Zeta's Fall, Grievous Rise[]
March 17, 2017
Christopher Denson stood in his apartment overlooking Los Angeles. He wondered how his friends were doing? Particularly Zack, I haven't heard from him for months. His old friend's last words to him and his wife were; "Guys, before I hang up, I want you to know it's been an honor." "Thinking about him?" A voice said behind him. He turned and saw his wife, Amy Rae, standing in front of him. "Yes. I gotta wonder how he's doing."
"Well, Leinad said he completed his mission, so he should be fine." Before Christopher could respond, glass shattered behind him. The last thing he saw was his wife die.
Owen and Safira Terokoin looked in shock at their TV. The news told them that their friends were dead. "We have to go back." Safira said.
"We don't work there anymore, why would they want our help?"
"Because we know reasons that this assassin could have killed them."
"Alright. I'll cancel our appointment, you start the car." It was lucky that they lived so close to Kaven Base. As Owen dialed the phone, a blast knocked him off his feet. He got up and ran out the door. The car was in flames and Safira lay on the ground several feet away. He ran over to her, barely able to restrain a sob. He was cradling her body when fire ran across his back.
In Kaven base, IceBite, leader of Hellcat Squadran hung up a phone. He could not believe what was happening. Why does this have to happen now? Tartorus is dead, for once we could use some peace. He swore and picked up the phone again. "Hello?" A voice said. "Wolf, are you alright?"
"I just found out two of my best friends are dead, how would you be?"
"That's not all, Safira's dead and Owl's critically wounded, I'm having him brought here."
"Fuck!"
"Lay low. I know you were going to try and visit your dad, but try and get back here."
"Alright, I'm on my way." On the other end of the line, Will "Wolf sword" Serrah hung up. He was in a small town a few miles away from Kaven Base. He did not have access to a car, so he looked for a taxi. As he walked down a sidewalk, he noticed six men in black coats that seemed to be shadowing him. Realizing what was going on, he sped up the pace a little. Each of the six sped up with him. He started running. He climbed up a ladder to the water tower around a corner before any of the six could see him. "Crap! Spread out and find the little bastard!" One of them said. Wolf whipped out his cell phone and dialed a number. One he was never supposed to dial. Ten miles away, a teenage boy sat in his apartment, staring the TV. He wanted to cry, but the shock wouldn't let him. Carack and Ark....Oh my god.... he thought. The ringing from his own secret cell phone almost gave him a heart attack. He answered immediately. "G, I know this isn't protocol but I don't have much other choice."
"Wolf?"
"Yeah, you know Chris and Amy are dead now right?"
"Yes, get to it."
"Well, they've killed Safira and wounded Owen."
"Safira's dead!?"
"Yes, and they've come for me!"
"I'm on my way." Zack hung up. He started thinking of himself as ODST grievous once again. He half ran down the parking lot and jumped on his motorbike. He started driving in the direction of the town he knew Wolf was in. As he made it onto the highway, a few motorbikes behind him seemed to be moving into a formation. Instantly knowing who they were, Grievous slammed his foot down on the ground as he drove. A great hole in the ground opened up, swallowing his pursuers. He was in the small town in minutes. He found the water tower easily and jumped off. He clambered up it and found his friend. The two gripped each other's forearm in greeting. "Thanks for coming."
"Where'd they go?"
"One went down to the grocery store, start there."
Cornered Wolf[]
Grievous walked into the grocery store. Hand in his pockets. In one was his M95 and the other his combat knife. He wandered around the building for a short period of time before he realized someone was following him. The man following him was dressed in a black trench coat, similar to the ones his first pursuers wore. Grievous went to the men's room and took cover in one of the stalls. He saw the man's feet through the stall door. When the man passed his, he swung the door open and pulled the man in. Moving with precision drilled into him through years of practice, Grievous plunged his combat knife into his target's heart, killing him instantly. He closed the stall door and locked it, then climbed over the door and left. He wandered the town trying to find any men dressed like his first kill. Finding none, he returned to the water tower. To his horror, Wolf was not there. "Damn it!" He said. He was close to losing hope when he noticed a drop of red blood on the cement. A few feet away, another could be seen. Blood trail. He thought and followed it. It went a few blocks. When he found the end, he saw four men with Desert Eagles pointing at one of their companions. Behind their companion, stood Wolf, who was holding a knife. Grievous grabbed a hold of his pistol and shot twice. One man fell and the others whirled around. Wolf used the opportunity to throw his knife into the back of one of the men. In the same movement, he used his other hand to snap his meat shield's neck. Wolf grabbed his former shield's pistol and the two friends shot down their remaining enemies. Once they were done, Grievous began inspecting the bodies. "What are you doing?"
"I am searching for clues as to who these men might be."
"No need for that."
"Why?"
"Because this one's alive." Grievous turned and saw Wolf holding a knife to the neck of one of the men who was alive. "Move over." Grievous said, his commander voice coming into play. Wolf moved over. Grievous bent down in front of the survivor. "You'll die if you don't get to a hospital. Tell me who you're working for and we'll get you to one."
"I won't say shit on who, but I'll tell you why." The man choked out. Wolf bent over next to him and put one knife diagonally over the man's throat. Grievous, recognizing the tactic, placed his own on the opposite side. "They're trying to bring you out." The man said, a note of panic in his voice. "They want you in the open so you can be brought down."
"Why?"
"Because they're pissed you killed Ripa. They hired us to kill the Densons to bring you out to be framed." Grievous and Wolf were silent. "I told you all I know, now get me to a hospital." Wolf and Grievous looked at each other. "Right." Wolf said, though did not remove his knife. Grievous' face turned into a snarl. "I'll see you in hell." Grievous said quietly and the two slashed in different directions, cutting the man's head off.
In Kaven base IceBite looked over the report Hood had sent him. He swore angrily. Attached to the report was a security camera picture of Grievous in the building Adjacent to the one Carack and Ark were assassinated in, ten minutes prior to the assassination. Someone's setting him up. IceBite instantly thought. Grievous would never do this to anyone that was his friend. He looked over the report again and cursed. Attached was a group of signatures of members of the Coalition council, saying that IceBite was to devote resources to capturing Grievous. IceBite swore again and called a meeting of people closest to him and Grievous. Once they had made it to the conference room, he looked over them. There was May, Adriana, Tory, Dawn, John, and Selen. He was somewhat saddened to have to tell Selen what was going on, though would prefer it if she heard it from him. "I'm going to try and keep this short." He began. "I'm sure you all know about the recent deaths." Selen flashed him an angry look, she appeared to have a large bruise on her forehead, probably because she had gone into one of her rages when she had heard. "Well, the Coalition council has given me information one who did it." The group perked up. He clicked a button that had come with the pamphlet, and a hologram of images went up. It showed the adjacent building to the assassination, and then the security camera picture. John was incapable of suppressing a groan of shock. May fell off her chair, and Selen buried her head in her hands. "Now, I'll be clear with you, I think someone's framing him, despite the fact we all thought he was dead." He paused. Even Dawn, who Grievous never really got along with, appeared angry by that fact. "I'm loathe to have to do it, but we need to find and arrest him." Everyone gazed uncomfortably at each other. "Go out and try to find him. I will stress this. Bring him alive." John was the first one out. Tory and Dawn followed, and then went everyone else, other then Selen. IceBite sat down next to her. "I have something more important for you." She looked up at him. "Find him first. Get him to surrender himself. We'll find ways to prove his innocence after that." She was silent. "Selen?"
"You knew." She said, on the verge of a rage. He sighed. "Yes."
"Why did you lie to me?"
"He asked me to."
"What?"
"I sent him on a mission, but he needed to be dead to do it."
"My now dead friends helped?"
"Yes, so did Wolf."
"I know where to start." She was gone in an instant.
Arrest[]
Grievous looked at Wolf. "Get yourself to Kaven Base, act like you don't know where I am." Wolf nodded an left. Grievous left the town and found his Shadowhawk 7, which IceBite had let him take. Ten minutes later, he was in Los Angeles. Using his powers over air, he was able to fly up a couple floors of the apartment building. There were security guards everywhere. He took refuge in a closet. Once a guard passed by, he grabbed him, pulled him into the closet, and stole his uniform, putting it on over his T-shirt. He was able to walk into the apartment without much trouble. He took a few steps in and came to an agonizing halt. In front of him, though covered by white plastic sheets, lay the bodies of Carack and Ark. He stared, oblivious to the world around him. A knock on the door snapped him out of it. He made his way to the computer room. Maybe I can find something in one of their files that can help me. He thought. Knowing what each of their passwords were, he was able to log in to their computers. He quickly began scanning their files, documents, anything. He was midway through Ark's when he heard a door open behind him. He flung himself to the wall. Inside walked a young man, who looked confused about who could have logged in. He turned around to get security. "Please don't move Logan." Grievous said, pistol aimed at him. "You...you son of a bitch, you killed my sister."
"No I didn't, sit down."
"Send me to meet her, then."
"I didn't kill her. You know I wouldn't."
"She knew you were alive." Logan said stubbornly. Grievous flipped the pistol around, and handed it to Logan. "If you think I did it, shoot me." He said and closed his eyes. For a moment, Logan aimed the pistol at Grievous' eye, ready to blow his head off, then he dropped it, realizing that Grievous was telling the truth. "Help me find anything that might be odd from what they were doing."
"Why?"
"Because I'm going to find who was responsible for this and cut them to pieces." Logan sat next to him. For almost an hour, they sat there and looked over documents. Then; "There. I've never heard them mention that before." What he pointed to was a name, Caleb Johnson. "Oh shit." Grievous muttered. "Who is it?"
"The less you know the better. I've got to get out of here."
"Ok, I'll distract the guards."
"Thank you." Grievous left the room and made it to the hallway. Once he made it midway down. He stopped short. A boy slightly younger then him stood not seven meters away from him. Tory. Oh fuck. Grievous tore off in the opposite direction. Tory set off in the same direction, ready to catch him. As Grievous rounded a corner in the hall, he saw another familiar figure. "Damn it." He said and kicked down an apartment room door, Dawn moving in from the opposite direction. Grievous looked behind him, ignoring a married couple sitting on the bed in the room. Dawn and Tory were in the room in seconds. Seeing no other option, Grievous jumped out of the window, using his air powers to keep himself up. He was about o fly away, when he suddenly found himself frozen in mid-air. He looked down. "Damn it, Adriana." He yelled down at the Psychic woman who held him in place. She slowly brought him down. "For the record, Grievous, I'm sorry about this." She said and pulled him forward into her staff, knocking him out.
Grievous awoke with a slight jolt. He was in one of the prison cells at Kaven base. "Glorious." He said. He was about to try and use his powers to break through when the door opened. "Sorry I had to do this Grievous." IceBite said. Grievous shook his head. "Davenport being his dickhead self?"
"Not only him."
"Figures."
"Look, I know you didn't do it."
"Nice to know someone has some sense."
"Here's what we can do. Do you have any leads on who might have really done it?"
"One. Do you know about a man named Caleb Johnson?"
"No."
"He's the man who recruited Me, Ark and Owl."
"How's that a lead?"
"Ark hated him. We found his name in one of her files."
"We?"
"Her brother."
"Ah. We can't let you go immediately, so I'll send John off after him."
"Thank you." IceBite stood up to leave then paused. "You have a visitor, by the way." As he left the cell, Selen walked in. Grievous never thought he'd be able to cry after his ODST training. He was proven wrong by the time she flung herself into his arms.
IceBite found John quickly and told him what to do. John was instantly moving off the base. IceBite then found the others and briefed them on what was happening. May headed down to see him once Selen was done. The others were put on break for the time being. For a moment, IceBite thought that peace would return, then felt a strange presence in the base. You feel that? He asked Etibeci. Yes. We should go investigate it.
Did you converse with his other half while we were there?
Briefly. IceBite eventually found himself in a maintenance area, where, on the other end of the room, stood three men, each dressed in black trench coats and gas masks. One of them held a large canister. They dropped it and a gaseous substance poured out. It wasn't long before IceBite collapsed.
Gas and Loss[]
Tory saw it all on a security feed. He found an alarm and punched it. The whole base was on alert. Members near the center of the base made it to one of three areas, the hangar, the conference room, or security cell B. Tory was safe in the camera room, where he'd chosen to visit once dismissed. He noticed Adriana had and Dawn had made it to the conference room, May, grievous and Selen were in the cell, and a few dozen squads of ODST troopers had made it to the hangar. He was able to open a speaker. "Adriana? Can you hear me?"
"Go ahead. What's going on?"
"Six men released some kind of Gaseous substance into the ventilation, IceBite was there, he's down now."
"Is he alive?!" Adriana said in a terrified voice. "He'll live." Grievous said into the comm. "How'd you get on the channel?"
"You're talking into the base wide speaker."
"Oh. How do you know?"
"I don't. My other half does."
"Ah. Any idea on how to get us out of this mess?"
"Can you access a filter for the ventilation?"
"Not from here."
"Crap. Where's Wolf?"
"He's with me." Adriana added. "Thank god." Tory looked over the cameras. "Hey, there' s an ODST in one of the halls!" As he watched, the trooper clawed at his helmet. He ripped it off. Tory puked. His skin was slowly melting away and then stopped at his blood covered skull. "I know what the gas does."
"Yeah, me too. There's a camera in here." Wolf muttered. "I think I have an idea. You'll have to move fast Tory, you're closest. "What do I do?"
"I'm going to become the air in the base, when I do, make your way to the Maintenance and vent the systems."
"Alright, when do I go?"
"NOW." Grievous' voice said right next to him. Tory sprinted down to the vents and cleared them. "We're good!" He yelled and he heard a loud hiss. A few minutes later, Grievous stood next to him. "Let's get him to the Med-labs." The two carried an unconscious IceBite down to Quel. "Will he live?" Tory asked. "Yes. I think it was a result of his fusion that kept him alive." Quel answered. "Nice to know we aren't losing everyone." A shaky voice said. Grievous turned and saw, to a mixture of his shock and delight, Owl. He had a large bandage on his left cheek, and there was a blood pack strapped to his right thigh. "Owl... you're..."
"Alive? Yes." he said bitterly. "Zack, I know you know who did it. Tell me." Tory looked between the two, wondering who Zack was. Grievous answered. "Remember Lieutenant Fuckhead?"
"You're joking."
"Sadly no. While he was in the base, I got inside his head. He's the one responsible." Owl looked at his shoes. "Tory, did you see where he was going?"
"Actually, yes. He was headed for.....Narsil." He finished in terror. Grievous turned and saw Owl was missing. Though there was a feather in the air. "Oh shit." Grievous tore through the base, relying on Suoveirg to increase his speed. He opened a Psychic link to Owl. "We need him alive Owl!"
"He murdered my wife, Zack. What would you do?"
"Killing him won't bring her back!"
"True. But I'll feel better."
"Trust me, you won't!"
"Maybe you're right. I'll tell you when I know." Owl terminated the link. "DAMN IT!" Grievous yelled. Near Narsil, Owl stood over the wounded body of Caleb Johnson. Owl reached down and picked up a needle he was carrying. "Poison was always your favorite." He said to his old recruiter. He leaned over, ready to kill the man, when he hesitated. Caleb took advantage of it and grabbed his hand, causing him to shove it into his own chest. Owl gave a slight shudder and collapsed. Caleb pulled himself up and ran away with a limp. Ten seconds later, Grievous came tearing around one of the corners. "No....." He whispered and ran over to his best friend's form. He then realized Owl was alive. He fell t the ground next to him and began cradling him. "Goddammit Owen, stay with me!" He said in his friend's ear. "What's the point, Zack?"
"My sanity."
"You kidding? You lost that a long time ago."
"True." Grievous felt Owl's pulse. It was VERY weak. "I couldn't do it."
"I know. Cold-blooded killing is never you."
"Maybe you should have chased him."
"He's going to die. I can promise you that."
"Then I go out at peace." Owl's pulse deadlined. A solitary tear went down Grievous' left eye. He tapped into his ectoplasmic powers, in an attempt to bring him back.
Tory and May rounded the corner at breakneck speed. How Grievous had moved so fast was beyond them. Then they stopped dead. "Oh no...." May groaned. They knelt down next to Grievous, who was staring blankly at the body of his best friend. "Maybe IceBite can bring him back." Tory said, trying to do something to comfort Grievous. "No, he can't. I've already tried." Grievous said in a hollow voice. Grievous stayed there for nearly three hours. Then, IceBite, who had regained consciousness, came over. "Zack....We need to go after him." Grievous' eyes snapped up. "I go on these conditions Leinad, I lead the hunt. I get to kill him." IceBite knew nothing he could do would change his companion's mind, so he nodded. Grievous stood up and walked away. "Should I..?"
"Already tried." Grievous replied sadly.
The Hunt[]
Grievous watched numbly as a pair of morgue workers and Quel took away Owen's body. "Zack.....I'm so sorry." He didn't need to turn to know Wolf stood behind him. "I've lost more then IceBite now." He said without thinking. "What do you mean?"
"IceBite has Herol, Jennifer, Adriana, most of his friends are still alive. I've lost most of mine." Wolf stopped next to him. "We'll have to do everything we can to keep what we have left alive." He said, remarkably serious from his usual self. Grievous sighed. "You've been hanging around IceBite, haven't you?"
"So?"
"He's the only one I know who can make up inspirational quotes on the spot." Wolf sighed. "You should see Selen. She's not letting you go without her."
"Good. I'm bringing her with me."
"Whatever happened to keeping our friends alive?"
"I need her nearby so I can rip apart anything that tries to hurt her."
"If you say so." Wolf walked off. IceBite came in. "Who do you want to help you hunt him down?"
"I'm bringing you, Tory, Dawn, Adriana, the reds and blues, and Selen."
"You sure about the Reds and Blues?"
"They had friends in Zeta too." About an hour later, the group was assembled. "You probably know I'm running point on this op. If you know anyone for sure that might want to help us out, let them know they're welcome, and that I owe them." Grievous told the group. "You owe me nothing." A voice said behind them Grievous turned, and saw to his pleasant surprise, Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca, Queen of Dalmasca. She was with nobody, so he guessed her presence was a secret. "Anyone know you're here?"
"Just Thel and Martok. They will do what they can to talk the Council out of arresting you."
"Let them know they have my undying gratitude."
"I shall." After that, they left Grievous alone, who had released his consciousness out of his body to find the mind of his target. After about ten minutes, Grievous found him. "He's in New York."
"How are we supposed to get there?" Grif said somewhat grumpily. Grievous ignored Sarge's "With the biggest possible vehicle, numbnuts." And looked at IceBite who immediately understood. In almost twenty minutes, they were in New York. "Your guy's team bird thing is freaking scary being carried by." Tucker muttered. "He's taken refuge in an abandoned warehouse about ten miles from here. We'll divide into groups of two. Grif and Tucker will be a joint force with Simmons and Caboose near the main entrance as backup. IceBite and Selen, I want you two to take out guards at the rear, then kill or capture whatever patrols come by. You pick." IceBite was confused at this, though said nothing. "Tory and Dawn, you two take out the roof guards. Tex and Church, you two are going to walk up to the front door and knock."
"What?"
"I'd think what I just said was clear. Knock on the door." He then looked at Ashe. "You and Sarge are going to head in the back door and quietly take out any guards." They nodded. He looked at May. "You're with me. We infiltrate through the floor." He looked at the others. "We infiltrate in one hour. Get ready." IceBite walked up to him. "Why am I on rear guard?"
"You're the only one here I trust enough to watch over her." IceBite, understanding, nodded. Ten minutes later, they were around the building, and everyone was in position. Tex and Church, bickering quietly, knocked on the front door. At that Second, IceBite and Selen took down the rear guard, Tory and Dawn were on the roof, and Grievous started digging. May jumped in the hole after him as Sarge killed an inside guard with the butt of his shotgun. "Why are we underground?" May muttered to Grievous. "So we can come up under his guards and suck them down into the earth." When they were under Caleb and his guards, who stood pointing weapons at Church and Tex, Grievous sucked Caleb's guards down. As he did that, Ashe used a Flare Magick to take out a backup patrol while Sarge sprinted from cover and shot one in the nose. Grievous launched May out of the earth and she used her powers over water to slam a Tidal wave down on Caleb, who fell, more cowering then wounded. Grievous himself then popped out. "You're still afraid of water, eh?" He said to Caleb. Their new prisoner groaned. Grievous used the opportunity to kick him in the face. IceBite pulled him back so that he would not be able to repeat the act. "Kill him later. We'll use him to prove your innocence." Grievous nodded, though somewhat reluctantly. As he looked up at IceBite, he saw another man aiming a pistol at the back of his head. "Get down!" Grievous said and shoved IceBite down, at the same time he drew his pistol and fired. The man collapsed. Grievous walked over to the body. He sighed. "Fuck you Davenport."
Against one's Own[]
IceBite walked over to the body and saw, to his terror, that the man was wearing the symbol of GDI. "Ah shit." IceBite said. Without looking up he said. "You know what Davenport's going to demand." A sudden gust of air blew over his face. "He glanced up and saw that Grievous was gone. "Crap." He looked back and saw that Tory, Dawn and Adrianna had taken off out one of the doors. Then, he himself went off in chase, leaving the others to wonder what the hell had happened in the last seven seconds.
Grievous was already halfway into the city. He would not, would not go into GDI's custody. The only result would be a civil war. "Damn it Grievous! Stop!" He looked over his shoulder and saw Tory. "Get back Tory. I don't want to fight you."
"You could just surrender."
"We both know that won't happen." Grievous tapped his foot. A pillar of rock burst from the ground and struck Tory in the face. He repeated it and another struck him in the groin. Tory collapsed. Grievous kicked him and he went flying into Adrianna, who was rounding a nearby corner. Dawn came in close behind her and launched a fireball at Grievous. Grievous used his air powers to remove the oxygen around the fireball, causing it to dissipate. He created a mini Tornado around her and she was lifted several meters into the air. She landed with a loud thud. Grievous finished off Tory by creating a cage of rock to formulate around him. He turned to Adrianna. He reached out with his psychic mind and smashed through her mental barriers. He forced her to see images of people she cared about exploding into bloody messes. The illusion distracted her enough for Grievous to smash a boulder into her, knocking her out. He whirled around in time to see IceBite rounding the very corner the other three did. "I'm not going over into Davenport's hands." Grievous said. IceBite said nothing. Slowly, the two began to circle. "You going to kill me?" Grievous asked. Again,IceBite said nothing. "Just let me walk, Leinad."
"I can't do that." Grievous sighed. "So be it." At the same time, the two lunged forward, each transforming into one of their elemental forms. Grievous to his Rock Wolf, IceBite to his Icicle Mantis. The two slammed into each other. Grievous snapped his stone jaws down on the large bug's shoulder. IceBite was easily able to fling him off. Grievous snarled and shot a pillar of rock out of his mouth. IceBite froze it and launched a beam of ice energy at his opponent. Grievous used a wall of earth to block it, then charged at IceBite. He snapped his jaws around IceBite's shoulder and held him for a few moments. Realizing nothing would break his opponent's grip, IceBite changed back into human form and slunk out of the death grip. Grievous turned back to human form as well, and drew his energy swords. IceBite drew Thundercracker and lunged forward. Grievous blocked his first attack by crossing his blades. He then retaliated in a frenzy of attacks. IceBite, being more skilled with the sword, was able to counter and knock away Grievous' non-modified blade. Grievous snapped forward with a thrust that IceBite knocked away easily. Grievous feigned an overhead attack and snapped a low cut. IceBite was able to block it, though his energy blade was knocked away. He unsheathed Vesracolian, and attacked more ferociously. Grievous was unable to prevent the blade activator from being damage, rendering his sword useless. Grievous quickly brought out his combat knife. Despite his skill with the sword, IceBite couldn't feel a slight pang of self doubt at the sight of the knife. He had witnessed what Grievous was able to do with it, and that was not a confidence boost. Grievous struck at him with an underhand grip, fitting in seventeen attacks in five seconds. The two dueled for about ten minutes before their blades leapt from their hands in unison. IceBite lashed out with a blast of ice energy. Grievous brought up a wall to block it. Grievous countered with a mini tornado launched from his hands. IceBite stepped aside and fired a beam of light at Grievous. Grievous rolled under it and the two took to launching elemental attacks at one another for nearly forty minutes.
"Grif, shut up." Church said angrily. "Why'd you bring me?"
"You're the only one heavy enough to knock him out." Tucker responded. The two Blues grabbed Grif and flung him from the building they stood atop. "Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttt!" Grif yelled as he fell from the building. At the bottom, Grievous looked up in time to see a mass of orange armor fall on him. IceBite let out a sigh of relief. Then he walked over to move a semi-conscious Grif off of an unconscious Grievous.
Fourteen minutes later, Grievous awoke in the back of a large truck. "Son of a bitch." He muttered. He could overhear IceBite and a slightly too happy Davenport outside of the vehicle. "Ah.....crap." He looked down and saw he was wearing a set of strange handcuffs. When he tried to use air to break them off, noting happened. "Crap." He said again, and took to listening to the heated conversation. He heard Davenport say that he would like to execute him, and IceBite was trying to talk him out of it. He listened for a few moments and then a loud thump sounded, followed by Selen's voice. Another brief conversation that Grievous had more difficulty hearing, then, a resounding clang sounded right next to his head. He looked and saw a fist imprint on the wall. "What the hell?" Then another, then another, and then, a hole opened. Two hands ripped apart the armored vehicle, and Grievous saw Selen, a little temperamental, standing there. "You've gotten stronger." He noted. She shrugged. "I need something to vent on." Grievous looked at IceBite, who gestured for him to come out. He hopped out of the vehicle. IceBite took a key out and the handcuffs popped off. Davenport, looking a mix off pissed and embarrassed, left. "What exactly was that?" Grievous asked. "The guy you killed was only disguised as a GDI operative." Selen explained while crunching up one of the vehicle doors. IceBite nodded. A few seconds later. Both he and Grievous said "Sorry." Followed by a facepalm on the latter's part. "What do we do now?"
"Well, the distraction was enough for Johnson to get away."
"Fuck." Grievous cursed and looked around for Adriana. "Er, where'd your sister go?"
"Apparently, you wounded her a little to much to continue this mission. That, and I don't think she was interested in helping even after that." Grievous hung his head, made a rock fist, and punched himself in the face. "Somehow I don't think that did to much." IceBite commented (while ignoring a withering look from Selen). "Give me a minute." Grievous muttered. To the others, he appeared to have passed out. To him, he sent his consciousness out into a harmless mental brainwave that scanned the whole country. After a few moments, he woke up. "He's in DC."
"How in the hell did he get there?" IceBite asked. "How should I know? Look, it'll take too long to mobilize everyone."
"So, you'll just go off on your own?"
"Lord no." Grievous grabbed IceBite and Selen and about a second later, they were flying through the air at speeds exceeding that of one of their jets. it only took about ten minutes to get there.
Vengeance[]
When they landed in Washington, the three headed to the area Grievous had specified, a very, very large plane. on the outskirts of the city. "I can honestly say that I've never seen a plane this big." IceBite said, sounding a little surprised. "Give me a second, I need to find out what's inside." Grievous said and passed out, when he returned, he looked grim. He's got about a hundred and forty eight men in there, and his pet."
"His pet?" IceBite asked, though Selen hung her head in frustration. "The biggest fucking elite you will ever see." Selen said. "Speaking of which, there it is now. Shit." Grievous groaned. IceBite looked and saw and elite that had to be at least the size of Tartorus. "Shit indeed. In fact, I'd go so far as a holy fuck." IceBite said in a tone of surprise. The elite was huge. Taller the Tartorus, for certain. Grievous looked at his two companions. "I'm going to count to seven. Then I run down. You count to ten, then follow me."
"What?" IceBite had no clue what he meant, though Selen looked understanding. Seven seconds later, Grievous burst from cover, his hands covered in rock. He punched two guards, who went flying at least seventeen feet up. Selen followed after that, she was upon a third and fourth before IceBite realized he had to go down as well, now understanding the tactic. Selen jumped from her two victims onto another three, who suffered broken necks quite quickly, as IceBite used his sword to cut down four who dared rush him. Grievous was already moving inside the plane. IceBite followed, Selen a step behind him. "I should've known you'd find me here, Zack. Oh well, my men will make short work of you." Johnson's voice sounded through the speakers. A group of forty men appeared from nowhere. "Damn. He's given them cloaking, look out." Grievous muttered. IceBite quickly cut through seven who appeared in front of him and four behind. Grievous used his combat knife to bring down twelve in a two seconds. Selen whipped out a small metal bar. "What will that do?" IceBite asked while beheading one. The bar began to flip around and turned into a black katana. Selen jumped next to IceBIte and quickly began to cut down any who stood in her way. As the two used their swords to bring down the group, Grievous made his way through the plane. A few soldiers tried to stop him, and they met timely deaths. He continued to fight his way through, when a massive fist struck him in the head. He flew back down the plane and landed with a resounding crash! IceBite turned to see what happened and found himself flying down the plane as well. The elite stood between them and their target, and he attacked Selen next. She was able to dodge the massive fists for about five minutes, and then snaked herself around, grabbed the elite's upper jaw, and pulled. Blood fountained out as the top half of the elite's head was ripped off. "A little overkill, but nice." IceBite said. She shrugged and kicked the body, sending it out of the plane. IceBIte was about to turn to Grievous when he realized something. "Where's my sword?"
Grievous sprinted down the plane, Vesracolian in hand. He really had no idea what compelled him to grab it, but he knew what he was going to do with it. As he made it to the end of the plane, a large stick stuck itself in the wall about two inches from his head. he rolled under it and ducked. It exploded. Caleb Johnson reloaded his crossbow. "I'm going to kill you!" He yelled a little maniacally. Grievous closed in and swung the sword. It cleaved his old mentor's weapon in half. Grievous flung the sword across the plane (Where it embedded itself in the floor between IceBite and Selen) and grabbed Johnson. "You are responsible for the deaths of my friends. Now you pay for it." He threw him down the plane. He landed on the ground and skidded, headfirst, into the blade, which cut his torso down the middle. Selen nearly threw up. Without a word, Grievous came up between them. "Did you have to kill him?" IceBite asked. Grievous ignored him and used his knife to cut out a half of the dead man's brain. "Good god, why are you doing that?" IceBite asked, not noticing Selen looking away. Without a word, grievous cut out a small piece and ate it. "What the fuck....?" IceBite said, looking a little green. Grievous spat it out and threw up. "Sorry you had to see that. I just-" He vomited again. "I had to see his memories."
"Did you have to do it like that?"
"And what, eat the whole thing? Shit, IceBite that's sick minded."
"What'd you find?"
"Who he was working for."
"And?"
"Have you seen National Treasure 2?"
"Yes." Selen chipped in.
"Well, come with me then." Grievous draped his arm around her shoulders and the two vanished. "And, who am I?" IceBite muttered.
IceBite called in the other members who were in the field. The only ones who could actually make it were May, Tex, and the Reds. "Remind me, how is the president involved?" May asked. "I dunno, just that he is."
"How'd you find out?"
"Believe me you'd be better off not knowing." IceBite answered, hiding a shiver.
Grievous and Selen stood next to the white house. "How do we do this?" Selen asked, incapable of hiding the horror in her voice. "Uh, make it up as we go. As long as we don't die, we'll be fine."
"Again with that insane theology?"
"When Kane says your a psychopath, you know it's true." Selen smiled."We can't kill any of the guards, they don't know any better." She nodded. The two quickly got into a tour group. Grievous used his psychic powers to trick the guards into letting them in with their weapons. Selen draped one arm around Grievous' shoulders and they were quickly in the President's office. Instantly knowing who Grievous was, the man froze in horror. "Hello, Aaron. Remember me?" Grievous grabbed him with one hand and Selen with the other, the next thing they knew, they were outside the Attorney General's office. "IF, you cooperate, I think that your buddy in there should let you live." Grievous snarled as Selen kicked the door down. The Attorney General jumped up. Just as he was about to call security, The President started blabbing. The General's shock lit up his face as the story unraveled. "Is it true?" He asked. "I had to eat part of a guy's brain to learn about it. Would I lie?" Grievous said, his heavy sarcasm returning. "Well, good work then. Aren't you a member of Hellcat Squadran?"
"I kinda need to be officially reinstated."
"Well, you've done well. I'll contact the Vice President and let him know he is in charge now." Grievous nodded and released his grip as two security guards came to take the former President away. Just as Grievous turned to take Selen and him to Kaven Base, an explosion racked their world. A tank rolled up next to the building. Fuck! He must still have people working for him. Grievous thought. When the dust cleared, he saw that the Attorney General had been blown to pieces, and another sight that sent him into a blind rage directed at the guy in the tank.
A very large, very sharp, piece of wooden shrapnel had impaled Selen through her gut. Even with her enhanced strength and endurance, she wasn't able to remain standing, and she collapsed. Through the red haze of his fury, Grievous saw a mercenary's head poke out of the tank. He lunged at it, calling on his powers over earth as he went. He grabbed hold of the tank gun and pulled. The entire thing snapped off. Using it as a club, he smashed the tank into a pulp. One of the mercs inside it had jumped free in tim. Grievous drew his knife and moved over to him. He stabbed him through the eye and continued to heavily mutilate his body.
A familiar voice sounded in his head, no, it was coming up behind him. It wasn't speaking english, in fact it was Mando'a that he heard. His mind heard it say: "Holy shit! Grievous, back off! Back the fuck off!!" He turned to see who it was, and as his fury cleared, he saw the helmeted head of Ryan Ferran. He glanced down at the merc's corpse, seeing everything from intestines to vocal cords strewn across the floor. Pushing that out of his mind, he pushed past Ryan and over to Selen, who, to his shock, was still alive. Still speaking Mando'a, Ryan came up to him. "Come on, listen, we've got a medic here, just come on." Slowly, Grievous registered what Ryan was saying, and the two picked Selen up and moved over to the where Ryan had indicated.
Epilogue[]
IceBite landed his jet down where Ryan had told him to. He instantly knew he was in the right place, as he saw the mutilated merc on the ground. He saw Ryan waving him over, along with someone who had his head stuck the in the ground. he ran over. "Who's this?" Ryan sighed. "He's freaking out." He said as the person ripped his head out and slammed it into the wall. Yup, that's Grievous. IceBite thought. "What happened?" He asked Ryan. Mister President decided to have a guy blow up the place. Selen got stabbed with a large piece of shrapnel." He lowered his voice. "Im not sure she's going to make it." IceBite nodded and walked over to the head-hidden Grievous.
"I don't know if you can hear me in there, Grievous..." Grivous ripped his head out of the wall. He had always been crazy, but he now looked like someone who was about to blow up the world. "Don't call me that. You know my name now." IceBite nodded slowly. "In the last twenty four hours, you've lost a lot Zack. No reason to lose everything." He walked into the ambulance where a few medics were desperately trying to keep Selen alive.
Ryan looked at Zack, who was showing signs of dying of insanity. His eyes were overly wide, reminding him of a certain stare he'd once given to Kayla that had lasted almost forty minutes. Then IceBite came out and walked over to Ryan. "Something tells me we should go." Understanding, the two left, leaving a moment of immense heavy emotion to Zack and the now healed Selen.
Two days later
Zack walked into his old house. "You never sold it?" He asked Wolf incredulously. "Actually, Selen sold hers and moved in here."
"So where will I live?" Wolf shrugged. "Your lab, I guess. She kept it intact." Zack smiled. Part of his basement was a science lab, where he worked on inventing things, the other part had been a training room for Zeta. Wolf left the house, and Selen entered. "Well, as we're official now, and to answer your question, you'll be living here with me." Zack put on a face of a mixture of surprise and concern. "You know I'm cultured?"
"Yeah, me too." She answered.
"He'll live right?"
"Yes, Caleb missed the major artery."
"Will He work for us?"
"We give him the right chance for revenge, he'll do anything."
"Alright. Hey, he's awake."
"Hey there bird man. How you feeling?"