Buildings lay half in ruins, people laying in the streets, crying desperately for help. Their cries would not be heard in time, as most were only able to emit small moans, barely clinging to what life remained. Exile walked through, a strange quiet filling the air. The air itself was filled with the scent of death and despair. A breeze passed through, ruffling the fur on his face softly as he came to a stop in the center of the street.
There was a single figure just about ten feet in front of him, large, brown, and panting. It seemed to be hunched over, sounds of gnawing emitted from the creature. The husky sniffed the air as quietly as possible, "Rayne was right..." he spoke softly as images came back to him.
Two figures on either side of the street were perched on top of buildings. Rori and Ace. The two of them watched in utter silence as the beast lurched forward, then stood up at a towering eight feet tall, turning around with a slow growl and facing Exile. Ace moved toward the edge of the roof quickly with intentions of distracting the beast when Rori caught his eye.
Her expression screamed, 'You move and he won't be the one killing you, Ace!' and with that, he hunched back down into his waiting position. "You win this time, but if things get too out of hand I'm going in." he whispered to himself.
Exile stood silently as the beast towered over him, a solid stream of saliva trailing from it's lips as it snarled wildly. Yet, amidst all of that, the images of the past leaked through, changing his view. "You don't want to hurt me, do you?" he asked hopefully. The creature said nothing, only leaned down and sniffed at Exile as he stood still.
A low below came from the monster's lungs as it took on it's full height once again, roaring in rage. Exile shuffled backwards, drawing his weapons and readying them at the face of the other.
"He doesn't remember you, Exile." a spine-tingling voice spoke from behind the husky. "Heel boy." he spoke calmly as he approached, standing next to Exile. "Good to know that his sense of smell is still at it's best though." he said with a slight laugh. The man was wearing a black robe, but from under the hood he wore it was plain to see that he had long silver hair.
"Ma-" Exile managed to get out before he was struck in the gut with a knee.
"No, Exile. Not anymore." he said with a small laugh. "The only one I have left is muzzle. The rest of you are nothing but strays."
Exile struggled to get to his knees, coughing from the blow still, "What? Why?" he asked as he crawled forward, trying to stand back up.
"As you can see, I've changed him. Seeing as my other weapon didn't work, it had too much knowledge, I saw it fit that Muzzle would be perfect for this kind of mission."
"And just what kind of mission is that, Shepherd?" another voice asked as a figure dropped behind the man in the black robe, delivering a fist to the back of his head, but missing as the man in the black robe shifted quickly, grabbing a hold of the other's fist.
"Speak of the Devil..." Shepherd spoke slowly as he drank in the wolf's image once again.
"Not yet, but I'll make sure you're able to speak to him as soon as possible!" Cyber growled, throwing Shepherd from himself with a powerful thrust of his arms. The old man used this to his advantage, however, and flipped backwards in mid-air, landing on one of the buildings lining the street.
This was his chance. Ace sprung up from his position and darted as fast as he could towards the cloaked man, hopping rooftops as he did. "Dammit Ace! Not yet!" Rori yelled from the other side of the street as she began running along her side.
Cyber ran to Exile's side, helping him up just as the large beast that Shepherd had claimed was Muzzle started another roaring fit. "You notice anything strange about your 'Master' there, Exile?" he asked as he pulled the husky to his feet.
"Yes." he coughed out, staggering forward and taking a steady aim at Shepherd from the ground and firing a few shots in his direction, all being dodged easily.
"He's definitely done something to himself..." Cyber spoke under his breath. Their attention soon turned back to Muzzle, a large arm swinging in their direction. The wolf grabbed Exile's arm and quickly dodged the swinging limb. "Let's pay more attention to the problem at hand, deal?" he said, reaching for the pistol he had at hand.
Exile nodded in agreement, taking aim at Muzzle who was pulling his large, muscular arm back to his side with a snarl of anger. "You were never meant to be transformed comrade..." Exile whispered slowly to himself as the terror his friend had become approached them once more. "We can't hurt him." he said, looking over at Cyber quickly.
The wolf sighed, "He's not your friend anymore Exile, you can't take this so lightly. We have no other choice than to take this big bastard down. All he's gonna do is bring harm to himself and everyone around him." The husky's ears bolted themselves to his skull. "Trust me on this one...I know how it feels to destroy someone this close to you..."
Exile shook his head, running to his right and along the sidewalk. "We can still try!" he yelled over to Cyber. Shaking his head, Cyber hopped backwards, taking a few shots at Muzzle's limbs. He'd eventually convince Exile, but apparently not after he received a good beating.
His bullets barely even scratched the monstrosity that bellowed lowly again. "Gotta move!" Cyber yelled to Exile who was now being targeted by Muzzle. "Now!" he screamed as he ran behind the beast and pulled a knife from his pocket, flipping the blade out of the handle and stabbing it into the creature's foot, catching his attention.
Ace hopped over another gap between the roofs of the buildings, Shepherd being on the next one. He Closed his eyes in mid-air, the weightless feeling of being in free-fall allowed him a moment's time to process what he needed to. He needed to gather his energy. Like everyone, he too was an experiment and possessed certain powers as result of his experimentation.
"Shepherd!" he growled as he opened his eyes, flipping for a fancy landing on the roof. "Finally, we meet face to face." he said with a sly smirk lining his maw.
The professor turned around in time to see the look on Ace's face. "I'm quite the popular one these days, aren't I?" he asked rhetorically, tilting his head somewhat.
"Yeah, it would seem that creating abominations is the new fad." Ace replied, a single spark zapping between his fingers.
"Ace!" Rori yelled from the other side of the road, "Please!" she begged. The other wolf did all but pay attention to her cries, circling in a deadly dance with the professor. The two of them paced around in a spherical motion for a moment, waiting to see who would make the first move. Rori was made helpless. She knew if she tried to interfere that Ace would go all in and most likely not come back, but Shepherd was much too powerful for Ace. If she waited where she was, Ace would surely die by the professor's hand.
With a smile and a slight huff, Shepherd disappeared, only to reappear in front of Ace, delivering a kick to his stomach. Being sent backwards from the force of the kick, Ace skillfully flipped from his hands, briefly touching the ground and was back up on his feet. Sparks now making themselves more apparent around his hands, jolting every now and then and making a crackling sound.
"Please Ace, I had a hand in creating you." Shepherd spoke collectively. "You really think you have a chance?" he laughed, "Not even if all of you-" he was cut off by a gunshot. Rori stood on the other building, a pistol in hand, the barrel smoking as he looked at his shoulder. Blood, he had been shot while his guard was down.
Ace realized that this was the time to attack, his arms shooting forward in front of him as he released the lightning that ran through his body towards Shepherd. The blue streams of electricity crackling loudly as they left his limbs. The professor saw the blast and flipped backwards out of it's path. "Can't you do better than the norm, Ace?"
"Ace, get out of there now!" she pleaded to him.
"I can do this Rori, trust me!" he yelled back at her, going in for an uppercut on Shepherd. He missed, the skilled man dodging to the left of his fist and then dropping his own elbow down on to Ace's, a loud snap could be heard as he did. Following up his elbow was his knee, driving straight into Ace's chest and sending him four feet away on his back.
Professor Shepherd smiled triumphantly as he walked over to the wolf who was writhing in pain on the ground. "Poor little Ace." he sighed, speaking his words softly and slowly as he knelt down in front of his face, a sad look upon his. "You know, I really should have put more thought into you. Look what a failure you've become." he said, shaking his head. "It really is a shame..."
More shots rang out from Rori's gun accompanied by screams, "Ace! Get up and run, Ace!" It seemed right then and there that time stood completely still. Rori's vision becoming impaired and yet it was like she was right in front of the silver haired insomniac himself. She couldn't speak, nor move. All she could do was watch as Shepherd stood up before Ace, placing his boot to Ace's face. Trembling beneath the grip of his enemy, Ace knew this was it. He braced himself for what was about to overcome him, death. Looking on at Rori, Shepherd smiled his devilish smile and gave a slight sign of struggle as he began to place pressure on Ace's skull. "Please..." Rori begged in vain.
"Any last words, Ace?" Shepherd asked rhetorically, not actually caring what useless words Ace had left in his arsenal.
"Eat shit." Ace growled. Soon after, a loud crunching sound was heard amongst everyone in the area. The sound of Ace's skull being crushed like a mere melon under the pressure of Shepherd's power.
Silence befell Cyber, no noise other than his own breathing. Muzzle's movements became slower to him, easier to dodge as he looked up at the man on the rooftop, like a silent movie. A disgusting smile overcame the professor's face, a smile that Cyber knew all too well. Although he couldn't quite tell what he had done just yet, he knew that he was too late to stop Shepherd's objective.
Screaming now, Rori fell to her knees, sobbing in anger and sorrow. She beat the cement of the rooftop against her poor little fists until they bled, the stinging pain being blinded by her sheer anger. Taking a deep scattered breath from her heavy mourning she looked across the way through her tears to read Shepherd's lips as they spoke only to her now. "You're next." he said.
"I'll fucking kill you!" she screeched, standing and firing at him until she had unloaded her clip.
"Is that a threat?" Shepherd asked cockily as Cyber dodged the fist of the monstrosity once more, bolting with lightning speed up the side of the building. He still had no idea, but this was his moment. This was one of the only times he had been quick enough to catch the professor off guard, and he was taking advantage of it.
"No, it's a God damn promise!" the wolf growled, a harsh light enshrouding his arm as he delivered a fist to Shepherd's jaw, sending him back a good five feet. The problem being, he was still on his feet. Clenching his jaw, Shepherd began to laugh, looking first at Rori, then at Ace's body.
"A promise, Cyber?" he asked, laughing still. "A promise?" he laughed louder now. "How can one take you seriously anymore? Do you not recall the last promise you made to me? The promise of loyalty? How can anyone count on your promises?"
Cyber growled lowly, his limb still glowing a bright white. Blinding if you looked straight at it. "You've just made a fuckin' death wish Professor Shepherd." he said, anger growing in his voice. He snarled, "And your blood is gonna be the fucking ink!". The wolf was quick to draw his gun, releasing a few shots towards the man as he turned and ran across the rooftops again.
"Muzzle, please! Stop this, comrade!" Exile begged to the larger animal as it lifted a street lamp from it's foundation. "I know you are in there, please, just come out." he pleaded.
Hearing Muzzle's screaming roar, he turned to watch as he wound up with the street lamp in attempt to hit Exile with it, then he turned as his target, Shepherd turned around to face him, a few rooftops away. He flipped the hood on his dark cloak up and smirked that smirk again before snapping his fingers. "Come." he spoke calmly.
The light was dying as Cyber's rage was subsiding. Pain struck his heart as he looked down at the murder site. Ace, he was one of them. One of the first, but surely not the last. There was nothing more of him now, and Cyber was just getting the after effects of it. Like a wave of the tide that had been delayed until it hit the sand just now.
Muzzle stopped in mid-swing hearing the professor's fingers snap together. It was a command, and he obeyed simply by dropping the lamp and stalking off towards his master. The same one Exile had once called Master. The same Master who had just murdered one of his own. The same Master who had created them all.
He sat down in the street, too over taken by all of what had just happened. Muzzle was now a monster, and the professor was a murderer. He shook his head silently to himself, shedding a single tear for what had once been.
They were gone now, Shepherd and Muzzle. All that remained was the sound of sirens in the distance from the destruction they had caused in the city previously and Rori's sobbing. Cyber sat on the edge of the roof, head buried in his arms as he tried his hardest not to scream at the top of his lungs. "I'll kill him..." he muttered to himself as tears burned their way out of his eyes and down his furred cheeks. If he was going to stop Shepherd, he would have to do it before he became indestructible.