To the raptors aboard the Petrie, the stars were a terrifying sight to behold.  Staring across the endless abyss of a thousand million lights, Moonclaw's eyes turned wider with fascination alongside her children.

        "Is this...is this where we journey to, when we die?"

        "It ith...tho quiet...and empty," muttered Oddtooth.

        "I don't like it," Skyfang shivered, "I can't hear anything out there."

        "It's like...when yer out on the sea, and you go too far," Seaclaw muttered rubbing his arm, "the sea gets quiet, and nothing moves, but you feel the skyfire's coming."

        "We are just nervous," Oddclaw nuzzled him, "this is a great hunt for us.  Greater than anything we have hunted."

        "Are we hunting?" Oddtooth looked to him.  "We are not eating her."

        "We hunt for our freedom," said Moonclaw, "we hunt for peace, that is just as noble as hunting for food."

        "We got our friends too!" Skyfang chirped with a little hop.  "We're not alone, we can fight together!"

        "Yer right!" Seaclaw hugged her.  "We're gonna stop her, we're gonna save everyone!"

        "Our home will be safe," said their father pulling them together, "I know it will be.  I have faith in all of us."

They watched the stars pass them by as little phantoms of eternity, soft glimmering whites in the infinite dark as he walked out of their room to head down the hall of curved indigo passages as robots, humans and other raptors walked on by bracing themselves for the coming battle, guns polished, rivets reset and claws sharpened as he went to where Andrea sat with Chanoch.

        "Are you ready?" he asked.

        "Yes."  The knight patted his giant lasergewehr beside his bed.  "Are you?"

        "As much as I can," he patted his gun holster, "what about you Andrea?"

        "Same here," she opened her coat showing her gun and a new armoured chest, "not fucking around this time."

        "That is good.  I...about Jane, I-"

        "No."  She put a hand to his lips.  "We're fucking killing them, they killed her, end of story, don't give me any sob story regret bullshit, they're fucking dead."

        "Alright...you are right," he nodded with a sigh, "we must focus."

        "I'll do my best to help, but I'm gonna be joining the robot squad to deal with any computers, Schroeder will join me to help translate any stuff."

        "I will hunt down Riptor," said Oddclaw crossing his arms, "I will take the raptors and we shall fight her together."

        "I will join you," said Chanoch, "Andrea, where is my book?"

        "I gave it to Kevin," she replied, "in case shit goes down hard up here, he'll keep it safe."

        "Thank you.  It is almost time for food."

        "Yeah," she stood up alongside him, "we're gonna need it for the last fight."

Heading toards the largest room of the ship, the soldiers, raptors and robots all sat down next to each other, eating whatever they were given or in the case of the reploids and badniks, energising themselves with special batteries that gave a mineral "flavour" to rejuvenate them.  Without translating collars, the groups spoke amongst their own kind primarily, but some of them started to communicate using pictures and at one point Seaclaw managed to set up a small betting game where everyone tried to predict the roll of two dice in a hollowed shell.

        "ODDS, ODDS!"

        "NO EVENS GOTTA BE EVENS!"

        "No this has to be twos, surely!"

        "OKAYYYYY!" Seaclaw slammed down the dice.  "And iiiiit's, ONES!"

        "YEEEEEEEAAAAH!"

        "WHAT, NO!"

        "FUCKIN' BULLSHIT COME ON!"

        "Alright next!"  He rattled the dice in the shell.  "Ones or twos, everyone guess!"

        "You not gonna play?" Jacob asked.

        "Naaah," said Arnold shrugging, "not a gambling man myself."

        "Well we're not using any real money, just a buncha stone shards."

        "Ehh still," he looked over to the yoshi, "what about you, do you gamble?"

        "Uhhh no," Jacob rolled his eyes, "I was seventeen before I got here, wasn't old enough to gamble."

        "Oh right, haha...nineteen now huh?"

        "Yeeeah."  The yoshi slumped forwards.  "Aaagh this sucks.  Like, okay I know we got WAY bigger problems and we got this Riptor and we just went through a really big battle an-"

        "Sometimes it helps to vent, you can tell me," Schroeder grinned.

        "I was...really excited to turn eighteen."  He rubbed his fingers with a tightening chest.  "I was gonna have my first drink, with my dad and my uncle, like becoming an adult, and then yanno there's my graduation, there was my ideas for college."

        "What were you wanting to do in college?"

        "Honestly?  Always kinda liked photography."

        "Really?" Arnold smirked leaning back.  "A photographer?"

        "Didn't we talk about this before, pretty sure I mentioned it."

        "Well, tell me again!"

        "So," Jacob rubbed his cheek, "I'm not an artist, but this one time I got a camera for a class thing, and the teacher said I was really good, like some of the best she had seen.  I dunno how, but my dad and mom say that too I got a pretty good eye for that stuff.  I wished we had a camera round here so I coulda taken some shots, or at least brought my own."

        "Mmmm that is a shame," he patted Jacob's back, "I'd have liked to see your work."

        "You think this place we're going to has a camera or two we can steal?  They got cameras on space bases right?"

        "Who knows, if I find one I'll grab it."

        "Heheh..."

Arnold suddenly pulled him into a hug.

        "Thank you."

        "Wh-whah?"

        "For having faith in me.  Believing me to the end."

        "Why wouldn't I?" Jacob blushed.  "You're a good guy, I could tell."

        "I don't know how, when we first met I was in all that armour."

        "Just something about the way you talked, you didn't treat me like the other guards, I just knew you had good in you."

        "But...how?" Schroeder shook his head.  "How do you know?"

        "I just do," Jacob shrugged, "always have, I just know when people are, that's...sorta how I knew that Grimm lady was lying, even when I had nothing to really back it up I just didn't say cuz it sounded kinda...stupid."

        "I don't think that is.  Frankly I think you are a rare breed of person that I wish there'd be more of."

        "Well if there were, it wouldn't be rare would it?"

        "Hah...that is true."

The yoshi hugged him back with a soft squeeze, his eyes of brown glimmering up at the human who sighed with a firm nod towards him.  They watched the gambling continue with a raucous shriek, pieces of shining stone being bartered around three tribes as Seaclaw kept pounding down the dice and keeping their spirits up.

        "ATTENTION!" the voice of Ted came from the front of the ship.  "We're uh, approaching the enemy base it's time to party!"

        "We are ready!" Oddclaw shouted to the raptors.  "Prepare yourselves to fight, we must find and kill Riptor!"

        "You have your orders," Chanoch stepped in amongst the crew, "we protect Dr. Dixon, Schroeder you guide us."

        "Yes captain," Arnold stood up a hand to his head, "I won't let you down."

        "I know."

        "FATHER!  FATHER LOOK!"

Skyfang shrieked from the window as they went to look.  Gasping breaths fogged up the screen as they saw a great silver sphere, most of all Moonclaw herself who shook her head with a shiver of godly fear.

        "It...is that-"

        "It is," said her husband, "that...that is the moon."

        "It...it looks like a desert.  A cold...barren desert."

        "What were you expecting?"

        "I...I am not sure, I am just...humbled."

        "What ith that?" Oddtooth sniffed towards a looming shadow.

        "That is where Riptor is," Oddclaw snarled, "be ready children.  We fight."

Flying towards the moon the Petrie witnessed the Goddess Egg itself.  Resembling a horseshoe crab in its grandiose stature, it sat upon the surface with a vague opal shape, a void of dark steel like an eclipse trapped in time.  The remnants of Meridian-5 sat beneath it like silver feet, the sun glimmering across the top of the Egg's scalp as the pilots flew in towards the docking bay.

        "Are they not going to scan us?" asked Elaine.

        "What you mean?" asked Ted.

        "You know, ID scans, checking we're not an intruder ship."

        "If Ingelbaum was involved, no," Schroeder shook his head, "he always hated security checks."

        "Let's hope his arrogance keeps us safe."

        "It was his end as well," Chanoch grinned with full teeth, "this ship has air inside yes?"

        "Of course," Arnold smirked, "this is still a science platform there's ventilation everywhere."

        "Also way to ask that question WAY too late," Jacob ribbed the reptile's side, "like, seriously."

        "I went to space only once.  Have you?"

        "Nope, first time."

        "Same," Schroeder nodded as he started humming a little song, "mond, mond, jaaaa jaaaa,"

        "Awww dangit!" the yoshi clapped his head.  "We coulda had karaoke night!"

        "Awww you're right, we completely forgot."

        "What say when we get home after this, you belt out your best and faves?"

        "Only if you join me," he grinned to his friend, "like Fred and Ginger."

The doors to the hangar opened sensing their presence, splitting diagonal as they saw the Goddess Egg was painted in shining red and heavenly white almost sitting upright on the moon.  The interior was covered in thick harsh metal plates, walkways circulating around the room with signs in German beneath hanging long cables and shunted pipes.  The smell of bleach was thick in the air, a caustic stench of liquid fire as violent orange lights screamed across the walls upon their arrival.  They filed out of the ship once the airlock closed behind them, oxygen filling the hall as reploids stepped out first scanning the surroundings, with raptors and humans following after.

        "Alright," a panther nodded pointing to one of the pipes, "that one there's got the strongest power reading, we should follow that."

        "Do not let your guard down," said Jarogniew, "they will kill us."

        "Stay close to the hairless," Oddclaw said to his group, "if I find Riptor's scent, I will tell you and then you should follow me."

        "Yes Oddclaw."

Beyond the hangar were long circular halls filled with cables running overhead, wide corridors that arched into a curving path as steam constantly hissed from the pipes with the burning scent fuming through their nostrils.  Not a single guard was seen despite the scent of humans permeating the place, weapons held at the ready as Schroeder braced his sword whilst Jacob had his shield beside him.  Seaclaw readied his sword in turn, whilst Chanoch kept his grip on his lasergewehr stomping with heavy feet, his armour shook with each step and his arms tightened to brace the miniature-sized turret against his side with four yellow batteries strapped to a pair of suspenders over his plated chest.  Oddclaw's shotgun shone in the light next to his family's claws, with Andrea in the midst of humans, reploids and badniks keeping her simple handgun primed.  Not a word was said as the reploids pointed towards the central cable of power, using it as a compass of sorts whilst Schroeder helped quietly move them between various signposts.

Thirty minutes passed as still no guards came, the ship humming a terrible sound of some infernal energy that none of them knew or understood, sounding far different to anything they had known as a shrill but deep song of fury and flame.  Their guns would glimmer in the hazy lights, clouds of steam across their vision as sweat poured on their brows with humans and raptors checking every corner using their wit and senses.  Soon there came a fork in the road where two paths split as they stopped to debate.

        "Path to the right leads to science division," said Schroeder, "that will be where your tech is Andrea."

        "So that's where we're going," she nodded, "there's a lot more cables going that way too."

        "Riptor's scent is strongest down the left," said Oddclaw, "other raptors too."

        "Are we splitting up?" asked Jacob clutching his shield.

        "Yes.  We will hunt down Riptor, you stop the portal."

        "I don't like this."

        "We are still many," Chanoch patted his shoulder, "be strong."

        "A-alright."

They looked to their squads briefly as Oddclaw turned to the other raptors.

        "Riptor will not kill me or Seaclaw," he said, "she said before she would not actively wound us."

        "Except for me," snorted Moonclaw, "but you are right about the other hunters."

        "Should we not go together?" asked one raptor.  "Safety first."

        "The hairless need to find something that way," explained Odd, "we must find and kill Riptor first, we can track her better than them."

        "We can do it," said Oddtooth, "thooner we kill her the better."

        "Agreed," said another swiftclaw, "we kill the alpha, the rest will fall."

        "Alright."

Oddclaw turned back to the humans after their debate was finished.

        "We are going to hunt Riptor, will you be alright?"

        "Yeah," Jacob sighed, "be careful okay?"

        "I will."

The yoshi pulled him into a firm hug, strengthening each other with resolve before they parted and went their separate ways.  The reploids and humans hurried to the science division, following the cables that rippled through the ceiling, sometimes disappearing to resurface further down the elliptical route.  The reploids felt against the walls, tracking the power signals as several more splitting passages tried to confuse them before they returned to the correct path.  The further they went, the more empty the place seemed with no other trace of human or raptor to be seen or heard.  They kept silent from a growing fear, until finally the hall expanded to a greater room.

        "What...what the fuck is this?" gasped Dixon.

        "Hoh...o-oh stars this is..."

Jacob suddenly pulled away clutching the wall as he felt a sickness in his gut, trembling with knees weak as Schroeder kept to his side gently patting his back.  The science sector, a wide circular pit with higher walkways that descended into a sunken pit full of consoles, had now been painted red with blood, the corpses of nazis slumped over panels and strewn across the floor with entrails splitting between.  Bodies severed from legs, arms chewed with hands half-eaten and feet crushed underfoot with teeth marks buried in the heel.  Rivers of crimson ran in many directions, streams of intestines spiralling with discarded organs in blackish-red puddles that gave a horrifying stench of fresh meat.

        "It's like...an abbatoir," shuddered Arnold.

        "Who...who did this?" murmured a soldier keeping her gun trained.

        "Raptors."

Chanoch walked over to the closest body and bent down to check its wounds.

        "Claw marks.  Blood is fresh.  This happened today."

        "Did they...did Riptor turn on them?" Andrea shook her head.

        "I will check their guns, you go to the panel."

Heading downwards to the centre of the room, they found a square section of white with many panels lined up around its sides as Andrea began to work with Schroeder's assistance, whilst Chanoch took a group to patrol the surrounding walkway.

        "This technology is weird," she murmured tapping on a huge clunky computer, "you guys still use floppy disks?!"

        "Yes," he shrugged, "why, what do you use?"

        "We have like CD-ROMs now, have for the past...well honestly to be fair our tech would be outdated if we got back home so I can't really judge."

        "Can you really figure this out, I mean all the terms are going to be different."

        "What about using this?"

Jacob gulped pulling up a large book from a lower shelf.

        "A fucking manual, really?" snorted Andrea.

        "I just found it, I'm trying to find a trash bin to throw up in."

        "Sorry, thanks," she took the book and started reading through it, ".are you alright?"

        "N-no...hrrkh, I-i...I wasn't thinking about it when we had that airship fight, just running on adrenaline but...h-hohhh jeeez the smell is awful."

        "You want a mask to help?"  Schroeder took a cleaning cloth from a desk drawer and wrapped it round the yoshi's snout.  "That help?"

        "Mmmhhhh...smells like a hospital...thanks."

        "Alright," Andrea clicked her fingers, "think I got the section, Schroeder I need you to guide me on this, tell me exactly what it says."

        "Yes ma'am."

As they booted up the computer and began to run through programs detailing the mention of a portal activation, Chanoch kept checking around the room with crunching stomps and the swing of his cannon, whilst his group picked up rifles, examined clips, and mentally compiled the scenes of battle before they made a full circle sweep.

        "This was sudden," he noted, "not enough clips are empty."

        "Also there's only humans here," said a badnik wasp floating by, "no other attackers."

        "Means them cyber-raptors cleaned up good," said a reploid armadillo, "guess that makes our work easier, right sir?"

        "Yes," Chanoch nodded, "do not rest, false raptors are still out, and there may be nazis left."

        "So what's our options captain?" said one of the humans checking a door.

        "Keep guard north and east, those bodies died first."

        "Yes sir."

Keeping watch with a firm vigilance, the rumbling hiss of the vessel's walls constantly shuddering through their ears as the sound of Andrea's typing faintly clicked from the bottom of the room.  Schroeder's mutterings alongside her helped ease the tension, whilst Jacob struggled to find a place to sit down and take a breath as far from the bodies as he could, dry-heaving from the smell of blood until the disinfectant cloth helped soothe him.  Looking around the room he tried to focus on one spot of the walls to reorient himself, taking deep breaths with a shiver everytime before something caught his attention.  Something moved in the dark steps of a corner.

        "Uhh, hello?!"

        "Yes?" Schroeder looked up.

        "Someone is...I think someone's alive!"

        "Wait what?"

        "Hello?!"

He wandered over with Arnold keeping his gun trained upon the darkness, the yoshi creeping with soft boots as he held up his shield in guarding.

        "//Is someone there?//" Schroeder asked.  "//Do you need help?//"

No response came.  Jacob eventually recognised it to be an arm twitching, scrabbling to clutch onto the grates as he reached out to pull it up.

        "OH, are you trapped, lemme help-WH-AAAGH!"

        "JACOB!"

Schroeder ran over to grab him but it was too late, the yoshi pulled hard into the vents and the sound of his body thunking into the depths with muffled screams.

        "JACOB, JACOB!"

        "WHAT HAPPENED?!" Chanoch shouted from above.

        "Jacob was taken, something dragged him in the vents!"

        "Fucking dammit," Andrea slammed the console, "alright, help me figure this thing out, then we'll find him!"

        "What, we have to go NOW, he can't kill anyone whoever grabbed him-"

        "I KNOW, but I have to lock this damn thing down cuz if anyone else starts using portals we're gonna have a fucking problem!"

        "...fine."  Schroeder clutched his face.  "We do this fast as we can, can one of you chase him down?"

        "I got this," a chameleon reploid raised his hand, "I'll track him for ya 'til you join me, I can scout the vents a lot easier anyways."

        "Thank you."

Skittering into the shafts, the robot hurried after where Jacob had gone as Arnold returned to Andrea's side, parsing through the lines of the coded machine as she finally found what she was looking for.

        "Alright, here it is, I'm recognising these numbers.  Lemme just note these down, see the range they're putting in-"

        "No no you download it," Schroeder pointed, "see right there?"

        "Oh shit this is startup data?"

        "Yes so it says, type that whole thing there, then when it says a hundred, you can take it out."

        "Alright."  She clacked in the few keys and waited for the download.  "Says we have to take it to the uh...Projekt X room?"

        "Ahhh, so they did move it up here," Schroeder bit his thumb, "god I hope Jacob is alright, whoever grabbed him-"

        "He'll be fine, we got someone on it," she patted his arm, "but we need to get this gate dealt with."

        "What do you even plan to do?"

        "Either turn it off, or see if I can't make it work for us."  She took the floppy disk with a firm nod.  "What we managed to learn from that other ship, they've got something up here that brought them back, and I'm not going to waste this chance when we JUST might have one last chance to get home."

        "But you don't even know where your home is!"

        "No but I have to fucking try!  Now, Chanoch can help me find the project room, the hard stuff is done so you go find Jacob, then find us again."

        "Yes ma'am."  He saluted.  "Thank you."

He rushed to the vent and slid himself down, the lights of the red gleam from above giving a sinister reach to the depths as he crawled forwards with pistol out and ready.  Andrea took her leave with Chanoch's squad in guarding as Schroeder ventured further beneath.

On the other side of the ship, a group of raptors walked carefully checking corners with Oddclaw in front holding shotgun at the ready.  Riptor's scent permeated the air with a synthetic stench, the earthen smell of scales and the sharp sting of cold steel burning the back of their nostrils.  The further they travelled, the stronger the scents of earth became as they slowed their pace, claws tightening with eyes slitting beneath the darkened lights that shifted between red and amber.

        "How do the hairless even make stone fly?" asked one of the raptors.

        "With a great fire," said Moonclaw, "the fire is strong enough that it pushes the stone into the sky?"

        "I still do not understand how that, I know fire is strong but-"

        "Well, look at Oddclaw's stonefire.  It is like that, but much greater."

        "Ahhhh.  I see."

        "How do you not understand this?" his friend shoved him with a teasing nudge.  "You have seen his stonefire many times before!"

        "Yes but that is still a SMALL fire, not a GREAT stone."

        "With more fire!" Skyfang shouted.  "Come ON this is so easy, more fire means more strength!"

        "Shhh!" Seaclaw smacked her gently.  "Be more quiet we're hunting!"

        "Was just telling them jeez."

        "Shh."

Oddtooth sniffed out one of the passages, pointing the group towards a slightly stronger scent of something familiar that made them soften their voices.

        "Is that...that smells like home."

        "It does, but how?"

        "Stay close," Oddclaw warned, "do not leave each other, we move together as one."

Down a widening hall they stepped in formation, slinking closer to a green door that stood out amongst the scarlet walls.  At their approach a light suddenly beamed across their faces as they readied their claws, the scanner from above the door beeping with a cheerful sound as the door opened up.

        "...what?"

        "What is...how is this..."

In the largest room of the spacecraft was an entire forest.  A grand sweeping glade of purest emerald where the trees reached up towards a roof they could not see, light slanted from a sun that did not exist and the sweeping breeze of a false wind.  It was almost a dream, the sights of cold iron almost fainlty seen from beyond as a sweet scent permeated the woods that to a human was like warm honey.  But to a raptor it was even stranger, almost sickening in how it cloyed their nostrils and smothered their senses.

        "What IS this?" gasped Seaclaw.

        "Treeth," Oddtooth sniffed, "tho many treeth, but they thmell...different."

        "They...do," Skyfang yawned slightly, "nnngh, it's lovely here."

        "I do not like this," one raptor hissed, "this is not natural, trees should not be inside some cave amongst the stars, none of this is right."

        "I agree," said Oddclaw nodding, "but keep your senses sharp."

They wandered into the forest, keeping in line as the scent of other raptors became stronger from within.

        "These are our trees yes?" Moonclaw sniffed over the bark.

        "They are," said another raptor beside her, "I know these leaves well."

        "But this scent is different yes?  Never smelt this before."

        "It could be the cave," Skyfang shook her head, "it smells bad anyway."

        "Hmmm...wait, someone is there."

They slowed their steps and entered a clearing amongst the deeper trees, the light now faded from the thickening cluster as darkness loomed with shapes in the undergrowth.  What they thought were clumps of black rock were the bodies of raptors, dark-scaled beasts with eyes closed and curled up in pits like fresh open graves.

        "Are...are they...dead?"

Oddtooth stepped closer to sniff over one of the bodies.

        "No...they're breathing."

        "But they cannot smell us?" Oddclaw looked over them.  "How do they not-"

        "WAKE UUUP!"

Skyfang shrieked with a sudden fright from her group.  Moonclaw seethed with a sudden fury as she simply chirped with a proud look as they saw not one of the black raptors had woken up.

        "Something's wrong," Seaclaw muttered, "no one can sleep after Skyfie...shou...rrruuaaaah."

His eyes became heavy with a big yawn, his head feeling sluggish as Oddclaw hurried over to him.

        "What is wrong?"

        "I'm...t-tired, I don't know why."

        "I am tired too," said his brother shaking his head, "I...I do not know why-"

        "I feel tired too," muttered another raptor, "but not when we first came here."

        "Something, something is wrong," Oddclaw shook his head pulling back, "quick, we have to leave!"

        "Hello?!"

A voice came from beneath one of the trees.

        "A-are you...you are not one of the stonetails, are you?"

        "No," Moonclaw clenched her face trying not to close her eyes, "what is, what is this smell in the air?"

        "Do not breathe, quickly come here!"

The raptors hurried over towards the tree as they found a pair of eyes amongst the roots.  A brown-and-green raptor poked her head out carefully when Oddclaw approached.

        "You...you smell like...no, not now, you have to eat these!"

She pushed up a small clump of leafy moss towards them.

        "Quick, eat them before you fall asleep!"

        "Why?" Oddtooth snorted.  "What if they're poithon?"

        "Because I ate this and I am not asleep, now quickly, or else Riptor will make you slaves!"

        "You know Riptor?!" Moonclaw barked.

        "EAT, PLEASE!"

The mottled raptor shrieked as they took a piece of moss each, chewing it down with a grimace on their face as the wet dew became bitter in their throats.  But in turn their minds became razor-sharp and the sudden drowsiness was gone with their eyes alert and their muscles tense.

        "Wh-what, what IS this?!" Seaclaw shivered.

        "I do not know," the raptor sniffed, "but one of my brothers ate it, and the sleep-scent stopped affecting him.  Some of us have started eating it as we hide from Riptor."

        "Are you trapped?" Oddclaw asked.  "Do you need help?"

        "I...I do not know, I just...I do not like the sleep-scent.  It feels odd, it...it is not a good sleep.  Some of us are gone when we wake, they always return but they smell different."

        "Where is she?" Skyfang stomped the dirt.  "We gotta find her, and stop her!"

        "Stop her?"  The stranger stepped further into the light.  "You are here to fight her?"

        "Yes," Moonclaw stood tall, "we have come to kill her, for she has killed many friends and harmed our family."

        "Then let me help you!  I am Earthfang, I know where you can find her!"

        "Why do you want to help uth?" Oddtooth cocked his head.  "You are not from her tribe?"

        "No..." she looked down at her feet, "my...father came from far away, they took him in, the stonetails...they were kind to us, we were happy on our island, but then Riptor was gone, for a cycle and a half, with my father too!  When she returned, she was...different."

        "Different how?" asked Oddclaw shaking his head.

        "She was...she called herself a goddess...she was pregnant, but never told us how, she came with these hairless warmbloods who took us here into these false trees, she told us we could trust them!  But my father...m-my father was not the same!"

        "What happened to him?"

        "H-he...h-h-he, th-they put stones on his face, gave him new claws, but he did not know who I was!  He had this eye, like blood, but there was nothing there, h-he did not know who I was, I begged him to speak to me but he is gone!"

Earthfang started weeping, shuddering with sobs through her chest as Seaclaw walked up beside her in a gentle pet.

        "We'll find your father.  We...we can save him."

        "You...you can?"

        "Yah, we just have to kill Riptor, then we can free all of you, right?!"

        "My son is right," Moonclaw purred nuzzling the stranger, "you already helped us against this sleep-scent, we will find your father and free all of you."

        "Tha-...thank you."  She licked her back.  "Follow me."

Following her the raptors went to a far lonesome side of the forest, wandering past the edge of the trees to where the steel wall revealed itself with false mountains painted upon indents.

        "Why are they asleep?" asked Skyfang walking beside.

        "Because we asked too many things," said Earthfang, "when Riptor came with the hairless warmbloods, some of us were trying to demand answers, and instead she shouted us down and said if we did not come we would all die!"

        "Die?" Oddclaw blinked.  "She would kill her own tribe?"

        "No, she...no she would not but she said that we would be free, we would be safe, and those who refused were put asleep by those stoneclaws!"

        "Stoneclaws?"

        "The ones that look like us, but their entire bodies are stone."

        "We met them too!" Oddtooth gasped.  "They took my father and brother away!"

        "Wait...YOU are Oddclaw?" she turned to the father.

        "You know of me?" he looked back.

        "Riptor spoke of you yes, she was hunting for you."

        "But we got free!" Seaclaw puffed his chest.  "We had friends who helped us, an' we flew up here on a stoneflyer to kill her!"

        "Then I hope you succeed," said Earthfang swishing her tail, "she was kind to us but not...not anymore, Tesla tried to argue but she refused to listen, she is obsessed with trying to make us the rulers of this land!"

        "Rulers?" one raptor cocked her head.  "But she is already the alpha."

        "No she...she meant ALL of the land, to rule above all tribes not just the swiftclaws."

        "But, no one can rule all the tribes!"

        "Her mind is sick," said Oddclaw snarling, "she believes it, I know she does."

        "Here!"

They stopped at a section of the eastern wall, Earthfang pulling a plate that only by close inspection one could tell was not secured.

        "Through here, you can escape."

        "Why did you not ethcape before?" asked Oddtooth.

        "There is not enough of us awake to fight...but all of you, you can stop her, I want to come with you as well."

        "Okay!" Skyfang licked her face.  "Gotta find your father too right?"

        "Yes...what do they call you?"

        "I'm Skyfang!  That's Oddtooth and that's Seaclaw!"

        "Thank you, all of you.  Let us go."

Peeling back the exit they quickly departed, Earthfang following last to pull it back into place with Oddclaw's help.  Into the darkness they found themselves within maintenance ducts, small and cramped as they were forced into single file and shuffled on into the deep scarlet gloom.

During this, Andrea and Chanoch moved as one with their group towards the centre of the ship, heading through halls where more bodies were found of the former nazi squadrons that had been ripped to pieces.  Blood had seeped into the walls almost perfectly, long streaks left behind by claws dragging limbs to scatter across the halls and festoon the wiring with loose entrails between them.  The smell turned thicker with offal oozing in soft drips, making Andrea clutch her stomach with a choking heave.

        "This...alright this is fucked up."

        "Hmm."  Chanoch nodded.  "None of them were eaten-"

        "Don't, please."

        "It's important.  Panzeraptors did this, raptors would eat them."

        "F-fine, fine, we get it, what do we do if we meet them?"

        "This."  He pulled up the cannon as he revved up its rotor.  "I have five batteries.  More than enough."

        "Yeah you're pretty much our heavy," said a reploid bear, "and that's saying something for half of us."

        "So the plan's to protect the captain?" asked one soldier bracing her rifle.

        "Seems so," an ape badnik shrugged with shotgun in hand, "we're getting close to this project room though, the power level's going wild in these cables."

        "Get ready then," Dixon pulled back amongst them, "whatever happens, you get me to that console."

        "Yes ma'am."

The path soon widened again into a central thoroughfare, leading towards a larger room as Chanoch kept in front with cannon primed and revving occasionally to keep it warm.  The room ahead was pitch black as the door opened, the guards quickly rushing in as the reploids turned on lights with the wasp badniks heading out to scout the room, their footsteps echoing through the great hall.  They saw a red carpet that sliced through half of the room between a series of looming pillars, a trembling shudder of energy across the roof which was laden full of cables, dangling in coiled loops as they stepped forwards.

        "Why do you come?"

A voice boomed from the darkness.

        "Why do you stand against your new goddess?"

        "Wh-what?" Andrea gasped.  "What is that?"

        "This world never belonged to you.  Humans, machines, worthless abominations who take all that they want, and leave nothing for the next generation, not even to their children."

        "You're all hearing that right?"

        "Yes," Chanoch muttered, "I heard raptors.  Be careful."

Seven pairs of eyes suddenly blinked open.  From both sides of the room a long series of windows opened their blinds showing the infinite universe beyond, the light of a billion stars flooded the hall to reveal a grand royal atrium with banners draped in swastikas, the long crimson carpet lined with golden eagles' wings leading up towards a grand metal staircase where a set of doors wrought in iron stood, Nordic runes falsely imprinted upon its front with a shining gleam.  The pillars were in fact glass tubes, each one of which contained an ultraraptor suspended inside with a dome of steel planted upon their skulls, wires twisting upwards into a central unit hidden at its peak.  At the foot of each tube, lined up in formation like suits of armour, were forty-two silver beasts that turned their heads upon them with a single motion.

        "You, are not welcome here."

        "Too bad," Andrea pointed towards one, "we have business with your boss."

        "Humanity shall soon end.  You should spend your last moments in peace and comfort, not violence and suffering."

        "You don't know much about humans...we'd rather go out fighting than shiver in the corner."

        "Whether you die now or the next day does not matter to us."  The steel raptors marched forth one step.  "It is the only choice you have left in your future."

        "I choose neither."  Chanoch braced his cannon.  "I choose to kill your master, and live many years after her death."

        "Protect the goddess!"

        "LIGHT 'EM UP!"

With Andrea's scream the battle began, Chanoch opening fire with a piercing laser that tore through the panzeraptors and melted one of their heads clean off.  The soliders and reploids burst rapid lasers across the hall to pelt through the hardened steel, the metal fiends leaping upon them en masse to try and overwhelm them.  Reploids and badniks climbed the walls and took to the skies to try and pull their forces apart, firing beams and energy balls that pelted the hall and blasted across the raptors' backs.  Their claws shone wicked and their tails lashed out with shocking force as they whipped towards the intruders' heads who dodged or blocked against the savage strikes.  The knight blasted down another three before his lasergewehr ran out, bashing one of the raptors that tried to jump him as he pulled out the empty battery and hurled it towards another beast, cracking its face with a hard pitch and clacking a fresh one in off his belt.

The guards kept him cover, most of them bunching up around him to form a tortoise-shaped wall as Andrea kept firing with her handgun, trying to aim for the eyes with precise laser shots that would at worst blind the cyber-raptors occasionally.  Realising something however she tried to take aim at the tubes where the real raptors were, finding the glass casing to be too solid as the lasers bounced off easily.  The panzerbeasts that managed to reach them were forced back by Chanoch using his lasergewehr like a club, thwacking them down hard and crushing its entire weight upon the head to paralyse one after the other.  One cyber-raptor managed to throw itself under the cannon just as Chanoch was firing, knocking his aim upwards and causing him to waste a battery when it blasted a hard stream across the roof, tearing cables in half causing sparks to shower upon the entire room in a hailstorm of electric fire, coating the silver raptors within angel dust.

        "FUCK they won't stop!" shouted one guard.

        "KEEP FIRING!" Chanoch roared.  "DO NOT STOP!"

        "Whatever happens you get me to that door!" cried Andrea.  "It's all or nothing, do or die, RIGHT HERE!"

But the pack was relentless despite their bravado, Chanoch trying to swerve to the side when another leapt for him to swing his cannon hard like a bat before he put in a fresh battery that he wasted no time in firing, blasting through the thickest of the horde and charring four in one burning stream that melted the carpet and twisted their steel to a blackened husk.  Soon the soldiers were tiring, as several of them were overwhelmed and torn to shreds by deep gouging claws and savage metal teeth that twisted their necks and crunched their ribs.  Reploids tried to assist with their own metallic strength, but the cyber-raptors were just that bit faster, just that bit more organised to crush them with their tails, rip their chests apart with razor talons with screeching steel peeled back to reveal their sinewy circuits that the raptors would bite and tear and twist and crunch, bursting dark cold fluid that sprayed from their pneumatics and mixed with the hot viscous blood of humans.

Pulling back the T.E.A.R. group raced towards the windows to give themselves room, the space between the stars and the glass tubes offering more light as Chanoch readied his fourth battery, moving as quick as they could to get to the bottom of the stairs before the cyber-raptors could pincer them in.  In a desperate rush, Chanoch joined by the reploids made a wall of steel to charge through the panzermechs and force them back, the savage teeth and monstrous claws ripping into their armour before they shoved through with Dixon hurrying up the stairs.

        "THIS WAY, WE'RE ALMOST THERE!"

        "KEEP THEM BUSY!" shouted a badnik.  "PROTECT THE DOC!"

Slamming through the door they found themselves in another room, a shining hall of more reflective steel where cables ran the length of the walls above and below the windows that continued on as a great expanse, the starstudded vista of the beyond lighting the way of battle behind them.  With a running start the T.E.A.R. group kept firing behind them, quickly hurrying to the next room amongst winding pipes that from above would form a tremendous eagle of black and scarlet towards an even greater door that was marked with the symbol of an egg and a raptor's skull imprinted upon its front.  Just before she reached its image, something kicked the doors open and slammed her face hard to send her rolling back down, crunching on the stairs as one of the soldiers quickly pulled her back up.

        "SHIT you alright?!"

        "Y-yeah...fuck, my face hurts but...oh shit."

From the top of the stairs was a single raptor, different from the steel mimics in that this one still had some flesh upon him.  His eye glimmered a deep ruby hate, his legs creaking with scales as his steel tail whipped behind him as sharp as the claws outstretched at his front.

        "Sunscreech."  The voice from the tubes echoed forth.  "Kill them.  Protect our goddess."

With the horde at their back and the guardian pet in front, Andrea felt herself being penned in as her group bunched up between the long thick pipes on either side and the steel raptors advancing with every step.  Chanoch readed his cannon for the second last battery he had, the soldiers and reploids bracing their arms for the brief massacre that would come.  Then something crunched in the roof from above, the sound of plates being pulled apart and the scrabbling of claws which caused all of them to look up.  With one last stomp something crunched through the ceiling causing one of the pipes to fall with a burst of steam as it slammed into the floor causing a deafening ring across the room.

        "Wh-what the FUCK!?"

        "ANDREAAAA!"

Screeching down with his claws scarring across the steel pipe, Oddclaw came landing beside her in a sideways flip with shotgun firing mid-leap, blasting a stunning aura of flame that caused a ring of fire to burst over their heads and propel four of the cyber-raptors back in a stumbling fall.  His family joined him along with the rest of his raptor pack, with one newcomer who immediately turned to the lone raptor of flesh and steel, his one eye of hazel and one eye of deep red.

        "You got some fucking timing," said Dixon keeping her gun up.

        "We have not found Riptor," said Oddie twirling his, "where is Jacob and Schroeder?"

        "Jacob got kidnapped, I dunno who, we gotta get to the room beyond that door, that's where the portal is!"

        "Must be where Riptor is too."

        "FATHER!"  Earthfang screeched at the single raptor.  "Father, please, help us, these hunters have come to stop Riptor, they can free us father!"

        "Free us?"  Sunscreech shivered with a snarling look.  "From what?"

        "From...from all of this!  This is not right, being kept in a cave amongst the stars, forced to sleep against our will, Riptor does not care about us anymore, she is using us!"

        "...I know."

He walked forwards to place his claws upon his daughter's face, stroking her softly before licking her face.

        "I have known, much more than you would believe."

Taking another step, Sunscreech ran towards the intruders and suddenly swerved past to leap onto the broken pipe, screeching from up high to spike his tail deep into one panzeraptor, plunging through its skull before kicking another one back as the steel beasts stepped back in shock.

        "SUNSCREECH, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

        "Protecting my family!"  He stood tall amongst the machines.  "Your alpha is a threat, not only for what she did to my mate, but what she wants to do with our home!"

        "Are you serious?!" another voice shouted from the mimics.  "You can't turn on us, you know what she'll do?!"

        "I knew her thoughts, when she FORCED me to be her pet!"

He struck out his tail of wicked steel as one of the mimics blocked it.

        "To make my claws become her own and her mind whispering its demands deep into my own until my body was no longer mine!  But my brother..."

He looked towards Oddclaw with a soft purr.

        "During our fight before, he pulled free her control from me, when he wounded my head...the false-blood behind my eye where her thoughts came through."

        "Sunscreech don't do this," the cyber-raptor barked, "after all that your tribe had done, after they banished you, crippled you, why would you stand against us, the ones who took you in, gave you your own family?!"

        "BECAUSE SHE HAS CHANGED!" he struck them again with a thrusting kick as they parried backing off.  "Riptor is different now, you KNOW this Radium!  You told me before how your tribe were kept in glass caves by the hairless, how horrible it was, and now she does the same thing to you!"

        "That's absurd, she doesn't torture us!"

        "SHE HAS TAKEN AWAY YOUR FREEDOM!  Just as she tried to take mine, but not anymore!"

The cyborg clawed against the steel floor as the mimics circled around him.

        "I will not serve a thief, not one who steals bodies nor minds, and if you had any dignity you would not either!"

        "You don't understand," three silver raptors shook their heads, "she is going to make this world ideal for all raptors, ALL of us!"

        "Then why trap us here!?" Earthfang shouted pushing through to her father's side.  "Why take us away from our home, if she wants to make a better world?!"

        "You have two choices," said Moonclaw curling her lip, "either join us and save this world from Riptor's cruelty...or fight us, and join her in death."

        "Oddclaw."  Three of the raptors turned to him.  "Your destiny's with us.  Riptor needs you, do you not want a world of peace for your sons and daughters, for our children?"

        "I have NOTHING to do with you," he snarled back, "I am only here for Riptor, none of you!"

        "You still follow the humans?"

        "I follow my FRIENDS!"

        "They are USING you!"

        "YOUR ALPHA USED ME!"

He fired his shotgun once more blasting one of their heads clean off.

        "THIS is our home, and we stand here together.  You are welcome to live with us, I know some of our tribe have joined you...but what Riptor is doing is wrong, it is sick!"

        "If you cannot understand us, then we will MAKE YOU!"

Sunscreech leapt towards the first steel beast that tried to attack Oddclaw, pinning it down with teeth around its neck before his long metal claws ripped into its chest and gouged its wires apart.  Chanoch bashed another of them with his laser cannon before firing off his second-last shot, the searing light reflecting across the windows as he took down another three of the cyber-raptors, whilst soldiers and reploids pulled back towards the door keeping Andrea safe.  Oddclaw's pack leapt into the fray, pulling the fake-raptors down with their jaws and kicking them back away from the humans, the panzeraptors in turn retaliating with their jaws opening wide to try and paralyse them with electric bursts.  Skyfang leapt upon a reploid's back and came flying hard with a double kick, crunching into two raptors' faces whilst Oddtooth came charging through beside her with a hard slam of his head and a spinning whack of his tail to knock another down near her.  Moonclaw ducked beneath one biting glance at her face, rushing past her attack with a hard shove of her body into its side in order to brace herself with a furious tailwhip that smacked into another from behind.  One raptor grabbed her neck to try and throw her down, but Oddtooth grabbed its neck in turn to wrench the cyber-raptor off, his mother helping with both their strength to twist it back as hard as they could.

Seaclaw readied his blade beside Chanoch, guarding Jarogniew with his sharp hooked sword that cleaved through chests and struggled to pierce their insides, but was much more effective in chopping off limbs and blinding visual circuits with blocking deflects of their claws gliding off his blade before he swung upwards in a rising cut, following with a downwards carve into the back of the neck and ducking low with horizontal sweep that crippled one mecha-raptor's legs to send it stumbling before Jarogniew jumped upon its head with both feet, crunching his whole weight down to feel the sputtering sparks and cracked circuits pop underneath his feet.

        "Very good!" he gave Seaclaw a thumbs up.  "Watch your back!"

        "BEHIND YOU!"

His shriek alerted him even without understanding him, Chanoch turning fast with a shockblast of his laser point-blank to breach through a metal raptor's chest as Seaclaw leapt in after to rip through the weakened plate, hooking the wires with the bent tip of his sword and tearing them out swiftly.  The knight punched another raptor with the barrel of his gun, taking aim with a screeching fire that blazed through the centre of the room and burned three more cyber-raptors when he had a clear shot.  Seaclaw watched and waited for any stragglers amongst them, gouging deep into their bodies and through the charred steel to eviscerate their conduits.

Earthfang leapt between the pipes, sneaking through in the midst of the fight to grab one of the steel raptors by the leg and drag it back into a fall, slamming her body down on top to try and rip off its arms, twisting them from their joints with a sputtering crack as sparks flew near her face.  Another panzeraptor came from the side to kick her across the floor, stomping towards her as she scrabbled along the pipes to gain more room.

        "HEY, UP HERE!"

A shadow swung from the hanging cables, latching on with her teeth before a pale brown blur crunched upon the steel beast and peeled its head back with savage claws to gouge its eye with a deep stab.

        "You alright?!" Skyfang cried.

        "Y-yes, thank you," Earthfang gasped.

        "You're cute when you're scared," she licked her face, "come on let's help our fathers!"

        "Yes, let us-WATCH OUT!"

She rushed past Skyfang with a sudden slam of her head against another steel mimic, knocking it over a pipe as both of them stomped on its head to flatten harder.

        "Come on, they need our help!"

        "Right behind ya!"

In the centre of the horde of metal beasts, Oddclaw stood primed with shotgun at the ready to crack another head wide open with a single shot, turning sharp to fire the second shell into another beast.  The panzeraptors advanced upon him, Oddclaw bashing them away with his gun waiting for it to recharge as he ducked beneath their lunging jaws with sparking teeth ready to shock him, spinkicking one behind him in a fast turn before grabbing one raptor-fake in a headlock and slamming it down to the floor.  Dragging it hard to reach another panzeraptor, he shoved its head in the path of another's jaws to crunch them together as it dented its teeth, clubbing it to the side with his gun before it was primed again for a blasting shock that ripped clean through its chest.  One of them slapped his neck with a hard strike of the tail to send him down on his back, but before the machine could leap upon him, another tail swung out to crack against its chest and send it flying back into the herd.

        "Get up."

Sunscreech glared down upon him as Oddclaw stood back up.

        "We are not done until Riptor is dead.

        "Hm, agreed."

They nodded to each other and steadied against each other, the anthro charging his shotgun ready whilst the feral swished his reconstructed tail.  One raptor-mimic lunged at him as he leapt back in a dodging strike, whacking the tail hard into its chin as Oddclaw grabbed its leg and swung it downwards in a crushing slam by the sheer momentum of its fall.  Another beast came charging with taser from its maw when Oddclaw ducked in a rolling tackle, leaping against one of the pipes and backflipping off of it to kick down upon its head and leap again to blast its back wide open with his shells.  Sunscreech circled around the twisting lengths of serpentine cables, launching upon two more steel beasts as he kicked one down and stabbed another with his tail.  Three of them suddenly charged upon him, but the cyborg focused his thoughts and felt a searing heat burn through his red steel eye.  A piercing laser shot through one of their heads, followed by another that punched through the chest with the third taken care of by a cracking boom of from his side.

        "Seems you have your own fire too," said the anthro twirling his gun.

        "It hurts my head," the feral sighed, "burns my mind something fierce."

        "That is fine.  We stand together."

        "FATHER!"

The voice of two others came shrieking from the side.

        "WE ARE HERE!"

        "YOU ALRIGHT?!"

        "Yes!" Oddclaw smiled.  "We have to protect Andrea, move back this way!"

        "Come on Earthy let's do this!"

        "Yes!"  Earthfang nuzzled the cyborg with a tender lick.  "Are you well father?"

        "Just tired," he purred licking her back, "come, we must protect the hairless and find Riptor, are your siblings safe?"

        "They are still in the false-trees, they will be fine until we are done."

        "Good.  I am proud of you."  He nuzzled her face as she cooed.  "Now, shall we hunt?"

        "Yes," she snarled flexing her claws, "let us show these false-claws how we TRULY hunt!"

        "RRRRAAAAAAARRGH!"

Father and daughter teamed up to charge into the horde, grabbing one neck each and crushing them in hard pulls that slammed the two robots together in one mighty clash.  In turn Oddclaw bludgeoned another with his shotgun whilst Skyfang grabbed it by the tail and swung it hard to toss it against one of the windows, bouncing with a dull thud as they quickly forced a path towards the great doors.

        "You have a good daughter," said Oddclaw in passing.

        "Hm."  Sunscreech purred with a smile.  "So do you."

        "Perhaps after this, they may become friends."

        "Depends what happens to my tribe, after Riptor is done."

        "Well...perhaps after this, your daughter would like to see her grandmother."

Sunscreech turned his head with a curious look, but sneered regardless.

        "You actually forgive me?"

        "Never," Oddclaw fired another shot, "but your daughter is not you, it is her choice."

        "Very true."

        "ODDCLAW THIS WAY!"

Andrea's shout beckoned him to the doors as they pulled back together, Seaclaw reaching it first as he jammed his sword in the gap between and tried to force it open.  The humans and reploids pulled it open together, a struggling set of hands trying to force it wide as it shuddered with a screeching thud of its gears within.  Chanoch guarded them with his body, priming his lasergewehr for its last shot as he waited for the dwindling group of cyber-raptors to huddle up.

        "GET IT OPEN!"

        "I'M TRYING THIS THING'S PULLING BACK!"

        "JUST ONE MORE, WE CAN MAKE A GAP!"

        "SOMEONE PUSH THROUGH IT, TRY TO GET THROUGH THE OTHER SIDE!"

        "NNNNRRRAAAGH!"

Breaching through the slit, Seaclaw managed to shove his upper torso through and heave his entire body straight to the next room.  The door suddenly closed behind him once again when the heavy crunch of steel raptors slammed into the group.

        "SEACLAW, SEACLAWWW!"

        "Father!  FATHER!"  He banged on the door.  "Are you alright?!"

        "YES, stay where you are, try to open this!"

        "Right!"

He looked over the double set of doors with its emblazoned fetish of raptor and egg, hammering on the sides and searching for a lever or some mechanism that could be connected.  He turned towards the rest of the room and found a large spiral mountain of steel where cables weaved against its surface, wrapping themselves around to the peak to form a twisting tree.  A path wound itself round the hill that Seaclaw followed, the walkway bringing him to a plateau beneath a grand dome ceiling of silver and amber lights.  There he saw, beneath the writhing trunk of cables that spilled into plastic roots, was the shape of a throne where upon it sat a familiar raptor he had once known as a friend.

        "...you."

His sword glimmered a burning sunset.  Walking towards her, his face turned to a bitter snarl as the sounds of battle faded from behind him.

        "...Seaclaw?" she stood up blinking towards him.  "How...I was not expecting you-"

        "SHUT UP!  SHUT, UP!"  His voice echoed across the room as he took another step.  "You're not getting away."

        "Should I be?" asked Riptor heaving herself up with her swollen belly.  "Where is your father?"

        "Coming to kill you...unless I kill you first, for what you did to my family."

In the depths of the Goddess Egg, far beneath the thundering claws of the panzeraptor units, Jacob struggled within cables that wrapped round his limbs and tied his snout shut as he tried to kick himself free.  Gasping steam hissed near his face, gratings below him giving a hellish energy from the deep red crosses upon his face as he stared across three different corridors that stretched into the yawning black.

        "//I used to think the world was fated to be imperfect.//"

Frau Grimm's voice came from the darkness.

        "//That the world was condemned to be impractical, chaotic and filthy, ridden with parasites in some secret world order that the Aryan race were considered undeserving.//"

Her scarlet visor beamed upon his face.

        "//Good hard-working men and women being denied again and again for the most basic of needs, food and housing given to the weak, the crippled, the foreigners who suck our nation dry and infect into positions of wealth and power that pure-blooded Aryans are sorely in need of.//"

Her hands suddenly sparked with two electric cables showing her full black body, the corpse of a reploid chameleon revealed behind her with an axe buried in his neck.

        "//All I ever wanted, was a world of purity and strength.//"  The sparks lit up her seething wrath.  "//A world that understood supremacy, understood who was right and who was wrong.//"

Grimm snapped the cables together with a hot shriek of white close to Jacob's wriggling face.

        "//I thought perhaps this world, in its most basic element, would understand the simplest fact of nature.  Survival of the strongest.  But then she betrayed me.  That filthy dog, that SAVAGE Riptor defied me, murdered dozens of my own people and tore from my hands my own ship, my THRONE that I was to rule the world with amongst the Aryan elite!//"

She sparked the cables again almost blinding him as he yelped.

        "//Once again, I have lost everything because of filthy little vermin like you.  Your father took my career from me and sabotaged my path to greatness, just as YOU poisoned the mind of a good German soldier to be your personal lackey, can you even think of anything so INSULTING as a white man being a slave to a little black SHIT LIKE YOU!?!//"

        "NNNN-N-NNNNNNNRRRGH!"

She pressed one of the cables into Jacob's thigh causing him to spasm with muffled shrieks.

        "//I will give you one last chance to repent,//" she whispered into his face, "//ONE, chance, before I am done with you and your worthless family.  Bow to me, and become my pet, or I will make you suffer a thousand times worse than the fate I have planned for your father.//"

He shook his head frantically, not understanding a word but knowing exactly her intent.

        "//Bow.  To ME!//"

        "MMMMNNNRRRRRRRGH!"

Grimm stabbed him again with the cable as his jaws clenched with an agonising scream.  Tears flowed from his eyes as he felt a deep burn in his leg before she pulled back.

        "//Oh I won't kill you, rest assured, I know the voltage of this is not enough to kill.  But you will suffer, and you will either submit to me of your own will, or I break you in permanently like the foetid little African mutt you are.  By the end of this day, you will know only one thing.  That I am the Jackal of Skulte-Marupe...and I have trained many a worthless dog like you to obey the TRUE masters of this world.//"

Jacob pulled himself back with heaving breaths as she went in again for his other leg.  Something clanged from the corridor in the dark as she stepped away putting the cables down and spoke in English the first time to him.

        "Make one noise, and I rip...your tongue, out."

Ripping the axe out of the reploid she went into the abyss of the hall, the human-sized ducts giving her space to walk without crouching as Jacob shivered quietly to himself, steadying his breath and keeping his ear out for whoever could be coming next to his aid.  A minute passed into eternity as the burn shivered thick in his leg, stuttering with bated breaths as he tried to pull himself out before footsteps came from another passage nearby.

        "Jacob?"

Schroeder peeked out into the light with a smile of relief.

        "Oh thank god are you alright?"

        "M-mmnnngh, nnnngh!"

Hurrying over to his side he pulled out his sword and slashed the cables off of him, the yoshi grabbing his shield from the side with a sudden limp as he gasped clutching the wall.

        "Ga-a-aaagh!  D-dammit, not again!"

        "What did she do?" he asked lifting him up.

        "J-just...shocked me in the leg, wh-why do all these nazis keep going for my leg s-seriously?!"

        "Where did she go?"

        "Th-that way," he muttered pointing east, "we have to get outta here, she's really mad."

        "I know," he pulled Jacob against his side, "come on, the others are waiting for us, just go slowly and quietly."

Jacob nodded trying to lighten his steps, the gasping steam fogging up his eyes as Schroeder kept a gentle lead back the way he came, armed with his sword and a handgun to spare in his other hand.  The rumbling of the pipes constantly churning heat and electricity made them shudder with nerves in the dismal depths, the barest glimmer of light reflecting off the steel giving an eerie presence constantly behind them.  Jacob limped with a straightening leg as he adjusted to the burn, feeling it flicker away as his muscles started twitching less.  They came to a crossroads in the dark, as Jacob suddenly smelt a thick leathery damp.

        "ARNIE!"

He pulled him back before the axe came swinging down for his head, cracking off the pipe beside them as steam burst sharp into a thickening mist.  Eyes of blood stared at them through the fog as Grimm stepped forth like a phantom, her whip lashing out to strike them both as Schroeder parried with his sword.

        "//I knew you would come...Schroeder, was it?//"

She walked through the steam as her leather glistened from the heat.

        "//When you first came to the base, I read your report.  A wastrel, too inefficient to protect a major street, but not so incompetent you could be excommunicated.//"

        "//What can I say?//" he shrugged smirking.  "//I've always been difficult.//"

        "//And now you finally show your true colours.  Black as a negro.//"

        "//Says the woman literally in a black suit.//"

        "//But underneath is WHITE!//"

Her whip came lashing as he struck back with a spark off his sword.

        "//Underneath is a white heart, beneath white ARYAN skin!  YOU however, your heart is as black as that worthless little savage behind you!//"

        "//And yet here I am with friends, whilst you are alone and struggling.  No one has come to your aid, not like I did with Jacob.  You lost, Elsa Grimm, and your fascist regime will die along with you.//"

        "//SILENCE!//"

Rushing forwards she threw the axe at his head, forcing him to dodge in a striking slash before he tried to shoot when she slammed his fist into his face.  Jacob punched her stomach with his shield as she staggered back, lashing her whip for his head as he blocked with a stumble on his bad leg.  Frau Grimm leapt forwards with a hard kick of her boot when he tried to step back, throwing him down and grabbing for his face when he shot his tongue for her head and wrapped it round fast to slam it to one side against the pipes, stunning her briefly for Arnold to get up and quickly attack her with a thrust of his electric blade.  The fascist felt the tearing scrape against her shoulder when she pulled back, slicing her whip in an upwards pull to scrape Arnold's chin and almost blind him with a stagger.

        "GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

Jacob threw himself forwards in a barging slam of his shield to dent Frau Grimm's knee, a sharp gasp from her reacting when she grabbed the top of it and punched the yoshi hard in his eye to pull him down and kick against his wounded leg causing him to shriek and clutch himself.  She ran past him and went for Arnold, grappling him down to the ground and pinning both his arms to trap both his gun and sword before pushing her knee forwards to crush on his neck and strangle him hard with choking sputters.  Jacob stumbled over to try and slam his shield in the back of her head, but she grabbed Arnold's sword from his weakening grip and in a backwards slash frightened the yoshi with a hard scarring streak across the front of his shield, causing him to stutter back before Arnold threw his gun past Grimm and Jacob quickly grabbed it.

        "LET HIM GO!"

        "//Hmm?//"  She looked behind towards Jacob aiming at her.  "//Oh look, your friend is trying to fight for once in his life.//"

        "LET HIM GO, I MEAN IT!"

He thrust the handgun forwards with a threatening look.  Grimm started to laugh, keeping her grip on Schroeder with his sword-arm still in her grip and her other hand grabbing his neck.

        "Can you, shoot me?" she spoke in halting English.  "You are...a sad little boy."

        "Let him go," Jacob gasped, "let him go, I'm warning you!"

        "You...cannot kill me.  YOU, are a coward."

        "THE ONLY COWARD AROUND HERE IS YOU!  You lied about my dad, YOU HURT ODDIE'S FRIENDS, YOU'RE A MONSTER!"

        "Then shoot me.  Shoot, me."

Her smile grew wider as Jacob's fingers shook.  The sound of Arnold's breathing became more desperate with a heaving gasp.

        "Kill me, or I kill your friend.  Your father...could kill me.  He tried, and failed."

        "SHUT UP!"  Tears streaked down his cheek.  "My...my dad stopped you cuz you're a thug, no, worse than that, you're a sick and twisted monster, who won't let other people live being who they are, living their lives without bothering anyone because you're jealous, because you're selfish, SO YOU JUST HURT THEM INSTEAD!"

        "Then why not...shoot me?"

Her eyes stayed on Jacob as Arnold reached his back to see something in the dark.

        "You say you're not...a coward, you stand with gun shaking, like a child.  Be a man, for once...and SHOOT me."

        "I-i...I-i-i-i-"

        "SHOOT ME!  SHOOT ME!"

Jacob aimed his sights on her head.  His breath shuddered with a growing fear as his finger slipped through the trigger guard shaking even harder.  He tried to will himself, forced his hatred from the depths of his heart to channel into this one single shot and tightened his eyes until they almost clenched shut.  There was no sound, no firing of light, no smoke from the barrel as his stomach twisted in a vicious knot.

        "...no."

He put the gun down.

        "I...I-i won't.  I'm not...I'm not anything like that."

        "Hhhhah.  Hhhhahahahahahahaa," Grimm shook her head, "MacGregor's son, is a coward, how perfect."

        "No.  I'm not."  He gripped his shield tight to himself.  "I'm just not like you, or Oddclaw, or anyone else here.  I was taught, my whole life to never hurt anyone that wasn't bothering anybody...but even more than that, I was taught to never kill, because every criminal should face justice for their deeds.  You...are the worst person I've ever met, a twisted HORRIBLE creature that everything you do makes me sick!  I'll stop you...but you can't make me kill you, because that's not who I am, and I NEVER WILL BE!"

        "Then he dies."

        "//Not yet.//"

Arnold's voice made her turn back before the blade met her face.  Just past his head in the dark, Arnold had grabbed her axe which was now imbedded deep in her skull to the point of cracking inwards just below her visor, the top of the blade splitting her nose whilst the bottom severed her jaw in half.  Blood began pooling in her throat, her tongue bathed in red as a shuddering gasp choked up to a crimson mist that dripped down her chin as her grip finally weakened with a hissing gurgle of intense agony.  Schroeder threw her off to the side and heaved a thick gasp of relief on seeing her visor turn faint, with dimming scarlet as she spasmed in death throes with a shivering rasp struggling to grab anything before her arms slumped at last.  Jacob kept his head turned throughout all this with a miserable shiver until Arnold touched him.

        "Are you alright?"

        "......I don't know."

He pulled Jacob close into a hug for a few moments of silence.

        "I'm sorry, I...I-i didn't stop her."

        "Correction, you distracted her like a good friend should."

        "I...I wanted to hurt her.  Really badly, for all that she did, but not...kill her, i-it just...I can't, I just can't, I couldn't, I FELT it but I couldn't, does that make me-"

        "No."  Schroeder took his gun back.  "It only shows you are different from me.  You can still be a hero, without needing to kill, like your friend Captain Toad."

        "Yeah...yeah, I guess...you're right."  He stared down at his shield with a heavy sigh.  "I wish I was in one of those comics instead of this, everything's so much easier."

        "What matters is you are safe," he patted the yoshi's back, "and Grimm is now dealt with.  Now, it's only Riptor left."

        "And then it's over?" Jacob nodded.  "No more...no more of this?"

        "No more, I promise you."

He took his friend's hand as they stepped back through the darkness.

        "I am proud to be your friend, Jacob."

He looked up to Schroeder.

        "I...I'm proud to be your friend too...Arnold."

Standing upon the steel mountain, Riptor looked upon the child who brandished his sword towards her throne.  The lights swept across their faces in a cold orange gleam, the sound of rumbling engines burning harder in their ears as their claws shook with a fury beneath the depths.

        "You've come to kill me?" she gasped shaking her head.  "But, why?"

        "You hurt my father," Seaclaw hissed, "you tried to kill my mother!"

        "Ohoho Seaclaw, that's not what happened I can very easily explain all of this if you-"

        "NOOO!"  He swung his blade sharp with advancing step.  "I thought you were my friend, I thought you wanted to be with us!"

        "I do!" she preened her chest with a soft smile.  "I always wanted to be part of your family, your father was just in a terrible state an-"

        "YOU POISONED HIM!  YOU FORCED HIM TO GIVE YOU CHILDREN!"

        "That is NOT true, I never poisoned him!"

        "HE WAS CRYING, he was FRIGHTENED!  When he came home he was begging my mother to forgive him!"

        "Oh...terrible," she shook her head with a tut, "I thought your father would do better than be a liar."

        "YOU'RE THE LIAR!"

He charged with blade up high and swung for her neck as she blocked him with her tail, whipping in front of her face to push him back as she circled away from her throne, watching him with cautious eyes and keeping her claws close to her belly.

        "I am...shocked, that you a sweet child would even think of killing a pregnant mother.  You would even kill your own brothers, here inside me?"

        "You're NOT my family!"  Seaclaw lunged for her again as she dodged to the side.  "Those are NOT my brothers, nothing of you is my family!"

        "And do you speak for all your family?" she cocked her head.  "Did your mother tell you everything about me?"

        "My mother AND my brother told me you tried to kill her, are they liars too?!"

        "Oh no no, of course not," she stepped back swinging her heavy belly, "they were just startled, it was...the ship we were on, you remember how it was when we were captured, those creatures when your mother freed me, they attacked us and threw her into a roo-"

        "No, YOU pushed mother into a room and tried to kill her, Oddtooth told me, they'd never lie to me!"

        "Ugh."  Riptor rolled her eyes with a tap of her claws.  "Seaclaw, you are a bright young thing, and I truly like you as a strong respectable boy who one day shall grow to be a fine well-bred male.  But you need to understand, I have ALL of this beneath my claws, this grand ship, and what lies beyond me, I can offer you and your family whatever you want!"

        "Really?" he snarled tightening his lips.  "Then, I want you gone, you and the hairless, in this stoneflyer, the ones who killed Stonevoice, the ones who killed Jane and all my friends in the shining mountain!"

        "Friends?!" she scoffed.  "You have no friends amongst the humans, I am far greater a friend than you could imagine-"

        "YOU WERE NEVER MY FRIIIIIEND!"

With a piercing shriek he lunged for her again and tried to duck under her tail when she blocked him once more, Riptor seeing his blade thrust upwards close to her jaw as she reared back kicking him hard in the chest, her claws pulled back so she would only partially graze his skin.

        "You would dare strike me and kill my unborn children?!" she hissed with a creeping snarl.  "You...would DARE undo everything I worked for out of some pathetic vendetta on your father's name?!"

        "YOU WANTED TO BURN MY HOME!"  He slashed for her throat as she parried hard with the tail.  "Like you burned the longsnouts, like you burned the shining mountain, YOU DID ALL OF THIS!"

Dodging left to try and fake her out, Seaclaw went for a sudden leap to the right as he closed the distance with a razor cut that she swerved beneath to headbutt him in the stomach.  Rolling back across the steel floor, he dug his claws in deep and pounced with sword out behind him to ready a whirlwind strike, slashing across her vision with a savage cut that she barely blocked with her arm bracers sending her staggering to the side, her tail whipping out to smack across his legs and knock him down to give her time to step away.  Her pregnant womb was exhausting, struggling to walk as she tried to take as few steps as possible whilst Seaclaw thrust his crooked sword towards her.  Launching back with a heave, her tail slapped against his arm before he quickly turned his wrist to block, the twin rusted blades upon the tip shining from the amber lights around them as the child grabbed at her appendage and hooked his blade inside the links.

Trapping the steel chain within, Seaclaw twisted it with a shocking spasm from Riptor who tried to retract but to no avail, the boy unhooking fast and leaping forwards onto her tail to jump high upon her head with brazen scream.  She turned her body to take the hit against her waist, the round rusted handle-part imbedded in her side singing a dull song from Seaclaw's strike before she kicked him once more with claws pulled back.

        "ENOUGH!" she shouted.  "Seaclaw STOP IT!"

        "RAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIAAARRGH!"

He swung twice for her head with diagonal slash, stomping closer towards her with a vertical slice he waited for her to parry as he quickly countered back with a sudden stab that scraped past her cheek and burned a deep red line through her skin.

        "S-STOP, ENOUGH OF THIS!"

        "NO, YOU DIE HERE, I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU, NEVER!"

Waiting for him to strike, she watched Seaclaw come hard as he pulled his sword back, looking as if he were about to slam her arms away in another spinning strike, but stopped halfway through his spin to dive low and slash at her leg causing another crimson line to trickle over her claws where a rich purple blood dripped finely over the shining blue.  In a desperate move she grabbed his sword with her stronger claws, forcing him back with far greater strength before she shoved him down on the floor until she was staring inches from his snout.

        "Stop...this," she rasped breathing on his face, "you have a great future, I know, I have seen it in my dreams."

        "Y-yer...s-SICK!" he spat on her teeth.

        "I want your father and you to be the greatest of my pack, the ones who shall unlock our true potential, and take this world back from the humans!"

        "N-NO!"

        "Millions of years from now, humans will take everything from this world, they will burn the skies and gouge the earth and use our ashes for FUEL, is that what you want?!  I am trying to make a better world, for our kind, for all raptors to be the true masters of this world!"

        "NO, I'LL NEVER BE WITH YOU, YOU LIED TO ME!"

        "SHUT UP!"  She stomped firmer on his chest.  "I have worked too long and sacrificed too much to let you ruin everything with a PATHETIC TANTRUM!"

        "N-NNNRRRRAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Forcing his blade against her as hard as he could, he suddenly threw his sword to the left and kicked her hard in the stomach, causing her to shudder with a wince as her unborn spasmed with shock in a moment of weakness.  When she stopped pushing down on his blade, he grabbed her head and lunged with his jaws to bite her with a screech, forcing her to pull back and taking Seaclaw with her until they both stood back up on their feet, the boy snatching up his sword to strike for her face three times in a series of rising cuts.  Blocking twice with her steel arm bracers, she ducked the third cut and snapped her jaws around it in a hard pull to try and twist it from the boy's grasp, reaching out with her developed claws to grab his throat, not enough to choke him but firm enough to frighten.  The boy did not yield and still held on tighter, his arms shivering to keep his blade still until she suddenly pulled sharp.

In that moment he released his grip, grabbing her arm to slam his knee hard underneath in a crunch that made her claws spasm in pain, dropping the sword from her teeth as he ran, grabbed it and jumped on her throne to kick off high and come down with cleaving force from the heavens.  Riptor blocked with her tail in response, but the strength of gravity knocked her down on her side as she clutched her belly tight in guarding fury with Seaclaw now on top of her.  He punched into her eye rapidly with furious screams to try and stun her, pulling back to plunge his sword down before she kicked him with both feet hard enough to send him flying and crack his head against the throne.

Dizzying with blurred sight, both of them stood up once more as the child leapt for one of the hanging cables above them, swinging across the domed ceiling with one hand to position himself directly on top of Riptor for the killing plunge.  In a desperate move she trapped his sword at the start of his fall with the twin-bladed tip of her tail, catching his blade between hers with a stabbing punch mid-air that threw his entire body across the platform and he almost fell off the steel mountain.  The raptor thrust his sword flat through one of the cables hanging to stop himself, throwing himself onto a stack of metal crates nearby before launching himself back towards Riptor's throne.  Charging as soon as he landed, he raised his sword high as if preparing for a mighty sweep, but stopped himself halfway when she tried to whip for his face and leapt into a somersaulting strike, causing Riptor to stagger in a frantic block from overhead as his sword came scarring across her back in passing, the child planting his feet on the throne behind her and grabbing one of the pipes to run across like a branch, hurling his sword like a spear to her face as a distraction before he landed on her back and wrapped his arm round her neck.

        "I'LL, K-KILL YOU!"

        "HRR-AAAGHKH!"

        "YOU, DIE FER WHAT YOU DID, TO MY FAMILY!"

        "GET-KH-KHAAH, OFF YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

Crushing her throat with his arm pulled back, he shoved his elbow into the back of her neck to suffocate her harder, causing Riptor to stumble and gasp with rising panic as the unborn children shuddered in a desperate frenzy for oxygen.  Stumbling on her legs turning weak, she ran to her throne fast as she could and threw her herself hard to crush Seaclaw against the cold steel, denting his back and stunning his head hard with a ringing thud as he fell off releasing.  Seeing her chance Riptor tried to stomp on Seaclaw's chest to pin him against her seat, the child grabbing her largest toe and twisting it hard with all his might to make her shriek but still keep pushing down on him.

        "STOP, FIGHTING MEEEE!"

        "N-NO, NEVER, I'LL NEVER BE WITH YOU!"

        "Why...can't you underSTAND WHAT I WANT YOU STUPID FUCKING BRAT?!"

        "I'D RATHER DIE THAN BE WITH YOU!"

        "THEN DIE LIKE YOUR FATHER-N-NOOO!"

She suddenly pulled back with eyes of black, her clawed hand reaching high ready to slash upon his face before she wrenched her body off of him and stumbled with a gasp.

        "N-NO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Riptor shook her head desperately as her eyes changed to gold and something shuddered in her womb.

        "That...that's not, no, that was not the plan, no I need them, I NEED BOTH OF THEM!"

Seaclaw pulled himself off the throne and crept towards his blade still on the ground.

        "You...you said, my future was set, that we would bring them here, now you want them-"

        "RAAAAAARGH!"

The child's cry alerted her to his attack, dodging the hooked katana before it reached behind one of her legs and pulled it hard to make her trip as Seaclaw followed up with a wild kick to her face, slamming his foot hard in her snout before slashing with a backhand strike that she parried with her arm-brace barely as she struck his head with the flat of her tail, knocking him down with a crunch as he stumbled back with a hard bruise on his face.  Riptor suddenly felt her body tense, something twitch through her tail as it shot forth to try and stab Seaclaw between the eyes as he dodged low to strike in a rising slash to knock it aside.

        "N-NO, STOP IT!"

        "I WON'T STOP UNTIL YER DEAD!" Seaclaw screamed.

        "N-not, not you I meant...don't, don't I need him, I NEED him and his father, WE need him!"

        "SHUT UP!"

With a furious run and eyes of piercing red, Seaclaw went for the deepest cut as he struck full horizontal towards Riptor's eyes that she dodged back, the child using his own momentum to spin his whole body into a second harder strike that she struck with her tail, sparks flying in a tearing scrape as he pushed himself back and swept out his blade long with a flicker in his crimson eye.  He swung for her again, waiting for her tail to come down and counter him, but the moment Riptor did, the boy loosened his grip to let her tail fall faster than she expected, her guard left wide open to drive his knee straight up into her chin with a mighty crack, then slamming both his fists down with the hilt of his sword in a mighty hammerfist that crunched into her skull and sent stars through her vision.  A sudden fit of rage burned in her eye when she grabbed Seaclaw's throat and violently strangled him, harder than before as he screeched with a sputtering choke before she suddenly released in a brief trembling of confusion.

The child gave no rest, swinging a sharp roundhouse kick towards the side of her face as his claws raked down her cheek.  She lunged with a biting snap for his shoulder, jaws tightening upon his skin as her teeth sunk close to the bone with Seaclaw's scream ringing through the steel dome before he thrust his thumb into her eye and her shriek joined his when she released from the stabbing pain in her cortex.  With a staggering back she swiped her tail towards his legs as Seaclaw leapt over her strike and thrust his sword deep into her belly.

        "A-AAAAAAAIIIIIIIAAAAAARRRRGHH!"

Pain consumed her.  Nothing had been worse than this, not even the bell that rang through her mind and haunted her memory.  Her body tightened against the blade, as she felt her children writhe in deathly throes with a feeble cry that only she could hear.  The child pulled his sword free and with it came a deep river of crimson violet upon Riptor's feet.

        "Wh-what...wh-what HAVE YOU DOOOOONE?!"

She crumpled to the floor shivering with a burning heat in her stomach.  The pool of deep purple stared back at her face, thickening with each passing second as she watched traces of youth unspent, the death of childhood drifting across her reflection as slivers umbilical, fragments of foetal that dripped still off of Seaclaw's blade.

        "N-n-no, n-noooo...m-my...my children, MY CHILDREN!"

For the first time in her life, she saw her own tears.

        "MY CHILDREEEEEEN!"

A scream she had never heard awoke within her.  Seaclaw stepped back, partly frightened by her sobbing grief as she raked her claws within the blood and howled from the thickening wound that spread the surface of her womb.  Something black started to seethe in her body, pouring onto the blood and consuming her reflection.

        "What have you done?!  Wh-what have you DONE, wh-why would you...you've...you monster..."

She looked up with a shudder in her breath.

        "You...you would take my future...my...legacy...our greatness...you've doomed us...you disgusting ch-child you've doomed us all."

        "No," he tightened his throat, "I stopped you.  That's what I did."

        "SEACLAW!"

He heard his father's voice as he turned back to the door.

        "S-SEACLAW, SEACLAW WHERE ARE YOU?!"

        "UP HERE!"

The doors parted open with a great effort, Oddclaw and Andrea forcing through each side with Chanoch pushing both apart with his trembling arms.  Jacob and Schroeder could be seen amongst the gathering crowd of a smaller army.  The boy staggered forwards to the edge of the platform, his arms burning and his legs trembling as he raised his sword still bloodied with violet.

        "I DID IT FATHER, I STOPPED RIPTOR!"

        "YOU WHAT?!" Oddclaw forced through the gap and hurried to him.

        "I FOUGHT RIPTOR!  I STOPPED HER, SHE'S...sh-she..."

Something pressed against his back.  His voice faded from his throat, his mind stuttering to a halt as he felt the first flicker of pain from the cold heavy weight in the pit of his stomach.  He looked down upon himself, seeing his father's face in shock, just beyond the pair of twin rusted tips that had pierced through his flesh.

        "F-fuh...f-father."

He dropped his sword when the blades pulled back, just before he fell as he watched his father's face.  His eyes widened with a growing fear as he ran to catch him mid-fall, the world slowing down for both him and his son.  He felt his father's embrace, the floor hitting his back as they both fell together with arms turning limp.

        "S-SEACLAW, SEACLAW NOOO!"

        "F-father...my...m-my stomach hurts."

        "N-no, no no no, no son do not do this please, you will be fine!"

His friends rushed over quick as they could.  Andrea clutched her face in horror, with Jacob turning away in a shiver of fright as the boy's mother, brother and sister stepped forth with soft whimperings of fear from the sight of Seaclaw's torn-open front, a diamond of scarlet that coated his legs in vermillion as Chanoch quickly knelt down and pushed his hands against the deepening blood with two humans assisting.

        "I-i...I stopped her," he whimpered.

        "You...you did," Oddclaw gasped with growing tears, "you did it son...we can go home now."

        "C-can we?" a sliver of red dripped from his lip.  "I...I-i'm really tired, father."

        "No, NO!" he shook him hard as Chanoch tried to close the wound.  "Seaclaw please, please stay awake, I need you to stay awake!"

        "B-but...we...we did it, right?"

        "Yes, yes we did, but I need you to be awake, we go home together please...p-please..."

He felt his father's tears drip down his neck, the boy forcing a smile through the anguish that spread deep into his body.  His breaths began to flicker, his eyes growing faint as Oddclaw hugged him tight to his chest with kisses to his head.

        "S-seaclaw," he heard his mother's voice, "Seaclaw, please fight, please keep fighting."

        "Mhh...t-trying," he gasped nuzzling his father's skin, "it...i-it hurts...h-hurts s-so much-"

        "You can do it," his sister sobbed, "y-you can, you can do it brother, c-come on just stay awake!"

        "Brother...keep fighting," his brother whispered, "for me, you have to keep fighting-"

        "There's too much," one of the humans said, "too much damage inside, we can't-"

        "Keep trying," Chanoch pushed his body tighter, "keep...trying, please."

        "Sir, his stomach, it's not gonna hold-"

        "KEEP, TRYING!"

They turned quiet as they struggled to heal his wounds, the damage too great, the tears too deep and too wide that with each passing second in silence, they knew the worst of truths.  The raptors sensed this, nuzzling their fallen one with soft tongues of whimpering tears as Oddclaw pulled closer to him, cradling his head.

        "Seaclaw...Seaclaw d-do not leave me...I promised, I-i promised I would-"

        "It...it's okay father."  His smile became weak.  "I did it...I'm happy now."

        "Happy?"

        "B-because...everyone'll be...safe...now."

His head pressed against his father's beating heart.  His breath stopped.  An eternity passed in silence before Oddclaw clutched his son to his face, and started to scream.

Upon the child's falling Riptor had looked on with shock, her face shivering as she saw her own tail slip back towards her side with a long black tentacle wrapped around its length.

        "N-no.  N-n-n-no...no that was not me-"

Mother

A voice blinked in her head.

I am still here, Mother

        "Wh-what...what is this?"

She gasped looking down to see the slithering tendril pour from her womb, the gouged deepening wound now seeping with amniotic pus the colour of night.

Bring him to me

        "A-Aa-AAHHH!"

He must come to me

        "Wh-why...wh-why did you kill him...I-i-i did not want to h-hurt his son, I-i need him to breed-"

Life beyond shall be no more

        "H-hhhrrkh!  A-AAAH, m-m-my...child-"

Come to me...Mother

        "I...child, what are you?"

Your future

        "...no."

Her eyes began to darken as she shook her head.

        "No...this voice, I remember you, y-you tried to be him-"

You cannot run

        "I, I must..." she forced herself onto her feet, "I just wanted, I just wanted to find a home f-for my pack, f-free of humans, free of their insidious hands alwasy t-touching me."

I shall give you that freedom

        "F-for what?  The blood of a child who would have grown to be his father?!  I almost had him...I-i almost had...my future, within their seed."

He shall provide you

        "He?"

She felt her legs being pulled by a force not her own.

Oddclaw shall follow...and with him our destiny

        "Our...destiny."  She turned towards the east.

My rebirth...bring me back...Mother

        "...yes."

She started to limp towards her throne.

        "My new...my new child...shall breed greater strength."

Your future is still set

        "I do not need him...neither of them."

His bloodline shall end...in you

        "In me...my...precious child."

At the back of her throne was a button she pressed, causing a bridge to extend from her peak where it ended on a door opening up within the ceiling-dome, stretching on towards the last and highest room within the Goddess Egg.  The sound of the heavens came from beyond, as a deep thundering sound, a light blinding yet cold that burned through her skin as her tail dripped with the blood of innocence.

Oddclaw's screams would echo throughout the room, deepening sobs as he clutched his son with a veil of tears as Chanoch stepped back with hands of blood.  Jacob wept in silence, Schroeder put an arm round his shoulders as they watched and heard a father's mourning, the boy's face clutched tightly against his body.  He looked up in a silent plea, as if hoping the stars would bring him back.  Then he saw Riptor, hobbling with blood drenched between her legs across a bridge to the next room.

        "Oddclaw?"

He stood up slowly.

        "Um, Oddie?"

He walked towards the steel mountain and brought out his gun.

        "Oddclaw, wait-"

        "RAAAARGH!"

The moment Chanoch touched him he turned and crunched his hand between his jaws.  He pulled back in fright, the raptors cowered before him and the others stepped away when they saw his face.  In his eyes were the death of hope and kindness.  Now, only fury remained for this instant.  He started running, shotgun in hand as he tore up the winding path towards Riptor's presence.

        "W-what are you doing?!" Jacob cried.  "We have to go-"

        "No."  Chanoch put his bloodied hand in front of him.  "This is his battle now."

        "The fuck it is!"  Andrea started running.  "We have to shut down the portal, it's back there right?!"

        "Yes but, what about the child?!" Arnold asked.  "We can't just leave his body!"

        "I will...stay."  Chanoch wiped his eyes with a soft breath.  "You...you all go, protect Oddclaw, I will...keep Seaclaw safe."

        "Are you sure?"

        "Wh-what's going on?" Skyfang shivered through her sobs.

        "We have to help your father," Moonclaw said shaking her tears free, "we have to kill Riptor."

        "You go," Oddtooth nodded to her, "I will keep my brother thafe."

        "I will stay too."

Sunscreech stepped up from the door, along with his daughter as the pile of broken mangled cyber-raptors could be seen from beyond.

        "Go, protect your mate.  Your son will be safe with us."

        "Skyfang, come on!"  The mother pulled her daughter by the neck.  "Your father needs us!"

        "R-right..." she looked back to Earthfang with a soft purr, "keep...watch over him, alright?"

        "I will," she said, "thank you for all your help and...I am sorry."

Chanoch sat himself beside the body of Seaclaw, the rest of the army of machines and humans keeping nearby and covering the door to keep them safe.  Oddtooth and Sunscreech sat beside him in turn with Earthfang keeping watch, as Moonclaw, Skyfang, Jacob, Arnold and Andrea hurried after their friend.

Following the trail of blood, Oddclaw marched towards the long hall of dark glistening silver where the light shone upon his face.  His footsteps turned heavy, he passed by a door where machines faced a window but he kept walking on.  The light started to pulse, a beating heart of the eclipse as he saw her shadow beneath a grand portal, a gate towards infinity in a single room of red that burned and flickered between strange pillars of silver runes.

        "...I didn't do it."

Riptor turned with tears down her cheek.

        "I...I wanted your son...to be mine too."

In his body she sensed the purest of rage from the raw scent of unbridled hate, a face of tightening jaws and glimmering feral teeth where veins pulsed from his neck.  Something trembled in her heart, the quiet stirrings of fear beneath the darkness that was spreading over her wound.

        "H-he...he wants you."  She pressed her claws to her belly.  "My...my child, the one who spoke to me...he's tasted your blood once before, from the hands of a selfish prince.  He has known your touch from a hermit of bitter static.  He has shared your heart from a fallen saviour, he has known your friends from a hunter of heroes and from me...he has savoured your love."

She offered her hand to him.

        "I am sorry...it is too late to stop him.  But you could help me...I will give you a future and in turn, I shall have you a better son.  I promise."

Oddclaw stepped forwards.  His eyes never changed, brimming with wrath as his shoulders hunched before he picked up his speed.  Her smile of hope disappeared when he started running, her claws slipped in the mixing blood.

        "RrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

He fired twice as she ducked the first shot, the second punching her side with burning black as she staggered against the portal.  He slammed into her body and crunched his shotgun against her head, grabbing her throat and throwing her down before he started punching her face.  He didn't stop, even when she bit him, even when she tried to strike him with her tail he never stopped.  His tears fell upon her as swiftly as his fist, his arms burning and his screams echoing as the floor began to shudder from his force and Riptor's bruises thickened across her skull, her eye bloating and her teeth falling out with each savage blow he rained down with unyielding fury.  Jacob walked in and regretted the sight, Moonclaw following with her daughter as she watched her mate beating Riptor with unrepentant rage.  A warmth of vengeance sated filled her heart, but also a cold fear for her beloved and the beast of sorrow that consumed him.  Jacob could not look away, too terrified to move when Oddclaw's arm fell limp in exhaustion, as he stared upon the broken face of a mother-to-be, her swollen belly pressed against his thighs straddling either side.  His jaws opened as he lunged for her throat, a sharp bitter shriek before the cracking of bone, the twisting of veins and the tearing of flesh.  Oddclaw's face was smothered in a deep purple, panting trails of indigo down his lips before he spat out the chunk of meat where Riptor's throat had once been.

The father stood up, facing his remaining family with eyes of hollow mist.  Not a word was said as they tried to approach, but the scent of burning rage kept them back.  Jacob walked past, his senses not as sharp, but another sense pulled him stronger.  His hand reached out, trembling with eyes pure and a hopeful look towards the raptor, his sharp bloodied teeth still shining in the light of the portal behind him, pulsing with the heartbeat of eternity.  The fog began to clear from his mind when he saw Jacob still holding out his hand.  Something broke.  Oddclaw stepped forth and pulled him close into a hug before he wept into his shoulder, a song of mourning that shook through Jacob as he held him tight, wracking sobbing screams that burned through his chest from the father who outlived his son.  He felt his mate nearby, along with his daughter as they nuzzled his sides joining him in elegy.

        "...f-father?"

Skyfang's voice brought him back.

        "Father, f-father she's not dead!"

He turned sharp to see Riptor's body rise, stumbling onto its feet with a shuddering hiss from her torn neck.

        "Oh you've GOT TO BE KIDDING!" Jacob shrieked.

        "Join me," her body rasped, "child of...Campbell...child of MacGregor."

        "WH-WHAT, wait howsit know my name?!"

        "Wh-what is happening?!" Moonclaw gasped.  "Sh-she, SHE SHOULD NOT BE ALIVE!"

        "Join me...in  E T E R N I TY !"

The black tendrils of her womb suddenly lashed out upon them, grabbing their throats and rearing her body back as it pulled both Jacob and Oddclaw hard towards the portal whilst Riptor's corpse stumbled back.  Her eyes were peerless black, her smile unnatural more than it had ever been as Jacob struggled to pull against and dug his boots in hard, whilst Oddclaw felt his family trying to push back his exhausted body.

        "N-NO!  GET OFF OF ME!"

        "KEEP TRYING, DON'T LET IT GET HIM!"

        "ODDCLAW KEEP PUSHING!"

In the side room that Oddclaw had passed, Arnold and Andrea were at the machine consoles on the other side of the one-way glass.

        "What is happening?" gasped Schroeder.  "Are you seeing this?!"

        "I know," Andrea sat at the panel, "but we have to shut this thing down, it's running hot!"

        "Wait what?!"

        "Grimm's people kept the fucking thing on, you NEVER leave a gate running that's like quantum physics 101 now help me read this!"

Sitting beside her he ran through the script in German as she quickly set up the commands appropriate, the battle between raptors struggling on in front of the portal as Riptor's body pulled hard towards it with a guttural laugh.  Moonclaw tried to pull her mate as Skyfang bit into the tentacle, suddenly recoiling her with a vicious cold that ripped through her jaws and made her shriek in burning anguish.

        "Alright, put the disk in!" Arnold shouted.

        "Fuck how do you put it in?!" Andrea shouted.

        "This way up, do it!"

Slotting the disk in the program started, the portal expanding briefly in response with a blast of energy through its pillars that slowly caused the tear in existence to shrink.  The corpse of Riptor became frantic, pulling harder with infernal scream as his victims pulled back.

        "N-NOOO, GET OFF OF ME!"

        "JACOB, JACOB HOLD ON!"

        "ARNOLD WAIT!"

Andrea tried to stop him as Schroeder ran down the hall to grab Jacob, pulling him back hard as he could until the tentacles thickened in force, bulging with demonic strength as Arnold pulled out his sword and clicked it on with electric gleam.

        "GO TO HELL YOU FASCIST BITCH!"

        "A-A-AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGH!"

The moment his sword plunged deep, he was thrown back against the wall by a cosmic shockwave, cracking his head hard as the blade buried deep in the steel next to his shoulder.  The monster rose up from the ground, tail hanging downwards where the twin blades split, the bolt in her chest shining dark and the two metal circles ripping from her sides to creep onto her shoulders and form the shape of handles.

        "F i v e,  f r a g m e n t s  a  f a t h e r   t o r e  a p a r t ."

        "A-ARNIIIIE!"

        "F o u r,  w i l l i n g  s u b j e c t s ."

        "I-I, IT IS TOO STRONG, ODDCLAW!"

        "T h r e e,  d e c a d e s  y o u  h a v e  w a i t e d ."

        "WH-WHAT ARE YOU?!"

        "T w o,  f a t h e r s  w h o  m u s t  f a l l ."

        "ODDIE, ODDIE I CAN'T DO IT!"

        "O n e.  R u l e r  o f  D E A T H  a b o v e  e x i s t e n c e ."

The body pulled itself into the portal as it shrunk faster, the force of its closing tear suddenly wrenching both raptor and yoshi into the light with one final scream that was consumed in the depths.

        "ODDCLAW, NOOOOOOOOO!"

With one last burst that deafened their ears, the portal closed as the pillars shook a deep ringing sound that shook through their bones as they stumbled back.  The world fell silent, the room kept in darkness as Andrea stood in shock.  The raptors hurried over to the gate, scrabbling over the runes and kicking the machine to try and start it up, Schroeder pulling himself up and ripping his sword out from the wall.

        "Did...did they leave?  Jacob?!  Jacob no!"

        "Father, FATHER!  Wh-WHERE ARE YOU FATHER?!"

        "ODDCLAW, ODDCLAW SPEAK TO ME, DO NOT LEAVE MEEE!"

        "No."  Andrea grabbed her head.  "No no no, Oddie, oh, god, oh god I didn't...shit."

She slumped into her seat as her head bowed in her lap.  Tears filled her fingers as she clutched her face, shivering to herself in the silent space.