Section 1 - Young Swordsman

Hunter put his hand on the wall and leaned on it. His hand was still on his forehead. He had just found out that Kyle, who was now revealed to be Kylie, a member of the Strike Team, whom he and the rest of the Rovers had put their full trust in on more than one occasion, had lied to them the entire time. He racked his brain, trying to think if this was not that big of a deal or if it was. Part of him told him that it wasn't a big deal; it was only her gender, really. That wasn't going to be detrimental to anyone! Would it? The other part of him wondered how she could keep up this lie for so long, and also wondered who else, besides Gordon and Kurt, knew about it. Who else kept this secret from him?

A hand touched Hunter's shoulder. Hunter turned around, and saw Kylie. Hunter blurted out the first question that was in his head. "Why did you keep it secret?" he asked.

Kylie bit her lip. "When I was brought into the Space Rovers program from the streets of Chicago," she began, "I had already learned a whole lot of things from living on those streets. One of which was that females are not respected for much of anything in the canine world. Males were leaders, and females were second-class. Although I went through basic training for the Space Rovers alongside both males and females, I already had a preconceived notion that I would never be respected, despite the fact that I'd seen more harsh realities than most of the males there. Once basic training was over, I was informed by someone I befriended on the inside that things were generally the same after basic training. I had tried twice as a female to get into a Strike Team, and both times I failed, even though I knew I had done better than the others in the tryouts. It was then when I figured that I had to either settle with being in an office job or change my gender. I chose the latter, mainly because I couldn't live in an office job. I'd fought brutally on the streets of Chicago many times, and that lifestyle is hard to let go of. So I put together a portable voice disguiser that I taped to my neck, and disguised with fake fur. I did pretty much the same tryout the same way, and lo and behold, I made it into the Strike team. I could never turn back. I didn't turn back until I finally found an exception to the rule I thought I'd learned. Blake noticed that my voice was sounding funny, and I found out that my voice disguiser was malfunctioning. Blake, rather than rat me out on the spot, helped me put it back together, and promised to keep my secret safe. So he did. To make the rest of the story short, I fell in love with someone, told him, then Riot found out, and then I realized that the jig was up, and I must reveal myself, now. I am sorry I lied to you and to everyone else, Hunter." Kylie paused. "Can you forgive me?" she asked, sounding slightly like she was about to cry.

"I know I can," said another female voice from behind her. Kylie turned around, and there was Colleen. "Huntie," she addressed, "I knew about it since she decided to tell me. I kept her secret because like 'er, I know all about bein' disrespected from before I was a Rover."

Hunter managed to crack a smile. "I guess I have no choice but to forgive the both of you, then..." he said, seemingly unable to talk above a whisper for the time being. Colleen smiled and gave Hunter a big hug. Colleen brought Kylie into it as well. "You're brave, Kylie," she told her, "I'd never manage enough courage to do wha' you're gonna do."

"And plus," added Hunter, "there's always room on the Rovers for another recruit..."

Kylie's face lit up like the sun.

.

After a couple days, the Strike Team returned, only without Annie, who had decided to stay up with the Space Rovers. They were greeted, and were instantly helped out with their many cases of ammunition and supplies. When the transport ship headed back to its base, and we finished with the supplies, the Master called us all into the briefing room. He only said that there was something important that needed to be said.

When everyone filed into the briefing room, the first thing that Gunther noticed was that Kyle was not present. "Where did he go?" he asked. He continued to ask everyone if they knew where he was, but it was cut short when we heard someone clear their throat. We all turned towards the area where the Master usually stood. There, right in the center of it, was Kyle. "Listen," he said, "I've served alongside this unit of the Space Rovers Tactical Legions for about two and a half years, now. It has been an honor being with you all, an honor to fight alongside some of the most elite individuals the Space Rovers have. I couldn't have asked for a better team. Having come from the back streets of Chicago, I have always been relieved to be with others who respect me. However, I did something that probably doesn't deserve any respect back. I've been... well, living a lie since I joined." Kylie then peeled off her voice disguiser. I bit my lip. Gunther, Blitz, and Exile looked at each other, wondering what that was. "This, my friends, is the voice disguiser I have been wearing all the time I was with the team," she said. The three who didn't know she was a female already widened their eyes when they heard Kylie's female voice. "...And I wore it because I was afraid that those who choose who goes on the strike teams would not respect me due to my gender. I had experienced this before back on the streets of Chicago, and I expected little differences. I kept up my fake identity for the past two and a half years, not telling anyone. But now, seeing that people have been cluing into this fact, among other reasons, I am now choosing to discard my false gender identity forever. That being said, I figure that it is not a good idea to have my fate be decided by others. Instead, I shall decide it myself, so I hereby resign from Space Rovers Tactical Unit #257. Like I said, it was an honor to serve."

Kylie saluted the Strike Team after her resignation speech had concluded. The Rovers and I stepped back, and the rest of the Strike Team stepped forward. They returned the salute. "I am sorry to hear this... um..." Gunther stumbled in his speech.

"It's Kylie," she told him.

"Right, Kylie... I'm sorry to hear this. I am honestly dismayed that you lied to me all this time, to be perfectly honest."

Kylie nodded.

"However," he continued, "I do appreciate that you told the truth just now. Fortunately for you, since you resigned before I could discharge you, I don't have to put 'lied on application' on your service record."

Kylie smiled a bit, and nodded again.

Gunther continued, "Now, since you did just resign, I must ask you to turn in your armor and weapons by the end of the day, understand?"

"Yes, sir," Kylie replied.

.

I don't know how long it was before things seemed to return to normal in terms of Kylie revealing her true gender. What it really was was that everyone who didn't know for as long as Blake and I had known had trouble calling her "Kylie" as opposed to "Kyle." But however long it took, it wasn't too long. A couple days passed before we would need to head out on assignment again. Kylie didn't talk much about the fact that she wasn't on the Strike Team anymore, likely because she didn't want to think about it herself. She did, however, join the Road Rovers. It wasn't too much special, because there really wasn't a set ceremony for that, except for Hunter handing her her Road Rovers uniform. Anyway, we were called in to the briefing room about two days after the event. The Master was standing in his usual spot, next to the map of the world on the large computer monitor.

"Rovers," he said, "we've been putting off this base in the Canadian Rockies for too long. Recently, the Canadian army has sent in a recon team to that base, and they discovered that this man has just arrived there." The screen to his left zoomed in on Western Canada. When the zooming stopped, and the picture enhanced itself, it showed a satellite view of a military compound. It seemed that everyone at the compound was gathered to greet their leader, since there was a whole bunch of people surrounding one other. The screen zoomed in again, rotated to show a side-on shot, and then showed a close-up view of the person that all the others were surrounding. I didn't know who it was at first, but apparently Riot did. "Cyrus..." He muttered. "According to Canadian intelligence, this is Charlie R. Sando, a.k.a Cyrus," The Master said, "Degree in engineering from MIT, and specialized in biotech. However, after he left MIT, almost nothing else is known about him, except that someone with ties to him was caught trying to kidnap students from the Missouri Military Academy," the screen switched to the front page of a newspaper article about the incident, "but the FBI could not determine if Cyrus was responsible for the kidnappings, or if he was even involved with it. However, knowing what we already know, with his likely alliance with Parvo, and the number of cano-mutants and standard troops he has at his command, he is not to be underestimated."

"Plus, he's probably got everyone's mind controlled at that base..." Riot added.

"Very likely," said the Master. "Now," he continued, "we don't have much time to waste. Just minutes after this picture," the screen switched back to the recon photo, "was taken, all of the humans in this picture went into the building and never came back out. In fact, there isn't anything outside of the base that is moving at the moment."

"That's a bad sign," said Riot, "that probably means that he's already beginning his dirty work, whatever that may be."

"Then we've gotta get moving!" exclaimed Hunter.

"I have nothing more to say," said the Master, "move out!"

"Yes, sir!" everyone exclaimed. We headed out towards the hangar. This time, however, rather than gather in the Sky Rover and Exile's ship, we took the Rover Bus. That, as I found out, was the very bus that I had seen when it all began so long ago on the side of that country highway in the desert. It was kind of a nostalgic experience for me, even though I only saw one side of it, and I didn't remember what the inside of it looked like. We had to take the bus because of two reasons: 1. It was undetectable by radar. 2. The bus was not painted in any distinct way, so it could easily be mistaken for a typical Greyhound bus. It was kind of odd being in a non-combat vehicle for the first time since before I was taken to Parvo's lab. But I got used to it rather quickly. The bus took an underground pathway that led up to a part of a country highway (not the one I was found on, though) that experienced little traffic. When we got onto the highway, we headed towards Interstate 5 North, which would take us straight to Canada. Since there wasn't anything interesting on the way up to Canada, we had to bide our time through other means.

Section 2 – S.C. Wolfe

That was probably the single most boring ride of my life. For the first hour or so, we discussed the various tactics we expected. The conversation then moves to various experiences of the past, though my input was rather limited. After that, the Rovers divided up amongst ourselves for individual entertainment. I was reminded at that point that I hadn't ever found myself a hobby.

I amused myself for a short time by watching the new-found "Kylie" interact with Kurt. I smiled to myself. It wasn't a topic of great discussion, now would it be, I suspected, though I found it ironic how their forming romance had been the doom of such a well kept secrete. I noticed a twitch in Kurt's neck muscle, indicating he was turning his head. I turned my eyes away and glared out the window beside me, just in time to avert his gaze. He looked as though he wanted to talk for a moment, but settled himself back next to Kylie. What really came as a shock was when Blitz seemed to recognize just then that there were sparks between the two.

I rubbed my eyes, and looked at Kurt. For a moment, I had though I had actually seen a spark!

I sniffed, turned to the window, and my mind inevitably turned to the most recent betrayal in my life. Bernard.

Why had he turned not only on the Rovers, but on me like that? He and I had been brothers in every way except for our blood. I sniffed, and unconsciously ran my hands over the blaster at my waist. Despite my anger at the spineless coward, I'm glad I hadn't been the one to peruse him. Though I wouldn't admit it, I doubted I'd have been able to pull the trigger. It wasn't the same with Psycho.

No, he was a different issue, and a much bigger one than I had told the Rovers. The fur on the back of my neck bristled. If ever I was justified in hate, it was with him. Aside from the personal issues, Psycho was the most unnatural, spiteful and wicked contraption ever conceived by any man, much less Cyrus.

"What's running through that head of yours?" Kurt asked.

I hadn't seen him sit down next to me, though I didn't jump from the startle. Kylie sat on her legs in the seat in front, and folded her arms over so that they were close to Kurt's.

"Thinking." I replied, looking back out the window.

"What are you thinking about that would make you bristle?" Kylie asked, indicating the fur on my neck.

I spared a fleeing smile. "Nothing much."

"Come on, Riot. You can't play the tough guy forever. You're a Rover now, and that means talking to your team." Kylie said with a jab at my arm.

I snapped before I could catch myself, "Kind of like how you were honest with us?" I fixed my eyes on hers. The bus, which had been alive with small-talk, was dead-quiet.

"That was uncalled for, man." Kurt rubbed his neck in the awkward tension.

I took a deep breath, and rubbed my eyes. It was like I could feel everyone's eyes on me. I put my hands down, and met Kylie's gaze. "I'm not going to apologize for what I just said, but that's only under the realization that my silence is hurting the team just as much as yours did." Kylie actually nodded somewhat. "I've been for longing going into detail about Psycho, but it's a real possibility that we may meet him again." I stood and walked to the front of the bus, where I leaned against the dash so that everyone could hear me speak. Everyone had been listening anyway, but I hated repeating myself. "You're all familiar with my…history with psycho to an extent. To a greater extent, I know that he and I have acted together in multiple assassinations for Cyrus, the details of which are washed from my memory.

"To fight Psycho, you have to understand who and what he is. He's the only person…dare I call him that…in the entire lab who's background is no secrete. Psycho was a coyote that Cyrus picked out of a zoo in some of his early experiments. Even when he was initially transdogmafies, he was partly insane. Likely the for same reasons as Muzzle. That's a point for debate. Later, as Cyrus's understanding of powers grew, Psycho became the original hunter-seeker. As you know, to be a hunter-seeker is no kind fate. Somehow, however, Psycho maintained many aspects of his character, and soon began developing uncontrollably. He's immune to memory erasing, fire, ice, wind, water, and even wounds that would kill any normal person.

"Worst yet, he developed a bloodlust. Many more conditions surfaced, resulting in the bent-over creature you've met. The worst of these is his 'adaptability', as Cyrus would say. Basically it means that he actually absorbs your power if you use it on him. The issue is that it doesn't surface in the same manner. I'm sure you saw the blades coming from his elbows? That was a power absorbed from Zig. As his creepy head-spinning thing? That was a power absorbed from Captain." I paused to look at Blitz, who was raising his hand as though he were in school. "What?"

"Dah, uh, I don't mean to be rude, but why are you telling us this?" he asked.

I had wanted to go into a few more details, but I summarized in one of the most gruesome, yet simple manners possible. "Because if any of you ever see him again, even if you're in a group, you need to run. You can't beat him."

"Okay, I still don't get it." Blitz crossed his arms. Many others looked confused as well.

I sighed, and folded my arms. "You can't kill Psycho."

"What?" Hunter half-chuckled from the driver seat.

"Cyrus tried for years before he gave up. He's been shot, maimed, shot-to-heck with an artillery gun, bladed, and countless other things, and nothing has ever worked."

"That's impossible." Kurt said plainly. "How are we supposed to beat him if he is invincible, like you say?"

"Ah, and now you see the problem I've faced for as long as my memory permits." I said.

"Have they ever tried launching him into space?" Kylie asked, obviously missing cheerier conversations.

"I believe that would work. The problem is keeping him still enough to get him up. He can burn through hand cuffs, and easily break the spells of drugging."

"Do you expect to meet him in Canada?" Kurt asked.

I shrugged. "I'd like to think not, but I don't believe it would be possible to respond 'no' to your question. I just felt I should share that with you."

"One more question. If he's invincible or whatever, why did you pick a fight with him?" Kurt asked.

I smiled sinisterly. "Because he still feels pain."

After about an hour of silence following my speech, cheery conversation sparked up once more. Rather it was from the awkward silence, or from the realization that such talks were valued, I don't claim to know. I didn't mind the change in mood at all. I even joined Kurt, Blitz, Colleen and a few others in a game of cards. Kylie worked with Kurt on their hand, in contrast to Hunter and Colleen (Exile was driving). They seemed to find a simple pleasure in pitting their chances against one another. I wondered if that ever worked to their advantage on the field?

Typical of me, I criticized myself. Everything always goes back to the battlefield.

Kylie jumped suddenly with a loud "Yipe!"

I jumped to my feet, blaster in hand, looking to see if she had been shot by an unseen foe. "What's wrong?" I asked impatiently as I continued to scan the desert.

"Kurt, you just shocked me!" she exclaimed, looking at a slightly singed section of fur.

I looked over at Kurt, who shared Kylie's shock. He even looked a tad scared. Curious, I reached out, and poked Kurt in the shoulder. No shock.

Hunter shrugged after he poked Kurt on the arm. "Maybe it's just your shocking personality?"

We all looked at Hunter for a moment before returning to Kurt. "Was it static, maybe?" I asked.

"Metal floors don't generate static." Colleen said, kicking at the floor of the bus.

I holstered my blaster, having noticed Blitz staring at me funny, and glared passively out the window. The desert was changing from an endless sea of blinding sand to a spine of rocky, bald mountains.

For several hours, we picked and guessed at Kylie's shock. Eventually, failing to replicate the event, we gave up. Besides, the landscape around up was slowly becoming more interesting. Scattered trees were beginning to show up, and signs of life were becoming more and more evident. It would be hours yet before we even reached the border, almost a full day of travel more, at that. Luckily, the bus had bunks in the back. I lay my head on one of the travel pillows, and stared at the ceiling, not thinking about anything. Sleep didn't come right away, and when it did come, it was a restless and shallow slumber at best.

Section 3 - Young Swordsman

I did feel like knocking some sense into Riot, but I didn't. It wasn't because of his outburst about how Kylie kept a secret from the rest of the team, but more like why I felt it was something that didn't need to be said again. Besides, I thought, who was he to judge that Kylie being silent about her true gender was hindering the team? As far as I could tell, it hadn't made a difference at all! I guess I half expected him to also understand that there was a logical fear of being confined to a desk; something she could never live with. But then again, I myself had to stop assuming that Riot already knew things, since he had not lived a life that was anything I was used to. I mean, sure, I had been in a laboratory for three months of my life, but I remembered none of it. Riot was probably at the lab he kept talking about since infancy, from what I could tell. As for the sparks, I decided not to tell anyone about it and get anyone all riled up about how my new ability could potentially "save" them, since it was probably far from useful at this point. It needed some fine-tuning, and some more practice. It was equivalent to a static shock, but it could take some months before I could even get it to be as powerful as a tazer!

A day later, we crossed the Canadian border. We had a special pass to get through the border without having to go through customs inspections. Our pass, officially, was given to us because we were a "Foreign Specialized Military Task Force Requested by the Canadian Government." So, we crossed the border, and headed to the remote area of the Canadian Rockies. As beautiful as it was, we had to keep our guard up. Even though we knew that there wasn't any movement around the base, and we weren't notified of any movement along the way, there could still be guards waiting to ambush us. Fortunately, our bus was armored, was fitted with bullet-proof glass, and had an extra set of wheels that could be deployed if the tires were shot out. All this in a really nondescript bus. Man, I thought, the Rovers seem to be prepared for everything!

We were silent when we reached our destination. Or, when we got within a mile of the destination. We were on the side of a barren highway, with no sign of civilization in sight, except that we could see some barbed wire fences in the distance, which, I figured, was the enemy base. We parked the bus on the side of the road and we covered it with sticks, leaves, rocks, and stuff so that nobody would find it, and then we headed out. The first place we went was into the trees and up the mountains. We were silent the entire way up there, communicating mostly through hand gestures and other gestures. We had good reason to be silent: Psycho, knowing that he was invincible, as far as we knew, could come out from behind any tree at any moment. I still didn't entirely buy that nothing could kill him, though... I mean, sure, he was a vicious fighter, which we had noticed when me and a few of the others opened fire on him at the same time, most shots going straight through his body, but he had not been seriously harmed, as his skin, and probably everything else, grew back. But still, had they tried detonating an explosive on his head? Had they detonated a nuke next to him? Had they dunked his head in acid? I went on and on with this in my head, but I stopped thinking about it when my mind went to more morbid possibilities that I'd rather not try to recall.

We camped out when we got to a high point on the mountain that allowed us to have a good vantage point on the base we were to storm. Like the Master had told us earlier, there was nobody over there. Nobody on the outside of the base that we could see. Our infra-red vision binoculars did show that the base was still operational on the inside, since we could see that the water heater was working, and the furnaces were on as well. However, determining if there was life inside of the base was harder. Gordon, who was using the infra-red binoculars, claimed to have seen movement, but they weren't allowed to make assumptions based only on infra-red sightings. But either way, we knew that Cyrus was still at the base. The Canadian rangers, who were supposed to contact us if/when they noticed anything, hadn't contacted us. They were, however, supposed to meet up with us just in case, for a status update. But until then, we camped out at the spot, where we kept a vigilant watch on our surroundings and the base.

As night fell that day, we were just starting to settle down for the night when we heard footsteps. They were slow, heavy, and rustled leaves every time they were heard. Everyone took defensive positions and waited silently. When they got close enough so that we could see where they were coming from, we were relieved when we saw that they came from two soldiers holding their weapons above their heads, showing that they are not hostile, who also wore Canadian flag patches on their shoulders. We all lowered our weapons and greeted them.

"You know," began one of the Canadian rangers after we had settled down, "I never fully believed the rumors that you guys were 'humanoid dogs' until now."

"I probably wouldn't believe it either, if I was in your position," I noted.

The other ranger nodded. "It's out of the ordinary, I guess, but I don't think it'll take long for us to get used to it. Ever since this base popped up and we were sent to investigate it, we've been dealing with some weird enemies. Heck, a few times we thought we were hallucinating!"

"Well," said Gunther, "just know that odds are that you're not hallucinating once we get into the base. The guy who runs the place does crazy genetic stuff which causes such crazy stuff to exist."

"Right," interjected Jack, "also know that they're a lot more durable than practically anything on the face of the Earth, so make sure to aim for the heads if they're not humans."

"Damn," one of the rangers breathed, expressing shock.

"Don't worry," added Hunter, "you aren't the only ones apprehensive about this."

The conversation trailed off after that, and we waited for nightfall to begin our descent to the base. When it came around, the rangers, named Jean-Luc and Stanley, led us down the mountainside to the base by way of the most secretive methods. Stanley stayed behind after half the distance, since he was to cover us from above with his sniper rifle. Jean-Luc led us the rest of the way in silence. We got to the fence around the base without too much ado, but getting past the fence was another matter. Not only was it covered with barbed wire at the top, but according to Jean-Luc, it was rigged with enough amps of electricity to kill someone multiple times. Personally, I would have called in an air strike to just decimate the base. Unfortunately, it was too close to a civilian roadway to do that, and there was also the possibility of prisoners being held there. We eventually came to a decision, which called for us to find and then disable the power lines that fed electricity into the base. It wasn't as time-consuming as it sounded, actually. Stanley, who had a good vantage point on the base and the area around it, already spotted a transformer near the base with wires that went into the base. Without much ado, his somewhat silenced sniper rifle quickly disabled it with one shot, which bought us enough time for Blitz to cut through the wires without zapping himself, and then allow us to get through.

We managed to slip through without hearing any alarm start up. Jean-Luc led us through the yard outside the base, where the recon photos had depicted Cyrus landing in his chopper a couple days ago. It was kind of eerie to be there, seeing empty space when there was a large crowd of Cyrus' mercenaries were only days ago. Everyone clicked on their night-vision goggles, and seeing nobody, Jean-Luc led us towards the doorway to the nearest building in the compound. According to him, the two buildings were connected through their basements. There was apparently a small corridor between the two basements that allowed whoever might be in there to travel between one building and the other during an air raid. We were to use that corridor to get to the rest of the equipment down there once we finished with one basement.

When we got to the doorway, the first thing we noticed about it was that it was locked with a fingerprint ID system. Jack wasted no time in rigging the lock with a small, and quiet explosive. When it detonated, the door swung open with little more than a slight "pop" and some barely audible squeaking from the hinges, and revealed that the lights were on inside. We clicked off our night vision goggles, and with our weapons at the ready, we moved forward. We cleared out the first floor without any resistance once we got in, finding only empty firearms, and then Jean-Luc led us down the stairway to the basement.

Upon getting near the bottom, we were able to see part of what was at the bottom of the stairs. It wasn't entirely surprising what we saw, though. We had already suspected it, anyway. Along with the low-pitched, and rather loud humming of what I guessed was the thermostat, we saw three of the transdogmafier things side by side, with long lines of people who looked like the guards in the recon picture we saw earlier, waiting to get in. What did surprise us, however, were the looks on their faces. Judging by that, they were not very eager to be donating their current bodies to this cause of Cyrus'. Maybe all these guys knew what becoming a cano-mutant entails, like Riot did. But who knows? Maybe they knew that they'd lose their free will because of those mind-control-like collars that Cyrus distributed to his "trusty" cano-mutants/hunter-seekers. To add to the effect of their faces, they were being closely watched by six hunter-seekers.

"Jean," whispered Gordon, "what are the odds that those guys in line will side with us if we go down there?"

"Not likely," Jean-Luc replied, "but given that they're unarmed, it may be worth a try, eh?"

"I wouldn't try it," interjected Riot, "most of these guys do this for the money Cyrus gives them. If they don't do what he says and not defend this place, they won't get paid, and will likely be killed as well. I think it's likely that this wasn't in the job description when they signed up."

"Maybe we shoul'n't be shootin' people who are unarmed!" Colleen whispered harshly, "How do we know that those ain't 'ostages dressed up like guards?"

"She's right," added Hunter, "let's just get rid of those hunter-seekers first, and see if any of the others open fire on us."

"Sounds better to me," commented Kylie.

Gunther nodded. "OK, guys," he whispered, "we need to make this as stealthy, and as fast as possible, so aim for the heads of the hunter-seekers, and if they don't die that instant, then do whatever else you can to bring them down! Only fire on the guards if they open fire on us, got it?"

The rest of us nodded in reply. The Strike Team aimed their rifles, Jean-Luc aimed with an MP5, the Rovers aimed with their blaster weapons, and I aimed with my bow and arrow. We all waited for the signal to fire. It was really lucky that nobody noticed us yet, but it was mainly because everyone was facing away from us. Someone in the lines coughed, and we all opened fire. Two of the Hunter-seekers fell to the ground, dead: One with a bunch of 9-mm rounds in his head, and the other with a blaster shot to the head and an arrow in the neck. The people in the lines, shocked by what was going on, either dropped flat on the ground, covering their heads, or fled. The four remaining Hunter-seekers, however, charged at us. I picked off another Hunter-seeker with an arrow between the eyes, and then switched to my swords. The Hunter-seekers that remained, however, were all badly injured around the head and neck area. One had even lost the use of one of their arms! Jean-Luc brought down one of them by emptying an entire clip of ammo from his MP5 onto the chest, where at least one shot hit the heart. Riot engaged in hand-to-hand combat with another, and Exile used his ice vision to freeze the third Hunter-seeker's head in a solid block of ice. The Hunter-seeker stumbled around a bit, trying to feel his head, and then fell to the ground, unable to move much. The rest of us held our fire to wait for Riot to finish off the last Hunter-seeker of the six. When he finally drove his sword into the heart, we moved to the guards who were on the floor, clearly terrified. "Listen up, you goons!" exclaimed Gunther, "you all will remain where you are! If you try to escape, you will be shot!" Nobody moved.

"Good," noted Gunther, "now, if you want to get out of here alive, then remain here. The Canadian Army is on its way here, and I wouldn't advise trying to fight them. You have no weapons with ammunition, little armor, and fewer numbers! What they do with your sorry rear ends is up to them! But like I said, not resisting will likely grant you a better future! Do I make myself clear?"
Nobody spoke.

"Quiet bunch, these people are," noted Hunter quietly, "C'mon, let's do this," he said to the Rovers. We all got out our handcuffs we kept in our utility belts, and we put them on as many people as we could. The Strike team and Jean-Luc had some plastic ones as well, and far more than we had. In all, I think we handcuffed about 50 guards or so. Once we finished that, I looked to Kylie. She nodded, and headed to the transdogmafier machines. I went with her, seeing if I could help out. Maybe, I thought, I could try out my electric skills on this... I put my hand on one of the circuit boards of the machine on the far right, while Kylie was working on the one on the left. I tried to focus my energy to my hand, and tried to get my emotions on the high road, like I did with the control bracelet back in Poland. I heard a couple loud "Pops", and I saw that the board I had my hand on was smoking. That sure worked, I thought. The others didn't seem to notice what I had just done, as it was far from an EMP being emitted from my hand, but it didn't matter, as I did what was necessary. Kylie managed to cut the right wires on the other two machines, and sure enough, those two shut off, which we could tell by the light on the inside turning off. "Nice work, guys!" said Blake.

Kylie and I turned around and nodded. Jean-Luc was getting impatient and urged us forward. So we moved on.