Her white teeth flashed in the manufactured lights as she gave off another fake smile. To everyone around her, she looked like she was having a good time talking to everyone who wanted to meet the Tress' daughter and Tress Tech's future heir. To be honest, she hated it and every one of the greedy, brown nosing old men who were not so shy as to break a few child protection laws if they could get away with it. She could just tell by the looks in their eyes, a sinister and selfish look that her minx intuition caught immediately.

'Maybe that's why I like him so much? I don't see that look in his eyes.' Lana thought to herself as she shook the hand of yet another old bureaucrat that snuck more than one look at her breasts.

When they had all finally satisfied themselves with their pleasantries and left her alone, Lana quickly walked over to the waiter carrying a tray of drinks and she took one for each hand. She quickly threw one back and then the next.

"Well, well, well, I can see you're quite the party animal. No wonder he likes you." Another man's voice said and that was the last thing she wanted right now, another guy talking to her that wasn't Relics.

Lana turned around with a forced smile but it quickly turned to genuine when she realized that this man was Relics' foster parent/bodyguard.

"Mr. Mahoney!" Lana said and beamed brightly at him.

"Surprised?" Jason asked and shook her hand like a gentleman and not like he was trying to molest her hand like a perverted old man did earlier.

"A little, I didn't expect to see anyone I knew here." Lana giggled but then it hit her. "Is Relics here with you?" She asked as her tail twitched joyfully and her ears perked up.

"No, I didn't want him to have to deal with these people." Jason said in undertone which was a disappointment to the minx. "No one with half brain should have to deal with these people. All they care about is money."

"Among other things." Lana huffed as she could feel a score of eyes observing her body despite the fact that they'd do some time if they were caught.

Jason looked around and could see what she meant. "Well, beautiful people like us will always be sought after by the inferior." The canine growled sarcastically making the minx purr. "Speaking of Relics, did you know you're all he talks about lately?"

Lana started to go pink around the cheeks and muzzle. "Really? W-What does he say about me?"

Jason smirked. "Oh lots of stuff, things that should go into romantic novels mostly. Either that or some wickedly bad fan-fiction."

Lana rolled her eyes. "What does he say?"

"Oh, just how you're the prettiest girl in the Lylat and that he's absolutely crazy about you." Jason chuckled and watched the minx burn even redder. "You know, if you just made a move…"

"No. I couldn't!" Lana squealed quietly so not to raise a scene. "What if he says no? What would my parents think?"

Jason nodded slowly. "Maybe, but Relics could never say no to the deal of his life. As for your parents, what do they think of him now after he wound up as a splattered mess all over the pavement trying to save a little kid?"

Lana sighed and looked over at her parents who were in the middle of talking to some businessmen, no doubt for contracts and funding for their company. The Phoenix's were there too but Fara somehow managed to weasel her way out of tonight's party. No doubt because she'd eat all the hors d'oeuvres… like last time.

'How she hasn't gained an ounce since freshman year is beside me.' Lana thought a bit jealously since if she so much as had a slice of cake she could feel her buns and thighs shake until she ran a mile and a half.

"They've come around a bit. I caught them talking about inviting him over to dinner soon. Dad was resisting but mom was bringing up a couple of points that he couldn't argue against." Lana shrugged. "Like how having a daughter dating a human would be good for business, and how they might get him to do a promotion or two."

"Is that all they care about? Their business?" Jason asked as he saw Lana was not in the least bit happy with her parents at the moment.

"It can sure feel that way sometimes, but I know they care about me a lot. I just wish they'd be around more often." Lana admitted. "Spending time with Relics really helps, he knows what I'm going through not having anyone around… that was wrong to say. He has it much worse than I do." Lana said trying to retract herself when she realized how selfish it was to compare her suffering to Relics'.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure he feels the same way." Jason reassured. "I don't know if you've noticed but he's something special and I know from just talking to you that you two could make it all the way."

Lana's ears perked up again and she smiled. "Really? Even if he's a human and I'm not?"

"I honestly don't think he cares anymore. Haven't you noticed how much he's changed over the last few weeks? He's like an entirely new person. When we first met, I was sure I was going to have to put a laser between his eyes, now I honestly can't see life without him. Living with him has been a great couple of weeks, I'll tell you what." Jason sighed as he remembered how much trouble they managed to get into and how little of it that Chloe knew about so far.

"I'm glad to hear that." Lana said feeling a tingling sensation run up her tail and to her heart. Jason had put so much into perspective in the last ten minutes then a month's worth of speculation with her friends could have. Relics really liked her as was obvious to see, but now truly confirmed. Maybe things could work out between them after all?

~X~X~X~X~X~

Relics tore his eyes from two of the people he cared most about and answered the radio call. "I'm here, what is it?"

"Six four, do you have the target in your sights?" Sharp scowled.

The human shook Lana and Jason from his mind and searched the party for the intended recipient of a hole in the head. He scanned the entire party but couldn't find a trace of the target.

"No Sharp, maybe you can point me in the right direction instead of letting me play find Waldo in this cluster-fuck of an alien frat party with suits." Relics growled as his scope came back to Lana and Jason. They were talking to a vulpine and panther that Relics immediately recognized as Lana's parents.

"No sign of him yet from our end." Sharp replied with as much attitude Relics was throwing him.

'Then how the fuck am I supposed to find him? Like, forty percent of the party is blocked from my sights. Dumbass.'

"I'll keep looking." Relics lied as his sights kept solely focused on Lana and Jason who were chatting it up.

To say he was a little jealous was an understatement. Relics was growling in his throat like a dog with a bone and his finger was inching towards the trigger while his sights rested on Jason's head.

'You gonna kiss her? I don't think so buddy, she's mine, she's my girl. Do you stay up tossing and turning thinking of her and how special she is to you? NO! BECAUSE YOU DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT HER! YOU BACK OFF BEFORE YOU CATCH ONE WITH YOUR SKULL! Where that came from I do not know. Oh, that's where.' Relics thought with a purely venomous intent to kill as he watched Jason whisper something to Lana making her blush and giggle.

'Just touch her… go ahead and touch her. Make. My. Da- ARGH!'

"Six four we've located the target! Target is moving towards the center of the party. Do you have eyes on him?" Sharp hissed over the radio right into Relics' ear.

"What? Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm," Relics stammered as he moved the sight from Lana's breasts, "I'm on it."

The party seemed to be going well, it was a shame it was about to get crashed. Relics' keen eyes scanned the crowd but couldn't see what Sharp was talking about. He searched high and low until he became frustrated and easily gave up. His sights came back to Lana only to find the target standing with her.

'God damn it you bastard old hound dog! Get away from her.' Relics growled as he tried to get a clean shot of the General that wouldn't put Lana or Jason in the line of fire. Lana and the General were both talking freely, like he wasn't one of the most important men in the Lylat. She had guts and confidence, but that was now putting her in harm's way. If he didn't take the shot, Sharp or one of the other two would.

"Six four here, I can't get a clean shot." Relics reported to the agitated growl of Sharp.

"Who cares about extra casualties? This isn't home; kill anyone and everyone that gets in the way."

His guts churned as they began to acidify. It physically hurt him to think about killing Lana and Jason. The more his sights were on Lana and Jason with an intent to kill, the more he felt like he was going to be sick and throw up his insides out (only now that Jason wasn't "making moves" on his girl).

He watched General Pepper like a hawk waiting for a split second that he wouldn't be lined up with either person he cared about. If he sneezed, if he checked behind his shoulder, if he so much as threw up his head and laughed it was over, but he didn't. It almost felt like he knew, but that was impossible. If he knew Relics was going to be killing him tonight he'd have had him arrested and most likely executed.

"I've got a clear line, I'm going in." Miranda whispered excitedly. "Take out the guards for me hon."

Immediately Relics felt some relief and focused on the guards standing watch all around the party. They were nameless faces that he didn't know; that would lessen the blow of killing.

"Almost there." Miranda giggled with pleasure as she no doubt would take excessive pride in killing Earth's most dangerous enemy. "Alright, I'm-"

Miranda was suddenly cut off as a loud uproar shook the party. The grand windows exploded and rained down glass on the party as swarms of armored soldiers spilled in. They immediately began firing into the crowd towards the General's position. Many partygoers were caught in the cross fire and the bodies began to pile up. The attackers weren't deliberately aiming for them, but neither were they shunning their sights from them. It was clear in a manner of seconds that they were indeed aiming for the General, and they'd soon succeed. What was once a nice party and smooth operation had suddenly gone to shit.

"God damn it. Who the fuck are these clowns?" Sharp shouted as gunshots could be heard on his side. "Abort the mission, Miranda, Cain, six four, pull out now. They're sure to send reinforcements any second now."

Relics made just a twitch to get up but he stopped when he heard a woman scream in pain and agony. His spit turned bitter and knew he couldn't leave, not while Lana was still down there in mortal danger. Relics hunted for her and found that she and Jason were all pinned down with multiple squads closing in. Jason was trying his damnedest to hold them off but he was only one man with a pistol against fully automatic laser guns. All the reinforcements were MIA and Relics figured they were KIA.

Most of the unscathed partygoers had fled the city hall, including the General who was escorted by the remains of his personal guard, and were spilling into the streets so that cleared up the field. Relics spotted his first target, a crazed man running straight at Lana's position behind some thrown over tables. He hesitated for a second as he realized this would be his first ever kill. Still a virgin to murder, he was as nervous as he was afraid of the toll it would take on him to kill.

The man was hauling ass after the General but he spotted the terrified minx. He lifted his gun to her; that was all the motivation Relics needed. With one muscle's twitch the assailant went down with a hole through his chest. The one hole did not stop him and he tried to get up until another pierced his head. Relics shivered with a morbid awareness creeping into his psyche that he killed a person but he was quick to suppress and ignore it. He had to protect Lana; his heart would not be able to bear the burden of the death of someone he loved so soon.

'Line 'em up…' Relics thought as he focused on a rather trigger happy gecko. He squeezed the trigger and got the lizard right in the stomach taking him down but not killing him, instantly at least.

The unwelcomed guests soon realized there was a sniper and they went for cover, but one unfortunate newt wasn't fast enough as Relics shot his leg out from under him, severing it from the knee down. Cornerian technology was something else though; they could replace or return the leg back to its rightful spot, that is, if he didn't bleed out by the time they got him to a hospital.

Jason also took notice of the sniper and realized this was his chance to get everyone out who was unable to escape. He looked to Lana and barked. "Wait here! When I give the signal, get the Hell out of here!"

Lana looked to Jason and nodded smartly and covered her ears as more lasers shot overhead. The canine growled and rushed to a better advantage point but he fell back when a charged shot nearly took off his muzzle. Growling like a monster, Jason pointed his modified blaster at the attacker and let two fly at his target nearly a two hundred feet away. Both were hits and although they only hit the leg and arm, the first shot's charge was more than enough to kill.

Relics saw the accuracy and lethality of the gun and nearly flipped. He thought Jason's gun was some flimsy Cornerian blaster with no merit, and yet it could kill a man just by a flesh wound.

'Looks like he's not just my protector, but also my would be executioner.' Relics thought darkly and took out a vermin that was about to take a shot at his guardian.

Jason ran full sprint to the flank of the pinned down attackers. Hardly a soul dared peek out from cover until the sniper was located. The sniper wasn't the biggest threat as they had completely ignored the highly trained soldier who had snuck around them and caught them exposed.

The German Sheppard took aim and began mowing down the two dozen assassins. With only his supercharged blaster in hand, there was no way he would be able to take all twenty four of them out without getting shot back at. By the time he took five out they had all turned towards him and started firing back. Jason quickly ducked behind a marble pillar and was pinned down by a torrent blaze of lasers and bullets.

"LANA NOW!" Jason roared over the battle. The minx immediately did as she had been told and ran for the exit. Not a single shot flew within twenty feet of her or the others as they made their escape.

Relics licked his lips and had a multitude of targets to choose from now as everyone abandoned their cover to move to a new one out of the crosshairs of Jason. Only too late did they realize they ran straight into Relics'. One by one they fell to the precise aim of the perched sharpshooter. The assailents soon fell into chaos as they could not find cover that would shield them from the sniper and the Cornerian Soldier. As the scrambled for a place to hide, Jason popped right back out and began hammering away at their numbers. They predators had suddenly become the prey and it was a slaughter. They did not discriminate, they only executed those stupid enough not to throw down their arms and lay on the ground. Finally when the last combatant fell and the prisoners were secured, the fight was over.

The human took one last look around to make sure Jason was no longer in danger. When he was satisfied, he let out a sigh of relief. Relics began to compact his rifle just before the reinforcements arrived. This was his last chance to get away as the Cornerians would have the area locked down within a mile's radius. Relics turned to leave and make his escape through the shadows but the Cornerian Army had other ideas. He hadn't even taken two steps before lights shined down on him. The visor dimmed his vision to compensate for the brightness but Relics had to cover his eyes from the harsh glare of a dozen lights.

"Get down on the ground!" A voice ordered in Cornerian from one of the Arwings.

'Oops, I seem to have forgotten my translator. One sec, let me go run home and grab it.' Relics thought before running full sprint the opposite direction.

The hovering Cornerian Arwings moved to cover the ladder well down into the building, but Relics had a rather unconventional exit he was about to utilize. Without hesitating, Relics sprinted right off the ten story building, spreading his arms to balance himself in air. Luckily a passing by hover car broke his fall as he had no idea just how much shock the hydraulics could take.

Relics grunted as he struggled to hold on to the car travelling several feet above ground. Before he could get a hold of something, the soccer mom driving her kits home from a game shrieked and turned sharply, throwing him from the car.

'Fuck, this isn't good.' Relics thought as the ground came screaming at him.

Just before he was about to become a splattered mess all over the pavement (again), Relics managed to flip himself around and landed on his hands and knees with a grace like a cat. The hydraulics in his suit was only able to absorb so much and Relics' legs buckled under the remaining blow. He forced himself to get up and run and the Arwings were hot on his tail.

Relics wasn't stupid though, he knew he wasn't going to be able to outrun one of the most sophisticated fighters in the galaxy so he would have to use his craft. Using the crowds to his advantage, Relics ducked and weaved through him, sometimes throwing them off for a second but with everyone looking at the strange fully armored man; it wasn't long before he was picked out again.

The Arwings would never risk blowing him and the civilians away so Relics was safe amongst them for now. But as the chase went on, ground troops would enter the chase and that would make his escape nigh on impossible. Realizing this, Relics ducked down an alleyway and started running through the cracks of the city but the Arwings weren't going to fall for that.

The human was starting to tire as the chase went on. He had to do something fast or else risk capture which would be disastrous for the mission and his wellbeing. Luckily he came to a bout of sharp turns that he used to his advantage and finally managed to throw his pursuers off the scent. When he was sure they were gone, Relics leaned up against the metal wall of the massive skyscraper, and fought for his breath. All in all, he must have sprinted a good two or three miles before he finally got to slow down.

For a split second Relics almost pulled up the com to radio Sharp but the Cornerians probably had all the networks and frequencies locked down. He was on his own but if he thought about it, he'd been on his own the entire time he'd been on Corneria.

Using the shadows to his advantage, Relics began creeping through the depths of the city, staying out of sight from the birds in the sky. He had managed to get six blocks before he came across his first ground squad. Civilians were being identified with a blue laser that flattened out and ran up and down their bodies. If they were suspected they were taken in for questioning but it wasn't a witch hunt as they had several robots back on base reviewing camera footage and helped pinpoint people of interest.

Relics ducked behind a rounded dumpster and waited for the armed squad to walk by. The smell was nearly unbearable but his nose managed to handle the rank scent long enough for them to pass by. Relics then ran across the street behind them and to the next dark alleyway. No one saw him fortunately and he continued his trek back home. He had no idea where he was supposed to meet his accomplices so back home was his best bet.

He was nearing the outskirts of the city after an hour long game of cat and mouse. He ran like a triathlete but was sure to keep himself always in the shadows. So many times he came close to exposure and capture but fate seemed to be on his side tonight.

'Just thirty more blocks and I'm home free.' Relics told himself in an effort to keep himself going. He was starting to get really tired and very thirsty but he could not stop. Pain was a luxury and life was a requirement. If he stopped now he'd be risking death.

'Just twenty nine now, just twenty-'

"SHIT!" Relics hissed when his lucky streak had come to an end. Once again scores of lights floated above him blinding him momentarily, everyone swearing and cussing in Cornerian for him to get down on the ground.

Not being one who was willing to die at the moment, Relics took off down the center of the deserted street. The Arwings gave chase and their modified guns began firing at him, shooting a hot blue liquid that sparkled and gave off small sparks. Each blob was as big as a basketball and Relics could already tell that getting hit by one would ruin his day so he forced his exhausted body to move even though it had already run a good ten miles tonight.

'I can't keep this up.' Relics told himself as his body struggled to keep the pace and dodge the blue gunk at the same time. 'Have to… find somewhere… I can hide… there!'

The human suddenly made a sharp ninety degree turn and veered right to the wide open apartment complex. As he ran by the frozen civilian, he thanked him for holding the door even though he was just too overwhelmed by seeing a lone vagabond running from nearly a dozen Arwings that were shooting at him.

~X~X~X~X~X~X~

Jason glared at the asphalt before taking a swig of his water. He wasn't even thirsty, just wanted to wash the nasty taste out of his mouth. He had been detained for a good hour now as his superiors tried to sort this mess out. There was no word who it was that attacked tonight, and Jason had yet to see the sniper that no doubt saved his life tonight. He wanted to shake his hand and thank him but there would be time enough for that later.

A commander came by to commend him and started talking about medals and letters of recommendation, Hell, if things kept going the way they were he'd be an officer before his second term.

'All I'd have to do is save Corneria once or twice. Shit, I've already saved Relics and the General.' Jason thought with an attempt at humor but he wasn't really in the mood. He killed twelve people tonight; twelve lives were now bloodying his hands. The canine didn't regret killing them, it was his job as a soldier and he had to protect everyone. What was getting to him was how easily he did it. There was no hesitation, he just aimed, pulled the trigger and repeated until everyone was taken care of.

They took four into custody and one to the hospital but he was losing a lot of blood from his missing leg, the medics were doubtful he'd make it. Aside from Jason's twelve, another twelve laid dead thanks to the sniper. All in all, nine "good" people died and a good twenty were wounded. Could have been worse but it damn sure could have been better. Security needed to be tighter and a lot less dependent on reacting to a threat; there shouldn't be any chance of a threat.

A pair of footsteps alerted Jason of company and so he stood up before chucking his water bottle into the public trash bin fifteen feet away.

"Mahoney." A grim looking vulpine grunted.

Jason was a bit caught off guard to see his mentor here but it figured since he was hired to assist the General in protecting himself and the human. The canine grunted and shook the orange fox's hand.

"McCloud."

James looked around at the mess of authorities and paramedics. "Your mess?"

Jason nodded his head over to the body bags. "They are."

The fox nodded slowly. "You would have made a great addition to the team."

"Too bad I hate flying." Jason commented. "What the General call you in for?"

James chuckled to himself and shook his head. "Always quick to business. Alright then." The vulpine grunted and motioned for the canine to follow. "As good as you are Mahoney; you didn't take out twenty four people, arrest four, and mortally wound another. You had help from a gunman but he's unaccounted for. It's our job to go find him, dead or alive."

~X~X~X~X~X~X~

Relics panted heavily as he ran up the seemingly never ending flight of stairs. He wished he could wipe the sweat off his forehead so it would stop dripping into his eyes, but taking off his helmet would expose him. Around the thirty second flight, Relics stopped and rested on the stairs, catching his breath with deep breaths. He only just managed to get a minute's rest in before a loud crash resounded downstairs. Relics looked over the edge of the railing to see dozens of black armored SWAT came charging up the stairs and in just twenty seconds reached the sixth flight.

"FUCK!" Relics gasped and forced his resentful body forward.

His feet carried him up six more flights before they were only four away. The human stumbled on a stair and barely avoided a blob of electric blob from the Cornerian's assault rifle. Relics hit the deck just before half of the team lit him up while the other half continued up the stairs. He felt a sharp shock and pain run down his leg making it go numb. He screamed and started to belly crawl up the last of the stairs before he reached the next floor. Once there, he darted up and ran into the hallway to escape the attack. He had to hobble through the hallway as the feeling in his right leg had disappeared.

The hallway was deserted and every door he tried was locked. Desperation filled the human's veins and his heavy breathing became quick and thin as he scrambled to find a door. His body flushed cold and he was almost on the verge of losing it.

"I'll be right back sweetie; I'm just going to go get some…" A snow leopard said while looking over her shoulder but then she looked forward and saw the armored man standing in the middle of the hallway, staring at her. She slowly took a step back but screamed when the man came barreling at her.

'Oh my God, shut the fuck up!' Relics thought as he grabbed her and hauled her back into her apartment. She screamed and fought against him but Relics threw her into the corner before she could wiggle free.

"Mommy?" A small snow leopard kit mewed.

Relics looked over to the kit he didn't understand and stomped over to him.

"NO! DON'T HURT HIM!" The mother cried as her eyes instantly flooded with helpless tears.

The kid tried to run but Relics grabbed his arm and drug him over to the corner his mother was in and pushed him over to her. Her arms instantaneously wrapped around her young. She looked up to the trespasser and he held out his hand to them.

'Stay… stay.' He thought hoping they'd obey and not get involved any more than they already were.

A large thud came from the front door and a loud voice shouting orders from the other side. Relics smirked and pushed the living room couch in front of the door before running to the kitchen and went out through the window to the fire escape. He ran down the stairs just as they busted through the door making the family scream but he didn't hear screams of pain despite the multiple shots fired which was a relief.

He ran down the stairs two and sometimes three at a time, holding on to the guard railing to make sure he didn't fall or roll his ankle. A passing by light shined by and he pressed his body against the wall. It must have worked because the Arwing passed right on by and back to its patrol.

The last twenty levels went by unchallenged and he quickly darted through the complex alleyways of Corneria city. He made it another two blocks but would have been so much further along if it weren't for his leg witch was starting to twitch and through his equilibrium off thus making him stumble every so often.

'Fucking leg!' Relics thought and punched his bad leg to try to kick start it but of course that didn't work. Groaning from the numbness and tingling sensation, Relics kept at it, only twenty seven blocks from home.

Once he reached twenty six his leg started to come back to him and he set off in a sprint home. He rounded twenty-fifth before coming to a screeching halt. If he'd taken one more step he'd have fallen off a two hundred foot drop.

"Are you fucking kidding me!" Relics exclaimed as he looked down to the depths of the city. Apparently he was on one of Corneria's elevated building plateaus that gave greater surface area to the city and was all supported by the architectural marvel skyscrapers that the Cornerians had built.

He didn't look too far and saw that a walkway was within reach, but it was guarded and there was no way he was going to get through without a fight. The human licked his dry lips.

"Alright then, have it your way." Relics said to himself before heading towards the barricaded roadblock.

~X~X~X~X~X~X~

"Sir! We've found him!"

James and Jason quickly moved to where the SWAT member was pointing and they both growled.

"How the fuck did he make it past your perimeter?" James snapped.

"S-Sir, we didn't have time to-"

"Shut up. Let's just get down there before we lose him, again." Jason interrupted and jumped out the fire escape to give chase to the Sniper that was only three blocks away and heading to a twenty foot wide walkway with only eight guards stationed. James was quick to follow while half the SWAT team followed him and the other made for the stairs so not to overwhelm the fire escape.

"I can see now why the General called you in. Everyone else is too incompetent." Jason growled as he jumped down the stairs, his tattering uniform fluttering in the wind, his cover long gone.

James smirked to himself as he had to silently agree with him. This wasn't the first time the Army or local police force botched the job and he was called in. He missed a couple kids' birthdays because of it.

"Jason, set your blaster for half power, I don't want you frying him with that hand cannon of yours. We want to try to bring him in alive. If he starts shooting, then by all means." James told the German Sheppard just as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Sixty percent won't kill him." Jason said but instead put it to sixty four. "He'll have a problem walking straight for a week or two though."

James rolled his green eyes as he and Jason sprinted ahead of the slower SWAT members. When they got within two blocks they slowed down because of what they saw.

~X~X~X~X~X~X~

Their backs were turned so now was the best shot he had. Relics rushed the barricade and let out a loud battle cry just as he came within jumping distance. He leapt up into the air and kicked the first of them with both legs, sending him reeling back and to the ground coughing and sputtering as he now had a few broken ribs thanks to Relics' suit giving an extra boost to the hit.

The guards were in shock for a second which gave Relics yet another opening. The closest guard was kicked in the shin, his assault rifle ripped from his hands and the butt of it went right into his bird face. A guard to his left aimed for him but Relics was faster but didn't aim before he fired but thanks to the takedown effect, the two wild shots that nicked his calf sent him down to the ground. In front of Relics a guard had pulled out his gun but the human was too fast and spun towards the shooter and grabbed his firing arm.

Relics tilted him towards one of his comrades and out of surprise the man shot, taking his friend down in the process. The human let grabbed the gun with his right hand and smashed his left elbow into the guard's face. As the man fell, Relics quickly turned the two guns on the two groups on both his sides. Before they could aim their scopes down, Relics fired both guns at them, hitting his marks with both the pistol and rifle.

They all fell screaming in pain as the energized goo shocked and immobilized them. Relics sighed and threw the rifle away but kept the pistol. His way was clear but then something jumped up and bit him.

'Something… BIT ME!' Relics thought as he let out a loud cry of pain. He tripped and rolled along the ground but did not stay down for long. He writhed to his feet despite how hard it was to even feel his body moving. That last shock hurt way worse than the one in the apartments and it was making his HUD static a bit but it still worked.

Pointing his gun at the source, Relics shot back at the legion of SWAT and the two Army looking types leading. His hand eye coordination was still recovering though and his shots went wild but it gave his pursuers something to think about since they all took cover before returning fire.

"FUCK!" Relics shouted and ducked behind a concrete barrier; the environment around him was painted blue in a matter of seconds. Some of the gelatin managed its way over the barrier and gently sprayed him, making the human scream as the goo shocked his chest and arms. His loud screams were overlapped by the bridge being destroyed near the other side creating only the small part that remained. There was no way he'd be able to clear that jump, especially not with a whole SWAT division licking at his heels.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" A familiar voice but incomprehensible tongue shouted. Immediately the Hellfire stopped and Relics thanked the Gods for the respite.

"You have nowhere to go! Come out now or we'll take you by force!" James shouted to the sniper but he might as well have said everything backwards because Relics did not understand a single word he said.

"You won't like the hard way, guy. The hard way includes me shooting you with a hundred percent, not sixty!" Jason shouted despite the fact he owed the Sniper his life. Regardless, he was a soldier first and if ordered, he'd kill his savior.

'Jason!' Relics realized and felt a large cold hole formed in his stomach. Why did it have to be him? If he was captured now by him, Relics just couldn't bear to think of what he'd say. The human had betrayed his trust and tried to start a war with his people, there was no justifying any of that.

There was no other option. Either he jumped and plummeted to his death, or pulled out his sniper and blew his brains out all over the metal walkway and concrete barricade. Surrender was the only path out of this alive. A small tear escaped Relics' eye as he thought of how he got here. If only he'd obeyed Sharp's order and left when he should have, but to have done that left Lana and Jason caught in a firefight.

'Oh God, Lana! What will she think?' Relics despaired. 'I'm like a hero to her, and yet here I am now about to be taken into custody by half the Cornerian Army. God damn it!'

Relics threw out the pistol from over the barricade. He lifted his hands up and slowly got out from round the barricade with his hands in the air. He let out a sigh as the two leaders slowly converged on him, not taking their sights off his skull for a split second.

"Smart move, guy." Jason growled as he and James came closer and closer.

'Fuck, fuck, FUCK!' Relics thought as his foster father and best friend's father came closer and closer. If it were anyone else he wouldn't feel so terrible but it had to be the two people he respected most as men. He felt so terrible that it literally made him sick to his stomach. Despair overtook the human and he nearly broke down crying.

"Jump." A little voice spoke in the back of Relics' head.

'Jump.' Relics resounded before lowering his hands.

"Whoa there, hey! Step away from the ledge!" James said as Relics took a step back and then another and another until he was teetering on the brink. He lowered his arms and looked at the two men for a second before whispering.

"I'm sorry."

"NO!" Jason shouted and tried to catch him in time but he was too far away. The sniper fell over backwards, seemingly so at ease with dying.

Jason's shouts became quieter and quieter as the wind drowned him out. The fear of falling was overtaken by the shame he felt. He wasn't strong enough to face him like a man and was now taking the coward's way out. Relics sighed as he picked up rushing faster and faster towards the ground. Death was his only reward for the lies he'd spun and the love he'd thrown away.

As he fell, his thoughts turned to those he was now leaving behind. Jason and how much he was starting to revere him like a father, Chloe who gave him the greatest gift he'd ever received, Fox who took him under his wing day one, Fara who always brightened up his day, Bill who was annoying at times but always a blast to be around, and Lana….

Lana was the person he cherished the most. Her mere presence made his blood warm and his heart quicken. For her he was willing to risk his life, for her he was willing to die for, for her he maybe would have betrayed his own kind. Something about her made him so compelled to her from the start from the moment their silver and ruby eyes locked. She held such an enchantment over him that it was hard to describe. But describe it he could, accept it was something else. Yet as the ground came spiraling towards him, the reality of it all finally sank in. The truth came out and he was unashamed.

"I love her." He said before he came to a final stop.