At the shelter, the Shadow Warriors finally woke up and were ready for breakfast. It didn't take them long to realize who was gone.

"Where's Mac?" asked Breeze.

Shadow fiddled with his fork a little before responding, "He left."

"What?" asked everyone.

"He just didn't want to be with us anymore."

"Wha...But...That's stupid!" shouted Reaper.

"His mind was made up. I didn't stop him."

"You didn't stop him?" echoed Breeze. "What do you mean...Wait, Shadow. You were talking to him early this morning? YOU LET HIM GO?!"

"I'm sorry. I couldn't change his mind."

"I'm not upset," commented Rudolph. "He was probably was going to slow us down."

"Well," argued Maria. "At least he would have been able to make this group more competent!"

"Even if he did try to usurp me," grumbled Shadow so low no one could hear him.

"So, what now? Change of plans?" Whisper asked.

"No. We stick with the old plan. We go to the hunters' camp. We'll meet him there."

"NO YOU WON'T!" Rudolph screamed, scaring everyone. "YOU ARE ALL STAYING HERE AND THAT IS FINAL!"

"Whoa, old man," said Reaper, trying to calm him down. "Keep your thong on."

"I won't let you go! Not after I've made human contact for the first time in fifty years!"

Everyone was starting to get uneasy when he said that.

"I think I hear the hunters calling," said Maria, awkwardly. "Let's get out of here, okay?"

Rudolph stabbed the table with his cutting knife. "No one's leaving. No one! You are all mine!"

"Are we your slaves to you?!" shouted Sam.

"Shut up, flambe! I saw my boys killed before my eyes, and I can restart again! Start a platoon to kill the hunters! Claim their weapons! Hunt them down as they have hunted us!"

The Shadow Warriors and the three criminals backed away from the table in worry.

"What about the human colony on this planet?" asked Red Crosshairs.

"We ARE the human colony! We will have our own settlement here and bring down the aliens that persecute us! And I have the ultimate fighters to aid me!"

"Uh..." was all Maria said.

The old man really was crazy just like Mac said. They had to get out of this nut house immediately. Suddenly, Sam tensed up when he felt a familiar presence. "They're here!" A blast of plasma energy shot through the room, sending everyone scattering.

"Get out now!" shouted Shadow.

Everyone made a mad dash for the exit as fast as they could. However, Raimundo was grabbed by the seat of his pants.

"Raimundo!" shouted Sam.

"GO! I'll be alright!"

Sam stopped and shouted, "Liar!"

"GO! You cuzo!"

Sam hesitated then took off running. Raimundo stared down into the eyes of the sniper that was holding him.

"Say good night." he said pulling a grenade to his mouth and pulling the trigger.

0000

There was a huge explosion that made the Shadow Warriors and the criminals lose their footing.

"RAI!" screamed Sam. He choked sobs as he pounded the ground with his fists. Shadow placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. Suddenly, he felt a sharp kick to his side and something tightening his throat. Rudolph was holding him by the throat.

"This is your fault! You did this! You led them to me!"

"You betrayed us!"

"No! I tried to save us! I should have known you would do this to me!"

"Rudy..." said Maria, trying to calm the old man down.

"Stand down! This is your fault! They all died in vain!"

Bang! Rudolph fell down dead. Red Crosshairs held his gun in his hands, panting.

Sam backed away from the corpse as he ran back to his friends.

"Oh, god, you just killed him! He was our only way out of this planet!"

Shadow shook his head. "He wasn't trying to get off this planet. He was running from his own guilt."

"Guilt? Shadow, what are you talking about?"

Shadow sighed. "I found a picture in his pocket."

"What picture?" asked Breeze.

"The hunters didn't kill his squadron. He killed themselves out of cowardice. He must have taken the picture just to laugh at them."

Everyone was silent. There was no help after all.

"Then...we have no choice," said Maria. "We have to take one of them hostage."

"Well, we can try," replied Whisper. "Our old friends are here."

The sniper appeared out of nowhere and formed his rifle.

"Great, not this guy again!"

"Everyone, let me and Whisper deal with this guy," shouted Maria. "You guys just run!"

Taking a colt pistol she found in the shelter, Maria began to put the ammo in it.

"Gonna tell Aunt Mary about Uncle John! He claims he has the music, but he has a lot of fun," she sang in a crazy manner. "Oh, baby, yeah, baby! Oh, baby. I'm having me some fun tonight!"

"You've been listening to too much Lil' Richie, have you," laughed Whisper.

"I heard it on my mob boss's radio. But enough talk. I'm Long Tall Sally! I'm so sweet! I got everything that Uncle John need! I'm gonna have me some fun. I'm gonna have me some fun. I'm gonna have me some fun. I'm gonna have me some fun!"

The sniper aimed his rifle at the two, and fired a large plasma grenade at them. They leaped in opposite directions and fired their guns back at him. The sniper rolled out of the way and continued firing at the girls with his rifles.

"Is that all you got?!" shouted Whisper. She ducked when the sniper threw what looked like shuriken at her face.

The sniper roared as he charged and grabbed Whisper by the arm and tossed her to the ground.

"Whisper!" screamed Breeze. She ran in to stop the fight, but Shadow blocked her. "What are you doing?!"

"This is their fight," he said. "I know it sucks, but we gotta trust them. Besides, Whisper can take care of herself."

Breeze cursed at him for his sense of honor. Back at the fight, Whisper got back on her feet and rubbed her head, which was now bleeding on the side. Growling, she picked up her gun and fired at the sniper when he broke his rifle into two cannons again.

"Come at me!" she screamed.

He fired at the girl again, missing every time. He didn't see the Italian woman leap from a tree, jump onto him and stab his abdomen with a large knife.

"This is for Raimundo!"

The sniper tossed her off his body and slammed her into the ground with a pile drive. She coughed up blood as she felt her lungs ache. Whisper roared in rage as she grabbed Maria's knife and jumped onto his shoulders and stabbed his chest repeatedly. She was going to stab his heart, when the alien grabbed her by her arm and yanked her off her body. There was a loud popping sound as she fell to the ground. Hissing in pain, she looked down at her arm, only to find it bent in an awkward angle; it was dislocated.

"Cazzo!" she cursed in Italian. "Great. Now I'm sounding like Mari - AUGH!" The sniper grabbed her by the throat she was still able to hold the knife in her other arm. With one swipe, she impaled his hand all the way through. Shrieking in pain, he let her go. As she tried to recollect herself, the sniper pulled the knife out of her hand and tossed it aside.

"Clever little sneak," he said in Maria's voice.

"Don't...you..talk...like...that," growled Whisper, grabbing her gun again. "EVER!"

That's when the sniper pressed a few buttons on his left gauntlet. Suddenly, as if they had minds of their own, they started flying over to her and started shooting.

"Persistent bastard!"

Suddenly, she heard a loud clanging sound. Maria was pressing her knife against the sniper's wrist blade.

"I'm gonna have me some fun tonight!" Maria sang as she slashed at her opponent.

The Shadow Warriors watched in awe and concern as they saw their friends in battle. So far, no one was winning. Maria crossed her knife with the sniper's wrist blades, and pressed hard. However, his size and strength still was superior. With a mighty shove, he pushed Maria away. Distracted, Maria never saw the sniper stab her in the gut with the wrist blade.

"NO!" everyone screamed.

Maria slumped to the ground, and never moved again. The sniper turned to face Whisper now. Whisper screamed in rage as she punched and kicked him in the face, gut and loins. Nothing seemed to affect him. All he did was stagger back a little, but there was no real damage. Finally, he grabbed her good arm and brought her to her knees. But just as he was about to decapitate her with his blade, his world went dark. His body slumped down, dead. Mohammed held his rifle in front of him; its barrel hole smoking. Whisper ran over to Maria's body and looked her over.

"No," she whimpered. "Someone get me one of those crystals!"

"We don't have any," admitted Shadow.

"Ah," said Maria. "It's alright. I don't mind dying. I've been waiting for death for a long time now. I've been nothing but an embarrassment to my parents for a long time now. Hey, my dad did say I should just drop dead that night I visited him at that hospital. Looks like he got his wish. You will tell him this right?"

Whisper shook her head frantically. "No! Don't leave us! Don't you dare!"

"Too late...you silly girl...see you on the other side..."

Whisper broke down into sobs, but she still closed Maria's eyes. Then she said, standing up, "Vai, amico, libero da fardelli e paure. Requiescat in pace."

"I'm sorry," said Breeze softly. "I really am."

"It doesn't matter. I know one thing now." Whisper paused. "The last one is mine! They will all pay for what they did to us!"

"But your arm!" exclaimed Mohammed.

"Fuck my arm! I can still fight with one appendage! Now are you idiots going to stand there, or are we getting off this god-forsaken planet?"

There was silence, then Shadow said, "We're going home. There's only one of them left. And we know he'll be the hardest of them all."

"Don't worry," said Dusk. "We'll be ready for him."