roar of pain, the line breaker gave away gurgling, trying to produce sounds with a forever ruined mouth but instead simply vomiting at the wolf hag. A normal person would immediately feel inflammation in the throat and nose, feel nausea and weakness over the entire body. According to reports, the victim would hear the voice of Chosen Prince soon after, a voice that at first just break coordination, then compels the victim to do something, and finally robs the victim of all ability to move. And yet Kayleen was fine, she felt no need to fully close her power armor, leaving her jaws unprotected from sickness. Fluid fell on her, small drops undoubtedly finding their way to the wolf hag's mouth, but the wolfkins' immune system, tried and tested for centuries, refused to give in. The will of the progenitor and the will of the Chosen Prince clashed against each other, and one was found lacking.

"If you can, save their lives," Annie frowned as the line breaker sliced the tops of several tents, aiming for her left side. One of the knocked out bandits had her body exploded like an overripe fruit, under a massive column like the leg of the line breaker. The scout landed on four limbs, running away from the rampaging being, before standing up and reaching for the shardgun, "If you can’t, then so be it."

The beast of flesh and steel moved after Annie, swinging pincers in wide arcs. Metal pincers were sharpened all across the long curvature, and even backhand with them easily sliced through tents, leaving them cleaved in two. Each time the creature slammed pincers into the ground, narrowly missing the scout, the power behind such a slam sent tremors across the battlefield, almost making Annie lose her balance. She shot twice, tearing holes in the fat bulk of the creature. While skin was torn and blood, mixed with pus, poured from wounds, the insides of the beast endured. Shots came at the beast from behind, but the line breaker chose to follow after Annie like a berserker. Stuffed and reinforced with mechanical parts, the insides absorbed impact from even shards, leaving the wicked creature still able to move around at prime speed. After the creature missed Annie a good half dozen times, it gave a long moaning sound and turned around, looking in the direction of the hostages, annoyed by the fire from behind. Pincers eagerly slashed against each other as the monstrously deformed human being charged at screaming people. The leg of the creature rose up above the unconscious body of one of the raiders, and Annie shot the beast in the head, removing the human half of its head utterly and revealing the metal case, wrapped with the remains of the flesh and bones, underneath. The advance of the creature stopped, and it turned toward the scout, missing the unconscious human by a hair. Light from the lens in the head of the monster covered Annie in a sickly green color, before the creature spread pincers wide.

"Pack U, you are too close!" Annie snarled during a moment of respite. The wolfkins of Pack U were following the line breaker who fought against Annie too closely, releasing shots after shots into the monster, but were wary of using grenades out of risk to Annie, "Ten steps back, and keep that distance…"

"Help is coming!" Came in the worried voice of Hans, "ETA is two minutes, a single pack is returning from a hunting mission. We also have a problem, a member of a medic team just walked up and left toward you and…"

"What?" Kayleen and Annie asked at once.

The skin around the shoulders of the monster became swollen even more, the veins underneath were torn apart, spreading black color under pink skin. With a tearing sound, the skin on the shoulders came apart and two massive turrets rose above the shoulders, making the line breaker moan in pain even louder through loudspeakers in his mechanical head. The turrets, each as big as the torso of a normal human, moved with a wheeling sound, their barrels pointing at Annie.

Shit. Annie jumped forward as the ground around her exploded. The bullets from the turrets were leaving fist-sized craters in the ground, a single bullet that managed to hit Annie in the shoulder sent her spinning into a nearby tent and she was crushed inside, the fabric of the tent wrapping around her body. The armor held the blow, and the impact from the bullet was absorbed by kinetic absorbers within the armor, sparing the body of the scout from the powerful impact. But this could not last, for with a thundering sound, the line breaker moved after Annie. Blinded by the fabric of the tent, Annie saw through the lenses of pack members how the creature extended its pincers toward her body on the ground. Annie waited until the last moment before jumping upward from the ground, landing on the pincer and slashing nearby wire with her knives. Armor piercers, as knives were called, were a standard issue weapon for close combat for scouts and higher ranks in the packs of Dragena. Made out of a special alloy, with a cutting edge only one molecule thick, these were some of the deadliest melee weapons in the Reclamation Army, so much so that they were prohibited from use during challenges or domination among members of the Wolf Tribe. And now they cut through wires on the left pincer of the foe, covering its swollen bulk with a shower of sparks as wire was sliced with ease. Annie moved her knives once more, biting deep into the humanoid bulk before her and slicing through biological and mechanical innards, leaving gaping wounds and falling apart cogs in the side of the being. Still holding knives in her paws, she reached for the grenades on her belt, throwing all five of them into the wound that she had just created. With a moaning sound of pain and rage, the line breaker threw Annie back with the fire of the turrets. Four bullets connected with the chest of Annie, sending her into the ground like a rocket, and she felt a tingle of pain, despite the kinetic absorbers of her power armor. The creature takes two steps before the grenades inside it explode. A moaning sound coming from the loudspeakers changed to wordless noise, when the acid almost cut off the energy supply to the loudspeakers. The two spider-like front legs nearly fell to the ground, wires and cables on them melted away; and bonds between the torso and chassis were ruined beyond recognition. The creature stumbled backwards, flailing pincers, and was faced with acid grenades from Pack U, finally finishing off the being and reducing it to a pile of steel rubble and melted remains.

The eyes of Annie widened as she saw through the lens of Ultis. The line breaker's head is almost blown apart, and the brain is leaking out of the metal prison because of precision fire from Carty and Ultis, charged across the battlefield toward Annie, ignoring incoming fire. Lacking both eyes, the line breaker still knew the exact location of the scout, and the ground trembled as piston-driven arachnid-like legs brought the massive torso above downed Annie. Scout tried to stand up and understood that she simply too late. She couldn’t dodge this thing in time.

The left pincer moved to scout, ready to close around her body. Pack U members continued to fire in the back of the line breaker, sharp shards slowly piercing even the cogs and mechanical devices hidden within the oversized torso. But the creature was mad with rage at the death of the kin, it wanted to see Annie’s demise, and it would spare nothing to see it through.

The blade of the pincer closed around the torso of Annie, barely giving her enough time to block them with her knives. The blades bit, getting cut where knives were pressed against them, yet the remaining blade was pushing inch by inch toward the sides of the wolfkin, despite all her effort. She felt sweat come on her brow, and, to her shame, the scout felt fear rising up in her. Life, her life was about to end, being cut in two by this cruel weapon.

Annie gave the signal to the packs that were attempting to assist her in using the last acid grenades. Yes, from such close range, she will most likely be melted as well, but at least this foe will also…

A black energy arc hit across the pincer, burning away wires and cables, turning a once dangerous weapon into a stuck piece of metal. Pushing her muscles to the limit and bending her knives, Annie forced the blades of the pincer away just in time to evade the smash of the right pincer. Grenades hit at the back of the monster as Annie jumped back, melting away turrets that were rising from inside the flesh on the shoulders and causing them to explode as the line breaker tried to fire them none the less.

Lieutenant Angoro stood to the right of the line breaker, clad in pitch black power armor underneath his cloak, with only his faceplate of his helmet being the only non-black colored part of armor. The face plate was stylized after a mirror, reflecting the features of whoever looked at it. Angoro pointed his right hand at the line breaker, a crimson-colored ring coiled around his wrist. This weapon was known as the Judgement, the ring was capable of emitting an anti-matter arc of energy at the foe, once every five minutes. Judgement was a rare weapon, capable of punching through the tank. Due to its high cost of production and low rate of fire, it was rarely used by the military.

"Thanks, sir!" Annie shouted, preparing to charge at the towering line breaker. The monster was damaged, yet it was still very much alive.

"Don’t mention it, scout. I still have a job that I must do for y…" Angoro's words were cut short when the line breaker charged to the right, completely ignoring Annie. The pincer went up, ready to slice through the man. And Angoro was just a normie, power armor or not, he never had the speed to dodge something so fast. He could never have even hoped to block the hit from this foe.

But Annie could block it. Almost as fast as a bullet, she leaped up forward, out-speeding moving pincer, taking a stance before the lieutenant, her back to his chest. She took the brunt of the incoming hit on her knives, gritting her teeth from the horrible force behind the blow. Finally, her new, but trusted weapons snapped in two under the pressure of the foe, the force behind the enemy blow made Annie spread her arms to preserve them from being cut away, and blades of pincer found their way to the chest of the scout, slicing through armor and marking her with pain, sending scout and agent behind her back a few steps. Blood ran down from the wound across her chest.

"Idiot! I am just a normie! Your life is far more valuable than m…" The lieutenant grabbed her from the back, trying to pull her aside. His effort was almost childlike, despite the help from his power armor, Annie was simply too strong for him.

"Normie, new breed, who cares!?" Annie smiled as grenades hit the foe in the back, joined with fire from border guards who had finally reached the hill and were now showering rampaging beasts with fire from their rifles, "All of us are humans. As a soldier, it is my duty, our duty to protect others, even at the cost of our lives. And because of this, I refuse to allow allies to die, not if I can save them!"

Her boast was cut short when the chest of a line breaker exploded. Something that resembled the tail of a scorpion shot forward, breaking the sound barrier and cutting deep into the body of the scout under her left breast. Annie gasped from pain while a stinger scratched across her bones, trying to find its way to her lung. The body of the scout was lifting in the air with disgusting ease, the long tail coming from the chest of the line breaker twisted itself, slamming her into the ground and retracting back to the chest of the line breaker. Through the pain in her eyes, Annie looked at the battlefield once more.

Lucendra and the Branded sneak up upon the line breaker that was pursuing Kayleen, oblivious to everything around itself. The massive being stomped around camp, crashing tents and turning people into paste underneath its massive legs. The wolf hag led the being away from the hostages, annoying the line breaker with shots from her shardgun. Pack K went silent for a moment, as Lucendra explained her plan to the males in a half-panicked voice. It took nearly half a minute, but finally they moved, firing shardguns at once, aiming at a single metal plate on the leg of the foe. The joined assault tore through metal, breaking something that caused the piston-driven leg to go numb and almost tripped the charged monstrosity. Lucendra almost squeaked from happiness, sending potential structural weak points to other wolfkins. Kayleen stopped in awe for a second, briefly glancing at the warrior. Even with one leg unable to move, the line breaker lifted the massive pincer arm above itself, covering Kayleen in shadow. The pincer moved downward, ready to cleave the wolf hag. Kayleen was in awe just for a second, but this was enough for the pincers to nearly touch her helmet.

The killing blow missed the wolf hag, who evaded it by ducking low and leaping toward the beast. A single kick found a metal plate, similar to one that was taken out by Pack K. It shattered from the impact of the kick, forcing the line breaker to limp on two legs.

Ultis and Carty were slowly, yet steadily, taking the last line breaker apart with fire from sniper rifles. Pack C used all acid grenades, making their foe resemble more of a moving pile of metal rather than a cadaver fused with metal. The flesh peeled off from the metal, the brain was splattered when the head was taken apart, one of the pincer hands had gone missing, and three of the legs had stopped moving. This foe was in his death throes, as much as it can be said about a cadaver like this.

Annie spat blood on the ground, feeling the burning sensation in her chest. Pain everlasting hit her, while the sickness of Chosen Prince tried to overtake her body. And yet a slow smile spread around her snout. They won, maybe at the cost of her life, but they took down four elite units of Chosen Prince. The Intelligence boldly assumed line breakers to be equal to wolf hags, yet wolfkins proved this theory wrong tonight.

The lieutenant stepped forward, shielding Annie with his own body. He reached for the pistol on his belt and fired twice in the open chest, while the scorpion tail thingy danced in the air before the line breaker, almost in a hypnosis like trance. As the first bullet connected with the bulk of sickness, the tail struck forward, with the sound of a cracking whip. And just as it moved forward, so did Annie. She pushed Angoro aside, taking the blow on her left arm, feeling how the tail tore open her armor all the way from wrist to elbow, leaving a long-lacerated slash across her arm.

"You idiot!" Angoro screamed in anger, landing on the ground.

"Just… follow my creed, sir," Annie responded in a strained voice, "Life is a precious thing, treasure it well. Now how am I going to…" Scout fell on her knees as her legs gave in.

Gonna be honest, I have no idea how to live through it. Annie thought, swallowing drool mixed with blood as the tail retracted back, ready to strike once more, hovering along the gaping hole in the being's body in a hypnotizing dance, as the line breaker began to move, advancing on the scout. Annie looked through the lenses of each and every ally in desperation, checking the sensors of the power armor. No luck, the wolf hag was too far and Carty and Ultis were still busy.

And then she saw through someone else's lens. Flying through the air, roaring sounds of a plane above, someone was falling on the battlefield with a cheer. Arms were tightly pressed to the body, shaping the falling form into a line in order to help speed up the fall. At the last second before falling, the body performed a somersault in the air, landing on both feet in front of Annie with the sound of a falling building and an impact that caused the scout to leap into the air.

"You seem to be having fun, mind if I jump in!" Virginia happily shouted, her paws moving before her almost like flowing water, catching the striking sting. Her power armor strained from the effort of such movement and from the strain of struggle as the sting tried to break free, the lenses of her helmet became two orbs of crimson sun for a moment, but the wolf hag of warlord Alpha overcame the physical might of her foe, tearing the sting away. She turned to Annie, sting still in hand. Unlike Annie, who had two crimson slashes, the mark of the scout on her shoulder, Virginia had three slashes. She was a wolf hag, full and through. Ferocity, speed unmatched power unbound. Seeing the smiling member of the Alpha team, Annie felt utter shame. Virginia never lost her position unlike Annie

"Sure, the pool is open, the water is fine." Annie mumbled miserably, feeling a surge of humiliation.

"Long time no see, Annie! You sure grew up a lot, with muscles like these, I might even feel your stings now," Virginia joked as she thrust the torn stinger in her arm in the direction of Annie, "Got it? Stings? Ah, I am sure you got it, lemme just help you real quick, then we can have a reunion proper." Virginia turned away to look at the line breaker with narrowed eyes.

I don’t want to be saved by you. Not you, of all people. I don’t want you to see me as a failure again. Annie wanted to say, while members of the Alpha team were landing on the ground all around camp like drops of rain. Trained by Alpha herself, these soldiers were used to rapid deployment from planes, jetpacks or no jetpacks. After inhuman training, their muscles could take the strain of the fall just fine. There was a reason why the Alpha team, the core of the Alpha pack, were the second strongest pack among the Wolf Tribe. Annie felt a tingle of shame running across her body. She was given the trust of Dragena, trust of Kayleen and found a way to let them both down.

"Pack A! Retreat to new coordinates and tend to your wounds, while supporting the advance of our allies with fire from the range." Annie forced herself to ignore selfish shame and give command, sending new mapped routes to her pack. Annie was the only one at fault for this debacle, and she will give her all for the sake of her troops, failure or no failure. The soldiers under her command deserved no scorn, they deserved that she had given her very best for their sake. Even if this means admitting defeat yet again.

The line breaker actually roared as it saw the stinger in the paws of Virginia. The wolfkin smirked arrogantly, lifted the stinger to her jaws and bit the sharp end, crushing it between her teeth and swallowing the remains. The pincers of the line breaker furiously opened the ground trembling underneath the massive chassis that were charging at Virginia. The line breaker drew his right pincer back, preparing to swing and slice in both Annie and Virginia at the same time.

"Keep your eyes on the bad boy, cause I am gonna to show you something awesome." Virginia let out a chuckle, reaching for a long metal pole at her back. Taking the pole in both claws and wielding it like a club, the wolf hag charged at the massive being, screaming in a very undignified voice that sounded more like an excited girl than a trained soldier's.

The two opponents crashed into each other with the sound of an exploding bomb, the impact of the metal pole crashing against the pincer sent a wave of air into all directions. Tents, dead and knocked-out people, even the remains of the line breaker, were all moved at least a few steps because of the fierce wind. For the briefest of moments, Annie failed to see the movements of Virginia, as dust and wind hid her. Through the lens of the wolf hag’s helmet, Annie saw only a blindingly fast swing of the metal pole. The huge mechanic pincer, almost twice the size of the wolf hag, was met with the simple-looking metal pole. The outcome should have been easy, the pole should have been sliced or bent and Virginia should have died.

As dust and wind settled, Virginia was unharmed, standing two steps behind the line breaker. Annie blinked from surprise, thinking that the wolf hag had simply run past her opponent. And then she saw. One of the piston-driven legs of the line breaker was cut in two, the right side of the massive pincer hand lay on the ground, while the remaining half was emitting sparks from the slashed wires and cables. A humming sound could be heard from the pole in Virginia’s paws, light formed at the very top of the pole, extending slightly downward across metal, forming a deadly looking twin-bladed energy axe of purple color.

"And with my next trick, I will make that asshole disappear!" Virginia turned around in a whirlwind of air, swinging the blade of her axe at the foe.

But the strike that should have cut the bulk of the foe never connected with the target. It slashed away the damaged pincer arm while the line breaker itself jumped away, flying over Annie and landing behind her with the sound of a falling building. Sheer shock from the tremor made Annie stand up.

No. Realization came along with the thunderous steps of four legs, piston-driven force sent massive chassis and bulk toward hostages, trying to reach them in one desperate attempt. The line breaker could not hope to kill foes at this point, his allies were dead, and Kayleen was currently busy taking apart the line breaker that attacked Pack K. Alpha team members were landing, and Pack A was retreating to the edges of the camp. Hostages were left wide open for one last maddening charge of the beast. And the cadaver took this chance.

Driven by its master's will, the cadaver pushed aside two members of the Alpha team, casting a shadow on the terrified hostages. Turrets wheezed before the creature realized it didn't have them anymore. Swinging its remaining pincer, the creature prepared to smash people inside the cage. One man pushed a cub out of the cage, but the rest were too slow to leave.

This was when Lucendra stepped in, firing her shardgun into the side of the cadaver. Annie could hear her heavy breath on the communication, she released round after round into the bulk of the foe. Uncaring of danger, or simply too caught up in the moment. The cadaver chose her as his final prey, its torso made an almost one hundred and eighty-degree turn and snatched Lucendra into the air with its pincer arm.

I refuse to let another one die. Annie stood up, despite her wounds, pushing her body into a run toward the creature. Her wounded arm dangled for a moment, before she clenched the fist of her left hand, pushing, toughing through the pain. All her life, her mother, her father, Sveta, always being too late, too weak, too soft… I refuse to make the same mistake again.

The scout could barely find the strength to growl, forcing her legs to carry her at a speed that surprised even her. She jumped in the air, spreading her claws and slashing the fleshy torso of the line breaker. The ruined head of the creature looked at the scout, still holding the wolfkin in its pincer arm.

"No! Please, I beg of you, I can’t die!" Lucendra wailed in a thin and broken voice as the horror of realization caught up with her, the adrenaline in her blood retreated, "Please, I surrender, I…"

The pincer closed, slicing the armor of Lucendra around her torso, closing on her flesh before the unbelieving eyes of Annie. The ground shook, sudden tremors that ran across the camp nearly dropped Annie off her feet, such was the shock that she felt upon understanding that her commands, her leadership, led to the death of another soldier…

The pincer closed upon the flesh of Lucendra, and something akin to a surprise appeared on the ruined face of the cadaver. It turned its head away from Annie and towards Lucendra. The pincer opened wide, still holding the wolfkin in its grip, Annie could see the damaged parts of the power armor. Her own systems showed wild damage to the armor of the scout, recommending her to move the soldier out of the danger zone. The pincer closed again and the warrior screamed wordlessly in panic. The razor-sharp edges of a pincer hand that could sever tank armor and render power armor nearly useless... hesitated? Annie could not understand what was going on. The edges of the pincer stopped an inch from the fur of Lucendra according to the data of the power armor.

"Annie, catch!" Scout whirled in place, looking through the lenses of the Virginia. The wolf hag was charging toward her, sending her weapon cartwheeling through the air toward the scout.

Idiot, is she planning to murder me or... Annie cut off all thoughts and fears. Her left arm hurt like hell, the wound under her left breast was spreading hot fire across her body, her knees were soaked with blood from the chest wound. All she could see for the moment was the weapon of Virginia, spinning in the air and closing in on Annie.

Surrender your will.

Take it if you can. The scout was unsure just to whom she was answering right now. The voice that spoke in her head sounded strained and raspy, the voice of a person who struggles for each breath. The scout jumped, catching the shaft of the metal pole and keeping the energy axe away from her body with ease. Annie turned her body in the air, allowing the energy axe to bit the pincer right at the joint where the blades connected to the arm. With a barely audible hissing sound, energy melted through steel, requiring only a push to slice off the entire arm. However, this push was one of the most difficult things Annie had ever done, as her entire left arm exploded in pain, briefly turning the world black.

She barely remembered what happened next. Her body aflame, Annie threw the energy axe behind herself, to the location of Virginia, while she herself caught pincer with screaming Lucendra, pushing the warrior away from the pincer’s sharp edges. Kayleen appeared near them, dragging both wolfkins away, while Virginia caught the energy axe and cleaved the line breaker in two.

"Stupid, reckless, moronic idiot! Can you breathe?" Kayleen asked half-unconscious Annie, raising her many-limbed paw in the air as the world spun around her, "How many fingers do you see?"

"All forty of them," Annie gulped, her gaze fixed on the wolf hag's spinning snout and paws. Kayleen pulled the helmet off of Annie's head while the scout felt how something hot explode all around her body, "Wait, why do you have forty fingers all of a sudden?"

"Yeah, fighting is over for you for tonight. Don’t do anything stupid. Just lie on the ground and relax. What’s the ETA on the medic team?! Alpha team, what are you standing around for, get the survived raiders tied up and gathered right now!" The wolf hag screamed commands, standing up and leaving the field of view of Annie. Annie raised her head and saw how Virginia tried to clap hands with the wolfkins of both packs. Surprisingly, the Alpha team looked at Virginia as if she was a weird freak, trying to avoid exchanging handshakes or claps with her, saluting to their wolf hag instead. After the scream of Kayleen, the wolf hags of the Alpha team snapped commands, joining Pack A in counting the dead and collecting surviving raiders. Carty and Ultis jumped off the cliffs above camp, helping gather the hostages. Lucendra was sitting close to Annie, trembling slightly and wrapping her arms around her knees. The scout lay back on the ground and looked at the night sky. The spinning was slowly stopping and Annie found clouds in the sky looking nice.

"Annie! That was awesome, you saw me cleaving him in two? Annie? Are you okay?" Virginia’s snout covered the beautiful clouds in the skies.

"I feel like my left arm is about to explode," Annie complained to the wolf hag, "Also angry, bitter, beaten up. You know, the usual. How were you doing all this time?"

The ground shook slightly, and stones fell from the cliffs.

"Hans, tell the medic to slow their advance," Annie reached for the nearby helmet and signaled, "Something strange is going on here. Wolf hag, we need to find out what is happening. What if there are more enemies…"

"Alpha team! Carty! You heard the scout, find out the source of the tremors! Ultis, take your pack and leg it away from here with the hostages. You!" Kayleen shouted to a man in a green uniform, with a purple cross painted on his shoulder. Annie recognized him as one of the members of the medic team, "What are you doing here all alone? No matter, we have wounded, begin treating them imme…"

"I am sorry, I have no idea how to treat wounds." The man responded to the angry looking wolf hag and walked past her.

Kayleen took off her helmet, fur bristled with anger and something akin to pure hatred was burning in her amber eyes. She took two deep breaths to calm herself. Lieutenant Angoro stood before the walking medic, blocking his advance. Two more soldiers from the border patrol flanked him.

"Show me your ID, sir." demanded the agent, holding a gun in his hand.

The medic opened his mouth to speak, but his words were drowned out by the sand and stone explosion. The cliff on the north of the camp fell when a massive tower pierced it from inside, the movements of an impossibly huge body scarring the ground around it with cracks wide enough to consume a person whole. A burning fire in camp threw light upon the foundation of the tower, and Annie saw that this was a living creature. Massive chitin plates covered the mighty torso, a torso that was big enough to cast a shadow on the entire camp. Countless blade-like legs protruded from the body's sides, each as large as a building and sharp enough to sever stone. The legs twitched while the massive body twisted, lowering its head on top of the body to the ground. Flames finally lit the invader, and Annie felt fear running across her body. Sand reaper, predator of the Ravaged Lands, was one of the few creatures who dared to butt heads with skinwalkers over feeding grounds and actually win. The eyes looked like pools of darkest void, great mandibles that could bite through the armor of a crawler, open wide and closing in anticipation. Pus was seeping from chitin plates on the body, yet it could hardly slow down the great beast. Dragena showed videos of the invasion of sand reapers. One such specimen, a small one, just sixty meters in length, once depopulated an entire city over one hundred and twenty years ago. The defenders used heavy missiles, gunfire, and even a few energy weapons. But the reaper was unstoppable, his massive body swinging like a whip, crushing buildings and people inside. Few survivors tried to hide inside emergency bunkers below the city, but the creature found survivors inside, breaking through walls that were meant to withstand bunker bombs. Out of twenty thousand and sixty-two people who lived in the city, not a single person managed to escape from the city, the sand reaper left just smoldering ruins upon its departure. The reason for the attack of the sand reaper was simple. That city produced sugar in large quantities, and it attracted the enormous insect.

Mandibles spread wide, with simple movement releasing a gush of wind toward people in camp equal to that of a small sandstorm. This specimen was of medium size, Annie decided that this monster should be at least eighty meters in length.

What in the world could it want to find here? Sand reapers live in the Ravaged Lands, why is it so close to this area? Spirits, we barely register as parasites to it, why in the world does it intend to hunt us? Words ran through the panicked mind of Annie as she tried to find anything, thought of anything, anything at all that could help them survive and escape. Alpha team or no, they lacked the firepower to make a sufficient dent in the massive body. The sand reaper only retreats if it’s hurt too much, and hunting no longer looks profitable for it. And neither pack had anything that could scare the beast away.

"So much for r…re..reunion proper," Virginia stuttered, speaking in a growling voice and standing before Annie, swinging the energy axe around her body, creating arcs of energy around herself, "Oh well. Like a hero in the middle of nowhere. Bye Annie, sorry if something was off."

The body moved forward, becoming blurred to the tired eyes of Annie. The creature tore the rest of a cliff, sending itself like a projectile against the people in the camp. The eyes, each so big that Annie could have easily drowned in them, were closing on her, the creature emitted a screeching roar. Mandibles slowly begin to close, ready to swallow up a large group of people at once.

The creature slammed into the air before camp and stopped dead. There was no sound from impact, the only thunderous sound came when the lower end of the creature tore from underground and the body backed away, coiling around itself in confusion. One mandible bore a great dent, the chitin that could endure even heavy weaponry was cracked, and blood, along with pus, was seeping from the wound. A single drop was large enough to cover Annie, and blood was streaming increasingly faster from the crack. The sand reaper gave another screeching scream, hitting the eardrums of Annie with the force of a sledgehammer. The being of might hit the air before camp with countless legs. Instead of shredding camp, legs were stopped midflight, encountering a shimmering wall.

The medic stepped forward, the pale features of his face flowing, revealing an utter darkness. A cowl appeared around his head, rapidly forming a cloak of utter darkness that flowed from the shoulders of a man. The pink skin of the head turned to chitin, and the clothes darkened until the cloak covered them. The leg of a man bent backward, lifting him higher and higher, allowing him to tower above Kayleen. The cloak reached the ground, hiding the man entirely, aside from his outstretched arm. Outsider, one of the greatest leaders of the Reclaimers was standing here, among the troops. He made a lifting gesture with his arm.

Light coalesces around the body of the sand reaper, wrapping itself around chitin plates, tearing the reaper from the ground and lifting the writhing body into the air. With a cacophonous sound, the ground was torn asunder as a force unseen dragged every last bit of a massive body into the air, freezing the writhing of a body above camp. Stones, larger than trucks, fell above camp, and shimmering lights in the air stopped them, deflecting them to the side. The legs of the sand reaper jerked frantically, trying to break free from the cruel hold. Light moved onto them as well, spreading like water, covering every inch of the body. The creature tried to screech again, and no sound came out this time. The sand reaper was caught in a prison of shimmering light.

"Begone." Outsider said and clenched his hand into a fist.

The last thing Annie saw before losing her conscience was how the massive body in the air above her collapsed into a single dot, no bigger than her hand or foot.

****

"Acknowledged. The mission was a success, carry on with your recovery." Image of Dragena on the screen said to Annie.

"If, I may, what about my reque…"

"I approved it. He is near the children's wards at the moment. Although, I once again recommend writing an official complaint."

"I would like to try my way." Annie quietly said, and Dragena nodded, disappearing from the screen to slide into a hospital bed afterwards. Even now, the warlord refused to show up in person, such an absence was slowly getting unusual. According to the terminal with records of Dragena and her pack, a terminal that also listed every defeat, victory, and all members who ever served as soldiers of the state under the warlord, Dragena never left her pack for long, not once in the previous years. As part of Annie's initiation, the scout had to memorize most of the history of her pack.

Annie let out a sigh, looking herself over. She woke up shortly after the packs returned back to base. The doctors said that she lost a lot of blood, the sting of the line breaker sliced all the way to her radius bone in her left arm, splitting it almost in the middle. The muscles and skin of her left arm around the injury were a bloody mess, machines spent some time stitching muscles back together. Now her left arm was tightly bandaged, her chest tightly wrapped with bandages, the stitches underneath itched like crazy, and Annie was shot with all kinds of possible medication. Her immune system was strong enough to overcome the sickness of Chosen Prince, yet Ieshua gave orders not to take any risks. In addition to this, she also found out that she had received a shot of vaccine against rabies and plague. This was sort of insulting, because following the traditions of the Wolf Tribe, members of the tribe evaded accepting medical help whenever they possibly could, believing that this strengthened their immune system. Annie was one of those believers. Doctors apparently had their own opinion on this and used the moment when she was unconscious to "fix" this "misunderstanding". Annie still had to read the full list of vaccines that she received today. For the next few days, she was scheduled to show up for daily doses of regeneration injections, injections that were as painful as poison bites of insectoids.

Not everything was bad, though. All members of Pack A and the Alpha team were safe and sound, aside from a few injured members of Pack A. Lucendra was taken away by doctors, and the injured male was locked away in the other wing. The doctors told Annie that she grew two centimeters taller and her muscle mass increased compared to data from her examination before this mission, indicating that her power rewarded the scout a bit more. Lieutenant Angoro came to visit Annie, explaining the reason why Outsider was present at the mission and that hostages were alive. The doctors made no claims about the condition of the hostages due to the hostages being exposed to people infected with the Chosen Prince virus, but healthy or not, everyone will survive, that much was clear. If they were ill, they will have to spend some weeks recovering, that is all. The man, who suffered burns on his neck, will survive, but his recovery will take much longer. Lastly, someone brought a whole vase filled with candies to Annie. That was... an unexpected, silly, cute surprise, but a tasty one.

The scout changed her blood-soaked clothes for pajamas provided by the hospital and stretched her good arm. She felt tightness in her chest, but aside from that, no pain. She felt a bit more confident, so she did two dozen squats, dreading feeling pain anywhere. None. With hesitation, she touched the doorhandle, and this time the electric shock did not hit her. All the doctors were well aware by now just how problematic wolfkins were as patients, thus they installed some measures to keep them secure. Guards outside her room checked data on pocket terminals, allowing Annie to go.

Thus far, so good. Take it slowly, Annie, don’t do anything overly stupid for now. The scout thought as she opened the door and walked through the corridor. There was still some time before the morning and most of the hospital staff were either sleeping or resting. There were people here and there, busy working on patients, but nothing compared to the daytime. Annie opened the door leading to the examination room, to get Ieshua to sign her release.

Inside the room was a shocked woman, in whom Annie recognized the raider that she knocked out before the cage with refugees. Ieshua was also present, trolls had no need for rest or sleep due to their insane regenerative abilities, and thus the doctor worked day and night in the hospital. Kassandra Trugh was sitting opposite of the bandit, behind a desk and reading something from her pocket terminal out loud. This time, the woman was without her black coat and wore a full hazmat suit.

"...Thus, the state will promise to nurse you back to health if your illness causes bone, skin, organ, sensory deprivation, or any other long-term harm to your body or psyche. Observers from the Iterna will serve as guarantors that the Reclaimers will fulfill our obligations to you and your family in c…" Kassandra finished reading and looked up, her voice sounded a bit dull because of her suit, "Hello there scout, how are ya feeling yourself?"

"Just fine, ma’am," Annie bowed to show that she could move just fine and nodded at the bandit, "What is she doing here?"

"She is a volunteer of sorts. Our guest here is infected in the early stages with a shit of Chosen Prince. No doubt you heard his voice in your head this night, when you were injured. Here is the kicker, all of the raiders were infected, this is why they were such a sorry excuse for a raiding party, Chosen Prince was whipping their asses to move. We plan to evaluate her condition over the next few weeks, allowing illness to bloom, fester and learn exactly how Chosen Prince takes over the wills and minds of others." Kassandra shrugged her shoulders casually.

"And in exchange, my kids will be permitted to move to an orphanage in the Core Land, if I die during the experiment?" The woman asked in a trembling voice.

"Yeah, yeah, you heard the offer. Your sentence will also be reduced to two years in regular prison, allowing you to avoid Torment. Even if you die, you win." The agent responded dismissively.

"Please do not scare the patient, agent. You will not die, and you will not become maimed, miss," Ieshua put his large hands on the woman’s shoulders, speaking in a deadly calm voice, "Some damage to the body is to be expected, true, but it is nothing that we can’t fix in a couple of months. One day in a prison hospital is equivalent to two days in prison, so it will benefit you in the long run. Worst case scenario, we prepare a medical capsule specifically for you. Once the experiment is over, you will be brought to the peak of your physical form again, have no fear."

Ieshua let go of the woman and walked toward Annie, checking her visually briefly, before sighing her release and nodding towards the exit. Upon leaving the room through the main exit, Annie had to pass a long decontamination procedure, but finally massive steel doors opened wide, and the scout was free to go.

Annie almost ran into Kayleen as she leaped from the doors. The wolf hag caught Annie with one hand under her right shoulder, stopping the scout in place.

"Are you still under effect of the medical drugs, or just an idiot in general? Who runs in these hallways?" Wolf hag cocked her to the side. Kayleen was freshly laundered and dressed in a black civilian jacket and, surprisingly, a black long shirt. Out of all the wolfkins of the Dragena's pack, Kayleen was the happiest about free clothes from the Core Lands. Even if they came from bitter rivals, the wolf hag gladly accepted them.

"A bit of both, to be honest," Annie answered honestly, "I messed up tonight, right?"

"Warlord found no fault in your actions. I will grill you for hours about needless risks of your life later, aside from that, I have no complaints either. Come, we have a duty to do."

"I am not sure that I follow. I thought we were on leave…"

"You still have to learn the responsibilities of a leader. After me, future wolf hag." Kayleen said these words without a hint of sarcasm. The usual anger of the wolf hag stepped back, Kayleen was speaking in a calm and almost respectful manner, so unusual for her.

Both of them walked toward the hospital wing meant for people with minor injuries or for those who were undergoing rehab. People and even a few soldiers with new mechanical limbs were testing them out under the supervision of medical staff, those who suffered from muscle degradation during illness were performing physical exercises, therapists were busy helping people who suffered mental scars from losing old skin, injuries, or other problems to move on and live on. Even at this hour, the place was busy like no other due to the sheer number of recovering patients. On the one hand, Annie was bothered to see so many victims of war. On the other hand, she was proud of the people of her state. Most of the doctors, workers, and nurses here were normies, they do not have the supernatural abilities and endurance of new breeds. And yet here they were, putting many new breeds to shame with their dedication.

A TV in a hall was showing a large crowd of people, citizens of the Wastes. Here were normies, new breeds, with a spontaneous gathering in front of Gregore City Hall, seat of Wyrm Lord in the Wastes, growing by the minute. Leaders of nomad families in their traditional poncho cloaks, hunters from the north of the Wastes covered from head to toes with stingers of insectoids, city dwellers, farm owners, and even heads of villages across the border, there were so many different people gathered at the same time. People demanded that refugees go back to Oathtakers, claiming that they are the reason for recent attacks. The patience of the locals was already thin, with an attack on the sand cruiser, the situation finally exploded. Blue wyrm and black wyrm swoop from the clouds above, landing on two gigantic pillars before a brown-colored building. Ivar looked at the crowd of people with contempt, while Scorpio was looking at people with a playful smile on his snout. Clouds above the City Hall were torn open with a single flap of mighty wings, and, like a settling sun, the massive golden form of Wyrm Lord appeared on top of the building, spreading wings wide and dwarfing people on the ground. The golden light that emanated from the scales of Wyrm Lord banished the darkness of the night, covering those before him in the soft light. But the commander of the Third Army was silent to the demands and screams of his subjects. The visage of the commander of the Third Army and ruler of the Waste and Ravaged Lands betrayed sadness as he looked down on the crowd of people. The camera showed the blonde journalist from World Without Borders, going by the name Larry Kosh. The man was suspiciously silent after the debacle with the warlord, but according to Dragena, reporters were still busy gathering information about the Wolf Tribe. Half out of stubborn refusal to give up, Annie asked him to look into the disappearance of her sister. She still kept writing to the police and services of all three countries, but no answer came. The reporter took her request seriously, promising to look into the attack on the village. To Annie’s surprise, Larry was not even aware that the village of the Wolf Tribe was wiped out in the attack.

"…We are live at the city hall, where Dynast has promised to address the worries of the people…"

"…Oh yeah? And I wanted to be a hero but instead was beating up other kids for fun." Ears of Annie twitched as she heard male words behind the door to which Kayleen was walking. She glanced at the TV one last time, yet there was no sign of the Dynast so far.

"Oh yeah? And I utterly failed everyone during my first mi…" The voice of Lucendra stopped the moment the door to her room was open.

The young wolfkin was sitting on a bed, with her back pressed against a wall and her hands wrapped around her knees. She was dressed in a white t-shirt with an image of a black raven on it, white socks, and socks. On a bed nearby, a young teen was sitting. Scar was running across his left eye, half of his hair on the left side of his head was missing, and his skin bore markings of burns. His entire right arm was replaced with a mechanical prosthetic arm, shaped elegantly after the image of an organic arm. Metal connected with flesh and bones in the shoulder area, the teen clenched and unclenched his new fist with minor surprise.

"What are you two doing here?" Kayleen demanded to know, and Lucendra was silent for a moment.

"Arguing which one of us sucks more as a person. Why, you care?" Arrogantly asked the teen.

"As a matter of fact, yes. You are the rascal who makes Lia worry, right?"

"She is worried? About me? But I bu…" The teen blinked in surprise.

"This answers my question. Name’s Kayleen," The wolf hag pressed two fingers to her temple in a mocking gesture of greeting, "And this is Annie. Because you are a new breed with power, higher-ups assigned me as a trainer in a rehab program for people like you, so get your ass rest up and get ready to run a lot of miles tomorrow. Without the help of your power." Kayleen smiled with a honey smile, and Annie pitied the teen. She was well aware of how ruthless the wolf hag could be.

"But doctors said that rehab is only supposed to gently help me accept my new arm… How is running…" asked the teen in confusion.

"Don’t you worry, I will ensure to make you do push-ups until you faint as well. Sleep while you can, cub, the big day is coming soon."

"Hey there, Lucendra," Annie said as softly as she could, imitating Kayleen's tone, "How are you? Bones, body, everything ok?"

"I am fine. Commander shielded me with his power. Doctors locked me here to calm down." The soldier admitted to failing miserably.

"Then all is good! You will be out in no time!" Annie allowed a smile of encouragement to slip onto her lips. She was partially pleased with her soldier. Finding weak points in the enemy in such a short period of time was commendable. Lucendra seems to be hanging around with Carty and Ultis as of late. Annie made a note to ask them what sort of prize would be fitting for the warrior.

"Wolf hag." Lucendra said, and Kayleen looked at her, "I understand that I brought shame to the pack. My hesitation put others into danger, and I acted unworthy of a soldier of warlord Dragena."

"You panicked on your first mission. Big deal. I got shot in the head on my first mission. Stop mopping down and work harder in order to not be dead weight in the future for a group." Annie almost wanted to slap the warrior out of her strange state of mind, but caught the look of Kayleen and stopped.

"Annie. Shut up and remember." The wolf hag hissed.

What am I supposed to remember? You kicked me in the ass after my first mission and… oh, right, be gentle. How is one supposed to be gentle? Well, here goes nothing.

"No, scout Annie is fully correct. Wolf hag, I betrayed your trust in me," Lucendra sighed, "but I swear I will train hard. Please do not throw me out. I will lick your boots if needed, I can do any chores, I can’t go…"

"Oh, calm down already," Annie said, lowering herself to meet the warrior's gaze, "How old are you?"

"One hundred and thirteen cycles, scout."

"Traditionalist, huh…" Annie quickly counted the days in her head. Cycles were an old and outdated system that was used by shamans. Each cycle was roughly equal to thirty days, "Wait, you are so young and yet you are bothered about your performance? What else did you expect at such an age? Trust me, when I was at your age, I was shit, weak, uneducated, and my warlord cared not for me… And look at you, you grew up a little bit tonight as a result of your first struggles. You came up with ideas on how to take line breakers far faster than I or the wolf hag managed to think about them," The scout put her paws on the shoulders of the warrior, trying to calm her down, "Lucendra, I know that I can be daft at times, but trust my words here. You've got nothing to worry about, your fear will pass as you gain experience. Everyone makes mistakes, just look at me. We came to see you because we were worried about you. We never even considered throwing you out, right wolf hag?"

"It’s just Kayleen for tonight. Yes, we came here to cheer you up and see how you are holding up," Kayleen scratched the back of her neck, clearly hating every moment of acting nice, "As for your worries, drop them. There will be something for you to do pretty soon. Listen, what are you drinking and eating?"

"Warrior Lucendra, am I correct?" Annie turned around, hearing a voice from the door.

The wolfkin, standing taller than six meters, had to bend over to fit through a doorway. One hand, bigger than Annie’s head, grabbed the top of the doorway to help slide the massive bulk inside. The newcomer was wearing a military leather coat of grey color, the sleeves of the coat were cut off, revealing impressive muscles. The brown fur of the newcomer's fur coat was thinning in places and showing tanned flesh covered by countless scars underneath. The newcomer's snout was a thing of horrors. Fangs pierced skin on both the lower and upper jaw, coming from below the nose, fangs were also sticking out from the sides of the jaws and even came from underneath the skin of her neck. The left eye of the wolfkin no longer existed, a sharp fang was coming out of the eye socket.

"Yes, ma’am." Lucendra nodded in surprise at this giant visitor, her voice trembled for a brief moment.

"Name’s Ygrite," When the warlord spoke, Annie shuddered against her will, looking at the mouth filled with white fangs. She had no idea how someone could eat, much less live, with so many fangs in their mouth. Row, after row, they grew from gums, from cheeks, from the palate, and even below the tongue, running all the way down the throat. Each breath of the warlord sounded strained, she had to struggle to push the air into her lungs. In her hands, the warlord carried a measuring tape, "You calmed down, this is good. Hold still, I have to check something for myself."

The warlord stomped toward the bed. Unlike Dragena, Ygrite barely cared about keeping grace, each of her steps made the beds in the room jump slightly. She reached for the warrior and used a measuring tape to check the biceps of Lucendra.

"Pardon for asking, ma’am, but what in the Abyss is going on?" Annie exploded, seeing the confused look of her warrior. The scout tried to stand before the warlord, but Ygrite simply pushed her aside, acting quite gently to the surprise of the scout. Kayleen desperately waved her paws, showing Annie to keep calm. Ygrite was not a strong warlord, she ranked low among others. This warlord lost her title several times, clawing her way back up through fighting. Her pack were known for being on the front lines during the war and taking heavy casualties during breaches of enemy positions. Ygrite ruled with an iron fist, or so the rumors said about her.

"Be silent for a moment, I don't want any beef with Dragena again," The warlord checked the torso and even legs of warrior, then looked at the numbers that she got in mild confusion on her face, "Her results are adequate… Why are my Branded are not showing the similar results then?" In blindingly fast motion, Ygrite moved her left arm to move the strap of Lucendra’s t-shirt aside, looking at the ugly brand on her shoulder, "Either there was some mistake… No, shamans do not make mistakes. How is your growth so different from the growth of my warriors? What am I doing wrong with their training? Anyway, I apologize for taking your time, everyone," the last words of the warlord were barely audible, and the warlord loudly inhaled air, making the teen pale from the weird sucking sound, "Don’t worry, cub, I don't bite. As for your question scout, I am here to compare the growth of branded soldiers in my pack to the growth of Dragena’s soldiers. I had already met the males, nice boys all of them, just screamed a little too loudly and were overly nervous. Their tongues loosened up after a couple of drinks, though. Lucendra was the last one on my list. Is it true that Dragena never laid a paw on you?"

"Ma’am, did you just admit that you were getting my soldiers drunk during the re…" Kayleen wrapped a paw around Annie’s mouth, hissing to her to shut up.

"Warlord Dragena never touched any of us." The warrior looked right into the sole eye of the warlord.

"Not even to straighten you up? To give you honorably scarred as a reward?" Lucendra shook her head, showing that no, "I am doing the same to the branded soldiers in my pack! But mine are still so frail! Maybe I should forbid others from touching them… but the other soldiers mostly pity the branded anyway…" The warlord trailed off in confusion, putting tape in her pocket, "Good night and good hunt, stay safe and all that. I need to think."

"Well, that was freaking scary! You saw her mouth? It’s like the mouth of some carnivorous worm, only way nastier!" Exclaimed the teen, once the door was closed behind the warlord.

"Ygrite is from the first generation of our tribe, just like our warlord. All first generation members have various problems. Except our warlord, of course, she is a perfect soldier." Kayleen explained it to the teen, letting go of Annie.

"There were other injured members of our pack. Where can I see them…"

"You can’t," Kayleen strictly said, "Not tonight, the males are not as durable as we are, so he will stay with the medics for a while longer. No matter, surely Carty will throw a party for everyone later."

"Wolf hag, I will leave the warrior in your care then," Smiled Annie, "I must thank the Alpha team for our rescue and speak with someone."

"Deserter. Fine, I will just call Ultis instead, before she drinks herself to death alone. Lucendra, I am still waiting."

"For what?" The warrior blinked in surprise.

"What. Do. You. Drink. And. Eat?" Slowly said the wolf hag, reaching for the pocket terminal, "We are going to have a somewhat private feast and drink tonight, worry not, I am paying, choose your favorites."

"Cringe." The teen said.

"And just for that, you will also be squatting as an extra bonus," The wolf hag threw it offhandedly, "Since you are stuck with us as well, my cyborg fellow, what are your favorite foods and drinks? Keep in mind, should you say booze, I will make an athlete out of you."

Still smiling, Annie left the room. Kayleen was right in a sense. It was important to keep morale in check, to show members of the pack that they mattered, and ease their worries. But at the same time, seeing the wolf hag acting all nice and gentle, even, was some of the most hilarious stuff that Annie had seen in recent times.

Passing by the TV, she looked at the screen and stopped, feeling her heart beating. A man was standing on the podium, dressed in a grey business suit without a tie. The light of the Wyrm Lord was falling on him, giving him an aura of light. Four guards in purple power armor stood behind him, like angels keeping vigil. Projectors built into the podium put light on him, making him cast a shadow larger than life on the building behind him. The man spread his arms wide, asking the crowd before him:

"People of the Wastes. Are you bothered by our guests?" The man, who could only be the Dynast, liege of Annie and supreme ruler of the Reclamation Army, spoke in a loud and calm voice, a sense of certainty was behind each word. And this was the man who had spoken with Lia and to whom Annie had nearly threatened to shove his arm into...

Shit. I mean, anyone could be mistaken in my place, right? I mean… Annie felt her skin become red from shame. The Dynast did so much for people and she… He could afford to be less creepy toward the cub!

"There has never been such chaos before!" People shouted to the face of the Dynast, "My son ended up being dead on a simple trade run! My shop was burned down! My crops are ruined. My daughter was violated! Ruins, sickness, and death are all that they brought to us!"

"I see that there was little point in asking." The Dynast let his hands fall and spoke in a softer tone, "I understand your fears. The unknown is scary, who better to know this than me? You seek answers to your woes, and you find them in those who have come to our lands. They look weird, unknown, their arrival unexpected. All of this is true. Yet they are not at fault!" His voice boomed all of a sudden, but the sound came not as a threatening roar, but rather as a triumphal call, "They suffered the same way you suffered! You said you had lost your son, fair lady," The Dynast jumped off the podium, walking toward the woman who screamed about her son. His bodyguards aimed to follow after him, but the ruler merely raised his hand, and they stood back. Surrounded by countless angry faces, the Dynast walked toward the grieving woman and took her hand, "I would’ve lied to you had I said that my heart bleeds for him, for I never knew him. Instead of lies, I will tell you the truth. Retribution for your son’s demise has been delivered, the murderers of your son are in prison, those who dared to attack our lands pay their price even now!" He let go of the woman and spread his arms wide once again, addressing the crowd, "But refugees who came here are not at fault for the vile actions of others! They, too, had loved ones and homes taken from them by tyrants, thugs, and bandits! At the hands of scum who came here to ruin our lands, our lives! The fault lies with the state's military as well as with me personally, because we were supposed to keep you safe! We failed you, and I can only ask for your forgiveness. Will you lash out on the weak, just for the crime of looking different, or will you help the weak to stand up, so both of you can build a world in which future generations never have to feel the pain of loss that you feel today? I understand, it is hard to think reasonably right now to accept such a grievous loss," The Dynast allowed his head to fall on his chest, suddenly becoming smaller and speaking more softly, "Just like you, I have lost countless friends and family members during my life. I will not ask you to abandon your grief. I will ask you to do a much harder thing! Live on, people of the Reclamation Army, live on as human beings, no matter how hard darkness tries to drag you back to barbarism, resist the urge to give in to hatred and fear! Beat back the darkness and see the light of a new day along with the rest of us! Even now, security is improving, lost crops and lost trade goods are compensated, damaged buildings are rebuilt, and trade routes are given more protection. We can’t bring back the dead, this much is true. Let us honor them by living, at least! You can live through this! This is all that I ask of you, people of the Wastes."

The angry faces still surrounded him, but the people were no longer enraged. One of the people in a business suit stepped forward, wiping his face with a white piece of cloth. The Dynast gestured for him to speak:

"We only have eight sand cruisers in the Wastes. How are we going to live now that one of them is gone?"

"Good sir, we are already working on the construction of a new safe route to the lands of Oathtakers. The military will watch over you, you will not have to worry about attacks by raiders anymore. Sand cruisers will no longer be as crucial to the economy here as before, but worry not, their crews will receive help in getting new jobs should they go out of business." The ruler gave his answer.

"That’s all good and well, but without supplies from the sand cruiser, our factory could go out of business. We can’t afford to wait weeks for a new delivery, before we can start producing bread, cakes, candies, and other treats. We worked so hard to start our business and now it’s all just gone." Complained a tall woman in shabby baker's clothes.

"I understand that it is problematic situation. Worry not, good lady, supplies will come from the Core Lands themselves within a week. The Trust Fund was made exactly for situations like this, while government officials will evaluate your losses and what exactly you need to keep on running, we will provide stimulus money for your workers directly and materials for you and other business owners to keep the local economy up and running."

"Just make sure to send checks to ones who actually need them this time!" Laughed an elderly leader of the nomad community, "During the famine and plague fifty years ago, my uncle and I received stimulus checks as well. Do we look like someone who can find ways to spend money?"

"You are citizens of a state and deserve an equal share. Venerable elder, you might ignore me, but please allow kids from your commune to go into schools this yea…"

"What again? Our children have attended schools and universities for the past thirty years. We ain’t dumb, ya know." The nomad leader laughed again, joined by hunters, and the Dynast blinked in surprise several times, while reporters were busy filming him. His bodyguards slowly moved to him from the podium.

"One last question, please!" A woman in the clothes of a city doctor pushed forward, "Please! Tell us what will happen with all the equipment that is currently used in the refugee centers. Can we please get some of that at least?"

"All equipment from refugee centers will be moved to the people of the Wastes. The state planned to introduce public healthcare to this region in forty years, but with war happening at our border and with the sufferings that befall you, the Champions of the State…" The Dynast pointed at the statues of Outsider, Ravager, Wyrm Lord, and Devourer above doors leading inside city hall, "…Along with countless other good men and women, convinced me to speed up implementation of this plan and use the Trust Fund for this in full. Worry not, noble soul, people here will have the same benefits as those in the Core Lands within months. Free medical care will become a reality before the end of the year," The Dynast looked aside and saw a hunter without an arm, "This includes free augmentation, of course."

The woman, who screamed about her lost son, angrily slapped the Dynast across his face, and he raised his hand, stopping his bodyguards.

"If this is your fault, then… Then be better!" The woman said and exhaled, keeping her face calm and trying to let go of her anger.

"I will try as hard as I possibly can," The Dynast replied in assured voice, "I was born in the time before the fall, you know this? At a time when no illness was too severe, when hunger no longer existed, when stars were within our grasp, and when no human being was left behind. What a golden era it was for humanity. And it was all taken away from us, and instead the horror of barbarism fell upon our planet. Since then, it has become my duty to ensure that humanity can return to these golden days. Each day I wake up and see people die following my commands and goal is nowhere near. Yet I see you all," He smiled, looking at the people, and true warmth was in the voice of the supreme ruler, a wide smile appeared on his face, "Just mere two hundred years ago, people here demanded blood sacrifices when food was scarce, hated members of other tribes, and distrusted new breeds. And now I see cities, villages, cake factories, schools, cooperation, hospitals, unity… I thank you. I thank you for making my dream come closer with each day," The Dynast bowed to the people before him, "Thanks to you, through your happiness, I have the power to move on as well. And because of this, I will protect you all to the best of my abilities. Please believe in others as well."

Bodyguards closed in on their liege, leading him away. The Dynast stopped as he saw two massive forms pushing through the crowds. With minor surprise, Annie recognized the two shamans who worked in the den near the military base and who helped during the battle of the facility:

"A word, please, my liege!" Shouted the shaman with a crimson mechanical eye. The Dynast stopped, and both shamans fell on their knees before him. The Dynast gestured for them to stand up, but both shamans only prostrated before him, showing their necks to him. According to several photos, the Dynast bit Ravager’s neck several times, punishing her for misbehavior.

"Stand up, proud servants of the state," With an open smile on his face, the ruler said, gesturing up with his right arm, "It warms my heart to see you as part of this demonstration, standing shoulder to shoulder with other citizens. Far too often, the Wolf Tribe stands aside from most decisions in the state when you have the same rights as others. Tell me, what woe or fear made you come here tonight."

"We beg your pardon, Dominator of Dominators. We were told that this was the place to ask our questions. We are not part of the people here, we don’t even know any of them. We never intended to challenge your authority. Please forgive our impudence if we do not have the right to ask questions." Whined the shaman without ears.

"Like abyss, you don’t know us," The leader of the hunters said, pushing closer to the shamans, "I remember you, back when I was a kid, your group brought medicine and food for our tribe when we were cut off from the rest of the world because of an earthquake. Many in my tribe would have died if you hadn't helped us then."

"I don’t… remember you at all. On the orders of the state, we helped lots of people, but I can’t take credit for something that I don’t even remember." Earless One raised her head and looked at the man.

"Well, I do remember you. It was forty years ago."

"And you allowed me to ride on your back when I was a kid!" A tall woman said to the shaman with the mechanical eye, "When an avalanche fell on our village and we moved toward the city, I broke my ankle and you put me behind your back, while you and others led us to safety. I remember these scars and eye anywhere."

"Please stop. I was young and stupid. It is embarrassing to remember such things." Scarred One asked.

"Stand up, servants of the state. This is an order." The Dynast said, with laughter in his voice, "Seems like you are closer to people here than even I. Tell me, what question did you wish to ask me."

"It…" The shamans stood up, looking at each other in embarrassment. Finally, the shaman with the metal eye nodded to her companion and told the Dynast, "There are far too many new believers in the lands. We can’t maintain prayer dens near base, near refugee centers, near villages and cities. We just can’t, we don’t have enough hands."

"Religious matters lie separate from matters of state. I feel for you, but it's best if you consult with the council of shamans... "

"We asked! We even have a paper stating that we have arrived on behalf of all shamans! Here is the council's plan, but we need approval and assistance." Scarred One produced some sort of official letter from her belt and showed it to the Dynast. The bodyguards tried to take it from the shaman, but the ruler stopped them and read it. His brows slightly lifted in surprise.

"I am not sure how this is a problem. If you want to create prayer dens in cities, what is stopping you? Belief in the Spirits is perfectly legal, and..." The Dynast scratched his temple, shifting his gaze from paper to shamans and back again.

"We don’t have tokens to buy land." Scarred One explained.

"Or a TV." The shaman with no ears was added.

"That too. Therefore, we come here with the permission of the council, to plead our case before Wyrm Lord, hoping that he could help us solve our problems."

"And to watch TV." Once again added Earless One. The shaman with the mechanical eye glanced at her fellow. The woman simply shrugged her shoulders, "There are some cool shows. I like them."

"I am not sure that I follow. People of the Wolf Tribe are servants of the state, why exactly your council does not have tokens to purchase land…" The Dynast asked in visible confusion, reading through the paper once again.

"You don’t pay us. Unlike other members of the Tribe, shamans are forbidden by tradition to accept payments for their help or work. We only accept weapons and armors from the state. Without tokens, no land." Scarred One explained the situation to the ruler of the state.

"Yeah, we usually just accept payments with food or clothes or material for clothes." The second shaman pointed at her ragged outfit, a vest made of several jackets crudely stitched together.

"And there you have it, folks," The camera stopped focusing on the Dynast, showing the face of Larry Kosh, his every word was soaked with disgust, "Straight from the mouth of the people. The Dynast is using slave soldiers in his army. A religious group that gives up their lives for the sake of his ambitions, and yet they don’t even have money to buy a house, can you imagine this, people?"

The cameraman switched view back to the ruler, showing how Dynast blinked in surprise for a couple of moments, while the crowd of people around him started grumbling angrily. Shamans looked around in confusion, not fully understanding what exactly caused such ire. When they heard angry shouts directed at their liege, the snouts of shamans turned to genuine horror.

"Wait, so we pay our taxes, and you don’t even bother to pay our military?" The man in the business suit exploded.

"No wonder that we never see wolfkin in cities! They don’t have tokens to purchase anything! Is this any way to help our economy?" shouted the tall woman.

"Screw the economy! The Ice Fang order gets to live like kings in the Core Lands, but our new breeds are forced to live in a gullet! Shame! You ignore the Wastes too much! It is our heroes who are always on the front lines, not snow boys!" The nomad leader screamed, veins appearing on his neck from anger.

"Wait, please, we wish to show no disrespect to the Dominator of Domina…" The shaman with the mechanical eye tried to plead with the crowd.

"ENOUGH!" Earless One shouted with an ear-piercing shriek and the crowd stopped for a moment, looking at her in a shock, "How dare you insult Great One! He saved us! It is our tradition to not take payment for our services, our faith demands sacrifice from us! We are not at fault for others' suddenly believing in the Spirits, we are just trying to help new believers! Stop fighting on our behalf, you igno…"

"Calm, yourself, child." The Dynast put his hand on the shoulder of the shaman, and she immediately fell on her knees before him. The ruler had to forcibly lift the scared to death shaman to stand before himself and made her look him in the eyes, "These people mean well, don’t you see that they care for you? It's just that everyone has their own view of the world. Worry not, Wyrm Lord, and I will look into your request and help create prayer dens… And we will also get you TVs, you earned that much for sure." Said the Dynast and the corners of his mouth twitched in the smile once again.

The image on TV switched to the host all of a sudden, who announced that Wyrm Lord will address people in a few minutes.

"Huh, so this is the famous Dynast," One of the doctors said to another, while they were sitting behind a table, taking a break, "Talks too much about himself."

"He can sing praises to himself for all I care if he actually implements free healthcare," shrugged the woman in response.

"I wonder how it will influence our paychecks…" The man wondered, pouring juice on himself and his fellow doctor.

Annie left them to their devices and walked toward the exit, lost in thought. When wolfkins become too old, shamans take them to a special tent. There, after final rites, the wolfkin is given her or his final rites, and the shaman ends the existence of the poor soul. However, some wolfkins, such as shamans and warlords, were forcibly given rejuvenation injections, injections that kept them ever young, due to how valuable such individuals were. A few wolfkins were even fully ageless, Zero, Alpha, Dragena, and other members of the first generation no longer aged. Such fate scared Annie, after she heard the words of the Dynast. Living on, forever and ever, seeing how all your comrades and friends vanish… What if she forgets Sveta one day?

Oh please, as if you will ever be a warlord. Annie chuckled to herself at such foolish thought. Still dressed in pajamas, she exited the hospital and caught a ride to cub’s wards. Usually, she could walk all the way there, but in her current condition, she decided not to take risks. That and she looked really stupid, dressed like a patient who escaped from a mental hospital.

The lights of a coming day were slowly slicing the skies above refugee center Gamma, a soothing wind hit Annie in the snout as she relaxed in the back of the truck. Pain, the foul smell of line breakers, fear—all was forgotten for a moment, and she allowed herself to close her eyes, cut the noise of the center away, and breathe in the morning breeze. Everyone is still alive, wounds and suffering will pass, and a new day is coming. Was there really anything more to ask for?

She felt the truck stop and jumped from the back of the truck, looking back. The hospital was enormous now, all facilities were ready and operating at full capacity. A small prison was built next to the hospital due to the fact that some unsavory people tried to hide among refugees and sneak in from the Ravaged Lands and the lands of Oathtakers. On this night, this prison also housed captured raiders. Eventually, police will arrive from the cities and take them to trial.

The cub’s ward is a five-storey high, square-shaped building, painted originally in white. However, the inhabitants of this place were a troublesome bunch, as soldiers learned when a group of teens stole several buckets of paint and painted whole pictures on the building walls. They were caught mid vandalism, of course, but Kassandra liked their enthusiasm well enough, and half punished, half tasked them with finishing the job, painting the entire building with images of animals, heroes of cartoons, and TV shows. Teenagers had way less enthusiasm when they were forced to do something and acted a bit calmer nowadays, mostly sticking to stealing treats and trying to skip lessons. The last part backfired due to Alpha being here. The warlord announced that since teens dislike verbal lessons so much, she will give them physical lessons. Annie never expected to see a tired troll cub in her life, but everything happens for the first time, as she learned. After intense gym classes with Alpha, no one tried to skip lessons anymore.

Tired looking Hans was here, overseeing the delivery of a set of TVs to the ward.

"Slowly, please! People just finished fixing them!" He yelled at soldiers who were about to toss one of the TVs to the ground. The man turned around, saw Annie, and waved to her.

"Having problems, Hans?" Annie asked, "I still have one good hand, if you need…"

"Oh, piss off, Annie! Take a rest for once, will ya? I want to finish this assignment fast and go sleep the rest of the day, I don’t need to drag your sorry ass to the hospital again!" Hans almost stormed away, then stopped, scratching his head, "Listen, you kinda scared me shitless back there. You need any help, just find me, ok? Don’t push yourself, rest and get well."

"Wait, are you actually pro-sleeping now? My, how times have changed." The scout teased him.

"I am, and fuck you too, Annie! Have a great day!" This time the mishappen human really stormed away, smiling.

Annie took a deep breath and walked around the ward. She found him exactly where Dragena said he would be. Outsider was standing before a painting depicting a tall woman, shining the way in the darkness to some children.

"Never expect that this cartoon will actually reappear in today’s world," Outsider turned toward Annie, darkness underneath his cowl looking straight into her soul, "I finished my delivery here and am about to leave. Say your piece."

"Thank you for saving my soldier and our lives, sir," Annie said, bowing her head. Then she looked directly into the darkness below the hood, "I know that you were aware that there was more to this operation than meets the eye. Even Angoro was left in the dark. I saw the Dynast on TV today. For the sake of unity, our liege needed the weapon of Chosen Prince eliminated in a show of force, and you ensured this by using us and hostages as bait, am I correct?"

"Wrong. Our liege has no need for cheap victories to make his words heard. Had I not taken out the sand reaper, it would eventually attack this place, maybe without me around. To protect civilians, soldiers had to risk their lives, such is our duty. I merely made you do your part, albeit unknowingly, and was there myself, trying to help as much as possible. I can sense anger boiling down in you. Feel free to hit me, I can take it." Outsider turned to look at the picture again.

Annie forced herself to be calm. She wanted nothing more than to bash his head against the wall. He saved them true, but had he chosen to share the information that the sand reaper was under the control of Chosen Prince, they would have prepared better. If they had all worked together, no one would have been hurt and the operation would have gone much more smoothly. Had he only trusted his allies...

"You are wrong," Annie said with dead calm, and Outsider turned to look at her again, "I want something else, sir. What good will hurting you do to anyone? You are the greatest known champion of the Reclaimers. Please, lead us as a leader instead of using us."

"I never studied the art of war or command or military doctrines. My role as the champion of the Reclamation is to instill horror into our foes. Not to lead or inspire. Such roles are reserved for more talented people." No face was visible beneath the cowl of darkness as the champion spoke.

"Sir, how old are you?"

"Five weeks ago, I celebrated my three hundred and first birthday." The answer was calm.

"Three hundred and f…" Something about this number bothered Annie, but she ignored it for now, "You are so much older than me. Surely you can spend at least a few years studying how to command and direct troops, learning cooperation and communication. To us all, you are an immortal symbol. Your deeds are legendary, few could hope to claim even half of what you have managed to achieve over the years. Your experience in many areas is beyond that of a normal person. But no single person can always be correct."

"Dynast never makes mistakes." Responded the champion.

"We both know this isn't true, Sir. He wanted to persuade Lia to stay and instead scared her. Our liege understands that he can’t be everywhere, this is why people like you are there to help him guide the state. Sir, please, age of warlords, heroes, madmen, and tyrants is coming to an end. We all need to work together now! This is why we all must learn, this is why we all must cooperate with each other. Only through bettering ourselves can our state endure and thrive in the years ahead. The armies of today are made of countless thousands of people, operating in hundreds of various places, you physically can’t be everywhere, sir. Please, sir, I beg you, trust us and work with us. Before making plans, consults with others in command to ensure that operations are running smoothly. No matter how great individual success is, if others can’t capitalize on it, success will be wasted. We put our lives on the line just like you put your own life on the line for our sake, sir. I beg you to trust the state that you helped to build. I beg you as a fellow citizen of the state. Please become an even greater symbol for all of us."

The figure in the black cloak stood silent for a good minute, sizing up Annie from head to toes. Finally the hood nodded.

"I will see what I can do. You have my apologies for not giving you full information about mission." With these words, the champion leaped in the air, disappearing in the sphere of light that carried him away.

Annie could only hope that her world produced any result. She felt burning shame and fear while walking back to catch the car to the barracks of Alpha team. She despised the thought of thanking this idiot, of being the weak again, of proving herself as worthless as...

Stop it. Admit the truth to yourself. You will never become equal to Virginia. You will always be weaker. I. Am. A. Failure. Thought the scout, jumping into the truck that was supposed to deliver food to the packs of Alpha team. She smelled species, fruits, sugar, and even chocolate among the suuplies. Wine bottles were secured in wooden crates marked for the Omega Team.

Warlord Alpha split her packs into three teams: Beta, Alpha, and Omega. The Beta team was a designated name for packs of green recruits. They rarely saw action and mostly spent their days training until Alpha deemed them worthy of joining the Alpha team. The Alpha team, the core of the warlord’s forces, were made up of veterans or especially gifted individuals. Famous for their teamwork and success in the field, they held the title of the second strongest team by right. And finally, there was the Omega team. Sometimes wolfkins were just too prideful or too egoistical to work with others. The Alpha usually beat this attitude from her troops, but some of them had skills to exceed where most people fail. Members of the Omega team worked alone, saboteurs, spies, assassins, and sometimes simply brute force on key points of the battlefield. Each of them was equal in strength to a wolf hag, and each was geared with the very best weapons and armor available. And none of them could work as a team with others for a long time, they would find some way to separate themselves from the team.

Before Annie could knock on the wooden door to the barracks, it was open from the inside. Before her stood a wolfkin dressed only in a green t-shirt with an image of panther, a once extinct animal of the Old World, on her chest. The amber eyes briefly sized Annie, looking for a threat. Noticing the wounded arm of a scout, the wolfkin visibly relaxed.

"The infirmary is in the building on the horizon, kin. If you want to, I can escort you." The wolfkin said calmly, gesturing for workers to bring in the food inside.

"I know, ma’am," Annie had no way of knowing the rank of wolfkin before her but decided to act with submission and respect to all members of the Alpha’s packs. They deserve this much for saving them, "I came here to give my thanks to wolf hag Virginia for saving me and my pack."

"To Wildling? Ack, you must be Annie, right? Come in, don’t be so shy, we are all friends here." The soldier grabbed Annie by the right hand, gently leading her inside.

The soldier led Annie across the corridors filled with photos of wolfkins. Females and males were both present on walls, listed as champions of the Wolf Tribe. Some had a black slash in the corner of the photo, indicating their demise. Unlike in the barracks of Dragena’s pack, the walls and floor in this barrack were made out of wood, making them gentle and warm to the touch. There were no visible trophies, and no flags of defeated foes or nations adorned the walls. Only a few instructions with the daily schedule were on the wall, and a few instructions on whom to call in case of an emergency and who is responsible for barracks in each time period. Virginia was listed as the person in charge of the rapid deployment pack from the time period of 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. A wired phone of old design was on one wall, right next to the modern terminal. The instructions above the phone stated that soldiers could only call home during the daytime.

Aside from these schedules, the place barely looked like a military installation. The antique objects of art were put on display for everybody to see behind the reinforced glass of the steel shelves. One room had several terminals listed for use for civilian purposes only. There was no soldier on guard in the main hall, the entire place was eerie silent, unlike the barracks of other wolfkins, where the sounds of everyday fighting often ruled unopposed. A poster on one side of the wall stated that all domination matches are to be concluded in an underground training area, those who fight in halls will be punished with lashes and cleaning duties. But no matter how hard Annie tried, she could detect no sounds or vibrations from below her feet. The barracks of Alpha's pack sounded and looked half empty.

The soldier led Annie to a small dinner hall where a male and female wolfkin were sitting behind a simple table, both of them dressed in green vests. Unlike other packs, as an elite task force, the soldiers of Alpha were privy to their own food and even their own dinner hall that was made in their own temporary barracks.

The dining hall was decorated in the same style as the hall earlier, wood of brown color covered the walls, several round tables were in the room, behind the counter, Annie could see several cooks from the ranks of normies. Plates and tableware were made from silver, and white tablecloths on the tables were pristine clean. Calm classical music played in the room. The image of Alpha was displayed on a poster on the north side, she pointed her claw at everyone in the dinner room. Words below her stated that this area is domination-free and punishment for a single punch in the dining area is fifty lashes with chains and two months of cleaning duty for the instigator.

"Still can’t believe that she just got up and left without saying a word to her. She just left a resignation letter and that’s all." The woman stated. A thin scar ran across her left eye, her lower lip bore an ugly scar that went all the way to her neck. Around her neck was a golden necklace with an azure stone in the middle of the chain.

"Our fault. We knew what she was through, who would not be frustrated and scared in her place? The correct course of action was to knock her out, tie her up, and wait for Alpha. Because of our pity, her nightmare just begins," The male shrugged his shoulders, pouring wine for himself first and the female second. This surprised the scout, as in most packs, males were either beaten or constantly reminded about their position. And yet this one had just a couple of scars on him and no fresh bruises or marks of domination. His build was very impressive as well, his shoulders were almost as wide as the shoulders of a female wolfkin, "At the very least, we should have told her that we stand with her and that her "humiliation" means nothing to us."

"I am not giving up on her. If someone finds her, I will bring her back by force if nee…" Both wolfkins turned toward Annie and the other soldier, "Greetings, kin. Are you transferred to us by any chance?"

"Negative, Blaze." The soldier who escorted Annie said, "She came to say thanks to the Wildling. I will leave our guest in your care, I need to direct food delivery."

"But of course," the female soldier said graciously, allowing the woman to leave, "you must be from the pack to whom Alpha team assisted during the scramble this night."

"Want to have breakfast with us, kin dearest? May I interest you in some wine?" Asked the male wolfkin, putting a new plate and glass on a table, "We also have fish, meat, some leftover strawberries, and, of course..."

"What is the fis… Never mind, I am sorry." The scout smiled in thanks for the offer, "I'm sorry to bother you all, but I'm just here to thank Wolf Hag Virginia," she said, her stomach growling as she picked up tasty smells from the kitchen area.

"Fish is a delicacy in these lands, Ron," Blaze’s laughter resembled the murmur of a river while she was addressing the male wolfkin as he raised his left brow in minor confusion, "Dearest kin, you are injured and clearly tired. Wildling is still in the training chambers below and will be there for some time. She said that she needs to learn how to, and I quote her, "stop posturing too much on a battlefield". Sit and feast with us."

"Sorry, I am… uh… low on tokens." Annie tried to talk her way out. Kitchens always provided basic food supplies, of course, enough to maintain peak form at all times. Treats, exquisite dishes, and so on had to be bought for money, however.

"We insist," The male wolfkin said as he pushed the chair closer to the table, "Don't worry about money, kin. We omegas believe that everyone in the Wolf Tribe should try the delicacies … Every day to be honest, but with the lack of opportunities, at least once will have to do as well. I am Ron and this otherworldly beauty right here is known as Blaze."

"My name is Annie. Nice to meet you everyone." In shy voice, the scout responded, sitting at the table.

Ron called the cooks, and soon the table started to fill with various dishes. Chopped and peeled oranges, strawberries, pancakes with sour cream, and lastly, seafood kebabs made of something known as sea bass. Acting like a gentleman, Ron tried in vain to offer Annie various types of wines, only for her to refuse all of them. In the end, he had to contend with serving only soda to the guest, his face looked genuinely pained at the thought of Annie's decision.

"This genuinely tastes good!" The scout exclaimed, picking up a piece of fish with her right hand and gulping the unusual treat down her throat.

"Please, dearest kin, do not eat so fast. Don’t try to gulp food all at once, no one will rob you of it, take it slowly and use a fork instead of your paws," advised Ron, picking up a pancake with his own fork and taking a bite, slowly chewing it, "People spend so much time preparing dishes for us, the least we can do is appreciate their craft by eating properly and enjoying ourselves. Feel the aroma before swallowing, savor the flavor of food on your tongue, experience how your mouth waters in anticipation of a threat and then start chewing food… Ah, is there anything, anything at all that could be better than good food with friends?"

"I can think about a couple of things," Blaze thinly smiled, reaching for Ron’s leg with her own, "Since we're in a relatively peaceful state right now, how about you and I..."

"Not in front of our kin, oh feast for my weary eyes! Show restraint for a little while, I beg thee." The male theatrically put a paw over his heart.

"Only for a very short time, dearest friend." The female purred.

"Sorry for asking, but…" Annie followed the advice of Ron, smelling the fish and biting a small part before swallowing, "Where does this "fish" come from? I thought that the oceans were all going the way of the old world."

"Ack! A chance to educate!" Annie blinked as Ron moved like a blur, storming toward the exit from the dinner hall like a storm. All his previous elegance was gone, replaced with a sudden energetic burst of movement. Blaze giggled softly, seeing Ron return with a small pocket terminal. The male wolfkin sat back at the table, turning on the terminal and showing Annie the giant lake made of green waste and toxic fumes. The fumes lifting from this disgusting mass were so thick and deadly that they scarred land around the cursed mass of death for leagues on all sides, "Here you can see the dread lake of death, once a major toxic mass near the capital of our rivals eternal, the Oathtakers. With an insane amount of hard work, use of pre-Fall tech, and help from both us and Iterna, this place now looks like this," The image changed. Where once toxic green reigned, eternal blue calmness appeared. Waves run across the surface of a sea, the seawater was so pristine that in some places Annie could see the rock bottom of a sea. Flocks of fish moved lazily under the water, cruise ships travelled across the calmness of a sea, "Madmen actually did it! In thirty years of hard work, they recreated the sea, along with all sorts of sea creatures and various lifeforms from the Old World. No one believed that they could succeed, but they ignored the naysayers and worked hard. And what could one nation do," The image on the terminal changed, showing waste filled with sand as far as the eye could see. Images begin to appear with incredible speed, showing machines excavating this waste, removing long-lost ruins, dangerous remnants of the past, driving wildlife away... Then came the water, poured from truly massive machines, three times the size of the refugee center Gamma. Speed increased and soon this place too turned into blue eternal, surrounded by grass and trees, instead of jagged rocks and sand, "Others can do as well. It took years, hard work beyond compare, and joint cooperation between all three great nations, but people in the Core Lands also pulled it off! Now and to be fair, our seas are not yet as big as those in Iterna, true, but with each passing year, seafood becomes more affordable for everyone."

"This… this is genuinely amazing," Annie looked with wide eyes at the ships that sailed across the waves, new breeds known as orais working side by side with new breeds from normies and normal humans, catching fish, while massive ships the size of crawlers were busy unleashing something in the sea, stimulating the growth of new life. All the People of Reclamation, all working together to bring new life to formerly dead regions, "I kind of wish to see the sea in person at least once."

"You certainly can, and dare I say should, dearest kin," Ron enthusiastically nodded, "Soldiers have the right to vacation and leave. It takes roughly five to six days to reach one of the seas in the Core Lands via public transport, assuming you use the most efficient route. The maximum permitted leave is usually around fifteen days. Imagine, you will get to see such wondrous places, will have more than enough time to learn how to swim, and can even get back in time. Ack, the mere thought of seeing the sea again in person makes even my hide tingle. A soothing breeze upon your skin… Diving in the calm blue waves, pushing down to rock bottom through a sea of salt calmness and silence, seeing fish flowing before your very eyes and snatching it with your jaws, coloring the blue waters around you crimson… Fighting the sharks who showed up at the party and mistook you for a snack, feeling their razor sharp teeth against your ribs... Spending the whole day on a rock in the middle of nowhere, bleeding like a cusack before being rescued by a passing boat with tourists…. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"So that’s how you got those scars…" Blaze smiled, while tapping on the back of Ron, "And not "suicide charging into enemy lines to save an abandoned cub" as certain someone told us."

"Guilty as charged. I am not that incompetent as to get hurt during a mission. By the time I am finished with adversaries, there is no one or anything left in my wake that could possibly hurt any cubs. Pray keep this vilest lie secret from others, kindliest joy of my life," Ron laughed, picking up another pancake. He threw a quick glance at Annie, "No insult was meant, of course, kin. Lady Alpha just… not very enthusiastic about omegas getting injured in combat. We are simply too valuable."

"None taken, friend. Besides, I am really clumsy and inexperience yet."

Yeah, I am not diving into the sea … ever. Whatever these sharks are supposed to be, they sound scary. Annie decided, smiling to the soldiers.

Chatting with two soldiers, Annie barely noticed how half an hour had passed. Ron excused himself, stating that Alpha will skin him alive if he is late to help lead lessons again. Blaze announced that "mad rabbit" should be back in her room by now. Annie hastily finished eating, ignoring the offer of the soldier to wait for her.

"Why do you call Virginia by these nicknames? Wildling, Mad Rabbit...Why not call her by her name?" Annie inquired as she walked down the corridor with Blaze by her side. The wolf hags were privy to their own rooms on the second floor, or dens as they called them, while low-ranking soldiers slept together in a large hall below.

"Alphas of her own pack were the ones who started calling her like this. Surely you have seen how she acts by now? Always picking up fights, even ones that she can’t win. Always at the front line, mowing down foes. Lack of basic manners… Ack, if there is any reason not to call her wild, I do not know it."

"And why call her a rabbit?" The corridor on the second floor looked almost like the hall below. Doors were made out of wood, instead of tablets with names, each door had its own series of numbers, clearly showing who was the owner.

"This one is easy. She is afraid of reporters and always tries to hide from them when they are trying to get the latest scoop out of her. For someone who outdrinks all the normies in bars around Wastes, she sure is one shy girl when it comes to reporters. Do not let name-calling confuse you, we are merely teasing her. Despite all her quirks, she is our sister by right, and each and every one of us will stay by her side should the need arise. With her own skills, she earned her position, her competence is…" Blaze initially talked in a very casual manner, but when she mentioned teasing, the tone of the soldier became serious. Leading Annie to a single door that was painted in red. Instead of a number, a large tablet was pressed to the middle of the door: "Virginia, this is your home. Don’t forget to turn off your axe!". Blaze knocked at the door with her knuckles and, with a creaking sound, the door opened, "…Lacking in everyday life. Now, don’t let this fool you, for during military missions, Wildling dearest are second to none!" The soldier finished in a mildly desperate tone.

Annie's nose caught the stinking stench of sweat coming from inside the room, before her eyes adapted to darkness. Virginia's room was small enough, a sofa was standing by the left wall. Above the sofa hung quite an impressively well-done painting of several wolfkins, with Virginia among them, hugging each other and posing against the background of a real green and lush forest. The trash can near the sofa was filled with various jeans, jackets, sweaters, and t-shirts, all of them were dirty and stank of sweat. The shaft of the energy axe was stuck in the trash pin. A plastic table, with a terminal on it, stood on the opposite side of the sofa. On the north side of the room was a messy bed, with countless clothes, still closed in plastic packaging, scattered on the bed and near it on the floor. Near the bed was a large photo of the village that Virginia had sent to Annie years ago, it even had that stupid spelling mistake. The leather coat of a wolf hag lay carelessly abandoned in the middle of the room. Aside from that room being barren, there were no cases with rewards, like in Annie’s room, no photos of friends and comrades, no books, no magazines, nothing.

"And she forgot to close the door again. Also, Wildling is late again. Also, also, her room stinks!" Sensing the stench, Blaze pinched her nose with two fingers, "We seriously better to wait outside…"

The soldier's words were cut short by the loud booming sound that rocked the corridor floor. Annie turned her head to the left and saw the form of the wolfkin leaping at the ceiling, using it to jump down on the floor before Annie, landing on all fours and charging into the room. Walking on all four, like an animal, Virginia stomped toward the energy axe, pressing her muzzle toward the metal and leaving traces of drool upon the weapon, marking it.

"M… mine!" The wolf hag of the Alpha pack stuttered trying to say the word, her t-shirt and shorts were soaked with sweat, knuckles of her paws bore marks of recent injuries, "I won it by right," her muzzle rubbed against the axe shaft nonstop, "Won’t give it up without a fight."

"Snap out of it, stupid. You have a guest today, act like a human being." Blaze strictly said, coming into the room, still pitching her nostrils.

"Guest?" Virginia looked at the entrance in confusion, her amber eyes gaining focus, almost like waking up from a long sleep, "Annie! Come on right in. Wanna play with the axe again? We can go to the training area and slice some bots."

"How are you living among this stench? Why in the world are you using the trash pin to store dirty clothes?" The scout demanded to know, looking around in deep shock. Dragena would never ever tolerate such travesty.

"Cause I forgot to throw out the trash yesterday. And day before that… And probably one more day before that too," Virginia scratched scarred skin on the left side of her neck with her left leg before standing up. Blaze had to swallow the words in her mouth, seeing as Virginia undressed herself, throwing more clothes into a pile of trash and tearing out plastic packaging for a new set of clothes, "As for smell, you get used to worse during a scramble with minions of the bitch prince."

"Chosen Prince, Rabbit." Blaze corrected the wolf hag in an icy tone.

"Same thing, really, auntie," Virginia shrugged, pulling on shorts and a t-shirt, "What brings you here, Annie?"

"You stupid idiot," Annie said honestly. She played this situation in her head numerous times, thinking about how to better force herself to thank her riva… someone who is better than her. She imagined herself on her knees, prostrating or similar. But right now, this situation enraged her and threw her off script, "You are a freaking wolf hag, Virginia you must set an example for lower ranks! This is your duty! Why in the world do you live in such a gullet? Clean your room, wash your clothes instead of throwing them out…"

"Can’t. Don’t know how. Easier to throw them away and buy new ones." The wolf hag replied innocently, and Blaze giggled at the inanity of these words.

"You dumb, stupid, weird… You know what, Virginia? I will wash them for you. I will even teach you how to do your chores." Annie angrily grumbled, picking up dirty clothes.

"But… why?" Virginia cocked her head, blinking in surprise at the offer.

"Because your duty is to set an example for others, and I came to thank you! You saved the lives of my soldiers and my own life on this night, and I am bad at thanking others, so please forgive me for screaming at you!"

"You are still screaming at me." Smiled the wolf hag, and Annie wanted to shout. She hated, hated being here, hated looking stupid before this fool, hated being weaker, hated…

"I am sorry for my behavior," The scout made herself speak slowly and respectfully. She twisted her head, showing the wolf hag the naked neck as a sign of submission. Virginia decided not to take the bite. "It was unworthy of me. Let us start from the beginning. Wolf hag Virginia, I want to thank you and the soldiers under your command for our rescue during the night operation. Please allow me to wash your clothes and clean your room as a way to express my thanks. If I can do anything else, please tell me and…"

"Fight me!" Virginia quickly said, cracking her knuckles, her eyes burning with anticipation, "Time to see what we can do now. The loser will have to be the one to update records for both of us!"

"I must decline this offer, wolf hag." Annie forced herself to sound calm.

"Are you chickening out, Annie? Then just add my victory to the records." Virginia smugly smirked.

"She is injured, can’t you see it, rot for brains?" Blaze rolled her eyes at the suggestion and the wolf hag opened her mouth wide, noticing the wounded arm of Annie for the first time, "Continue like this and I will break your recent flawless record myself, Wildling."

"It is fine." Annie forced herself to smile. She felt how her blood was boiling, frustration, anger, and shame made her twitch her ears and clench her good paw. This bastard knows that Annie was weaker than her! Virginia mocks the scout even now, enjoying her superiority. Fine, Annie still had one way to turn the situation around, "Wolf hag Virginia is far stronger than me anyway. I will tell warlord Dragena that I lost to you and records will be updated with your victory…"

"Come now, I was just being stu…" The wolf hag shrugged, trying to turn the situation into a joke.

"To show my gratitude, I will show you how to clean your things and keep your den in pristine condition," If Virginia hoped that Annie would be humiliated by her duty, she will be sorely disappointed. The scout kept a pleasing smile on her snout as she continued talking, "First thing first, we need to get you into the shower."

"I hate water," The wolf hag twisted her mouth into a scowl of displeasure, "In and out of the hospital, always wet. Yack." She shrugged her shoulders in disgust.

"We all hate being wet, Virginia," She acts like a spoiled cub on purpose, to rile me up. Fine, then I'll treat her like a cub, "But you got to clean yourself of sweat, before you ruin your new clothes as well…"

Annie asked Blaze to show them the way toward the showers. After making sure that Virginia cleaned herself, the scout spent several hours showing the wolf hag how to use the washing machine, how to fix torn clothes, how to keep them clean and fold them properly. Meanwhile, Blaze always stood nearby, looking at this situation first with boredom, then with genuine confusion. Try as she might, Annie could not rile up Virginia, no matter how slowly and carefully she explained everything to her, the wolf hag simply absorbed common information as if it was revelations from the blessed mother herself. When Annie felt a tingle of pain in her chest, Virginia noticed it and pushed scout aside, stating that Annie can direct her with words, while she will do everything on her own.

"How. In. The. World. Do. You. Not. Know. How. To. Operate. Washing machine?" Blaze slowly asked, bringing a chair for Annie to sit on, while the wolf hag had the time of her life experimenting with various modes of compact washing machine, ignoring the angry snarling of Annie. Omega looked like she was at the point of slowly going mad.

"No one ever taught me, so of course I have no idea how to use it." Virginia responded without turning back.

"This… this is the person whom Alpha entrusted command. How can you know how to fix power armor and not…" Blaze shuddered, and Annie felt the fingers of the Omega team member tighten on the scout's shoulders before quickly relaxing, "Mad Rabbit, if you don't know how to do any other mundane every day work, like how to open a tin can..."

"You supposed to open it? I always swallow it whole," Virginia turned back, her brows lifted. Seeing the shocked look of Blaze and the enraged features of Annie, the wolf hag chuckled, "Just kidding. I know that you need to tear apart metal first, then eat sweets inside."

"Tear… Arghuh… You know what, Wildling? I am not even mad, just disappointed that you never asked me for help. Consider yourself officially grounded for the rest of today." Blaze pleasantly smiled, putting her paws on her waist and leaning forward.

"But I was a good girl and obeyed all orders! Auntie Blaze, don’t do it with me, please!" Virginia whined, trying to look small, "My pack also…"

"Don’t you worry about a thing, Ron will take over all your duties for today, like the good boy that he is. Your pack will be safe and sound with such a pretty soul as his. Meanwhile, you will show me your mundane skills. Cooking, cleaning, opening tin cans, and so on. And if I find any of your skills to be lacking, well…I will teach you how to do things properly," Blaze rolled her eyes as she let go of the scout, "Gently, carefully, and thoroughly," Despite her gentle smile, Blaze's last word sounded like a howl of rage, "This is not the punishment, Rabbit, put your chin up. Thank you for bringing this… unusual situation to my attention, scout Annie. I will fill in the blanks in the education of the wolf hag from here."

"Always glad to help." Annie responded politely, unsure if Blaze really was falling for the act of the wolf hag. It had to be an act. No one could be this stupid and yet still be in the rank of the wolf hag. No one.

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