Um, well, this is my first attempt at writing fanfiction, and it's a little
different. I first started writing it with a friend of mine but not so long
ago we decided that writing together wasn't and option any more. This might
be why when looking around the net you may come across a fic with the same
title or a few of the same basic ideas. Some of these are his, but I won't
put his name up because I don't think he'll be happy about it.
This is my first shot, it'll probably take some editing yet, and the chapters could be subject to change
I don't own Eva, please don't sue me, I have no money.
**********
The Wreckage of an Enemy base, 6:30 pm
The once tightly run base was in ruins, and yet it still crawled with people. The churned snow was scarlet with blood and corpses littered the ground, many savaged beyond recognition. The workers at the site had been wiped out, and not in the most painless way, it seemed. The S.A had to clear up and do it damn quickly; the press would storm the place by morning and there is only so long a group of exhausted soldiers can keep back the hordes of reporters, some of the most persistent creatures known to man.
These were early stages of what was referred to simply as the Wars. They were never given a significant name like the ones before them, or even the ones after, there was none fitting. Whatever the Enemy losses at this base there had inevitably been S.A ones too, although many more than Firelli would have liked to admit. His soldiers were poorly trained and he knew it, but they were arrogant and the Ministry demanded action of him, and so he had complied. This little escapade seemed to have a desired affect though; the soldiers were disheartened by their losses, rather than elated at their triumph, a lesson to be learned quickly if, as had been predicted, these minor squabbles between the Enemy and the S.A. escalated.
The Enemy also had no name, the people against them had no wish to give them one. Unlike all the legends no one recalled to them as the 'Forces of Darkness' or 'Foot soldiers of the Devil' which may have something to do with the fact that the S.A. really had no idea what they were fighting anyway. The press had deemed the S.A. invincible, and had so convinced of this that they had forgotten over time that during the previous conflicts that had led to creation of the organisation over half of it had bee wiped out.
The sound of chopper blades disquieted the desolate place as the casualties were shipped out and back to the main base, the blades sending snow whirling as they changed the air currents. The air became clogged with the smoke from fires used to burn the enemy corpses so that the press did not consider this a massacre and discredit them already.
The base originally had been the proposed site for the Enemy head-quarters, but they had hit snags in the weather that come in from the mountains and when digging into the caves on either side had encountered solid rock faces and poisonous gases given off from the break down of various elements over time. This venture into the sides of the mountain next the base had been cut short and sealed off as soon as the dangers had been realised, regardless as to whom was inside.
The plans had then been abandoned, and the base had been left for a while, half constructed. When the Enemy Lord had been replaced, his predecessor had realised what a true waste this had been. The old buildings still held half finished computer systems, it was discovered, and had been built to utilise the better facilities of it's time. Despite the fact that these were quite old now technology wasn't progressing very fast and work started immediately. It was quickly reinstated as a research faculty, detached as it was from their main base and 'accidents' that happened could be swiftly dealt with, with the damage contained in this one area. It became obvious that the S.A. had worked out they were there, but when, after months of vigorous watching, they still took no action, the Enemy decided that they really weren't a threat at the moment.
The new ruler of the enemy showed extreme interest into the Project set up by the Ministry in an off limits sector. It seemed to be having visits from various demons he'd not seen before, and he wanted to know why. The activity seemed to be centred around an underground facility, built mostly in a natural sphere opened under the earth's surface. He was incredibly impressed by their superior technology, safe in knowledge that neither they nor the S.A were in a position to follow suit.
Immediately after making this discovery he ordered the capture of one the major scientists involved in the E project. He wanted to know it's implications and results, facts he couldn't find because of the impressive hacking guards placed on the main computer system, which controlled the whole base and most of the fortified city above it. Because the planet was located under an off limits sector, it's entrance was heavily guarded at all times when it wasn't closed. Many failed attempts were made to get through, but this soon drew attention to the fact he wanted to get in rather badly, and the guard was doubled. When the leader was sure there was no way he could get in through the only official entrance, he contrived to find a way of doing it in the safety of one of his own bases. Because the creation of remote entrances without an official seal or the knowledge of a very old and powerful mage, he posted the job to his detached research base, here.
Only a year later, with the help of a few hundred scientists, soldiers and dubious mages, he succeeded in his task. Using a theory that was formulated by a rather eccentric scientist he was acquainted with, a theory based on nothing but good will and the hope of success, the set problem was solved. They waited until the first synch test with the creation known as 'Unit 01'. Using the excess of energy used by its start up system they created a borderline rift, and pulled both the pilot, creator of Unit 01 and head of the E project through the gap. The ruler had what he wanted. He wished to use surprise against his unwilling guest and make her feel at home, comfortable and convince her that indeed, he was only interested in helping her find her way home, and in failing that help her achieve the main success of her original project.
Here he hit a snag. He had not though of the fact that the Ministry may implement their own agents into their project to control the environment that they had created and report to them on how it was progressing. And now here he was faced with one. The woman he had pulled through was indeed a powerful figure in the project, but she was also a ministry agent and a S.A member. She was not fooled by his lies or his fake hospitality; she would not talk by any means used and in the end he allowed the researchers at the faculty to use her as guinea pig for other tests they were running. He planned that they would try again for him, but was disappointed when Unit 01 was not reactivated again in any of the time that followed for then until now, when his base and all it's resources were taken form his hands.
The woman, however, was still there, after six months of hellish abuse from various scientists. She had no idea what they did, they had no intention of telling her, which might have had something to do with the fact they knew about as much as she did what the effects of the cocktail of various chemicals would be.
Indeed, had they stopped to think about it, they'd probably have recorded that too, for unknown to them it would have been something of invaluable use in the future.
As it was, the woman was still there when the S.A attacked the base months later. She was lying on the bed in the cell where they kept her, when the attack began. The room was feature less, the walls were bare and solid white.
In fact there were so few features that in the end she's scratched a mark on the wall by her head to stop herself going mad at always wondering if they brought her back to the same room. A stupid concern, she thought, as it was. But then, there was little else to think about at all. There was nothing to do in between sleeping, tests and eating, and nothing to help her feel the void that tore at her heart. At the very begining she'd thought it was all a dream.
But she was a practical woman and the thought didn't last long. For a while after that she clung tightly to the hope that there was someway to escape and go home. That hope had drifted away after the first couple of months. She realised there would be no rescue party. The labs had arranged it so the Ministry would indeed believe she'd died inside of Unit 01. All in all, she decided, it was very well planned. Not that this was a good thing in any way at all.
Therefore she was surprised when she realised that indeed the base was being attacked, and who else to do it but the S.A? She didn't flatter herself to think it had anything to do with her. As an agent she was invisible, if anything happened her records were deleted and all Ministry knowledge was denied. As she listened to the sounds outside, even muffled as they were by the thick walls, she wondered what the faculty had done to warrant such a sudden attack. Then she thought about it and realised it probably hadn't done anything, that the public had pushed for attack and so the S.A had moved to attack the quietist place they could the one with the last resistance. She ached to be outside among the attackers. She was a shifter by nature, and being cooped up against her will was a torture all on it's own. She sighed as she realised that the months of inactivity had probably left was little skills she had wasted away.
She countered whatever boredom she had left by listening intently and seeing if she could recognise the owner of each of the voices outside. She had little luck though, she'd not spoken to anyone in the S.A. except for Firelli for a long time.
After a while the noise changed. The screams of pain died away, and any loud noises or machinery moved away. Boredom settled in again as she lie there, unable to move as she was strapped to the bed. The drugs they used sometimes caused fits, and the last thing they wanted was to lose their subject because she'd cracked her skull on the concrete floor. She waited for an hour or more, time was indefinite as she was, before she heard anything else. There were voices close to the outside of her door. With surprise she recognised Firelli's voice.
She'd had to report to him weekly on her part in the project, as she couldn't report directly to the Ministry in case of being traced. For a moment she wondered why he was here, then decided that boredom had undesirable effects on her brain capacity. The commander shouldn't really lead his soldiers in such minor things, but then the S.A had fallen into such ruin that it all made sense in the end. He often kept her up to date with the happenings of the world she'd left behind, and the two often spent hours chatting, despite regulations.
The door opened, but it was the wrong end of the bed, the one behind her head. Firelli came in quietly, and looked at her, a flicker of recognition in his eyes. Sharply he dismissed the orderly who was accompanying him. There was a moment of retaliation, and the other man protested about the commanders safety. Firelli gave him such a scowl that he left at once, in rather a hurry, and closed the door behind him. He turned back to the bed and the scowl evaporated.
"Yui? That is you, isn't it?" he removed the band of cloth that had improvised a gag when they felt she might make too much noise. She stretched the muscles in her jaw experimentally before replying;
"Yeah." She looked at him quietly.
"You're lucky, you know that? If they'd have moved you..." He trailed off as he bent over the bed to remove the straps that held her in place. Very slowly she sat up on the edge of the bed and the world began to spin. She had no energy to move. This was another means of preventing escape, as they had no idea of the side effects of the drugs they were using. "Uh well, maybe I'm just a lucky person..." She shrugged. "If that's so, then why are you here in the first place?" he raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Eh heh..."
***
As expected the press arrived in the early hours of the morning. By this time however the site had been cleared. The bloodied snow was swept away and melted down, the corpses all gone and all the signs of the struggle had been purposefully placed, because if there were none at all the public would be suspicious of a cover up anyway. When the reporters pressed in and demanded to know how it all went and just how the enemy had been destroyed, Firelli described events in fabricated detail, making it all the more believable with exaggerated hand motions and expressions. He'd spent the time before hand learning body language implications, he thought it might help.
The news teams were not convinced though, they shouted cover-up from the roof tops, demanding to know were all the base personnel were, and hadn't the S.A started with more troops that this? What had been burned so hastily in those fire-pits you're trying to hide with leaves and old snow? Where were the injured, surely there were injured? Was it true that the family members of the deceased had been notified only this morning?
Yui stayed as far away from the horde of reporters as possible. She'd borrowed a spare uniform from one of the choppers that landed yesterday to remove the soldiers who had not died, and was trying to keep in the back ground. After eating rather more than she should and sleeping for a while she felt a whole lot better, and would rather be walking around than being cooped up in some room in bed anyway. She had declined the offer of a lift home in a chopper, insisting she'd rather make her own way home, she needed to stretch her muscles anyway.
The reporters, however, were not a complying as they could have been, and kept making attempts to get through the barrier of heavy duty vehicles around the perimeter. One, equipped with a stolen uniform and a hidden camera managed to get into the central building, but he didn't learn much anyway because the soldiers were so dispirited they didn't want to discuss with anyone the previous night's events. The original ground crew were quickly replaced as the research centre was swiftly and methodically stripped of anything of any use, of which there was quite a bit. This was were they needed Yui the most, having no idea what most of the equipment was used for.
A lot of it was damaged beyond repair and had to be taken apart, as much to gain single components as to prevent anyone else using it in the future.
There was no one else here that Yui recognised. Despite being registered as a member of the S.A she had spent very little time stationed at their base and definitely not long enough to get to know anyone well enough to remember them all this time later. Everywhere was cold, winter was settling in fast. The mountains on either side of the site were enough to keep put the most violent, biting winds. Which was, she supposed, one of the main reasons the Enemy head-quarters had been planned on this site.
Heavy machinery did not like the cold, but then neither did the main parts of the Enemy army. Orcs died like flies in extreme weathers, hot or cold. Which was why the S.A main base itself was positioned in the harsh extremes of the Homeworld, Orcs could not take the cold, and neither could the majority of the demons, they liked fiery heat. The place crawled with ice age creatures, the huge plains frequented by Mammoths and hunted by Sabres. Some fantastic creatures were borne out of the cold, the giant, short faced bear and powerful ground sloth. Hardened to the toughest conditions they were not afraid of the humans that had seemingly invaded their world.
They showed no hesitation in hunting them, like any other creature, chasing them like any other creature, eating them like any other creature. There were no tame parts of this place. To the south of the Great Mountains was Sabre country, to the north the land held by the wolves, and Wolf Helm, the Place of Shadows. To the east lay the Forest, that extended almost to the ocean, integrated into which lay Tanon Bain, the huge city, that housed people from all the races of the planet. The Entrances lay there too, trade routes into the other dimensions, which made the city thrive. To the west lay the S.A main base, not overly large, or even hidden away anywhere. There was a handful of patchy forest, that was not all too old at all.
The Academy was there also, the training ground for hopeful youngsters who wished to make it into the S.A forces. Not that it was hard to do anymore, though. The Academy was out in the open, very clearly in site, for the simple reason that it gained so much press attention what was the point of hiding it away any more? It was openly along one of the trading routes, and although it boasted huge defence systems, it was doubtful if they worked any more, or even if they did that there was anyone left who know how to work them.
It was well into the afternoon of the same day that the S.A finally finished the clean up job and set fire to the base. There was no point leaving it because the Enemy could just well come back and begin all over again, and there was even less point using it themselves because they'd be so venerable to attack it was laughable. Better to gut the place and leave only a charred shell to fragile to be used properly again.
The last of the ground crew packed up to leave as Yui watched the blaze light up the sky. There were no choppers left to come pick them up, and there was much annoyance at the thought of making their own way home. The reporters used the last moments of film recording the blaze and set off also, many carrying extra passengers. The soldiers were so untrained it was almost funny, most of them still hadn't achieved a swift re-adjustment to four legs that was vital in had to hand or long distance travel, and most were reconsidering their places as part of the organisation, or at least re- training.
***
The flames finally began to settle into various contained pockets of heat, the air filled with acrid ash from places where the burning had stopped as the strange wind swirled it in all directions like a gigantic cloud. The Enemy leader watched all this through the live video feed that the news- reporters relayed back to their various channels.
He refused to become angry, because when that happened he tended to waste valuable resources by destroying them. He watched calmly as dreams he built up over the years collapsed among the smoke, and he began to plan revenge. It began, as most plans do, as a mere thought, a tiny spark, that flickered and niggled at his brain and demanded his immediate attention until he gave it. When he gave his attention to something, he focused with an unimaginably intensity. In fact, once he'd started to sketch down the beginnings of this plan, he didn't stop until his first officer appeared almost silently beside him and cleared his throat.
"Yes?" He raised his eyebrow in an expression that read clearly this had better be good or there's be trouble. The kind of trouble you don't come back from. "Sir!" The man saluted, but when he regarded his commander's face he continued hastily "The technicians have deciphered the data dump from the computers from the research faculty. The one they sent as they were invaded." His leader regarded him and for a moment he thought he could feel his master's mind brush at the edges of his own. His legs turned to liquid at the though of being mentally searched, and almost collapsed with relief as the man answered.
"Tell them to send it to my computer, I'll read it later." The man turned away. However enlightening, or not, it may be to pick information out of the man's brain like so much meat off of a bone, he had more important things to do. The officer decided that this was the closest to a dismissal he was going to get, and left hastily. He, like every other sensible person, was not one to stay in his master's company for any more time than was necessary.
There are many kinds of 'evil', ranging from the mildly mean to cold mass murderers, all of which could be found here at the base to some degree. The first officer was a mean/perverse kind of evil, the type that most first officers were considered to be. It was, traditional. He, predictably, took pleasure in torture, in watching his most hated enemies dies slowly, painfully, at preferably his own hands. He was partial to alcohol, but was not an alcoholic, and was not often seen other than sober. He was also partial to women, in which area he was not so reserved. The Enemy had few female employees, and they all had one purpose. Their leader was decidedly of the point that there was no better way to break down a woman's defence, and a somewhat larger percentage of the S.A employees were women. As opposed to his first officer, his leader was a cold/calculating kind of evil. The kind of evil that knows no reasoning, no compassion, no mercy, not even towards it's own allies, unless something is to be gained.
If there is a business kind of evil, then he was this, the kind that does nothing for anybody except themselves unless a suitable amount is to be gained. There was a reason for this man's evil, but he was too far gone to ever go back. He would always spend his life calculating against others, right up until he died, of old age or other, maybe for the better. This was not a man you could imagine going senile, he was far too sharp. He had abilities that as a rule were not rivalled. He was a mind reader, a mage, a shifter, and many other things besides, and he was elite in all things. Unlike the general psychic population, he did not study a specific area, he decided to specialise in all of them. A brilliant strategist, a powerful adversary, he rose through the ranks not because of family name or heritage. He made his own way. And as the last traces of ash were swept away from what had once been the epicentre of his research, he planned his revenge...
***
The leader slipped out his base under cover of that evening. He had been busy all day, reading into all the files that had comprised the data dump, and trying to make sense of them. They were scrambled almost beyond repair during the transit, and he'd had specialists in to rewrite them for him.
As he left the base he noted silently that the moon was not yet rising and he was going to be making good use of the 'black hour' between sunset and moonrise. where there was no light source in the sky. With no light there was not even the chance of reflective eyes giving him away. He was in wolf form, a large dark creature. His fur, disappointingly to him, was not all black, but varying shade of brown, but in the darkness only some one with superior night vision would know this anyway. He travelled for a long time, and he didn't stop until the first sign of moon rise. As a level 11 plus psychic he was perfectly capable of teleportation, but travelling 'straight' was a lot more exhilarating, and anyway teleportation was very draining, mentally and physically.
He was standing on the other side of the mountain range that contained his ill-fated research base. The sliver of the moon that showed above the mountain peaks was shedding silver light that reflected again from the snow. A low mist hung a few inches above the ground, but it did little but obscure his view of his own paws. The air was still, the wind had dropped, and laden with droplets of water. He could smell rain.
Presently it became clear that rain was not the only thing he could smell. This mist thickened and rose, obscuring the view. The sound of another wolf's paws reached him, a soft whisper across the snow. He froze, listening intently and poised to ward off attack. This was unnecessary, however, as it became very clear his companion was making no attempt to stay hidden. The strange wolf threw back it's head and howled, the long, mournful, silvery notes hung in the thick air for a split second before dissipating.
The noise came from in front of him, a little way off and up the slope. The howl stopped, and for a second the mist cleared, revealing the figure. The wolf was lean and slender, sable from head to toe. It's green eyes were clear and piercing, and for a moment both minds touched. The brown wolf stepped forward now, he was burningly curious about this new stranger, the one who could touch his mind. He hardly put his paw back down, however, when a breeze picked up from no where, and the mist swirled back thickly into place, and the figure was gone. He called for them, and again, but there was no answer.
This is my first shot, it'll probably take some editing yet, and the chapters could be subject to change
I don't own Eva, please don't sue me, I have no money.
**********
The Wreckage of an Enemy base, 6:30 pm
The once tightly run base was in ruins, and yet it still crawled with people. The churned snow was scarlet with blood and corpses littered the ground, many savaged beyond recognition. The workers at the site had been wiped out, and not in the most painless way, it seemed. The S.A had to clear up and do it damn quickly; the press would storm the place by morning and there is only so long a group of exhausted soldiers can keep back the hordes of reporters, some of the most persistent creatures known to man.
These were early stages of what was referred to simply as the Wars. They were never given a significant name like the ones before them, or even the ones after, there was none fitting. Whatever the Enemy losses at this base there had inevitably been S.A ones too, although many more than Firelli would have liked to admit. His soldiers were poorly trained and he knew it, but they were arrogant and the Ministry demanded action of him, and so he had complied. This little escapade seemed to have a desired affect though; the soldiers were disheartened by their losses, rather than elated at their triumph, a lesson to be learned quickly if, as had been predicted, these minor squabbles between the Enemy and the S.A. escalated.
The Enemy also had no name, the people against them had no wish to give them one. Unlike all the legends no one recalled to them as the 'Forces of Darkness' or 'Foot soldiers of the Devil' which may have something to do with the fact that the S.A. really had no idea what they were fighting anyway. The press had deemed the S.A. invincible, and had so convinced of this that they had forgotten over time that during the previous conflicts that had led to creation of the organisation over half of it had bee wiped out.
The sound of chopper blades disquieted the desolate place as the casualties were shipped out and back to the main base, the blades sending snow whirling as they changed the air currents. The air became clogged with the smoke from fires used to burn the enemy corpses so that the press did not consider this a massacre and discredit them already.
The base originally had been the proposed site for the Enemy head-quarters, but they had hit snags in the weather that come in from the mountains and when digging into the caves on either side had encountered solid rock faces and poisonous gases given off from the break down of various elements over time. This venture into the sides of the mountain next the base had been cut short and sealed off as soon as the dangers had been realised, regardless as to whom was inside.
The plans had then been abandoned, and the base had been left for a while, half constructed. When the Enemy Lord had been replaced, his predecessor had realised what a true waste this had been. The old buildings still held half finished computer systems, it was discovered, and had been built to utilise the better facilities of it's time. Despite the fact that these were quite old now technology wasn't progressing very fast and work started immediately. It was quickly reinstated as a research faculty, detached as it was from their main base and 'accidents' that happened could be swiftly dealt with, with the damage contained in this one area. It became obvious that the S.A. had worked out they were there, but when, after months of vigorous watching, they still took no action, the Enemy decided that they really weren't a threat at the moment.
The new ruler of the enemy showed extreme interest into the Project set up by the Ministry in an off limits sector. It seemed to be having visits from various demons he'd not seen before, and he wanted to know why. The activity seemed to be centred around an underground facility, built mostly in a natural sphere opened under the earth's surface. He was incredibly impressed by their superior technology, safe in knowledge that neither they nor the S.A were in a position to follow suit.
Immediately after making this discovery he ordered the capture of one the major scientists involved in the E project. He wanted to know it's implications and results, facts he couldn't find because of the impressive hacking guards placed on the main computer system, which controlled the whole base and most of the fortified city above it. Because the planet was located under an off limits sector, it's entrance was heavily guarded at all times when it wasn't closed. Many failed attempts were made to get through, but this soon drew attention to the fact he wanted to get in rather badly, and the guard was doubled. When the leader was sure there was no way he could get in through the only official entrance, he contrived to find a way of doing it in the safety of one of his own bases. Because the creation of remote entrances without an official seal or the knowledge of a very old and powerful mage, he posted the job to his detached research base, here.
Only a year later, with the help of a few hundred scientists, soldiers and dubious mages, he succeeded in his task. Using a theory that was formulated by a rather eccentric scientist he was acquainted with, a theory based on nothing but good will and the hope of success, the set problem was solved. They waited until the first synch test with the creation known as 'Unit 01'. Using the excess of energy used by its start up system they created a borderline rift, and pulled both the pilot, creator of Unit 01 and head of the E project through the gap. The ruler had what he wanted. He wished to use surprise against his unwilling guest and make her feel at home, comfortable and convince her that indeed, he was only interested in helping her find her way home, and in failing that help her achieve the main success of her original project.
Here he hit a snag. He had not though of the fact that the Ministry may implement their own agents into their project to control the environment that they had created and report to them on how it was progressing. And now here he was faced with one. The woman he had pulled through was indeed a powerful figure in the project, but she was also a ministry agent and a S.A member. She was not fooled by his lies or his fake hospitality; she would not talk by any means used and in the end he allowed the researchers at the faculty to use her as guinea pig for other tests they were running. He planned that they would try again for him, but was disappointed when Unit 01 was not reactivated again in any of the time that followed for then until now, when his base and all it's resources were taken form his hands.
The woman, however, was still there, after six months of hellish abuse from various scientists. She had no idea what they did, they had no intention of telling her, which might have had something to do with the fact they knew about as much as she did what the effects of the cocktail of various chemicals would be.
Indeed, had they stopped to think about it, they'd probably have recorded that too, for unknown to them it would have been something of invaluable use in the future.
As it was, the woman was still there when the S.A attacked the base months later. She was lying on the bed in the cell where they kept her, when the attack began. The room was feature less, the walls were bare and solid white.
In fact there were so few features that in the end she's scratched a mark on the wall by her head to stop herself going mad at always wondering if they brought her back to the same room. A stupid concern, she thought, as it was. But then, there was little else to think about at all. There was nothing to do in between sleeping, tests and eating, and nothing to help her feel the void that tore at her heart. At the very begining she'd thought it was all a dream.
But she was a practical woman and the thought didn't last long. For a while after that she clung tightly to the hope that there was someway to escape and go home. That hope had drifted away after the first couple of months. She realised there would be no rescue party. The labs had arranged it so the Ministry would indeed believe she'd died inside of Unit 01. All in all, she decided, it was very well planned. Not that this was a good thing in any way at all.
Therefore she was surprised when she realised that indeed the base was being attacked, and who else to do it but the S.A? She didn't flatter herself to think it had anything to do with her. As an agent she was invisible, if anything happened her records were deleted and all Ministry knowledge was denied. As she listened to the sounds outside, even muffled as they were by the thick walls, she wondered what the faculty had done to warrant such a sudden attack. Then she thought about it and realised it probably hadn't done anything, that the public had pushed for attack and so the S.A had moved to attack the quietist place they could the one with the last resistance. She ached to be outside among the attackers. She was a shifter by nature, and being cooped up against her will was a torture all on it's own. She sighed as she realised that the months of inactivity had probably left was little skills she had wasted away.
She countered whatever boredom she had left by listening intently and seeing if she could recognise the owner of each of the voices outside. She had little luck though, she'd not spoken to anyone in the S.A. except for Firelli for a long time.
After a while the noise changed. The screams of pain died away, and any loud noises or machinery moved away. Boredom settled in again as she lie there, unable to move as she was strapped to the bed. The drugs they used sometimes caused fits, and the last thing they wanted was to lose their subject because she'd cracked her skull on the concrete floor. She waited for an hour or more, time was indefinite as she was, before she heard anything else. There were voices close to the outside of her door. With surprise she recognised Firelli's voice.
She'd had to report to him weekly on her part in the project, as she couldn't report directly to the Ministry in case of being traced. For a moment she wondered why he was here, then decided that boredom had undesirable effects on her brain capacity. The commander shouldn't really lead his soldiers in such minor things, but then the S.A had fallen into such ruin that it all made sense in the end. He often kept her up to date with the happenings of the world she'd left behind, and the two often spent hours chatting, despite regulations.
The door opened, but it was the wrong end of the bed, the one behind her head. Firelli came in quietly, and looked at her, a flicker of recognition in his eyes. Sharply he dismissed the orderly who was accompanying him. There was a moment of retaliation, and the other man protested about the commanders safety. Firelli gave him such a scowl that he left at once, in rather a hurry, and closed the door behind him. He turned back to the bed and the scowl evaporated.
"Yui? That is you, isn't it?" he removed the band of cloth that had improvised a gag when they felt she might make too much noise. She stretched the muscles in her jaw experimentally before replying;
"Yeah." She looked at him quietly.
"You're lucky, you know that? If they'd have moved you..." He trailed off as he bent over the bed to remove the straps that held her in place. Very slowly she sat up on the edge of the bed and the world began to spin. She had no energy to move. This was another means of preventing escape, as they had no idea of the side effects of the drugs they were using. "Uh well, maybe I'm just a lucky person..." She shrugged. "If that's so, then why are you here in the first place?" he raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Eh heh..."
***
As expected the press arrived in the early hours of the morning. By this time however the site had been cleared. The bloodied snow was swept away and melted down, the corpses all gone and all the signs of the struggle had been purposefully placed, because if there were none at all the public would be suspicious of a cover up anyway. When the reporters pressed in and demanded to know how it all went and just how the enemy had been destroyed, Firelli described events in fabricated detail, making it all the more believable with exaggerated hand motions and expressions. He'd spent the time before hand learning body language implications, he thought it might help.
The news teams were not convinced though, they shouted cover-up from the roof tops, demanding to know were all the base personnel were, and hadn't the S.A started with more troops that this? What had been burned so hastily in those fire-pits you're trying to hide with leaves and old snow? Where were the injured, surely there were injured? Was it true that the family members of the deceased had been notified only this morning?
Yui stayed as far away from the horde of reporters as possible. She'd borrowed a spare uniform from one of the choppers that landed yesterday to remove the soldiers who had not died, and was trying to keep in the back ground. After eating rather more than she should and sleeping for a while she felt a whole lot better, and would rather be walking around than being cooped up in some room in bed anyway. She had declined the offer of a lift home in a chopper, insisting she'd rather make her own way home, she needed to stretch her muscles anyway.
The reporters, however, were not a complying as they could have been, and kept making attempts to get through the barrier of heavy duty vehicles around the perimeter. One, equipped with a stolen uniform and a hidden camera managed to get into the central building, but he didn't learn much anyway because the soldiers were so dispirited they didn't want to discuss with anyone the previous night's events. The original ground crew were quickly replaced as the research centre was swiftly and methodically stripped of anything of any use, of which there was quite a bit. This was were they needed Yui the most, having no idea what most of the equipment was used for.
A lot of it was damaged beyond repair and had to be taken apart, as much to gain single components as to prevent anyone else using it in the future.
There was no one else here that Yui recognised. Despite being registered as a member of the S.A she had spent very little time stationed at their base and definitely not long enough to get to know anyone well enough to remember them all this time later. Everywhere was cold, winter was settling in fast. The mountains on either side of the site were enough to keep put the most violent, biting winds. Which was, she supposed, one of the main reasons the Enemy head-quarters had been planned on this site.
Heavy machinery did not like the cold, but then neither did the main parts of the Enemy army. Orcs died like flies in extreme weathers, hot or cold. Which was why the S.A main base itself was positioned in the harsh extremes of the Homeworld, Orcs could not take the cold, and neither could the majority of the demons, they liked fiery heat. The place crawled with ice age creatures, the huge plains frequented by Mammoths and hunted by Sabres. Some fantastic creatures were borne out of the cold, the giant, short faced bear and powerful ground sloth. Hardened to the toughest conditions they were not afraid of the humans that had seemingly invaded their world.
They showed no hesitation in hunting them, like any other creature, chasing them like any other creature, eating them like any other creature. There were no tame parts of this place. To the south of the Great Mountains was Sabre country, to the north the land held by the wolves, and Wolf Helm, the Place of Shadows. To the east lay the Forest, that extended almost to the ocean, integrated into which lay Tanon Bain, the huge city, that housed people from all the races of the planet. The Entrances lay there too, trade routes into the other dimensions, which made the city thrive. To the west lay the S.A main base, not overly large, or even hidden away anywhere. There was a handful of patchy forest, that was not all too old at all.
The Academy was there also, the training ground for hopeful youngsters who wished to make it into the S.A forces. Not that it was hard to do anymore, though. The Academy was out in the open, very clearly in site, for the simple reason that it gained so much press attention what was the point of hiding it away any more? It was openly along one of the trading routes, and although it boasted huge defence systems, it was doubtful if they worked any more, or even if they did that there was anyone left who know how to work them.
It was well into the afternoon of the same day that the S.A finally finished the clean up job and set fire to the base. There was no point leaving it because the Enemy could just well come back and begin all over again, and there was even less point using it themselves because they'd be so venerable to attack it was laughable. Better to gut the place and leave only a charred shell to fragile to be used properly again.
The last of the ground crew packed up to leave as Yui watched the blaze light up the sky. There were no choppers left to come pick them up, and there was much annoyance at the thought of making their own way home. The reporters used the last moments of film recording the blaze and set off also, many carrying extra passengers. The soldiers were so untrained it was almost funny, most of them still hadn't achieved a swift re-adjustment to four legs that was vital in had to hand or long distance travel, and most were reconsidering their places as part of the organisation, or at least re- training.
***
The flames finally began to settle into various contained pockets of heat, the air filled with acrid ash from places where the burning had stopped as the strange wind swirled it in all directions like a gigantic cloud. The Enemy leader watched all this through the live video feed that the news- reporters relayed back to their various channels.
He refused to become angry, because when that happened he tended to waste valuable resources by destroying them. He watched calmly as dreams he built up over the years collapsed among the smoke, and he began to plan revenge. It began, as most plans do, as a mere thought, a tiny spark, that flickered and niggled at his brain and demanded his immediate attention until he gave it. When he gave his attention to something, he focused with an unimaginably intensity. In fact, once he'd started to sketch down the beginnings of this plan, he didn't stop until his first officer appeared almost silently beside him and cleared his throat.
"Yes?" He raised his eyebrow in an expression that read clearly this had better be good or there's be trouble. The kind of trouble you don't come back from. "Sir!" The man saluted, but when he regarded his commander's face he continued hastily "The technicians have deciphered the data dump from the computers from the research faculty. The one they sent as they were invaded." His leader regarded him and for a moment he thought he could feel his master's mind brush at the edges of his own. His legs turned to liquid at the though of being mentally searched, and almost collapsed with relief as the man answered.
"Tell them to send it to my computer, I'll read it later." The man turned away. However enlightening, or not, it may be to pick information out of the man's brain like so much meat off of a bone, he had more important things to do. The officer decided that this was the closest to a dismissal he was going to get, and left hastily. He, like every other sensible person, was not one to stay in his master's company for any more time than was necessary.
There are many kinds of 'evil', ranging from the mildly mean to cold mass murderers, all of which could be found here at the base to some degree. The first officer was a mean/perverse kind of evil, the type that most first officers were considered to be. It was, traditional. He, predictably, took pleasure in torture, in watching his most hated enemies dies slowly, painfully, at preferably his own hands. He was partial to alcohol, but was not an alcoholic, and was not often seen other than sober. He was also partial to women, in which area he was not so reserved. The Enemy had few female employees, and they all had one purpose. Their leader was decidedly of the point that there was no better way to break down a woman's defence, and a somewhat larger percentage of the S.A employees were women. As opposed to his first officer, his leader was a cold/calculating kind of evil. The kind of evil that knows no reasoning, no compassion, no mercy, not even towards it's own allies, unless something is to be gained.
If there is a business kind of evil, then he was this, the kind that does nothing for anybody except themselves unless a suitable amount is to be gained. There was a reason for this man's evil, but he was too far gone to ever go back. He would always spend his life calculating against others, right up until he died, of old age or other, maybe for the better. This was not a man you could imagine going senile, he was far too sharp. He had abilities that as a rule were not rivalled. He was a mind reader, a mage, a shifter, and many other things besides, and he was elite in all things. Unlike the general psychic population, he did not study a specific area, he decided to specialise in all of them. A brilliant strategist, a powerful adversary, he rose through the ranks not because of family name or heritage. He made his own way. And as the last traces of ash were swept away from what had once been the epicentre of his research, he planned his revenge...
***
The leader slipped out his base under cover of that evening. He had been busy all day, reading into all the files that had comprised the data dump, and trying to make sense of them. They were scrambled almost beyond repair during the transit, and he'd had specialists in to rewrite them for him.
As he left the base he noted silently that the moon was not yet rising and he was going to be making good use of the 'black hour' between sunset and moonrise. where there was no light source in the sky. With no light there was not even the chance of reflective eyes giving him away. He was in wolf form, a large dark creature. His fur, disappointingly to him, was not all black, but varying shade of brown, but in the darkness only some one with superior night vision would know this anyway. He travelled for a long time, and he didn't stop until the first sign of moon rise. As a level 11 plus psychic he was perfectly capable of teleportation, but travelling 'straight' was a lot more exhilarating, and anyway teleportation was very draining, mentally and physically.
He was standing on the other side of the mountain range that contained his ill-fated research base. The sliver of the moon that showed above the mountain peaks was shedding silver light that reflected again from the snow. A low mist hung a few inches above the ground, but it did little but obscure his view of his own paws. The air was still, the wind had dropped, and laden with droplets of water. He could smell rain.
Presently it became clear that rain was not the only thing he could smell. This mist thickened and rose, obscuring the view. The sound of another wolf's paws reached him, a soft whisper across the snow. He froze, listening intently and poised to ward off attack. This was unnecessary, however, as it became very clear his companion was making no attempt to stay hidden. The strange wolf threw back it's head and howled, the long, mournful, silvery notes hung in the thick air for a split second before dissipating.
The noise came from in front of him, a little way off and up the slope. The howl stopped, and for a second the mist cleared, revealing the figure. The wolf was lean and slender, sable from head to toe. It's green eyes were clear and piercing, and for a moment both minds touched. The brown wolf stepped forward now, he was burningly curious about this new stranger, the one who could touch his mind. He hardly put his paw back down, however, when a breeze picked up from no where, and the mist swirled back thickly into place, and the figure was gone. He called for them, and again, but there was no answer.