They headed out at dusk in Jim's car trying to be as discrete as possible with so many people packed into the small vehicle.

They arrived at the location listed on the printout which was in the industrial section of the city and spotted the building a block away. It seemed new but someone definitely tried to make it blend in with the surrounding warehouses.

"Melfina and Jim, you two watch the car, Suzuka you watch them", Gene commanded. Suzuka seemed mildly annoyed but obeyed without comment, "Sorry you have to sit this one out Suzuka, but I'd like to see what Nick can do and I need someone to watch these two"

"Don't apologize, I understand." Was all she said

"Geeze Gene, you treat us like kids! I think we can handle ourselves", Jim said getting all flustered

"Maybe he treats you like a kid because you ARE one", Nick retorted in Gene's defense

Jim stuck his tongue out and the others laughed. They mood seemed strangely high spirited for them to be doing a job that involved murder. But the three turned and headed toward the warehouse.

"If this smuggler has anything of real value we should expect to see a lot of thugs, so be on guard." Gene warned

Soon they were only a few yards from the building. The three others watched from the safety of the car back in the shadows.

"Well this place has hideout written all over it", Nick scoffed

"No joke there", Aisha said walking up to the door. She casually kicked it down as if it belonged to her and walked in.

Gene and Nick filtered in quickly behind and took a moment to let their eyes adjust to the dim light. Gene had the caster gun ready. They were in a large entrance room that had two double steel reinforced doors that must have been at least half a foot thick. Aisha tried that same entrance technique she used on the first door only to make a dull thud sound.

"Yep, that thing ain't goin nowhere", She said jumping around rubbing her foot

"Wait", Nick said from behind them, "Make me mad"

"ARE YOU NUTS?" Gene yelled, "You'll rip us to shreds!"

"Not that mad, just enough to give me a boost... Punch me!"

"I can't do that!"

"Ok fine" He turned to Aisha,"You know Aisha, the Ctarl Ctarl have to be one of THE DUMBEST races I know of! As a matter of fact they can't really even fight either..."

Aisha turned bright red and Gene had to wonder if Nick knew what he was getting himself into.

"YOU!.. YOU!... RRRAAAARGGG!" Aisha nailed him square in the face and he doubled over.

The change took seconds. In no time, a hulking figure rose from the floor. Aisha forgot her rage and backed against the wall as did Gene. The beast was truly terrifying in every detail. It approached the door and lifted a monstrous fist and pulled it back and with an almost graceful but effortless swing sent the doors flying far into the open warehouse beyond. Gene only heard the clang of the doors landing as he saw the creature follow the path that the doors took. In seconds some sort of alarm went off and he could hear shouts of many men emanating from the other room. He didn't dare look through the door for fear of looking directly into the beast's eyes.

Aisha sat likewise on the opposite side of the room listening to the sound of chaos being released. The sound of metal being torn hurt her ears. Then there came another sound, it was a thousand times worse. It sounded like a howl from the depths of Hell. Its shrill ending tore at the heart and rattled the spine. She heard one of the thugs yell, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THIN...? His voice cut off suddenly as he yelled and came flying through the doorway of the entrance room and out the front door with the force of a cannon ball. She could feel the walls shake and nearly buckle. Series of gun shots went off at an alarming rate but one by one cut out as if the shooter either gave up or was "dealt" with. After a few minutes of the tempest in the warehouse, nearly all of the noise stopped. All that was left was a shuffling noise that came closer. Thoughts raced through Aisha's mind, "Did they kill him, I shouldn't have hit him and maybe he'd still be ok or is it the beast still looking for victims?"

She sucked up her fear and stood up, and got ready to pounce on the source of the noise. It was almost there. Closer. Closer. It's here! She lunged only to tackle the normal Nick.

"No Aisha! I'm sorry I said those things! Really!" He pleaded.

"Geeze Nick! You could have gotten yourself killed, what were you..." And as she got off she noticed he was bleeding rather badly

"Gene, we gotta get him outta here now!"

Gene came over and examined him

"No I'm fine" He resisted, as Gene tried to dress the wounds, but Nick shoved him back lightly, "No really, look", He pointed to a bullet wound and to both Gene and Aisha's surprise, it was nearly healed over.

"Wow kid! Yer really full of surprises, you know that?" Gene said, genuinely amazed

Nick chuckled and turned toward Aisha again, "Really Aisha, I didn't mean what I said. I just needed you to...", but Aisha cut him off.

"Forget it, no harm done... well not to us" That prompted him to look into the next room.

"Aisha" She said

"Yeah?"

"Get the others"

She did what she was told and soon returned with the other three who were worried about what was going on inside.

"It sounded like some kind of war zone in here" Jim said wide-eyed, "There were gunshots, that guy flew through the front door, and then there was that roar! The whole building was shaking!"

"Check it out for yourself", Gene pointed through the doorway where the steel doors once stood.

Aisha followed Suzuka, Jim, and Melfina and for the first time saw the interior of the warehouse. All four emitted a gasp at the same time. The lights flickered on and off throwing shadows off the debris that lay everywhere. There were at least two dozen bodies strewn about, each was well armed with high caliber weapons. Shell casings from the guns littered the floor. Live electrical wires hung haphazardly from the ceiling spraying sparks across the concrete floor. In one corner of the room, there were two jeeps parked in front of a rear garage door. One of which had been torn in two and it's other half laid on the opposite side of the room. The second had merely been crushed. There were a few pieces of machinery that had been battered into thousands of pieces. Fresh holes had also been punched into the sheet metal ceiling that was at least two stories high. The four stared at the wreckage for a minute before Suzuka finally asked.

"What on earth did you do?"

Gene put up his hands defensively, "uh-uh, not me, look at him", he pointed to Nick who lay propped against a wall. Aisha was busy trying to clean him up.

Nick gave a weak smile, "I'm gonna sleep good tonight" and with that he passed out.