Whoo GhostNobody here saying a big thank you one and all for the welcome back, it meant a lot to me that you guys welcomed me back with such open arms and such love, trust me when I say it's been something I've needed for a very long time and I'd almost utterly forgotten what joy of entertaining others felt like.
I'd like to convey a long overdue congratulations to two of my long term readers Doug and Sandy on the birth of their daughter and i even with my crazy vocabulary do not have the words to express the sense of joy and profound honor I feel knowing that you named her after learning that you guys named her after Tik Eleth, I just hope that she has big Tik's love of life and fire of spirit, though not her temper or you may very well have your hands full lol, {I hear the roofs of houses are great places to deal with such things lol} either way thank you guys so so so much and pass along my love such as it is.
Also I'd like to announce that I have a new Beta trialling with me at the moment, The Chimeran Hybrid, so I'd like you guys to wish them all the best on this endeavor, I'm still trying to work out if their crazy brave or just lain crazy wanting me as an Alpha, something I can only akin to being given a thousand paper cuts, then rolled in salt while being sprayed with vinegar and petrol and then set on fire, all the while being possession of the mother of all migraines and hangovers all in one while periodically shooting staples into your scrotal sack.
So wish them luck people their going to need it.
So with one last big thank you to you all for your continued support, here is chapter 11 and this is once again GhostNobody signing off and saying on with the show...
Chapter 11: Now You See Me.
"God this place is miserable" Picasso said sweeping back and forth across the wide subway tunnel, his movement sensor constantly clicked away on his helmet sending pulses out before him, oddly he wasn't even picking up any rats.
"Be glad you have that helmet on and you can't smell it" Zachee said wrinkling up her snout at the obviously nasty smell from the sewer pipes that connected onto the subway at various points venting the gasses into the now silent and incredibly eerie tunnels that they'd been forced down into through a underground access point at the hospital.
"Yeah I second that, well look on the bright side, I bet it smells that bad down here that it would even cover up Tanks farts" Ice said, Picasso laughed softly,
"Nothing on any planet anywhere smells bad enough to cover those up, I mean come on when it smells that bad that it keeps setting off the chemical weapons alarms not even a sewer is going to do it" he replied as he turned to sweep a right hand tunnel leading off this main semi circular tunnel they were walking down.
"Is there something medically wrong with this Tank person?" Zachee asked curiously, Ice laughed,
"Yeah chronic haggis addiction and before you ask me what the fuck a haggis is imagine pure vileness tainted with the aromatic delights of baby shit and a touch of vomit and your somewhere close" she said, Zachee looked utterly repulsed,
"A-A-And your people eat this?" she asked looking like she might actually vomit herself, both Picasso and Ice laughed in unison,
"Hell no, but Tank...Tank is a special case" Picasso said.
Ice looked at Zachee, "been meaning to ask you, what did you manage to find out about this thing that's causing all this death? Is it a virus? A bio-weapon? What?" she asked,
Zachee looked at her with a hard expression, "hard to believe that it could be anything but really, yes it's a bioweapon but it's unlike anything I have ever seen before, it's got the best qualities of all the main three infectious groups, the adaptability and mutation potential of a virus, the resilience and hardiness of a bacterium and longevity of a fungi, it's truly incredible and so amazingly elegant, just like a virus it can adapt and mutate both it's own and the DNA of the person it's infected, just like a bacterium it's resilient to changes in temperature and climate, it also resists all known antibiotics, then just like a fungus it can transmit itself through a verity of methods, from airborne spore which how we believe it got released in the beginning, it's the only thing that explains how it popped up in so many places all at once like it was being carried on the breeze, but now it's mutated to a saliva and blood borne transmission vector as well, that's not to say that it still can't be transmitted by spore. Zachee said talking very fast and with a great deal of animated had gestures as she talked about the nature of virology, obviously her speciality.
"Those growths that look like coral on their skin?" Ice asked, Zachee nodded enthusiastically
"Yes! Are you a fellow virologist?" she asked and Ice shook her head,
"Nope just your plain ol field surgeon and doctor" Ice said, Zachee looked doubtful and rightly so, Ice had a great many medical degrees and specialities, she could do so many things, from treat colds and conditions to perform full blown surgery under full blown battle conditions.
"Well be very careful of those growths, try not to shoot them if you can avoid it, they release a shower of spores that will cover a fifteen foot area around them, you breath them in and...wel your fucked to put it nicely, won't turn you as quickly as a bite directly into the blood stream, but it will take you down just as well as a bite, hell a bite is a mercy by comparison because at least they claim you quickly, the spores not so much" Zachee said.
Suddenly their comms burst into life and they stopped making Zachee look at them in confusion as she couln't hear Inferno's message but as soon as they did a look of pure joy passed between them, "He's alive! Reaper's alive!" Picasso exclaimed and Ice grinned,
"Tougher than that meatloaf Inferno makes that one, should have known if anyone could survive out there on their own it would be him, but what was that she said about traveling with a Xeno?" Ice said, Picasso shrugged,
"I've always suspected that Xeno's are a lot smarter than people give them credit for, maybe it's realized that's best chance is with him to help it fight, it makes a kinda sense" he said, both Ice and Zachee looked at him in confusion.
"How do you mean?" Zachee asked,
"Well have you ever heard of the clan Mason?" Picasso asked, Ice nodded but Zachee shook her head,
"They live out towards the outer rim of the know galaxy, a mixed Yautja clan that is made up of both Humans and Yautja but from what I"ve heard they're supposed to either have Xeno's living among them or they tame them or something, point is they've found someway to co-exist with them even fight along side them, they were instrumental during the hybrid wars as was that Guardian core of theirs" he said,
"Guardian core?" Zachee asked and Picasso's face lit up while Ice sighed,
"Now you've done it, your going to be praying for the infected to attack in about half an hour, it's one of his favorite subjects" Ice said with a grin, Picasso just sniffed and shot her a look,
"Ignore the heathen among us fair Zachee she has no taste for the finer points of either military history or of interspecies exchanges" he said causing Ice to snort a laugh,
"Your kidding right? Do you know how many time's I've had to treat Tank on the quiet for scale burn from forgetting to use protective lubricants to keep his skin from drying out as he keeps forgetting her scales absorb the moisture right out of him, plus you have no idea how many times I've had to clear Inferno's search history in the medi comp and trust me as open minded as I am some of those searches even made me blush, plus every single one of them contained the words human and male, so don't tell me I don't know the finer points of interspecies collusions, I just happen to prefer my own kind, it's not a slight on any other race, it's just the way I am" Ice said.
Picasso and Zachee both looked at her in a mixture of curiosity and fascination, but then he just shrugged knowing full well he'd get her to say no more on the subject, "So anyway about the Guardian core?" Zachee asked , Picasso nodded smiling as he did,
"Ahhh yes the Guardian core, a fascinating group to say the least, an elite group of soldiers made up of predominately Human and Yautja hybrids and more than a few what they call Dream Walkers and boy are those lot a fascinating group, like an elite within an elite, shrouded in the deepest of mystery, the Yautja revere them as living legends, but they are one part in awe and equal part scared of them and in my book anything that makes a Yautja scared is something to treat with the greatest of caution and respect" he said.
Zachee looked utterly fascinated by this, "So where did they come from?" she asked as they continued to move,
"Well not a lot is known of the clan Mason themselves, they're a real secretive bunch to say the least, but what is known are the names of the founding members, Jack Mason a legendary human special forces soldier kidnapped from earth by a rebellious clan of Yautja bad bloods, they wanted incredibly strong prey to hunt and they took him to a world they holding as their own private hunting reserve, that's where he met a Yautja huntress Tik Eleth, daughter of the Shadow Claw clan, together they escaped that world leaving a trail of bad blood corpses in their wake, but that's when things get fuzzy, other than a well documented trial of their son Ryan Mason after being taken from the very same world by one of the clan Arbiters and then proceeding to take on a trial by combat and emerging victorious and also proclaimed as a Dream Warrior he left that ship both vindicated and with a rather large group of Yautja rebels in tow and if legends are to be believed three tamed Xenomorph queens" he said.
Zachee looked utterly amazed, "He tamed three queens!?" she exclaimed and he smiled,
"If the trial records are to be believed and given I've watched the holo vids and donn't believe them to have been faked yes, Dream Warriors are quite something, they fight pretty much exclusively for the Guardian core of the clan Mason and from what I understand both father and son are or were both Dream Warriors so it makes sense that they would start a training program of some kind, frighting really when you think about it" he said,
Zachee tilted her head and gave him a look that even in the perfect darkness of the tunnel made her pretty eyes glitter, what was it about Scalathor women? Moodstone could do the very same thing to Tank with just a simple look, she just looked at him and those pretty eyes of hers could turn him to a bumbling pile of quivering jelly.
Ice often wondered if they had some sort of pheromone they could use to entice males, she'd heard a true plethora or tales of the ways they could use their horns to get their males to behave themselves.
Mind you to be fair Tank did have wiles of his very own, she'd seen the way that her tail swished when she caught him stoking his beard, mind you Ice could sympathise with her on that one, Tank was a rather handsome man, not exactly up to Reaper's level but what he lacked in the subtle beauty that Reaper possessed, he made up for in primal masculine presence and he was a gentleman.
By the pretty smile that now lit her comrade's face he rather enjoyed her rapt attention, "How so?" she asked,
"Well they have the best of all worlds my dear, human ingenuity, Yautja strength and discipline, the best training that both worlds can provide and then throw into the mix whatever it is that make the Dream Warriors so powerful and unpredictable and you have a serious mix, I read the reports of these warriors fighting on the font lines during the hybrid wars and the tales of the soldiers of all races that fought along side them, they are said to be able to inspire those around them with such incredible courage as to face down hordes of enemies with a smile on their faces, to fight with such confidence and skill that they were near invincible, they were known as the knights of space, touched by the gods and blessed to the point that more than one report of the battles of the clan leaders and their children reference the very gods themselves fighting alongside them arm in arm like equals, can you imagine it? Fighting alongside a goddess like Paya? Don't exactly know if I truly believe it or whether it was some sort of mind trick done by the Dream Warriors to give their comrades the courage to fight, but what ever they did it worked, they were able to scatter the evil, hell the tales say that they are still out there even today hunting, fighting to kill this so called darkness wherever it hides to prevent another hybrid war and thank the gods for that" Picasso said.
Zachee looked both confused and amazed, "So you believe them? The tales of the Hybrid wars I mean? That they were started by some sort of supernatural supreme evil trying to tear the races apart to plunge the entire universe into chaos?" she asked and Picasso smiled a rye smile in his helmet,
"So you have read the tales" he said with mirth in his voice causing her to flinch with embarrassment as he caught her out, she sighed and nodded,
"Some of them, but I believed them to be mostly fairy tales, tales that mothers tell their children to give them hope, hope of great heroes and legendary battles, of warriors who rose from nothing to walk into the very heart of hell itself to fight for us, all of us, all races every where, I simply thought they were tales to try and inspire unity among the races, so that we judge only as we find rather based on preconceptions" she said.
Picasso grinned broadly as he swung his gun from left to right as they emerged into a rather large underground station, "And I'd say they did that rather wonderfully now didn't they? I mean look at the universe now, Felenis married to humans, Scalathor the same, hell I even hear that Jack and Tik's legendary love for one another shone so brightly on the battle field that it actually birthed a new Yautja tradition, what was it called now..." he said looking thoughtful as he peeped up onto the darkened and empty subway platform that was bereft of the slightest sign of life but for a bit of litter here and there.
"Yautja Ooman Kv'var-de" Ice said and Picasso glanced at her with an eyebrow raised, she shrugged,
"It was one of the phrases I happened to notice in Inferno's search history, roughly translated it means Yautja human hunter and it refers to a new Yautja law which was agreed with humanity right after the hybrid wars ended allowing a hunter or huntress to declare before their clan their wish to hunt a human for a mate without fear of reprisals from their clan" she said, Zachee laughed and they both looked at her curiously,
"I've heard of that law and you missed out a rather important part, the part that allows the hunter or huntress to petition the human's family for the right to marry them or to challenge them directly to a dual with victory meaning they earn the right of claim, only the Yautja could come up with a law like that" she said with a rather bitter note in her voice,
"I believe it was done to quell the fear of the clans that so many of their numbers were going to desert them and try to join the clan Mason in order to gain access to humanity, so they created the law in order to protect themselves from such severe losses, though from what I hear quite a few still defected anyway" she said as Picasso clambered up onto the concrete before turning around and first helping Zachee up and then her.
Picasso looked around the platform and that's when he noticed the blood, there were tracks around the platform floor and numerous foot prints of a verity of sizes including Xeno claw prints.
"Ummm I think we should fuck off very rapidly from here" Ice said, Picasso nodded a very enthusiastic agreement,
"Take point Ice your gun is easier to swing around in the tight stairwells than mine" he said and she nodded without hesitation and moved ahead of the group and Picasso steered Zachee into the middle while he walked backwards with his smartgun swinging through very narrow arcs so the whole stairwell was covered as they ascended through the darkness to the surface.
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"I'll not ask ye again laddie, what the flying fuck are the Guardian core doing here on New Britania?" Tank growled, T'Sall Jack looked him up and down and then he gave him a rather open smile with his fleshy mandibles,
"Could ask you the same thing Spirit now couldn't I?" he replied in a surprisingly soft voice, as he spoke he tilted his head as his smile widened slightly before quicker than any of them he could see he spun on the spot to face Whisper who had silent been making her way around to his back using the shadows of the room thy found themselves in to her advantage, the swiftness of his movement sent his dreadlocks whipping around like a thick coil of rope as they were all tied together into single piece.
His swift movements set them all on edge and Whisper lept backwards hissing at him as she regained herself, he simply smiled at her without saying a word before turning back to face tank again, this was obviously both a display and a warning, one that said 'I see you and I know what your doing, don't fuck with me I am not as weak as I seem' one that Whisper definitely heeded.
Tank steeled himself again after the surprise, "We're here to try and find out what happened here and to rescue any survivors" he said, T'sall nodded approvingly,
"Then it seems our intentions here are aligned somewhat, I believe we should join forces, personally I believe we could use all the help we could both get here" he said, Tank glanced at Moodstone and the at Whisper, he smiled seemingly sensing the unspoken words that were passing between them, "Look I know your kind don't trust others easily and I'll be blunt it's a trait we share and with good reason on both sides, but I would my hope my actions in aiding you against the horde out there would lend credence to my actions and to my intentions, I mean you no harm and I would hope you mean me none as well, I have heard a good many tales of the Spirit teams and all of them portray you as fearless and honorable warriors, I do hope our intelligence is not flawed" T'sall said glancing at each one of them in turn.
Tank glanced at the two girls and both gave almost undetectable nods of affirmation, "Aye laddie your intel is good and to be fair it pretty much matches what we've heard about your lot as well, though to be fair most of us were beginning to believe that ye lot were naught but a myth, disbanded after the war" Tank said and T'sall smiled broadly now,
"Disbanded no, found our job changed somewhat, our sect leader saw this coming, so while our great Matriach Tik took those of us without the gift and reformed them into the Guardian Hunter core, sworn to stand in defence of both our own people and all those who need us, our great Patriach and his son took those with the gift and reformed us into the Guardian Seeker core, our job is to scour the universe and hunt down the agents of chaos, remnants of the great creeping darkness that caused the war in the first place, many of them escaped into the universe and even now plan and scheme and plot to destroy the great bastions of all the great races, trying desperately to fulfill their dark masters plans" he said with such passion and venom in his voice that it visibly chilled and awed them.
"And what is that plan laddie?" Tank asked, T'sall shrugged,
"I don't know the in's and outs of it, but what I do know is that their end game is simple, every race everywhere either wiped out or on their knees as slaves and we cannot and will not let this happen and so we hunt and we kill these agents where ever we find them, that is why I am here, our great Patriach Lord Jack Mason for who I am named being a descendant of his son Lord Ryan and his mighty wife Lady Shena Black Crest sent me on a mission to this sector have sensed the presence of a great evil here, I think he would have come himself but i do believe Lady Tik might have just very well skinned him alive if she was forced to put yet another wedding anniversary on hold and trust me when i say you do not want to piss off our great Matriach" he said with a rather fond and tender smile on his lips and mandibles.
The Spirits all looked at one another and grinned, "Sounds like our Inferno would fit right in with them lot" Tank said, Moodstone laughed and nodded,
"Yeah like a match made in the heavens, sounds like this Tik would would have quite a few words of wisdom for her" Moodstone said with a smile,
"I believe she'd pass on a life time of knowledge and experience for the answer to one simple question" Whisper said in her incredibly soft voice and they all turned to look at her including T'sall like somehow he instinctively knew that her speaking made her worth listening to.
"Oh and what's that lassie?" Tank asked and now for the first time in quite a while she cracked a smile,
"How to get into Reapers pants without using force of course" she said and both Tank and Moodstone roared with laughter which seemed to upset the neighbors who resumed their desperate banging on the blast door making them all flinch.
"I believe we should possible resume this conversation at a safer and less crowded location" T'sall said and they nodded,
"Agreed laddie, got anywhere in mind?" Tank asked fingering his weapon testily, T'sall smiled knowingly,
"I just might, follow me" he said and with that he turned and walked right towards Whisper who backed up a little in surprise, "Excuse me fair lady may I pass?" he asked, she looked up at him in surprise and nodded mutely with wide eyes, Tank snorted,
"Fair lady!? Oh that is a good one! Fuck if he saw or smelt our Whisper on bloody curry night he's not only see the meaning of silent but deadly but he'd realise the only thing fair about her is the color her farts turn yer hair as they strip the bloody color out of it" he said making Whisper scowl and growl at him as he laughed heartily, T'sall scowled at him, "In my clan we are raised to respect our females, i would dare you to say such a thing even in the jest in which you both meant and delivered the remark to one of the females of my clan, then you would know the meaning of the ooman quote 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' that and you'd find out why we have such good dentists on my world, a true gentleman does not insult a lady especially one as fair as her" T'sall said and with that he turned and passed right by Whisper without a second glance so he didn't see her mouth hanging open as he pulled what appeared to he a hidden leaver behind a console.
A series of quiet whirs and clicks issued from behind the wall and T'sall pressed a spot on the wall causing it to move back and reveal a hidden passage built into the wall, "VIP escape route, every place like this has them these days" he said and with that he headed into the tunnel, Tank shook his head after being schooled and snorted, "Gotta admit, I like that kid, he's got brass balls the size of fucking melons so he has" he said following behind him trying to squeeze into the tunnel, Moodstone followed after him pausing momentarily by Whisper.
"Close your mouth dear your catching flies oh and get your coat, you appear to have pulled" she said with a sly grin and before Whisper could make a protest silent or otherwise Moodstone was gone into the tunnel.
The tunnel was narrow and it was obvious by the way that he navigated the twists and turns not to mention the sub tunnels that ran off it that T'sall knew it well, it was like he was following a map in his head or something, the three Spirits struggled to keep up at first but once they learned to just go with it they were able to keep pace with him and eventually they reached a wall just like the one they'd entered through.
T'sall halted and opening a small metallic red box he flipped a small switch within that opened locks to the hidden door with a series of audible clicks.
"We're here, the only place that I've managed to clear out so far" he said as he stepped through the wall come door and into the room beyond it, the Spirits followed and they all halted realizing that they appeared to have walked out into a personal residence by the shape of it and rather an expensive one by the look of it.
"Welcome to the home of the Scalathor ambassador and his family, all sadly deceased I'm afraid to report, but his loss is our gain in this instance" T'sall said sweeping his arms out to gesture at the huge marble lobby like reception area with its white marble floors and walls, not to mention columns running from ceiling to floor.
"Must be nice to be a member of the one percent" Moodstone said turning on the spot scanning around with her weapon as she turned, but the pile of bodies in the corner of the lobby that all appeared to have been killed by a Yautja plasma caster gave credence to the face that T'sall had cleared the place out.
"Don't need all this fancy shit, only two pretty things I need are right here with me" Tank said gruffly obviously not impressed by the opulence that he found himself surrounded by,
"Oh? And what are those then?" T'sall asked,
Tank grinned inside his helmet, "My two ladies, Bertha and Moodstone, get either of them fired up and watch the sparks fly!" he said with enthusiasm as Moodstone ran her hand over his back as he hoisted the huge plasma minigun up to show it off, T'sall gave sly smile and suddenly from behind his head two metallic curved discs which turned out to be eye pieces flicked out and over his his eyes and right on queue two rather sleek looking plasma casters popped up on either of his shoulders, but these weren't like the ones that Inferno used, they had no gimbals connecting them to him, Infact they didn't appear to have any connection to him at all and just seemed to hover off his his shoulders like they were on a maglev system, but they turned with his head and hummed slight with charge.
"Whoa! What are those!?" Moodstone asked, T'sall grinned as he turned to look at her his eyes now hidden behind the curved metal that looked like a cross between a half mask and shades and they had to admit they made him look cool.
"Series 6 Dream Warrior series plasma casters, developed by our great Matriach and her husband our Partiach for use by the Guardian Seeker core, they have complete 360 rotation in every direction not to mention we can use them like drones" he said holding out his hand only for the casters to fly down silently to hover off his hands, "Means I can do this" he said drawing two plasma pistols in his large but slender and dextrous hands while the casters moved into an orbit of him, "They require such focus to use that they can only be handled by one of my kind" he said proudly as he went through a series of kata with the guns and the casters adopted a verity of positions around him, "More damage, less shots" he said with a grin as the eye pieces retracted and the caster's returned to their mountings on his shoulders.
Tank nodded as his inner gunsmith was unleashed and Moodstone could already see him tinkering with them in his mind's eye, god she loved this man of her's he was so easily pleased, give him either a good gun to tinker with or her or on his birthday both and he was a very happy human indeed.
"Hmmm looks like a series eight anti grav lifter unit, combined with some kind of cerebral reflex unit, impressive kid, real impressive" he said a little bit of awe creeping into his voice.
"Ohhh you've done it now T'sall he'll be asking you questions for hours, he'll want to know the ins and out's of a Xeno's arse about those things" Moodstone said playfully, T'sall seemed to observe the dynamic between them with a smile,
"I do not mind, our Patriach has respect for your teams and their capabilities, we're not so different at all and there is no one I would rather seek assistance from, so what are a few questions between comrade and trust me when I say I will have more than a few for you too" he said, this made Tank growl softly but nod in appreciation.
"Our leadership say the same about you guys, though we don't know much about you we respect what you guys are capable of as we've seen the results" he said, T'sall nodded,
"Well guys if your quite finished with the love fest here we need to report in and I really think we should swap intel as well" Moodstone said, Tank growled and nodded,
"Yeah ok, one thing I got to know though, do you guys work with Xeno's I remember reading somewhere that the Guardian core has Xeno's in it" Tank asked, T'sall looked impressed at this and nodded.
"Indeed we do, though predominately descended from three major hives within the clan, more joined later on when they heard about what we stood for, but the majority of our Xeno numbers came from the hive of King Cortez and Queen Zara with more coming from the two other major hives on our home world, though you can always tell Xeno's from our world, their easily distinguishable by their refusal to infect any sentient species, they make great soldiers and make up the vast majority of our defense army and assault squads, nothing strikes fear into the hearts of our enemies more than a drop ship full of combat hardened and highly trained armored Xeno's being dropped right on top of them, especially when they have a team of Guardian core with them or just a single Guardian Seeker operating in their Dream Warrior capacity" T'sall said proudly.
The three Spirits looked at one another, "Yeah fuck that shit for a bag of chips, i think if someone dropped a ship full of armored Xeno's on my head I'd shit my britches" Tank said and T'sall laughed,
"And I wouldn't blame you my friend I can't imagine anyone's idea of paradise being a load of angry Xeno's being dropped on your head, well unless your Xenosexual of course in which case you'd probably die very happy" he said with a soft chuckle, all three of them looked utterly shocked,
"Xenosexual? That's a thing?" Moodstone exclaimed in surprise and T'sall grinned very brightly indeed,
"Oh yes very much so and the Xeno's on my world are very partial to humans in particular, I don't know why but they seem to feel some sort of kinship with your kind, especially the females and most definitely the Queens, the males seem to be more attracted to Yautja especially the Praetorians, though there are one or two who like humans or even other races, we don't discriminate at all on my world, all are free to love whom they like" T'sall said.
The three Spirits nodded in agreement and Tank looked at Moodstone softly, T'sall caught it an he smiled at them both, he also caught Whisper looking at him and he smiled at her causing her ears to twitch furiously onside her helmet and her tail to swish with embarassment and he grinned, "On my world we are taught from nd early age that attraction is nothing to be ashamed of and is as natural as breathing" he said causing her twitch even more as she noticed that both Tank and Moodstone were staring at her,
"Just be glad Spike is not here right now or you'd never hear the end of that one" Moodstone said,
"Hmmm" Whisper said softly, T'sall just watched them curiously, then he broke the moment by gesturing them to follow him and lead them to a large grand staircase that led up to the second floor and then onto the third after it doubled back on itself, their footfalls seemed to echo even in their stealth enhanced boots, T'sall didn't seem concerned but the Spirits training and discipline kicked in, the four of them moved to the highest point of the house.
"The bedrooms are up here and there are twelve of them so make yourselves at home, I think this is as good a HQ as were likely to find to operate around here" T'sall said gesturing to the heavy dark wooden doors that peppered both sides of the painting lined corridor, Moodstone opened one gingerly and what they found beyond it made all three of their mouths fall open, it was a plush bedroom with thick shag carpeting and a massive four poster bed dead centre of the room.
A large smile slowly cracked over Moodstone's face, "When we get a chance me and you are trying that thing out if I have to horn lock your beard and tie your fit human ass to those posts" she said looking at Tank, he chuckled softly,
"I'd love to see you try missy" he said with a challenging smile,
"You are so on lover human" she said grinning, they both heard Whisper groan,
"Middle of the zombie apocalypse and that's all you to can think of?" she groaned softly,
"On my world we're taught that you take every chance you can to express your love for the one you love, because you never know when your time is going to punch in and to us love left unexpressed is the cruelest fate to stand before Paya and explain" T'sall said in a very matter of fact voice, she looked at him curiously, this male was a very interesting one to say the least.
"But it's not the views inside that made me choose this place, it was this" he said moving to the large bay windows and gesturing with his hand, they all moved to join him and looked out through the large glass windows.
Beyond the glass was the gardens and a swimming pool surrounded by grass on all sides making it kinda look like a oasis rather than a swimming pool, but beyond those were high and thick concrete walls topped with large vicious looking spikes and a good view beyond the house and into the surrounding city.
"Is there a roof access?" Whisper asked softly and T'sall nodded,
"Last door on the left will take you up to the roof" he said, she nodded and headed out to set up, but before she reached the door Moodstone suddenly pointed, "Holy shit! Look there up on the rails! It's Reaper! Wait...Is he riding a Xeno?" she said pointing and as one they all turned to see three figures running down the rails or rather one running and two riding, one of which was facing the wrong way and shooting at what appeared to be other Xeno's chasing them.