CHAPTER SEVEN

"Okay, you can get out now." Conrad's voice came crackling over Hanna's earpiece, sounding bored and irritated at the same time, "Coast is clear or whatever the hell it is."

Hanna erupted out of the top of his box, sending the lid flying off wildly, and thrust his hands into the air, shouting, "FRRRREEEEEEEDOOOOOOOMMMM!" His cry echoed around the small storage chamber but no one responded. Hanna frowned and clambered out of the box,

"Guys? Hey, are you playing a joke on me? It's not funny you know." The redhead kicked a nearby box, "Veser? Toni? Where are you guys?" He gripped the lid and ripped it off, "Socrates, are you in here?" But the box was only filled with bubble wrap and what looked like fancy dishware.

Hanna straightened up and looked around at the storage room, "Where are you guys?"

He received no reply. His only company appeared to be stacks of boxes and the plain metal panels that made up the walls. A soft glow spread across the room from the light behind them, reflecting off of the mess of packing peanuts Hanna had made on the floor. There was no question about it.

He was alone.


"You lost him!" Toni's voice echoed through the storage room, effectively destroying any attempt at stealth she'd been trying earlier. Manicured fingers shot out to grab the front of the former Ahimsa agent's shirt, blue eyes narrowed, lips pressed into a thin, angry line. "How could you lose him!"

"I..." The ex-agent sputtered, taken aback.

"And Worth gets mad at me!" Veser snorted, scowling at the ex-agent, "God, man, do you realize what you've done! You have seriously just unleashed a living spot of Hell upon this ship! We're all going to die."

At these words the werewolf rolled her eyes. "No, idiot, that's you. If Hanna blows anything up, at least it'll be an accident!"

As the two argued the ex-agent just stood there, seemingly momentarily frozen. Hanna had been his responsibility, it was somewhat baffling that the redhead had managed to get himself lost and throw things entirely out of whack within the first few minutes of the mission. "He must have taken the wrong box..." He muttered.

"Obviously!" Toni snapped, fist tightening on the dark-haired man's shirt. Her green eyes were livid, almost aflame with a terrifying mixture of anger and worry. "Why didn't you check what box he was getting into, huh? You're supposed to be his backup!"

Her unfortunate victim winced, feeling something within him sink. When he heard it put into words, he felt even worse. The werewolf's worry for their redheaded hero was nearly a tangible thing, channeled through her surprisingly powerful grip. All this did was add weight to that sinking feeling in his chest, reminding him of just how much he'd already failed. "I'm sorry," he muttered, his voice soft. After a moment he shook his head, forcing himself to stand up straight. "We'll find him, don't worry."

Now was not the the time to let such things get to him. They had to find Hanna.

Toni gazed up at him for a moment, then sighed and stepped back, rubbing her face. "No, I'm sorry. It's not your fault. There's nothing we can do about the Hanna factor when it comes to these things," she said. "All we can do now is try to find him and work out what to do from there." With those words she reached up and tapped at her earpiece. "Hanna? Hanna, are you there?"

An odd popping sort of noise came through the other end and Hanna's voice giggled, "Yeah, I'm here. Where are you guys? Did you all get into the wrong boxes 'cause I ended up in a storage room but you weren't there." More popping and another wave of giggles, "And I found bubblewrap!"

"What, bubblewrap?" Veser sputtered, a hand to his own earpiece, "What the hell is wrong with you, man! We're on a mission here!" He paused for a second and then said, "You better save some of that for me."

Toni let out a groan at this, appearing to resist the urge to smack her forehead. "Focus, you two. Hanna, you got in the wrong box."

The popping noise stopped for a second, "What, really? Are you sure you guys didn't get into the wrong boxes?"

"You're the one on the other side of the ship, dumbass." Conrad growled.

"What, really? I am? Oooohhh, I thought it was weird that everything said 'Starboard' when you said 'Port'! Hahaha!" The popping noises resumed once more but they weren't quite enough to drown out Conrad's slew of curses.

Toni actually did smack her forehead again, the sound ringing through the air. "Okay. Obviously we're going to have to change plans again. Hanna can't exactly watch Veser's back if he's halfway across the Ark, but we still need to get this job done somehow. Someone needs to go get Hanna and someone needs to stick with Veser."

"I'll go find Hanna," The ex-Ahimsa agent said, nodding. "I'm the one who was supposed to watch him anyway. I'll get him and from there we'll work out what to do."

Toni nodded. "I hate to put you guys on any sort of stealth duty, but we don't really have a choice. You probably have more experience than Hanna, at least. Once you find him we'll work out who will get the dragon. I'll stay here and watch Veser's back."

Veser whistled, "Awright, that's how I like it." He grinned at Toni, "You scratch my back, baby, and I'll scratch yours, eh?"

His companion made a disgusted face and edged away from him. "Yeeeaah, no," she muttered before looking back to the ex-agent. "We'd better get moving. Who knows what sort of trouble Hanna can get into, you know?"

"Right." The dark-haired man was all business as he reached up to tap his earpiece. "Conrad, can you direct me to Hanna?"

"Yeah, yeah, hold on..." Over the popping noise that was still coming through the earpieces, there the sound of a clicking keyboard and then Conrad snarled, "Oh hell, that little idiot's wandering around the corridors! That fucking moron! Okay, take the first left out of here and then I'll direct you from there."

"Got it. Hanna, please try to stay put," The ex-agent muttered over the channel as he turned and made his way for the door, coat swishing behind him.

There was a series of loud pops and then Hanna's voice filtered through, "Alright, alright, I'll wait for you, Alton."

"You better hurry." Veser muttered into his earpiece, "I'll bet you he won't stay there too long. And make sure he doesn't pop all the bubblewrap!"

Toni rolled her eyes, then gave a light wave to the ex-agent. "Be careful and good luck!" She called after him.

The man in question nodded, then vanished out the door. Certainly, Toni's warning was a good one, though he doubted being careful would help much in this situation. He would gladly take the luck, though.

He was already starting to get the feeling he'd need all he could get.


Hanna was sitting on a broad piece of pipe in one of the service hallways, his feet dangling a good half foot above the floor as he swung them back and forth. The combination of his heels slamming into the pipe and creating a loud 'bong', the bubblewrap popping under his fingers, and him humming loudly made it the concept of "sneaking in" seem extremely pointless.

He looked up when he heard footsteps coming down the corridor and leaped off the pipe, racing down the hall with a grin on his face,

"Hey Carlos, you found me alright! Did you get into any..." Hanna skidded to a halt as he rounded a corner, his smile dropping away, and his last word coming out as a gasp, "Trouble..."

The man approaching down the hall was not his partner. Instead it was a somewhat burly man in a gray uniform, and the instant Hanna had come into view said man had skidded to a halt and gaped. "W-whoa! Who are you and what the hell are you doing here!" The man sputtered, grasping for the gun at his side. "This area is for personnel only!"

"Er, I..." Hanna took a wary step backwards, "Um, I got lost?" Well it wasn't a lie.

The guard scowled as he approached Hanna. "Look kid, there's giant do not enter signs all over the place, I don't see how you-" He suddenly paused, squinting as he peered at Hanna's face. "'Ey... you're that Undesirable from the telescreens!" He exclaimed, eyes widening. "You're Hanna Cross!"

"So what if I am?" Hanna blurted out and then clapped his hands over his mouth, "Er, no, I'm not! You must have me confused with someone else! uh, I think I'll just find the rest of my group now! Bye!" And he turned to run. Unfortunately, he forgot he'd been sitting at a dead end and the only way to go was toward the guard, whom was readying his weapon.

Hanna was stuck.

The guard flashed a terrible grin as he took a step toward the redhead, a soft hum coming from the gun in his hands. "Y'know, there's a pretty damn big reward on your head. Good thing it doesn't matter if I bring you back dead or alive, huh?"

'Bang!'

Before the guard had a chance to shoot, there came a burst of blue light. The man let out a yelp as electricity sparked across his body, his limps twitching for a moment as his eyes rolled back into his head. Then he collapsed, a heavy 'thud' ringing through the air.

The instant he was down, the ex-Ahimsa agent came running around the corner. "Hanna, are you all right!" He asked as he placed his gun back into its holster, glancing over his partner to check any injuries.

Hanna stared at the guard and then looked up at his friend, eye wide. Then he shook himself and that brilliant smile came back, "Yeah, I'm fine. That was amazing Domovio! You have the most epic timing, ever! Are you okay? No trouble finding me, right?"

The redhead's partner shook his head as he lightly nudged the guard with his foot. A groan revealed the man to be unconscious, so he returned his focus to Hanna. "Yes, I'm fine. I certainly can't say you were hard to find, I heard you from three hallways down," he muttered, trying to keep his voice down as he knelt down and picked up the guard's gun, adding it to the empty side of his holsters. He supposed he was at least grateful that Hanna had actually stayed put. "I have to admit, when I joined I was under the impression that you had a stronger sense of responsibility when it came to this sort of thing. Why didn't you check the outside of the box?"

Hanna stared at him for a second and the quickly looked away, fumbling with the bubblewrap, "Well, I dunno. It was kinda around where you guys were and-oh, hey, shouldn't we catch up to Toni and Veser? What if they need help?" He was smiling innocently, as though everything was going by without a single problem.

Mahogony eyes watched the redhead for a moment, then the ex-agent gave a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. He felt mildly frustrated. He knew Hanna could take care of himself, but something had him concerned anyway and it was bothering him. Hanna had a point, however. "I suppose you're right. We need to get moving anyway, that gunshot is going to draw some attention. Let's go."

With those words he reached up and tapped his earpiece. "Conrad? I have Hanna. Where should we go?"

"God, Hanna do you just fuck up everything you touch...?" Conrad growled and he tapped at the keyboards some more, "Go back the way you came but take a left through a door two corridors down. That takes you back to the main part of the ship and you can catch up with them there. You're welcome."

The ex-agent gave a nod, though the vampire couldn't see it. "Thank you." With that he turned to Hanna and rose a brow. "Let's try and stick to the plan this time, shall we? Stay close to me."

"Ay, ay, Captain!" Hanna said loudly and saluted, "I'll stick to you like glue! Alright, let's go!" And he skipped ahead of the ex-agent anyway, chatting merrily about how awesome his friend had been in taking out the guard and how he hoped they had the chance to do some awesome teamwork moves together later.

His partner watched the redhead skip ahead, then gave a sigh as he followed. Hanna was still being far too loud. He was well aware that this was how the redhead worked, and as much as the agent within was screaming that this was a bad idea, what else could heed but follow along? It was clear that the job he'd been given was far bigger than he'd thought, but he was still glad to have it. Someone had to watch where Hanna was going, after all, since the redhead obviously had no plans to do so.

Though if Hanna could keep an eye open every once in awhile, he would have appreciated it.


She had to admit, a part of her lived for this.

Toni's heart thumped in her chest as she crept through the service hallways of the ark, her footsteps nearly silent even as her skirts swirled around her, adding a sense of grace to her fluid movements. She passed by guards and ducked just under the sights of cameras, and the whole time none of them had any idea the very Undesirables they hated were right under their noses.

"All right, Conrad," The werewolf whispered into her earpiece as she came to a fork in the hallway. "Now where do we go?"

"Er, left-no, wait-you want to go right! Right!" The vampire sounded flustered, "S-sorry, I just...I guess I'm just nervous about, oh, I dunno, participating in something highly illegal!"

Veser rolled his eyes, "You're a fucking pansy. The worst vampire ever. Seriously, you're not even here, what do you have to whine about?"

Toni gave a snort as she sped down the hallway, green eyes darting this way and that as she watched for any guards. "He does have a point, you know. Besides, you do realize even if you didn't do anything, you'd be arrested for being an Undesirable period, right?"

"I...I know but I..." Conrad trailed off into incoherent grumblings that sounded like a low rumble of static coming through the earpieces. After a moment he said, "Turn right up here. And then keep going straight. And tell Veser to keep up."

Veser said in a high, mocking voice, "And tell Veser to keep up." He scoffed, "I'm keeping up just fine, faggot. I'd like to see you do better!"

His companion rolled her eyes. "He has a point, stop lagging behind. You'd think you'd be more excited about causing explosions," she muttered.

Veser chuckled, "Honey, I've got all the excitement I want rrriiiiiggghhhttt here. Watching your sweet ass."

Toni paused for a moment, her jaw dropping slightly. She then gave a growl, hands clenching into fists as she began to stomp ahead, the heels of her boots clicking against the floor. "Conrad, please tell me the security room is up ahead. I swear if I have to hear one more bad pick-up line, the guards will be the least of a certain seamonkey's problems."

"Don't worry," Came Conrad's disgusted grumble, "It's up here on the left."

The werewolf nodded, though she was aware Conrad couldn't see it. Another couple of feet and a glance to the left revealed the door they were looking for, a simple gray panel that nearly blended in with the plain walls of the service hallways. Really, the only thing that made this door stick out in comparison to the others was the pair of guards standing on either side of the door in question.

"Very subtle," Toni muttered dryly, though she supposed she should be grateful that thus far Conrad had managed to steer them clear of such things. She had known this was inevitable, though, and that was where the next bit came in. "Veser, do you have those darts Worth made?" She whispered.

"Darts? Er, yeah, yeah, hold on." Veser leaned against the wall and started digging around in his the many pockets of his coat, checking one after another, "Erg, where'd those things-oh, there they are!" He pulled out a handful of thin metallic sticks that seemed to be glowing a faint greenish color. The half-selkie grinned as he held them up in the light, showing all of his dangerously sharp teeth, "This is going to be fun."

The werewolf couldn't help but smile at Veser's enthusiasm as she took several darts from him, then pulled a thin metal tube from the many folds of her skirts. "Not for them," she said grimly as she loaded the weapon, then pointed.

There was barely a noise. Merely a barely visible blur of green and a confused blink from one of the guards as he grabbed at his neck. Before the two could even begin to wonder what had happened, they were down and out.

This task done, Toni slunk to the door. She traced her fingers over it, finally tapping a barely visible panel. "Locked," she said simply.

"Out of the way, Hotstuff!" Veser stepped forward, pulling out a silver and neon blue half sphere, "I can blow this door out no problem!"

"Wait!" Toni hissed, her hand shooting out to grab the teenager's coat. Her expression was stern as she glared at him. "It's one lock. A small explosion this time, okay? If we're already in the air, I do not want to go down with the ship."

The half-selkie rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, alright. You act like I have no idea what I'm doing." But he tucked the half sphere back into his coat and instead drew out a thin, black strip. He peeled a back off of it, pressed it against the door, and then leapt back, dragging Toni with him.

The adhesive bomb went off with a small bang that buckled the door inward and definitely cracked the lock open. Veser grinned at Toni, who was still holding onto him.

Toni wasted no time in leaping into action. She easily cleared the wreckage of the door, startling the unfortunate guard who had been watching the cameras.

"What the-!" The man was cut off by a high-heeled combat boot to the face, the force of the blow sending him crumpling against the wall.

The werewolf stood over him, brushing strands of blue hair out of her face as she studied his prone form. "All right, he's out," she declared as she glanced over her shoulder to Veser. "You get to that computer and get to work. Conrad should be able to tell you what you need to do. I'll tie this guy up."

"All right, Confag," Veser said as he stepped up to the control panel, gazing across the wide array of switches and buttons, "What am I doing here?"

"Don't call me that!" Conrad snapped, "Just give me a minute to find the instructions on this thing..."

Veser tuned out the taping of the keyboard coming through his earpiece and looked up at the dozen or so holoscreens hanging on the wall above the control panel. His large green eyes narrowed.

"Toni... you'd better come look at this."

The blue-haired woman's brow furrowed as she glanced up from where she had been trying to figure out how to operate a certain ex-agent's newly repaired handcuffs. "What is it?" She asked as she got to her feet, following the half-selkie's gaze. The instant she did, her jaw dropped.

Really, when one considered a zoo, the first things that came to mind were the animals. Lions, tigers and bears, these things were expected. And really, technically society saw the creatures in the cages as similar animals to those creatures. It didn't make the sight any easier to swallow, however.

For she knew quite well that those glowing, battered wolves within the enclosure on the screen were hardly regular wolves. She understood the fanged child curled up in the corner of a fake cave, his skin bubbling slightly as he gazed out at passing guards with wild, starved eyes. She saw the mermaid draped across a rock, her hair limp and her tail beating pathetically in water that was far too shallow. She saw all this and oh how it hurt, because she understood and it was almost too much to think that people could walk by it all and see it as nothing more than an exhibit.

"…No," she murmured, clutching at the back of a now empty chair. "I'd heard the Ark had an Undesirable exhibit, but this is just…"

"Okay," Conrad's voice came back over the earpiece, "There should be a panel of switches to your right all labeled with letters and numbers. The letters correspond to the section of the Ark and the numbers are the cages. You're looking for the switch labeled 'A312', that's the dragon's cage. Got that? Veser? Hey, are you listening to me?"

Veser made a very strange noise, something between a curse and a growl, and clenched his fists at his sides. When he spoke again, it was in a hard, strained voice, "Conrad, tell me which button unlocks all the cages."

"What! No way! You're supposed to get the dragon! Nothing else! Worth said-!"

"Fuck what Worth said!" Veser snarled, slamming his fists on the control panel, anger burning fiercely in his eyes, "Just tell me which button it is!"

"No! We're just supposed to do the job and get out!"

"You're not even here!" The half-selkie roared, punching the console again, arms shaking, "You have no idea what we're looking at! You're not seeing what we're seeing! So stop whining like a fucking pansy and tell me which goddamn button it is!"

"Shut up!" Conrad shouted, "Toni, will you please talk some sense into him! I am not in the mood to deal with this!"

Toni bit her lip, her expression thoughtful. Finally, she shook her head. "No, he's right. Our.. my job is to help Undesirables. It always had been. We can't just save one and leave the rest, it's all or none of them."

"I'm surrounded by insane people!" The vampire moaned, "We can't do this! We don't have the man power! You'll just end up setting the whole fucking ship on us! You're all crazy!"

"Shut up!" Veser bared all his teeth even though Conrad couldn't see him, "You're one of us too! If you don't help us then I'm shutting you off!"

"No! Wait! Goddamn it! Don't you dare shut me out! Toni! Toni, listen to me! Listen, we can't do this! You're just going to get yourselves killed! Don't! Do it!"

"You're a fucking coward." Veser spat and reached up and flicked off his communicator.

Conrad's shout was almost audible through Toni's earpiece, "Fuck you, then! Fuck! You! I hope you die you stupid, stupid selkie brat!"

Toni visibly cringed, then reached for her earpiece. "Sorry Conrad," she muttered before switching it off. She then looked to Veser. "I sure hope you know what you're doing. Do you want my help?"

"No, I think I got this. I can just blow it...er..." The half-selkie trailed off, cringing. If he blew up one more thing, Worth would surely lock him in the factory for all eternity, "Yeah, no, it's okay. I got this, just...give me a second..."

The werewolf's brow furrowed as she leaned over him. "Er… are you sure you've got it? Because I figured if you've got it, maybe I should go find the others. I can certainly track them."

"I'm fine. Go find Hanna and Eli or whatever the hell his name is." Veser muttered, frowning at the console, "And you'd better hurry. I don't think that Ahimsa guy knows exactly what he's dealing with yet."

Toni nodded as she turned for the door. "Right. I'm actually surprised that by this point Hanna hasn't done anything-"

"BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!"

The entire room began to flash red as the shrill sound of an alarm echoed through the room. The werewolf's eyes widened and she stood there, watching as the red light reflected in the screens of the security cameras, barely registering the voice that echoed over the speakers.

"Attention all personnel! An unidentified Undesirable has been spotted in the section 48B! The Ark is to go into lockdown mode immediately! Attention all personnel…"

"…Goddamnit," Toni groaned, smacking herself in the forehead.

"That idiot...!" Veser sounded like he was trying to keep the laughter out of his voice, "Oh my gosh, that fucking moron!"

"You're telling me," The werewolf groaned as she rushed toward the door. "Hurry and get those cages open, then catch up, okay?"

"Oh, don't worry about me, Sweetstuff." Veser looked over his shoulder, grinning, "You just make sure your hot ass doesn't get fried, 'k?"

Toni rolled her eyes. "I will, but not for you," she muttered. With those words she was out the door and running down the hall, her footsteps echoing across polished metal.

"Damnit Hanna… why does this happen every time?"

The only answer came in the chaotic scream of the alarm.


He felt he was being fairly calm, all things considered.

The ex-Ahimsa agent's lungs were burning, his heart thudding in his ears and nearly drowning out the sound of his footsteps as he and Hanna barreled down the hallway. "I really don't understand how you're capable of this," he said conversationally, voice nearly lost amongst the shouts of the guards behind them.

"Capable of what?" Hanna responded innocently as they whipped around a corner. His red hair was matted in clumps and some of it even hung in his face, brown smears covered his face, arms, and legs, and there were several bite marks on his bracers and exposed skin, the ones of his fingers bleeding a little,"Where are we going, anyway? Hey Connie, where are we going?"

"How the fuck did you get yourself stuck in the monkey cage!" Conrad roared, "First Veser and Toni and then I turn around and you're fucking everything up! What the hell, Hanna!"

"He does make a point," the redhead's partner commented as he casually grabbed the back of Hanna's shirt and tugged him around the corner. "Considering the fact that I told you not to and the cage was surrounded by a forcefield…" He trailed off, quirking a brow as he looked to Hanna.

"But…but they just looked so sad!" Hanna argued, "I just had to give them a hug!"

"Guys! Hey, wait!" Conrad was trying to speak over Hanna's somewhat pathetic excuse, "Don't go that way, you're running into-!"

Too late the ex-agent and the redhead turned another corner and found themselves face to face with at least two dozen guards, all with weapons loaded and aimed, ready to fire.

"Well crap." Hanna muttered.

The Ahimsa agent had to agree, his eyes narrowing as he tried to deduce some way out of this. There were most certainly guards back the way they had come, but they couldn't move forward either.

"Freeze!" One guard snapped. "Put your hands where I can see them! The Ahimsa are already on their way and will be here to deal with you Undesirable bastards!"

"Hanna. Go," The ex-agent said simply, ignoring the command.

"Go?" Hanna asked wonderingly and then his eyes brightened and he grinned, "Oooohhh, go. Right. But what about you, Antony?"

His partner very nearly smiled at this. "I can take care of myself. Just go."

"What the hell? I said hands up, you little bastard!" The guard who had spoken before said. He then blinked in surprise, eyes widening as he realized just who he was speaking to. "Hey! You're-"

But Hanna had already crouched low to the ground, blue energy coiling out of his heels. The grin on his face, lit as it was from below by the light, looked eerie, almost evil.

"Nice knowing you!" He said and then, with a blast of azure light, he was gone.

"Wait! Where'd he go!" The guards cried, looking around wildly for a second until one shouted wordlessly, pointing above them.

Hanna was soaring over the heads of the guards, energy flying from his feet, grinning down at the startled men below him. He was getting some pretty good hang time and before the guards realized what they were seeing, he had landed behind them and vanished in a blur of blue.

Unfortunately for the guards, their attention really should have been on the former agent. While all eyes were on a certain redhead, he'd drawn his gun in a swift motion and aimed at the main guard blocking his path. "You're all very bad at this, aren't you?" The ex-agent murmured.

Then came the shot. His aim was spot on and the guard in front of him dropped like a rock, the sparks nothing in comparison to the blinding trail left by Hanna. Two more dropped in quick succession before the ex-agent charged forward. He leaped over the fallen men and dove into a roll as he hit the ground, speeding past the feet of his confused and panicked enemies. His coat flared out behind him as he got back to his feet and charged after Hanna, dodging a hail of gun blasts as he rushed around the corner.

"Dude!" Hanna cried as they raced along the hall together, "That was so epic! Did you have a class in Ahimsa training for badass one-liners or something?"

This time Hanna's partner did smile. "That's classified."

Hanna couldn't help but laugh, "Aw, come on! You say that about everything! It's like your favorite word!"

"I've only said it twice..."

The two of them-the ex-agent and the most wanted Undesirable in Varuna-raced down the corridors, passing door after door, trying to follow Conrad's rather haphazard directions. But it was becoming difficult to find halls that were clear of guards and Conrad was beginning to panic; he couldn't contact Veser or Toni and now he was terrified that he was leading Hanna and the former Ahimsa agent to their deaths.

"Go left! Left!" Conrad shouted into the communicator and Hanna led the turn around the corner. But as soon as he did, he dug his heels into the floor and skidded to a halt, turning back to run the other direction. His fingers flew to his earpiece as he said,

"Conrad, there were guards down there! Where do we go!"

"R-right! I dunno! No, wait! There's guards that way too! Go straight! Quick! Just get out of there!"

"We're trying!" Hanna cried, tugging on the ex-agent's sleeve to get him to follow, "Straight ahead! Let's go!"

His partner nodded, sweat beading on his forehead as he ran. The Ark really was ridiculously large and they had been running for some time. Certainly he could keep going if he had to, but he doubted they could keep avoiding guards like this. A fight was starting to look inevitable, and he wasn't sure he was ready for it.

So when they found themselves encountering a large gate that did wonders for halting their progress, the ex-agent couldn't say he was surprised. "Well," he said as he turned toward their approaching enemies. "I suppose we've run out of hallways to run through."

"Wwweeellll, if all else fails we could probably bust through them…!" Hanna said, holding up a hand and letting a small coil of energy pool there, "But it would probably break my bracers sssoooo…" He dropped his arm, energy vanishing, "Guess we're fighting our way out, huh? But, hey, at least we can finally pull off some epic awesome tag-team fight moves, right?"

Again came the smile, grim but accepting as the dark-haired man brought up his guns. "I suppose there's always that."

The lead guard couldn't help but smirk as he came forward. "Got nowhere to run now, huh? Now you're in for it, you little-"

"Eli!"

The guard was cut off as a man in his mid-twenties suddenly pushed to the front, his gray eyes wide as they met mahogany. "Whoa… Eli, it is you!" He exclaimed, a grin coming to his face even as he kept his gun trained on the other man's head.

The ex-agent's brow furrowed, his gun lowering slightly. "Renton," he replied, nodding on reflex.

"Aw man, I'm so glad to see you're alive! The last time we'd heard of you, we thought that some Undesirable had gotten you!" His former co-worker exclaimed, a wide grin coming to his face. His gun didn't waver.

"I…" Hanna's partner swallowed thickly, his adam's apple bobbing up and down in his throat, sweat from their desperate run sliding down his stubbled cheek. "No, I'm fine." It was strange. If one had told him mere hours ago that he would be facing one of his old coworkers, he wouldn't have felt anything. Now, however, all that came to mind was a sea of similar uniforms and wide grins, of lazy mornings at the office and the term 'Tiger' thrown around long after the point in training where it should have been abandoned.

"Whoa, Svarozie," Hanna suddenly piped up, "I didn't know you had friends! Hi, Svarozie's friend!" The young redhead waved a hand at the man pointing a gun at them.

Renton blinked in surprise at the redhead's enthusiastic wave, then returned the smile. "My my. You sure have been keeping some interesting company, Eli," he remarked with a smirk.

"I suppose I do," the ex-agent agreed as he took a step to the left, placing his tall form between the redhead and the other man.

The other man chuckled at this, shaking his head. "You always did have a talent for understatement. I mean, damn. When I got a call about there being a terrorist attack at The Ark, I had no idea I was going to find a captive buddy of mine. Come on man, it's okay. You don't have to keep running with that Undesirable brat, you're good now. You can come home." With those words he jerked his head to the side, as if motioning for the former agent to get out of the way.

Mahogony eyes blinked in confusion. "Captive?" He repeated, the word seeming to trigger something in his mind. He then shook his head, grip tightening on his gun even as it remained lowered. "No. Renton… you're wrong. I'm not a captive. I never really was."

Renton's brow furrowed. "What?"

The ex-Ahimsa agent took a deep breath, eyes falling shut for a moment. "Renton… Renton, what you're doing is wrong. What we were doing was wrong. The Undesirables aren't what were taught to believe."

"…Is that so?" His ex-coworker murmured, raising a brow.

"It is!" Hanna stuck his head out from behind the former agent, grinning, "We're all really nice once you get to know us! There's vampires and they can be kinda scary but they're cool! And chimeras but you really don't wanna bother them, they have nasty tempers! And those soul-sucking ladies called succubus' can be really nice once you convince them not to,you know, eat your soul! And-!"

"Hanna, be quiet," Eli hissed, cutting the redhead off.

"But I was just trying… to help." In spite of this, Hanna slunk back a bit, closing his mouth and keeping silent.

At this, the Ahimsa agent gave a snort. "Oh wow. Are you serious? You're making it sound like you actually care about them… hell, like they're your friends."

"Hey! We are his friends!" Hanna snapped, scowling a little.

This triggered an actual laugh. "Whoa, wait, seriously? Eli, man, you've gotta move aside, I've got to talk to that little moron behind you. He's quite the comedian," Renton snickered as he stepped to the right and craned his neck, trying to get a better look at Hanna.

At these words the ex-agent moved with Renton, bringing his gun up as his eyes narrowed. "He's not joking," the man's tone was hard as he kept between his charge and their opposition.

Gray eyes widened in surprise. "Seriously?" After a few beats of silence, then man shook his head. "Wow. Damn, they must have really done something to screw you up, Tiger. Don't worry though, we can fix that." His gaze went to Hanna's partner again, grin still in place. "Come on, buddy. You know damn well they're all just lying to you."

"They're not," the dark-haired man growled in response as his grip tightened on his own gun.

"Aren't they?" Renton replied, cocking his head to the side. "Come on man, isn't this exactly what training warned you about? I mean, seriously. Lies about how they're just like us? They're experts at brainwashing, you know that. Besides, what could you possibly hope to accomplish by being with them? The Council of Mitra's way too big to be taken down by some kid and his Ahimsa dog."

"I…" The ex-agent trailed off at this, his expression darkening. No, he knew it wasn't true. He wasn't brainwashed, he knew the truth. But admittedly, seeing this force, knowing only more were on the way, seeing the whole Ark…it was a bit of a worrisome wake-up call.

Perhaps this wasn't wrong, but the task that lay before them did seem almost impossibly big.

"Yeah, that's right," The brunet smirked as he turned his gaze to Hanna. "And you, Cross. Think about it. How can you think he's your friend? He's an Ahimsa agent, and besides that, he's human. He has the best position in the world right now. Why on Earth would he want to give that all up for you miserable little cretins?"

Hanna's brilliant blue eyes flashed with hurt and disbelief, "You're wrong." He spoke in a low voice, "I know you're wrong. He's not like you. He's different from you and I know he's my friend. So you're wrong!" Hanna shouted the last word, fists clenched, daring the man to contradict him.

The Ahimsa agent merely chuckled as he looked back to Hanna's companion. "Man Eli, listen to that denial. Sounds like he really believes this shit. Come on man, remember who your real friends are. I'm only trying to help."

His former coworker said nothing, teeth clenching as he mulled over the words. His true friends? No, to say his old coworkers were his true friends… that was a lie, wasn't it? It had to be, because when he thought of his friends, all he could think of was those bright blue eyes sparkling with laughter, a smile nearly swallowing up the redhead's pale face. All he could think of was a wide, sharp-toothed grin and a blue lipstick lined, bemused smirk. All that came to mind were half smiles around a single fang and laughter that came up over the worst of things, drowning away.

When he thought of all this, Renton's grin was nothing. How could it, when his smile had never reached his eyes?

The brunet in question gave a sigh. "Having trouble, eh? It's okay, a bit of time in the psych ward will fix that. I'll help you make your decision. Step aside." With those words the pistol in his hand gave a click, the energy within humming as it was aimed at the ex-agent's chest, or rather, the head of the man behind him.

Unfortunately for Renton, this was what it took to snap Hanna's partner out of his reverie. In an instant he'd changed his aim and a shot rang through the air, loud and terrible and only swallowed by the brunet's shriek of pain as he collapsed to the floor, clutching at the graze across his arm.

"I always was the better shot," The former agent said as he gazed down at his former companion.

"Tch," Renton breathed, his whole body giving a shudder. "You bastard… fine, get both of them!" He snapped.

At his command, the guards sprang to life. The ex-agent promptly grabbed at Hanna's shirt and pulled him aside as several gunshots rang through the air, returning fire to take out the man closest to them. "So, how about those tag-team fight moves, hm?" His partner asked as he ducked from another shot.

The somber expression on Hanna's face immediately evaporated into a devilish grin, "Hahahahaaaa! Yes!" Blue light flickered from his hands and from underneath his feet, "You ready, Ignacio? This is gonna be a blast!"

"I suppose that's one way to put it," the dark-haired man said as he tugged a small, glowing blue canister from his sleeve and slid it into place with a click.

"Let's do this thing!" Hanna leapt forward, beams of light erupting from his palms and slicing through the first couple of guards. They fell back with cries of pain and Hanna raced out of the way as a storm of gun fire blackened the metal where he'd been standing. His boots squeaked across the floor as he spun on the spot, letting out another round of cerulean energy.

"Adelo!" The redhead shouted above the noise as he dodged yet more gun fire, "Cover me! I'm gonna whip out some heavy duty awesome on these guys!" And he dropped back against a wall, pulling a black marker from an inner pocket of his worn out jacket.

His partner nodded in affirmation as he avoided another hail of gunfire, absently feeling grateful that the guards weren't all Ahimsa agents. A part of him had to wonder just how much damage Hanna could do with a marker, but he shoved this questioning aside and focused on keeping the guards away with measured shots.

After what he'd seen Hanna do, he had no doubt that leveling a mountain wasn't entirely out of the question.

Hanna danced around the fallen guards, his marker never straying far from the floor, blue light flickering from his heels as he sped himself forward. He suddenly gave a shout of triumph and skipped back towards the former Ahimsa agent.

"Better close your eyes," Hanna said, crouching down to the floor, marker flying across it in expert strokes, "This is gonna be bright."

Light spilled from his hands and he pressed his palms against the floor. A low rumble-not a physical sensation but more like a feeling-shook everyone still standing and caused them to pause. Then, after a brief second of silence, an eruption of blindingly blue-white light exploded amongst the guards still standing in their way.

The ex-agent's eyes widened as he surveyed the damage, jaw dropping along with his arm. Their opponents lay in a groaning mess on the floor, most unconscious while others were left whimpering in pain. "Well," he said slowly. "I'm beginning to see just why it is you're regularly at the top of our most wanted list."

Hanna laughed, "Oh, yeah, well, you know..." He rolled his eyes, shrugging, "Er, maybe we should get going. We don't any more guards to show up." His brilliant blue eyes strayed over to where Renton was lying, "Or any of your friends." When he looked back, his smile had returned, "Let's get going!"

And before the ex-agent could get in a word, Hanna was tearing down the hall, dodging around corners, looking almost exhilarated by the fight that had just occurred.

The two continued to make their way through the hallways. Unfortunately for them, the place seemed to have a downright obscene amount of guards, and every group they left behind was replaced by another shortly after. The ex-agent did his best to keep them all at bay, but ammo was running short even with the weapon he'd taken off of their first adversary. Hanna was a blur of blue as he fought, a shooting star trapped in the halls, but as time went on even he began to slow down. To make matters worse, they couldn't take out every guard they fought, and there seemed to be more footsteps following them as they continued to flee.

"Are you just cursed, or something, Hanna?" Conrad asked almost mockingly over the communicator when they encountered yet another group of guards. "Seriously, you're ruining everything. I think you're fucking cursed. My life never sucked this badly until you came along! I swear, it's like your only talent! Fucking everything up!"

"Conrad, you're not helping," the ex-agent said tersely as he slid into his usual stance. From behind them, he could hear more footsteps, which was most certainly not a good sign. "How many more guards are there?"

"How the fuck should I know!" Conrad screeched, sounding particularly irritated, "God, did you want me to just count them all or something!"

"So we're going to be surrounded no matter what, from the sounds of things," Hanna's partner muttered before looking to the redhead in question. "Hanna, are you going to be all right? We-" He was cut off by the sound of a gunshot and dove on reflex, again taking Hanna with him and returning fire. "We may be at this for awhile," he finished in a grunt as he reloaded yet again.

"Oh I'll be fine!" The redhead grinned even with his face pressed against the floor, eyes locked ahead at the guards blocking their progress, "Just, you know, if I go at this for about, oooohhhhh," He paused a second to think, frowning slightly, "About five more minutes, I might collapse." He laughed a little, though it sounded a tad strained. "It happened before and I was fine! Worth was telling me to stop and I didn't and then I don't remember anything but I woke up three days later so I should be okay! What about you? Are you going to be all right?"

Mahogony eyes widened as they met bright blue, and it was only then that the ex-agent took in the shaking of Hanna's limbs, the way sweat was sliding down his too pale face.

Well, that couldn't be good.

"I…" The ex-agent trailed off, swallowing, then nodded. "I'm fine. You just stay behind me, all right? The last thing we want is for you to pass out," he said as he rose, putting himself in front of a rising Hanna.

"You worry too much, Margardo, I'll be just-"

He was cut off by a loud clank as one of the ceiling panels was abruptly pulled aside, followed by a heavy thud as a blur of flowing skirts and blue hair fell from the heavens. The unfortunate guard was left in a groaning heap under Toni's combat boots, the girl in question huffing as she brushed herself off. "You'd think I'd get used to crawling through air vents, but nope!" With those words she looked to the prone Hanna and kneeling Ahimsa agent, then grinned. "Hey boys! Want some help?"

"Is that Toni?" Conrad asked, "I thought I heard Toni! Tell her to turn her communicator on! I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind!"

"Hey Toni!" Hanna waved a shaking hand, completely ignoring Conrad's complaining, "You're just in time! We're about to get into a huge fight! It's gonna be totally awesome!"

"I can see that," the blue-haired woman's smirk twisted into a terrible maw as she transformed on the spot, eliciting yelps of terror from the guards surrounding her. The appearance of bright blue fur seemed to be the catalyst they needed to snap back into action. Gunshots rang out anew as the guards rushed to give Toni space, most missing by a mile due to panic. "Honestly, humans. They have such a talent for overreacting," Toni drawled as she swiped at the nearest one.

The ex-agent took out one behind the werewolf as his eyes narrowed.
"That's one way to put it," he said mildly as he rolled to the side. "Conrad is… somewhat upset. Did something happen?"

Toni snorted at this as she leaped over an opponent, slamming his face into the ground. "He's just mad because we couldn't stomach leaving so many people under these bastard's care. Veser's gonna bust all those cages wide open!"

Mahogony eyes widened in shock. "…All of them!" He sputtered.

"Good." Hanna said with a dark grin as he ran across the floor, dodging gunfire, "If he wasn't going to do it then I was."

"You're all crazy!" Conrad yelled, "This is insane! Don't you realize you could all fucking die! There's too many guards! Get out! Fuck the stupid dragon and get out!"

"Don't worry, Connie." Hanna replied with a shaky smile, "We can handle it. You just keep an eye out, 'k?" He clenched a fist and thrust a hand forward, firing off another blast of energy that looked significantly weaker than the before.

The ex-agent winced as he watched the energy spark, then fired off several shots of his own. He hoped Hanna was right and they could handle it. However, the more he saw the redhead shake, the moment he saw Toni be smashed against the wall, every shot he made that seemed to make no difference…the more it all began to add up, the more he had to admit that chances were looking slim.

So when he heard explosions from down the hall, he wasn't entirely sure if he should see it as the cavalry charge or another spot of trouble.

Veser suddenly charged around a corner, a harpoon of black metal in one hand and his goggles pulled down over his large eyes. He gave a wild laugh, showing all of his dangerously sharp teeth, and leapt into the air, throwing out a handful of small, glowing red spheres. The devices fell among the guards, releasing a series of small explosions that knocked them backwards. Veser landed on his feet and charged through the ranks, sending several guards flying with his harpoon. He dodged a round of gunfire and skidded to a halt in front of Hanna, Toni, and the ex-Ahimsa agent, pulling his goggles down around his neck.

"Never fear, ladies," The half-selkie said with a grin, "Veser Hatch is here!"

"Whoa, man, that was awesome!" Hanna cried, jumping on the spot, "How the heck did you fit all those bombs in your pockets?"

"I fit everything in my pockets." Veser said with a grin.

The ex-agent swore he saw the blue werewolf roll her eyes as she slammed a guard into the nearest wall. "Now if you could just fit some humility in there."

"Baby, you got more junk in your trunk then I got in my pockets." Veser winked at Toni, smiling in a flirtatious way.

Toni visibly tensed, her claws digging into her unfortunate victim. "You are so lucky we're in the middle of a life or death situation or I'd shove that harpoon down your throat!" She snarled out as she spun about to tackle her next victim, a growl sounding at as she aimed for the man's throat.

"Veser, what happened with releasing all the animals?" The ex-agent spoke up, taking out one of the guards behind the half-selkie. He wanted to get this done with fast.

"Oh. Yeah. That." Veser shrugged, spun the harpoon and slammed the end of it into an unfortunate guard who got too close, "Well, see, I couldn't figure out which buttons did what sooooo..." He threw out another handful of bombs, shaking the whole hallway, "Basically, the cage's will all open or we're all going to explode in a glorious display of awesome!"

"What!" Toni very nearly shrieked. Impressively enough, Conrad matched her pitch, his tone causing the earpiece in the ex-agent's ear to ring out of protest.

"I thought you said you had this under control!" The werewolf continued, eyes wild.

"Aw, man, really!" Hanna cried, leaning on the wall and still managing to smile, "Will it be multi-colored?"

"Every thing's fine!" Veser protested, "Geez, why do you guys keep acting like I have no clue how to handle an explosive? Look, I'm pretty sure that I got the bomb attached to the right thing so don't worry so much!"

"Maybe because you don't know how to handle them." Conrad grumbled, "We found them in The Couch this morning. Whose hellish idea was it to make you in charge of things that explode anyway?"

"An idiot's, that's who," Toni grumbled as she dodged another blow.

"How do you manage to get ahold of these things anyway?" The ex-agent had to wonder aloud as he took up a spot near Hanna, doing his best to guard the exhausted redhead.

"Guys, seriously, chill out!" Veser spun the harpoon, clearing away several guards from around him, "That bomb's not gonna go off for about thr-."

An ear-splitting 'BOOM' rocked the entire ship. The hallway jostled, sending them all tumbling head over heels. Guards let out yelps of pain as they collided with each other, Toni slipped by in a blur of bright blue. The ex-agent's eyes widened in shock and in the chaos he caught the sight of a shock of red hair, thought he heard someone scream and he wasn't sure if it was himself or Conrad yelling in his ear.

It was then that lights flickered out, plunging the hallway into darkness and leaving nothing but confused screams and the shrill shriek of twisting metal in their wake.


Last chapter for a while, guys, sorry. College is eating Digi and I alive, mostly Digi. Go give Digi hugs, she needs them.

We'll update next chance we get. And as long as I remember to update here. 8D