[Fiction] Oh lord, don't let me be misunderstood.

[Wakinyan]

Blood dripped steadily into the parched earth. Sending little clouds of dust to swirl away in the hot breeze.

It trickled from the tips of his claws, having long since matted his fur. It was his own of course the casual glance would have horrified most. Wings where broken and mangled, splinters of bone broke through the feathers in pink glistening shards. The beak was cracked with spider web fractures extending from the points where he had been punched repeatedly. One eye was caved the socket crushed. Right shoulder looked like it had been dipped in acid, burned down to the muscle. Still he stood defiant on his hind legs. The blood continued dripping from his body yet he continued to glare at his assailants who smirked with arrogance.

"Monkey, Monkey, Monkey." Came the mocking voice tinged with a crude British accent. "What's the matter not going to punch me through a wall now little cocker?"

Totem shook with fear or maybe blood loss. He knew the two of them where just getting started. It was only a warm up and they hadn't broken a sweat.

Another voice spoke this one with a most definite American dialect. "Don't feel to bad. Think of it as us doing you a favor."

"Fuck off!" Totem croaked out in a half roar. If most of his ribs wouldn't have been broken he would have said it louder as it stood it was meek to his usual bellow.

"Looks like the bloke is still full of piss and vinegar chum. I say we beat the piss out of him doesn't seem he's had enough." The Brit commented dryly.

,,

"Let's just get this over with."

Totem spat a dark red wad into the dirt. "What the hell do you two want from me!?" He demanded despite the fact he was in no position to demand anything.

Geryon was truly in his prime today. In full battle form. He didn't need the finesse of fighting T2M. Just the thick muscles to roll over some stupid kid that had crossed him. "Mate she's not yours and she never will be. You need to get it through your fooking head."

"Everyone was just fine the way things where you stupid Indian. But no you got to latch onto her like some lost puppy. Personally I blame the fur, she's got a thing for fur." Levithan snorted at his own joke, showing row upon row of razored teeth. "G let's get this over with this dry heat is fucking killing me."

The battered teenager could do nothing but growl at the two assailants approaching him.

[Wakinyan]

"Think he is dead?" Leviathan asked as he held the limp body of the Griffin with his two right arms.

"Nah" Responded the other Terat. "Little bastard had more fight in him than I have him credit for. Not the pussy boy he acts like on the net all the time. Gonna take me a week to get rid of these scars, haven't even gotten rid of all the scars I picked up last week in Ibiza yet, must be gettin old."

"Well she has been training him after all." Leviathan commented as he examined their victim. "I still don't feel right about this. I can't feel a pulse either, I think he is dead."

"Nah. Sure every bone is broken and organ burst but it was the only way to keep him down. I can still feel a little juice left in him. He'll live, maybe." As Geryon spoke his form shrank, discarding the excess muscle and bulk that he had used to shatter the young Nova over the past hour. "Blinker you little shit get over here and get ready for the move."

Blinker didn't mind Geryon's harsh language. Everything that came from him was harsh but if you knew him you could sort the insults into insults for those he liked and those he didn't. "I couldn't find his Granddad. He must have bailed when he heard you and Levi come through the wall like Kool-Aid men on the rampage. You should have let me go in first."

"Bugger off." Geryon snapped. "Old coot wasn't what we where here for anyway. Charr mentioned we should deal with him as part of the lesson. Charr can suck mah dick."

While Blinker and Geryon bickered Leviathan turned the near corpse he was holding over and looked at Totem's broken and wrecked face. Why did he do this? This kid was him ten years ago. Was he that jealous of what he felt for Apep to have done this? Geryon and Charr had gone on that this wasn't about Apep. It was going to be a lesson and getting everyone's favorite reptilian party girl back was just an extra. "God kid. I'm sorry." He murmured under his breath so his two fellows didn't hear.

By now Geryon had produced a OpPhone and was talking with Synapse, no doubt making the arrangements to drop Totem off in the best location.

Leviathan just wanted this over with, he had mentored plenty of the more inhuman Novas before. But nothing like this and he just wanted to put it all behind him. In a way it would be better if the last light within Totem was snuffed. He pondered for a moment doing just that but then shook it off. He'd never hear the end of it from those two if he did. Bad enough everyone thought Apep was going soft. Best not let them think he was too.

"Okay Syn has got us hooked up with a perfect spot for our little experiment so let's get to it. Blinko you little faggit get us there."

In response Blinker flipped Geryon off before all three Terats and the broken form of the young Nova disappeared in a brilliant flash of light.

[Wakinyan]

Leviathan tossed the limp form onto the forested floor. “I doubt this is going to work. Even if it does he is going to hate us forever.”

“I could give a fuck less.” Geryon spat as he turned around. “If this gets him on the right course then good for him, if he fucking dies out here, good for him. I see it as everyone wins.”

“She isn’t going to like this when she finds out.” The lizard added as he turned to make his way back over to Blinker.

“Nah, she’ll be thanking us when this is said and done. At least the little prick won’t be humping her leg anymore.” Geryon nudged the limp body before turning to join the other two. “We’ll just have to wait and see how this plays out. Let’s get out of here.”

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

Bugs chirped and hummed in the evening air. Time had lost all meaning, it could have been a day or a week before he opened his one good eye. Calling that eye good was only comparative to how bad off the other was.

There was no need to move. He couldn't even if he wanted to. His spine was still shattered. His body was to broken. The only blessing was he couldn't feel the pain anymore. How much of a blessing it was he questioned and began to wonder if in fact he was dead.

His mind came and went as the time passed. He tried to recall how he got there but couldn't. Soon all he came to care about was how hungry he was. His body demanded nourishment. It simply couldn't rebuild itself without it.

More time passed and he began to stink. Many of the parts of him that where supposed to be inside where outside. Making a banquet for all the various insects and animals who where brave enough to come for a bite. The buzzing wouldn't stop, he was jealous of them for they could feast while he could not.He was dead and he could not leave his body. Yet he was so hungry it was the only thing he felt anymore it willed him to try to move. Splintered bones protested and ground together as muscles began to flex under the rotting carcass he had become.

He didn't have to drag himself far before he heard them. Shuffling around in the clearing ahead. His hunter instinct took hold as his bleary eye spotted his salvation. Three deer moved around in the glade. Thankfully they had yet to notice him. The chance to feed was there, to be reborn. He almost drooled at the thought of their flesh sliding down his throat, their bones crunching delightfully in his maw. He had to have them, he could not fail.

His body was his liability. Slow to move he knew he would fail if they saw him coming. Still he drug himself forward in desperation. Close enough that he could watch them. A buck, doe and fawn, all for him. He tensed knowing he only had a few moments to act.

One sniffed the air. It could smell him, smell the stink of death that hung over him. He panicked he had only a second to act. He pounced with what little strength he had left. Luckily for him it was enough to smash into the two older creatures sending them to the ground jarred by the impact. The fawn jumped and fled diving into a red bush nearby.

The buck was first. Totem’s claws came down cleaving deep into it's ribcage more than enough to stop it from ever escaping, he turned on the Doe. All she seemed to do was bleat out in despair. It was odd he thought as he leaned over and crushed her in his jaws. She could have ran, she could have fled in the moment that it took him to kill the buck. She didn't, all she did was cry. He felt like something was wrong with that but, he was so hungry, to hungry to let such a small worry stop him from feasting on the two creatures he had slew.

And it was everything he dreamed it would be. Just the act of chewing the meat, letting the blood wash down his throat felt like it was bringing him back from the dead. In just a few crunches they where gone. Yet they weren’t enough. The fawn in the red bush was still cowering, mewling for it's mother, no pity was born of it. A swipe and the bush was torn, revealing the small creature. It looked at him shuddering for a moment, realizing it would soon be with it's mother and father. With a single snap of the Nova's powerful jaws it was.

After feasting he slept, time passed once more. Cool rain broke the hot humid night rinsing Totem of the gore and rot that clung to him. Thunder peeled across the forested valley and awoke the slumbering griffin. Mending but still broken the flesh of the deer had allowed him to live..

Gingerly he felt his bad eye. Wondering why it had yet to heal. Realizing why as he probed it. The first punch Geryon had landed crushed Sakurako's opnet device. Pushing slivers of metal and fragments of silicon deep into his eye. It could not heal until all the foreign matter was expelled. He could only see one way of doing that. A talon slid into the socket and began clearing out the detritus of organic and inorganic that lay within. That act told him pain had returned and he roared, challenging the thunder to answer.

The task was completed despite the white hot pain soon only an empty socket remained, waiting to be filled with a new eye.

The griffin tested his wings but they like his eye had been torn and broken. Needing time to rebuild and heal. But knowing he was alive was enough. He tried not to think about what they had done to him, let alone why but couldn't help it. He collapsed back onto his haunches, letting the hard rain course over his body.

Could it just been because of her.

Why, why did it matter to them?

His anger gave way to fear. What if they come back, what if they realize he isn't dead. Then for the first time he wondered where he was. It wasn't anywhere near Oglala he knew for sure. It reminded him of the place Apep had took him their first time together, somewhere in Appalachia. The mountains where ancient as was the forest. The rain was cool and reassuring. He examined his surroundings with his one good eye trying to get his orientation.

He saw it but had to double take to realize it was there. He stood on all fours and approached cautiously. Picking up sections he examined it closely.

A red tent torn to ribbons.

It dawned on him slowly his battered mind did not want to put the facts together.

The red bush had not been a bush and the deer had not been deer.

He began to shake uncontrollably. He stood in the middle of a campsite watching as the bloody scene was washed away by the powerful storm. "No." He blurted out. Lightning cracked in the sky the storm grew stronger. "No!" The wind howled stronger bending the tree tops. "NO!!" Totem launched himself into the sky his wings protested but he fought them, willing them to work but they could not and after a moment they folded. He crashed back to the earth through tree limbs and brush. Scrambling to his feet he raced across the forest floor getting as far away from the horror of his own making as his paws could take him.

The storm followed him.

[Wakinyan]

The running had to stop sometime.

Panting, soaked, rotten, maimed how many descriptives would fit him now? Monster was the only sure one that would never leave. Not now, not after… He calmed himself it wasn’t hard to do he was still too roughed up to maintain any real effort. So as an alternative to letting himself go insane he thought about things. It didn’t take much thinking to realize that what he had done. He’d eaten a family and despite however he tried to convince himself there was no way to deny it. He shuddered once again not knowing what was worse. The fact that he had killed three people or that he felt so much better for doing so. They at least deserved a prayer and he gave them one. An amalgam of two separate Lakota prayers, he really couldn’t think of one that simply fit the situation. One for the hunt and the other for the dead, it didn’t feel trivial but it didn’t feel like enough, he knelt and began repeating it hoping the howling winds would carry his whispers to the spirits whose lives he had taken.

Not one day since his new life began had he not healed. Wounds where rare enough but when they happened he had always healed. His fight with Ravana proved it to him; he was healthy again by the end of that day, despite how badly it went down. Every time after that had just reinforced it. The CoMa attack, his sparring with Apep. Every wound had healed. Every time his body reset itself back to perfect position. Whatever seemed perfect for the Griffin at least. This time it was different. This time the sin of feeding had only healed some of his more horrific wounds then it had stopped altogether. The empty eye still bled down the side of his face, the gashes and wounds would not close any further. He tried to force it but still it didn’t come.

The storm didn’t stop either. Lightning seemed to make a path for him. Whichever way he ran the wind howled as if it was a herald. The rain did not relent. It washed down the streams filling them to burst. He had never thought of the Christian mythos, in fact he always laughed it off. A big white man with a white beard sat on a throne of gold telling people who got to sit on puffy white clouds and golden streets with wings on their backs or, they got cast down into a lake of fire where they got poked and tormented for eternity. However now maybe he believed in hell and this was it. The two Terats had beat him to death outside his home and this place was hell.

Eventually he stopped atop a large outcropping of rock looking down into a broad valley. The flashes of the thunderstorm silhouetting him like a gargoyle posted there to protect from evil spirits. This is where he sank all the much further into his self torment and pity.

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

She came looking for a good time with her little pigeon as she told him she would. She enjoyed the games they played, in a way it was nice to have love struck innocence in her life. Refreshing since she utterly lacked it from any of her other partners. Still she was starting to grow annoyed with him, his utter lack of direction. He was not meant to become a slacker, he could be so much more. She grumbled as she stepped sideways through the shadowy curtain that separated one moment and place from the next. Even if he wore blue and gold she would be happier with him than what he was doing right now, which was nothing. Still she felt good with him and not just in the carnal way that her body craved. He held her like no one else bothered to or was brave enough to do and that kept her coming back for more. Well, the sex didn’t hurt either.

As soon as she emerged from the shadow she knew it was his. The smell of dried blood everywhere. What was left of the toppled home reeked of it. The ground was soaked in it. What was worse was the fact there was just so much. Her heart leapt causing her to stop for a moment. Did he really mean that much that she was actually scared for his life? The simple hint of that scared her all the more. She began scanning the place for more information. Her eyes darted over the mounds of debris looking for his body. Her tongue tasted the air and her eyes narrowed. She expected Baselines, unrecognizable scents but what she could smell and taste where all too familiar to her, intimately so. Geryon and Leviathan’s blood mixed among the dirt as well. Not in quantities but it was there. She knelt, her silk fluttering around her as she scooped a handful of the baked dust. One taste confirmed it beyond a shadow of a doubt. They had been here, Blinker as well and everyone was long gone, it had been days.

“Your friends are long gone young lady.” A voice called to her. Surprised, her claws sprung out expecting an attack. None came as a grizzled old Indian fellow stepped around a truck in the dusty lane. “They took the boy. I am sure that is what you are figuring out right now.” She pondered beheading him on the spot. She was so frustrated with herself. Her concern had gotten the better of her and let even an old baseline sneak up on her. “You’re Totem’s grandfather.” She stated with a cool even tone that spared his life without his knowing. “Well I guess we are going to talk. That is good; I half expected to die like the folks on that show you didn’t like. I didn't care much for that show myself.” The Sioux removed his worn out John Deer cap and smiled a bright toothed grin. “Well let's me make this quick. First of all he is in love with you, second he is confused about his life, and third I think you are good for him, fourth I wish you didn’t toy with him or yourself about how you felt in return.”

She held her claws again, twice now which felt so strange to her. “How would you even have a clue how I feel about him?” She said her voice ice. Again the old man smiled “I saw you looking for him. I saw the desperation in your eyes, the way you moved. I am glad he found someone who does care so much.” Kill him the darkness screamed demanding his blood for his insolence. Again she held it at bay this time because she knew he was right which caused her to panic even more about his fate. “Why didn’t you tell me the important thing? Is he alive?”

“I got no clue.” He stated simply. “I took off the moment they arrived. You don’t show up in a blinding flash of light and just expect people not to notice. Well except for the kid, to busy yakking with his pals online than to pay attention to what is happening out the window. I know better to get in front of you or those like you.” The old man made his way over to the overturned refrigerator in what was left of the kitchen pulled it open and withdrew a bottle of beer, popped it on the edge of the broken countertop, took a swallow and grimaced. “Figures, warm as hell.”

The old man must die the darkness wanted him. Everything she felt, her rising anger at Geryon and Leviathan for coming up here and wrecking what she had going. Her anger for feeling for this stupid kid all of it was coming to a point and she needed release. She moved on the old man grabbing him by his throat and picking him up. It was very unlike her actually, normally one slice of an artery was all she would give a Baseline before moving on. She held him at arms length and he dangled there not resisting, not even dropping his beer. His expression changed though, the smile faded and the Darkness was for a moment pleased that it was gone. However it changed to pity as he looked down at her as he struggled to breath. “tss okay, know why.” his eyes rolled into the back of his head as Apep let him fall to the floor.. Her thought where on Totem she had to find him, she didn’t know why but she had to. The old fucker wasn’t right, the Indian Monkey was just fucking with her head and paid for it, like they all have.

If Geryon, Levi and Blinker took him there was one quick way for her to get the information she needed. The red haired girl stalked out of the wreckage her scales glistening like prisms in the hard light of the South Dakota June and into the shade of a nearby tree, vanishing completely.

The room she entered was dark, the smell of ozone and electronics permeated her senses. She didn’t care for it and she kept her mouth closed, tasting would mean letting it linger. She had no doubt he knew she was there. She knew how mad he got when she entered his sanctum, one no one was supposed to know about. “I figured you would come you really do have the hots for him don’t you?” Synapse’s annoyance was evident.

“I know you don’t like me in here so let’s make this quick.” She slipped around one of the huge mainframe computers to the atrophied body within its cocoon of tech. She ran her hand down his body. “Tell me what you did with him.” Would she kill him? He had to be wondering it right now and honestly so was she. “We are not hiding it from you Ap. Hell you could have called and asked.” Several of the monitors changed from displaying code and Opfeeds. They all changed to news networks. Weather Channel, CNN, N!news. They all where showing the same thing satellite and radar images of what was looking like a micro hurricane with no eye over the south eastern United States. “Geryon wanted to teach him a lesson. Beat the shit out of him and left him in the Smokies of all the places. It’s been a few days but yesterday this started forming and it has been getting stronger and more defined since. Nothing in his profile said anything about this. But it is likely him. I guess they knocked his node loose or something.”

Her eyes moved from the monitors to the body of synapse. It was all too easy to see the look in her eyes. “Hey now wait a second. It wasn’t my idea. Leviathan, Charr and Geryon must have thought it up as they where slapping each other over the back about Ibiza.” She turned away, silent and cold. Synapse registered she had left the room and if he could have he would have let out a sigh of relief.

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

The V-22a2 Super Osprey swooped low down the valley. Windsheer tried to toss it from the sky but its hyper combustion turboprops and skill of the pilots kept it aloft and on track.

,,

“Anything yet?” The pilot called back to the man in the jump seat directly behind him. “Yeah I got it” Came the response of the man in the dark combat gear. Marcus Summers was an operator for the Directive code named Silent Strike. He didn’t do team work, he was Sanctioner and that meant teammates where a liability. This was one of those times. He had been ordered to stop this storm no matter what or who was causing it by any means needed. “Correct your heading by six degrees north, begin slowing.” The pilots did without question and striker unstrapped himself from the jump seat and made his way to the swing door. The massive propellers on the craft whined as the nacelles on the outside of the wings began to pivot to hover mode. He slapped the door release as he checked his weapon harness then yelled. “Close enough!”

The pilots struggled with stability as they came to a hover. Marcus eyed the forest floor trying to spot his target. He knew it was out there he could feel the quantum but didn’t get and exact fix and that was dangerous.

“Sir? I think I see something. Directly ahead on that outcro.. Omigod, evade evade!!” The Tilt rotor vehicle roared its engines and lurched to one side but it wasn’t enough. The boulder sailed into the cockpit folding the front end of the craft like a crushed can. Striker moved in a blur of motion and was outside of the craft before gravity took hold and began bringing it down. The Nova operative touched down and was two hundred meters away before it hit the ground and blossomed into a flower of flame. Whatever thought he had about simply subduing the target was gone. Now it would be a sanction pure and simple. He moved out onto the rocks and finally got a good look at his target. He had been doing this for four years and nothing prepared him for what he saw.

The monster was huge and it reminded him of something he saw when he was a kid. Some old Disney flick about a demon that had come out of the top of a mountain to summon the souls of the damned to him. The lightening flashed from moment to moment and gave him the briefest glimpse of Chernabog the demon atop the bald mountain. It roared to welcome him to its home.

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

Not far away was a parking lot. This parking lot supported a scenic overlook. This scenic overlook had many signs. They told visitors of the view they where witnessing, the elevation at which they stood and many other mundane nuggets of local and scientific lore. From this two forms began to emerge the very text of the signs weaved them together floating around them both until two women materialized. Immediatly both almost toppled over from wind. One far worse than the other as her wings caught the wind, her blond hair whipped behind her as she grabbed the visitor’s sign for support against the hurricane. “Okay we’re here, now do what you do best!” She screamed at the pink haired japanese girl. *I am putting us in telepathic contact since it is almost impossible to talk over this racket, just hold on!* Endeavor was wrapped tightly in weather gear that looked top of the line except for the fact that it could have been made for Barbie given it’s extreme pink nature nodded in response. Holding on was the literal truth of it Samhra folded and tucked her wings in as best she could and leaned into the wind. Meanwhile the little Japanese girl held up her forearm and began tapping on the computer built into the suit she was wearing. She studied the information her sensors gave her when something caught her attention her eyes widened, she grabbed Samhra’s arm and motioned her to look. Neither of them could believe what they saw and at first neither did. The silhouette of what could only be Totem fighting a man on an outcropping of rocks in the distance above them. Forgetting the link Sakurako screamed “Is that!?” *Yes.* the blond Nova responded. *Something is very wrong he isn’t answering and I can’t get in.*

The battle was pitched and Striker couldn’t take the offensive. He had discarded his rifle after his first shots did nothing but prove it was useless. So he went to the whipsword and felt like a lion tamer taking on a rabid lion. If this creature was once a human being it was long gone all that was left was a monster and it wanted him, it wanted him dead. The first claw strike tore his armor off, the shock plate barely slowed it down. He couldn’t hold out much longer. Keeping the Whipsword weaving in front of him he pulled a Flash bang and let it cook off in his hand tossing it at the last second in the Novas face.

*Is Totem trying to stop that guy who is doing this to the weather? I can’t crack that guy’s mind either.* Samhra pondered as the two fought against the winds as they tried to move closer to the battle. *No it’s not him. Totem is doing this I just confirmed the Quantum wave pattern. He is the one influencing the weather here.* Endeavor responded gravely. *Goddess why would he be doing this, I have never seen him do anything like this before.* Samhra didn’t like where this was heading at all. Worse, she knew where this was going and she wanted to leave. Endeavor didn’t respond both of them knew this was as bad as either could expect. Totem was their friend and he seemed to have lost his mind and they had to stop him.

The flash bang detonated in a dazzling burst that mixed with the crashing thunder and brilliant lighting. Striker cursed and tore off his cap, his blond hair whipped out and snapped in the wind. He knew he had to fall back he didn’t have the means of killing this thing. He noticed two figures approaching, saw the wings and the bright pink and knew two other Novas had arrived. Maybe they could help him, together they could. His thoughts ceased in a red wall of pain as claws tore through his torso.

Endeavor and Samhra watched in horror as the man was gored clean through by the enraged Griffin. Samhra reacted first she stepped forward and began her Dolores cry as she saw Totem bring the impaled man to his mouth. In Japanese Endeavor shrieked. “What is he doing!?” Samhra didn't respond and didn’t hold back, as the beak began to cut the man in half she roared, pushing her power to it’s limit and begging Totem to forgive her.

Its effect was apparent and devastating. The walls around his mind held and resisted for a moment it looked like he would keep the tidal wave of pain at bay but it surged over his defenses and poured onto his mind, boiling with primal fury. The mad Griffin loosened his grip on the victim he was about to devour and they both fell backward toppling off the edge of the outcropping to the forest floor far below.

*My god Samhra did you kill him!?* Endeavor’s mind was chaotic and emotional. This wasn’t Ibiza, this was far worse it was a friend and she was bordering on hysteria. They both ran forward pushing against the pounding rain and wind. *I had to. He had to be stopped, he was gone.* her explanations where as much for her as for her friend. How could she have done it how could she have killed him. He was like a kid brother and she would have killed to protect him. But she knew he was insane, something had happened to him. Something horrific, she felt it briefly in his mind just before her scream overtook him.

They reached the summit together both leaned over to look off the precipice to find there lost friend.

Massive wings greeted them as they peered over. The form raced past them into the sky above so close it knocked them down. He wasn’t dead, she hadn’t killed him. Samhra was relieved in the back of her mind she also knew they where seconds from death as the enraged Griffin landed behind them and turned to face his new victims. *Endeavor listen to me hit him as hard as you can. I exhausted myself with that attack you need to buy us some breathing room before he does to us what he did to that poor man.*

Sakurako swallowed hard but reacted instantly rolling backward into a crouch she drew her pistol her finger clicking the weapon from nonlethal to lethal. She aimed center mass just like she had trained. In the millisecond it took from the pull of the trigger to the discharge of the weapon she couldn’t help but think of him that night in Tokyo. A hard knot formed in her throat and hurt so badly. How could it have come to this in just a few seconds? She wished they had found DeathSquad up here instead. A thousand of them up here would have been better than one Totem. One Totem that now took the full force of the Electro-Plasma round striking him directly in his chest.

He went down and rolled backward. Arcs of electricity spilled over him as the plasma charge went off. His rib cage was exposed, blackened and charred. Endeavor shivered her hands weren’t strong enough to hold the gun anymore. It clattered to the hard granite and she began to weep uncontrollably. Samhra had turned away when Endeavor fired she couldn’t watch Totem die again. Once she knew it was done she leaned over her friend taking her around the shoulders hugging her tightly. “We had to.” She whispered in the pink haired girl’s ear. “It’s what he would have wanted.” Tears flowed down cheeks to mix with hard driving rain.

Dead again? Totem thought angrily. No still not, he hurt but what did pain matter anymore. The Terats had sent more to kill him. He didn’t care how many they sent he was going to take some with him. He got to his feet. His senses still aching from the explosion that went off in his face. He could barely see his foes. They had stopped attacking he didn’t know why and he didn’t care. He closed the distance in one bound and brought his claws down to kill them both in one stroke.

Endeavor's tear filled eyes caught the movement behind Samhra but it was too late. Totem loomed over them both one eye blazing with anger, pain and rage. His claws made the air sing as it came down over their heads. She knew they where both dead and she squeezed her eyes closed and in that instant was immensely curious as what death was really like.

Death didn’t come, Samhra and Endeavor both fell backward away from the Griffin. His claws hovering in the air inches from their heads. Stopped dead by a forearm block from a slip of a girl. Her silk was wet and clung to her body making her look all the more sensuous than even her usual. Apep held the monsters huge arm at bay and looked at the other two female Novas. “Thank you for coming but I will take it from here.” She said in a cool even tone. Darkness crawled around the Terats feet from her and in sudden surging wave overtook Endeavor and Samhra, as it receded both where no where to be seen.

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

Apep turned and looked at her lover and smiled. “Finally some time alone. Now calm down.” Her voice was calm and commanding. In return she was snatched up in one massive paw and slammed repeatedly into the hard granite stone of the mountaintop. “You all want to kill me. TRY AND FUCKING KILL ME!” He roared as stone exploded around him. She didn’t fight back. She felt the stone break over her she felt both her shoulder blades break. She simply looked at him as he vented his fury, smashing her again and again into the hard ground. She saw the gaping hole in his chest, the half healed wounds, missing eye, and cracked beak. He had survived everything, all of them had done to him. None of them held back and still he lived. He was a monster, a demon; so much more nothing truly fit what he was at that moment. The pain she felt as he pummeled her was nothing compared to the feelings he stirred in her.

He let her go leaving her laying the in crater made by blows. She coughed black blood, it splattered across her chin. Still she could not help but stare at him, lightening erupting behind him criss crossing the heavens as he roared long and loud above her. She didn’t want the moment to end it, this was what she had wanted all along. This was his people’s Thunderbird, this was her Thunderbird. She couldn’t help what happened next even the darkness within her wanted it as badly as she and they spoke as one.

His claws where preparing to finish her, she made eye contact with his one remaining eye and whispered.

“I love you.”

The storm stopped.