Humanity's Finest

Part 2: Chapter 8

When Dempsey opened his eyes the first thing his eyes met was the roof of the room he was in. That wasn't really surprising to him. The next thing he noticed was the drunken slurs of Nikolai who - when he turned his head to where the noise was coming from – was sitting on the floor with his back leaning against a wall with his head resting against his legs. Looking around the marine found that he was inside a rather spacious room. There were a few makeshift beds on the floor that were made entirely out of straw, and a table he couldn't see atop of. Looking at himself Dempsey found that he too was in a straw bed and it was rather comfortable too. It is surprisingly warm.

With a grunt Dempsey leaned up so he was sitting in the straw bed and had a deep frown on his face at what the Chronicler had just told him.

Samantha was looking for a weapon in a location that was fair far out of the mainland where they are. Normally he wouldn't be too concerned for the girl. He was confident enough that he and the others were more than enough to take on her hordes. However the weapon the insane little brat of a girl was looking for is apparently capable of wiping out armies and if she found it then anyone who was still alive and kicking are pretty much screwed.

But when they beat back the little girl's dog, Fluffy, Samantha practically told them she was searching for a weapon. At the time he thought she was bluffing and was trying to get them worried. But what the Chronicler just said confirmed it. Samantha is looking for a weapon to use against them, and he knew the name of the place where she was searching.

Dante's Freezer. An island that was covered entirely in ice and snow and from what he gathered from the little detail he got from that Chronicler dragon, he suspected it is almost incapable of supporting life. He had no idea where the place was either, as he had been given no directions.

The only hint he was given that it was far away from the mainland, and that meant it was another continent. He wasn't entirely fond of cold places. Because of what he was wearing there was no way he was prepared for the cold.

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with an irritated scowl. He hoped Hunter was still around, seeing the cheetah and his group was the only one who could possibly know where this place was. With a strained grunt Dempsey stood up on his feet and stretched the kinks out of his limbs before looking towards Nikolai.

He had his weapons with him still. His AK74u lay in arms reach beside him. Dempsey couldn't help but shake his head in dismay at the sorry sight though. What if someone managed to sneak in? Nikolai wouldn't notice the intruder until it was too late. Still he knew better than to wake up a sleeping drunk. They tend to...get violent when forced awake.

Tearing his eyes away from the sleeping Russian Dempsey looked himself over again now that he wasn't lying or sitting on the straw bed. Frowning when he saw he was weaponless Dempsey surveyed the room again and found his CZ-72 on the table. He walked over to the table, his footsteps echoing through the room, took the side-arm off the table and put it in its holster before gazing once more at Nikolai.

He sighed in reluctance at what he was going to do. Common sense told him to leave Nikolai alone and let him sleep. But he needed to know where everyone else was and the closest person was Nikolai himself.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling Dempsey walked over to Nikolai, leaned down and shook his shoulder. What happened next was extremely painful, yet comedic. Nikolai, reasonably startled from his slumber instinctively lashed out with his fist, yelling and punched Dempsey in his nut sack. Screaming in surprised pain, Dempsey went cross-eyed and fell to the ground on his side cursing at Nikolai.

"Oh shit! What did I do!?" Nikolai, now fully awake, exclaimed in a panic when he saw Dempsey lying on the ground on his side.

Groaning in pain Dempsey leaned his head up and gave the now awake Russian the most hate filled glare he could. "You. Punched. Me. In the nuts." He slowly growled out. His eyes showing pain, glared at Nikolai with bared teeth. He then whined and let his head drop as he curled himself up, as if it would ease the pain he could feel growing in between his legs. "Note to self: get Richtofen to do it next time." He mumbled out loud to himself, not caring if Nikolai could hear him.

Just then the door shot open. Dempsey leaned his head up to see who opened the door while Nikolai turned. It was Frank Woods and Alex Mason; they had their M-16's out and at the ready, before they lowered them when nothing was happening, and stared at the two bewilderedly for a moment.

Seeing Woods was opening his mouth to ask what happened, Dempsey interrupted him before the Sergeant could get a word out. "Don't. Say a word." He growled out before letting his head fall back down and curled up in to himself some more.

Blinking both Woods and Mason gazed at Nikolai for an explanation. In response Nikolai shrugged and answered with a painfully casual; "He startled me from sleep, I decked him in groin."

This had both of them wince in sympathy. Having a man's junk punched is a painful experience. Something that no man should EVER experience.

"Fuck you, Nikolai." Was the weak response from Dempsey.

"I don't swing that way." Was the brilliant, dismissal reply from Nikolai.

Mason and Woods shared a look and shrugged at each other helplessly. They did say this was a common thing between them, and they had to admit this was pretty funny in a way. As long as it didn't happen to them of course. Walking over Mason and Woods helped Dempsey to his feet and put his arms over their shoulders as he needed help to walk and helped him out of the room when he told the two that he had something to tell everyone else that could change the course of this fight their having with the apes and their leader.

While it wasn't a serious injury they both knew, instinctual of course, that walking after being punched in the testes was a difficult thing to do. So without protesting - apart from Dempsey who let out a pained grunt every time he took a step forward – the two helped the blonde haired marine out of the room with Nikolai following, with his AK74u resting against his left shoulder.

When the four went out of the room Dempsey found his fellow humans and Hunter of Avalar and his group of cheetah's gathered around a table, with a map of in the middle of it staring at him with questioning gazes. They all heard the commotion from inside the room and when they saw Dempsey limping they were curious as to why Mason and Woods are helping him walk.

Dempsey merely jerked his head to Nikolai upon seeing the looks they were giving him, before glaring darkly at said Russian for the unnecessary punch to the nuts who merely ignored him, much to Dempsey's ire. Takeo and Richtofen looked between the two for a moment, then looked at one another before shrugging their shoulders and dismissing it entirely. To them this was a common thing.

"Are you alright, human?" Hunter asked. He gave Dempsey a frown of concern when Dempsey casually waved his question off, before he grimaced when he tried walking on his own when he told Woods and Mason to let go.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Nothing to worry about." Dempsey replied as he winced with every limp he took to the table with Nikolai, Woods and Mason trailing behind him. "What did I miss when I was out?" He questioned, glancing between everyone with curiosity once he reached the table.

"Nothing much. We're just learning the lays of the land around us and where we can find the material we need to fortify this place." Polonsky answered as he turned to look at the map with a deep frown.

Frowning Dempsey followed his gaze and stared at the map and found there were several continents on it. Each of them were named too and the continent he was told Samantha was searching for a weapon was on there as well.

"That's rather convenient." Dempsey mentally mused to himself. "Who knew there was a map of all things that told me the location where Samantha is looking for this weapon?" He sighed lightly, stroking his chin; he needed to go there and if possible destroy this weapon before Samantha can get her grubby little hands on it.

"I have a question for you, Hunter right?" At the nod from said cheetah, Dempsey continued asking; "I'm wondering if you have ever heard of a dragon who calls himself 'The Chronicler"? With how wide your eyes went I'm guessing you HAVE heard of him then?" The marine finished when Hunter stared at him with surprised eyes.

"He is a legend in the realms. Said to be one of the oldest dragons in existence and who's been in solitude for more than a millennia! How do you know of him?"

"Honestly? I just had a conversation with him while I was knocked out."

"Ah-ha! So zhat is vhy you suddenly fainted vithout any varning vhat so ever!" Richtofen exclaimed with glee in his voice as he pointed at Dempsey with a victorious, maniacal expression. It mildly disturbed those who didn't know of Richtofen's... less than stable personality.

Ignoring the madman, Hunter gave Dempsey a hard look and said; "He wouldn't have contacted just about anyone unless the situation is dire. He did the same thing to Spyro three years ago and from what I heard, gave him a vision of his island." His tone told everyone in the room how serious he was about this. Hunter allowed his words to sink in the minds of everyone in the room for a moment. "What did he say?"

"Nothin' good." Dempsey replied with a grim look. "From what the Chronicler told me, there's a weapon somewhere in Dante's Freezer that can tip the scales in the favour of our enemies. I've seen what would happen if Samantha manages to find it: everyone dies and are turned into zombies."

"Who's Samantha?" Weaver asked, unknowingly asking the question that those who were not in the loop had running in their heads. They were all there when Dempsey told hunter about the spirit. But the marine never told them her name. Only that she was an insane spirit that is hell bent on wiping out all life on the planet.

Realising this Dempsey stared at Weaver and said; "Samantha is the spirit who the apes think is their god."

Everyone looked grim at that. "If that's the case then we need to get there before it's too late!" Hudson declared, leaning on the table as he glared hard at the map as if it would solve all the questions he had running in his head.

"We don't exactly have a method of transport you know." Woods pointed out dryly. He tapped his fingers on the map and said, "It's too far away from the mainland, we'll need a boat that can carry all of us together and by the time we commandeer one and get there it may be already too late to do anything."

"We can't just sit here and do nothing though!" Polonsky exclaimed rather firmly with Miller nodding in agreement. "We seen what those things can do, hell he-" Polonsky pointed at Dempsey. "-had to use a fuckin' rocket launcher against a dead dragon of all things to kill it because of how tough it was. Then there was a dog that seemed to have come from hell itself that literally absorbed a lot of our bullets before it was injured enough to be forced away!"

"They even have army behind them." Nikolai slurred. "Me, Dempsey, Takeo and Richtofen fought zombies in several places from Germany to Mother Russia. We eventually retreated every time but killed many hellpigs as possible."

"I'm still surprised how long we've managed to survive because of that." Dempsey couldn't help but shake his head in disbelief as he said that. He had no idea how they lived through all that, when, by all rights they should've been killed in action. Hell the only reason he and the others are alive right now was because they ran away when they completed their objectives.

Hudson however saw a gap in all of this. If the zombies were in several countries then the entire world would have known by then and would have done something about it. All military 'round the world would have retaliated the moment information about an unknown outbreak got to them and he was quick to relay this to the others.

"Perhaps it was covered up?" Weaver suggested trying to make sense of it.

"I don't think so." Dempsey shook his head negatively. For some reason unknown to him, Tank just knew that wasn't the case. "If the Kraut's were hiding something then people would have gotten suspicious. Teams would have been sent in to discover as much information as they could." No one noticed how Richtofen tensed a little at Dempsey's words. As the only one of the four who truly knew what was going on, the doctor of course remembered kidnapping people from several different countries to be test subjects.

Dempsey was sent to extract Peter Macain, a spy within Group 935's ranks' when his cover within the organization was compromised. He failed of course as Peter wasn't at the location he was said to be stationed. Everyone excluding Dempsey, was killed in action, while Dempsey was missing in action. He was of course found later and was taken to Der Riese to become a test subject for his super solider experimentation.

Apart from the three gathering a few hints of information here and there that give them their suspicions about him, including how Samantha declared killed them and was hell bent on getting vengeance on him, the rest is history.

"That's right," Mason had a look of realiszation as if something clicked in his head. "I remember Reznov telling me in Vorkuta that Nazi's were researching and developing top secret weapons to help them win the war. One of them was Nova 6; a chemical weapon engineered to quickly and painfully destroy the human body from the inside."

The ones who were not part of the 1950s were surprised and downright shocked at hearing such a weapon. If that weapon ends up in the wrong hands... who ever had it could wipe out entire countries! Even Richtofen was surprised. While Group 935 was a research organization their overall objective is to improve the human condition. It is even in their motto.

However when the Second World War began, their objective had changed slightly' from trying to improve the condition of the human body to developing super weapons that would make the Nazi Party dependent on them or put them in a position that would make them valuable enough not to kill them after the war was over.

Thanks to Richtofen however that didn't happen. Group 935 is currently defunct, nearly all members of the organization is either dead or in hiding. Although where they are right now defunct is most certainly the right status to put the organization under.

"If what you said is true then any and all information would be put under the highest security." Mason said. "None of us have the highest clearance to get that kind of information."

"The only ones I can think of who have the highest clearance in the government, would be the President of the United States and his Secretary of defence." Hudson added. He rubbed his chin and shook his head. They were getting distracted; they needed to get back to the subject that Dempsey warned them about. "As much as I hate to say this; but do you have any idea what these apes are looking for?" He asked staring at Richtofen with critical, analysing eyes.

Richtofen, frowned. He didn't want to tell anyone about what he knew. But he knew if he didn't tell them anything then his unconventional allies would get even more suspicious of him. They knew he knows more than he was letting on. They knew he had a direct involvement in the creation of the zombies, and that he had created a few super weapons in his time in Group 935. If he told them he didn't know anything then they might call him out on it, as they had seen some of the super weapons at work before their very eyes.

But there were things that not even he knew. Such as the Thunder Gun that Doctor. Maxis had made in secret. With those thoughts in mind Richtofen decided to give them something to satisfy them. However, before he could say anything Dempsey opened his mouth and put in his opinion on the matter; "He should know. He is one of the fucker's that had some involvement in making the undead and super weapons after all." and with those words out, everyone was looking at Richtofen with scrutiny. The cheetah's were looking at Richtofen with outright contempt who shook it off, having seen worse looks being given by his own superiors and subordinates.

Frank Woods, Alex Mason, Jason Hudson and Gregory Weaver however were outright glaring at Richtofen now. As if they were daring him to deny any and all information of him knowing any weapons of the sort. Game changer weapons had to be captured for the benefit of ones country or destroyed so it cannot be used. The one that Dempsey described had to be destroyed at all costs.

Takeo, Nikolai and Dempsey were all staring at Edward wondering what lies he will spout to get himself out of trouble and get any suspicion off of him.

Growling in irritation Richtofen pinched the bridge of his nose before leaning on the table. "Demphsey is right. I vas one who's responsible for creating zhe undead. However!" He glared with such ferocity at those who were about to open their mouths they froze. "There are some things zhat even I don't know of. As I remember Doctor. Maxis was a secretive person, not even I knew what he had been developing through the war and most of them were rumours zhat were never proved."

"What about that gun we found in Germany? The Thunder Gun?" Dempsey questioned.

"Zhat veapon vas one of zhe rumours zhat vas never proven. However, vhen ve came back to Germany it vas rediscovered."

"Alright. So what about this weapon the Chronicler was talking about? Was there a weapon capable of wiping out armies?"

Richtofen negatively shook his head at the question. "Nien. Zhere vas no such veapon in development." He replied truthfully. Everyone scowled in disappointment at that. Richtofen then narrowed his eyes in thought however after a moment of thinking. What came to him was a long shot but it was the best lead he had. "However, zhere vas a rumour of a weapon in development to use against zhe undead incase they went out of control. In theory it is capable of curing any one who vas infected and bringing those who have already turned back to life."

The room was filled with stunned silence. It was eventually broken by Dempsey; "A weapon capable of bringing the dead back to life?"

"Ya' it is exactly as I said. I have no idea how such a thing is possible. But if it vas completed then in theory Samantha can reverse engineer the weapon to make it effective against living organisms. Killing anyone who comes in contact with it."

Dempsey narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "And with how fast the zombies spread..."

"It may take only a few to spread the infection to hundreds." Takeo finished, also looking thoughtful.

"It has to be that." Dempsey declared confidently. "It has to be. A weapon like that can wipe out armies without warning. Shoot it at a group of people and turn them into zombies and then let them go and spread their decease. No one would see it coming."

"Ok, we have a possible lead from the German. Now all we need now is a way to get to that place." Woods said tapping at the ice and snow covered island on the map. "Having our tank outside brought with us would increase our odds of success, but without a way to transport it and ourselves across the sea it's looking unlikely."

"Maybe the dragons can transport us?" Dempsey suggested to the S.O.G agent. It was a sound idea to him as they could fly and cover a lot of ground and they could carry a lot of weight. While he is confident that the dragons could be able to carry him and several others, he wasn't sure they'd be able to carry a tank. "They're fast when flying and can decrease the amount of time we'd all waste by looking for a boat."

"Problem right there Dempsey, is that dragons are gone. Poof. Vanished. We have no idea where they are! Even then we would be wasting time searching for them." Nikolai retorted, metaphorically kicking the suggestion in the ass and tossing it to the kerb.

"I don't see you coming up with any ideas, Nikolai!"

"This Russian has no need too! My brain is royally fucked up to make suggestions and ideas!" In other words Nikolai basically just told everyone that he was an idiot and couldn't make a decent plan if his life depended on it.

Hunter and his cheetah's stared in bewilderment at the bickering humans as they argued back and forth. Frowning in thought Hunter rubbed his chin and narrowed his eyes, suddenly looking comprehensive he stared at the map intensely with analysing eyes. It was a long time ago, way before Cynder rose to power as Malefor's right hand, he remembered overhearing his father – spirits guide his soul - make mention of a tunnel that went underneath the sea that led to Dante's Freezer.

If he remembers correctly...the tunnel would be somewhere near the border of Avalar. Overlooking the sea. Back then before the apes began to enslave everyone the cheetah's inhabiting the Avalar valley had used it as a method of transport, using them to travel great distances while avoiding any and all obstacles that would slow down their journeys.

"You may not need to travel across the sea." Hunter informed them bringing all conversation and arguments in the room to an abrupt halt. When they all stared at him questionably Hunter brought his gaze down at the map. "If my memory serves there's a tunnel that goes under the sea. Allowing travellers to get to Dante's Freezer without having to encounter obstacles that would force you to double back or delay your progress." As he said this Hunter pointed a claw at a hillside that had an outline of an underground tunnel.

"Promising. Very promising." Takeo murmured aloud, leaning on the table to get a better look at the map. He looked up at Hunter and asked, "How long does one take to travel to this tunnel?" His grammar, and the pronunciation of his L's were getting a lot better now.

"If we left right this moment? We should be there by the early rise providing we don't have any interruptions."

"And if we were to wait until morning?" Hudson asked.

"Then you would get there by the late afternoon."

"Well considering that the eight of us," Dempsey pointed at Polonsky, Roebuck, Miller, Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen one after the other as he spoke. "had taken this village from those apes we've burnt in the centre of the village, and just recently fought off a retaliation attack, a little over an hour before you four" He pointed at the Cold War era soldier's. "got here. I think we've all earned the right to rest for a while."

The eight Dempsey mentioned mildly sounded out their agreement. Having to run from Fluffy and climb up the roof of one of the buildings had taken the energy out of them. When everyone settled down Dempsey gazed at Hunter and asked, "Is the sun still down?"

The cheetah nodded in confirmation. "Only an hour had passed since you had spoken to the Chronicler."

"Which means we all have at least 6 to 7 hours of rest before we can all head to the frozen continent." Dempsey stated, nodding mildly to himself in thought. "Alright. We can all get some rest and wake up at 0700 hours. We'll have six hours of rest, and then we can head out."

"What about the village?" Roebuck asked crossing his arms against his chest with a frown on his scarred face. "We can't just leave it unattended."

Dempsey frowned at that. "Good point. We can't leave this place unattended." He looked at everyone at the table with a look of deep thought. He knew what Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen are capable of. He fought by their side against the undead hordes' for as long as he could remember. Polonsky, Roebuck and Miller on the other hand, while they weren't together that long were capable in their own right.

Woods, Mason, Weaver and Hudson on the other hand...he didn't know anything about them. They were apart of a military group that much he knew. Studies and Observations group, S.O.G for short, is a military branch he just recently heard of. He has no idea what their specialization is and this is a pretty important mission that can have no setbacks otherwise Samantha would be aware they knew of her excavation site.

"...What?" Woods asked, frowning deeply when he saw Dempsey's hard stare on them.

"...How do the S.O.G fight? Conventionally or Unconventionally?"

"The S.O.G fight unconventionally." Hudson answered truthfully getting alarmed looks from Weaver, Mason and Woods. He ignored them as he knew what he was doing. The question that was asked didn't ask for them to reveal any classified information, therefore he answered truthfully.

"Unconventionally, eh?" Dempsey mused. He gazed up at the ceiling for a moment before bringing his gaze back on them. "Alright. Tomorrow, you four along with Polonsky, Miller and Roebuck are going to head out and disrupt the dig sight."

"What? Why?"

"Because I saw the way you guys would look at the doctor here. Something tells me if you were to work with the group I'm with, we'll come to blows." Dempsey answered to Woods' question who had to concede to that. Neither of them liked the Nazi's for what they did and neither of them would bat an eye if they just shot him in the back of his head if he wasn't looking.

With Richtofen revealing to them that he is one of the people who caused the dead to come back to life, well, lets just say the outcome would not be pretty if they managed to get him when he was alone.

"Alright." Woods agreed with a heavy sigh. "You are going to guide the seven of us to this under ground tunnel, right?" The bandanna wearing agent questioned as he looked at Hunter. When the cheetah gave a nod in response, Woods nodded his head and said, "Right. We'll rest until morning then."

With everyone knowing what they're going to do once the sun goes up, and with everyone agreeing with the laid out plan they all went to get some shut eye. Knowing that come morning they'll have a mission that will determine the outcome of future battles.

If they succeed in finding and destroying this weapon Samantha is trying to recover, they throw a major wrench in her plans to create her undead armies. If they fail...Samantha will have a weapon in her possession that will enable her to make entire armies on the spot. No pressure.

X.X.X.X.X

Quake didn't like this. The tunnel he and the others were flying through was too dark and it can easily hide anyone from their eyes. They had little light in there so they had to wait until their eyes adjusted to the dark for them to see. Even then that didn't do much to let them see in the dark. He of course knew better than to voice his displeasure as it could bring them unnecessary attention.

They eventually came across the abandoned outpost that Spyro mentioned and after they landed on the floors surface they went to see and confirm it was abandoned. After they made sure no one was around, the four dragons continued on foot. Like Spyro and Sparx the more they went down the tunnel the colder it became. The torches on the walls did absolutely nothing to halt the cold.

It did not affect Frost in the slightest; being an ice dragon the chillness that the tunnel was producing was ineffective. If it was boiling hot however that would have done the trick as ice was weak to fire.

They pressed on however. Undeterred. Following the foot tracks left behind by Spyro they were able to make their way through the passageways that Spyro and Sparx went through. Thanks to Spyro's plan to have Sparx scout out ahead, the dragons who were following (literally) in the purple dragon's footsteps they were not as confused as to why there was only one set of foot tracks leading into one of the passageways. They obviously came to the same conclusion that Spyro had thought ahead of time and that helped them immensely.

So after continuing following Spyro's trail the four dragons quickly came to a stop. The base in front of them was...small in their eyes to say the least. Knowing it was large enough to house a small sized army however, the four glanced at one another before nodding their heads simultaneously.

Facing the camp Quake inhaled through his nose and opened his mouth. A small dark green/brownish light began to materialise in the back of his throat before it began to solidify into a small stone that began to float out of his mouth and hover in front of his gaping maw. Then it began to grow until it became the size of a large boulder.

Then with a loud roar that sounded akin to a hundred bears, the formed bolder suddenly shot forward quicker than the eye could see and went up in a rocky explosion upon impact! Rocky shrapnel embedded themselves in several apes and zombies. Killing several and wound many more within seconds.

Frida, Frost and Alec all charged in simultaneously as Quake began to form another boulder to bombard them with. The counter-attack had begun.

X.X.X.X.X

Samantha was aware of what was happening beneath the surface of Warfang. And she didn't care about it. Why should she care about something that was their fault to begin with? If they did something wrong then let them deal with the consequences of their mistake. I mean sure she would lose an advanced foothold in the mainland, but once she rediscovers V-R11 in what remains of Siberia that wouldn't matter.

She would have a weapon that is capable of wiping out entire armies at her disposal! Sure she would have to re-engineer it to her specifications to get that to happen, but she can easily do that. One does not simply learn nothing in the past one million years after all.

Still looking down at the ice and snow covered island, she couldn't help but think she had forgotten something very important. She can't remember what though. It escapes her. Shrugging Samantha pushes it to the back of her mind. She doesn't need to worry about it now. It'll come to her sooner than later.

Bringing her attention to the slumbering dragon in the main tent below, Samantha couldn't help but be smug thinking how genius it was in getting Cynder to eat that key. Giving her the ultimatum of getting the chain off her or be stuck with it on it didn't seem that evil.

But what Samantha purposely forgot to tell the dark scaled dragoness was that the key was imbued with element 115. So the second the key dissolved inside her mouth, she could completely influence the dragon if she wanted too. So when Cynder tried to escape when no one was looking, she took 'direct control' and immobilised her, forcing her to go back to camp before they headed off to Dante's Freezer.

She was pissed when that happened. Since then Cynder had made no other attempts to escape. However Samantha wouldn't put it past her in thinking Cynder would not make another escape attempt when she wasn't looking.

Apart from influencing an individual from afar, if she wanted too she could implant some thoughts in Cynder's head that she normally wouldn't think of. Making it seem it was Cynder herself who was thinking of it instead of her implanting them inside her head.

If she wanted to she can communicate with her subjects directly by talking in their heads. This only came to those who were exposed to element 115 however, and as far as she knew before Cynder eat the key, she was not exposed to element 115 whatsoever.

She eventually came to a simple explanation to this mystery. So a little back story is needed. During the thousands upon thousands of years that passed, the landscape of the planet had somehow changed drastically. Landmasses had changed 'parts of the earth had began to act against gravity and began to float several thousand feet into the air. The sea levels began to change as well. Water levels rose, flooding several islands and bringing under the sea. New islands and countries began to form as volcano's erupted across the world and this eventually became the world as it is known today.

Through all of these changes many animals had perished. However many more had manage to survive and evolve. Lizards' evolved into intelligent, speaking dragons that can manipulate the elements to a degree. Cheetah's evolved even further, evolving to the point where they're able to walk on two legs. Moles' became the best smiths throughout the entire dragon realms with Warfang being their crown achievement to honour their alliance with the dragons.

Suffice to say Samantha is currently the oldest living being on the planet. The Chronicler as he calls himself has never been one dragon. There has always been a new Chronicler every 1000 years, and since the last Chronicler had passed on, a new Chronicler took his place. One of the Dragon Guardians' who sacrificed himself getting both Spyro and Cynder to the other side of the burning lands.

But back to the point; when Cynder was taken from the dragon temple when she was still an egg, she was taken to the Mountain of Malefor. This unknowingly to her had a large stash of element 115 hidden deep, deep underground. So when the apes and their master were twisting her to their own ends, by placing her inside a deep pit that didn't seem to end she suspected Cynder must've come in contact with element 115 during that time. She didn't know of it at that time, but when Spyro seek' out Ignitus Samantha began to look closely at the Mountain of Malefor, and she low and behold, she found a hidden cache of element 115 several thousand feet under the mountain.

She didn't do anything of course. The main reason being her enemies were long gone. Plus Malefor was still around and she was certain he would notice someone trying to influence Cynder. Months later after Malefor's defeat...Der Riese was found and among the ruins they found a still alive Tank Dempsey.

So in a way Tank Dempsey being recovered is the main cause of this. Seeing Dempsey alive meant Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen were alive as well. And them being alive meant she still had to kill them. So from there she had to work on getting a new army.

Recruiting the apes was a start. Experimenting on the dead dragons to bring them back to life was another achievement she had in her preparation. Taking out several villages was another step in her plan and removing the scouts Warfang sent to investigate was just a bonus.

It meant more minions for her.

After that finding the V-R11 will be the next step in her plan. Once she got her hands on the Wonder Weapon she'll use it on all of the inhabitance of Dante's Freezer. Use it to kill everyone and bring them under her influence and expand her army even further and then she would spread her influence across the mainland. No one would be able to stop her. Not the Dragon Guardians. Not the Purple Dragon of Legend. Not Tank Dempsey or his fellow humans. No one.

But then more and more humans began appearing out of the blue. First those marine raider's that Dempsey was once apart of appeared out of nowhere. They were swiftly captured by her ape minions and were placed with the rest of the prisoners. Before she could do anything however they suddenly escaped captivity by the combined effort's of those dragons, the village' inhabitant's and Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen.

Then four other humans appeared near the exact same time those marine raider's were captured. She found them interesting. All of them had military clothing and equipment that she knew was from the 1950s – or sometime around that era - and onwards.

One of them, to her concern, seemed similar to Edward. Meaning that he hears voices or worse, actual people who aren't even there. He didn't appear to be as...'unstable' as Richtofen is, but when someone clearly starts talking to someone who isn't there, it certainly raises a red flag.

She didn't send anyone against them because; A) he wasn't as unstable as Edward Richtofen; B) he seemed completely sane. If he was injected, or came in contact with element 115, then she could influence him. Make him see things her way and get him to turn against his own comrades.

But that was out of the question. There is no element 115 in the vicinity nor did she detect any of the element within his bloodstream. So until then that option was out of the question.

Those thoughts came to an abrupt halt when Samantha's attention was brought back on to Dante's Freezer. Frowning Samantha pushed her mind out of her body and went to the frozen wasteland herself to discover what this...thing that had garnered her attention was.

It only took her a few seconds to disconnect her mind with her body. One of the huge advantages it gave her: it allowed her free reign and would allow her to interact with objects around her. One of the Major disadvantages: she was restricted to the area she 'appeared' in. In other words she's not allowed to leave Dante's Freezer until she reconnects herself to her main body.

Now that she was here in the flesh, so to speak, she could feel the anomaly clearly. There was something...a presence of some kind...slumbering within the ice. It was familiar to her. It felt like...those ridiculously overpowered zombies she had created against the living!

If she was connected to her main body, her face would've had a twisted smile that displayed untold glee at her discovery.

X.X.X.X.X

Nasty is what you could consider an average ape. He was not gigantic nor was he a hulking monster of an ape like Gaul. Nor did he have the ruthlessness of Grim. His height is almost the same as those elephant sized heavily armoured apes you find leading small groups of tiny and medium sized apes around on patrols. He didn't have any disfigurement anywhere on his body like when Gaul used a bright green gem to replace an eye he lost against a dragon.

What he did have is aggressiveness, and he had that is spades. He is aggressive' to his comrades when their slacking off their work and he shows no mercy to those who showed signs of cowardice in the midst of battle. Despite those traits Nasty was an average ape and almost never amounted to anything.

However ever since The Holy One came and released him and his brethren from their curse the Dark Master had inflicted on them he quickly rose within the ranks. While he isn't in the command of battle hardened soldiers, he is in the command of those who have seen battle. So they weren't completely green, nor are they completely useless either.

Unlike the others who preferred those difficult tasks he preferred the easy tasks over the more hard ones, so imagine his surprise when he was told by The Holy One herself that he along with Grim was to head to Dante's Freezer to look for something that was said to be buried there.

He was curious as to what they were sent to search for but was wise enough to hold his tongue. He didn't like the fact that Grim was going to be with them and he certainly did not like the fact that the traitorous bitch Cynder was going to be accompany them. He of course withheld his displeasure and followed The Holy One's orders and when they were prepared, they headed off to Dante's Freezer using some 'prototype weapons' of The Holy One.

Imagine his surprise when those prototype weapons were undead dragons.

Walking down one of the many recently made excavation tunnel's that dotted the island, Nasty evaluated the hard at work apes as they mined through the incredibly thick ice with his hands clasped behind his back. Apes would mine out the walls to create more space. Apes would gather the ice that gathered on the floor and place them in sacks of bags where it would then be dragged out and disposed off properly before the sack would be brought back inside for reuse.

They had made some decent progress in digging further inland if he said so himself. The main tunnel that he was in would have other tunnels throughout. They'd be spread from each other to avoid a collapse, something that he approved of. He didn't know just how strong the ice here was, but he wasn't going to risk a cave in because of recklessness. Less workers meant less progress and if there was one thing Nasty hated it was the lack of progress.

He was about to move on when someone let out a startled scream, catching his attention. Frowning Nasty turned in the direction it came from and found a small group of workers crowding together in front of one of the recently made tunnels. Scowling and letting out a threatening growl at the sight, as less people working meant less progress, Nasty marched (stomped) over there with the intention of reprimanding them.

When he got over there Nasty opened his mouth to yell at them. "Oi, ya' lot o'er there! Get back to work!" That was what he wanted to yell at them at first. Instead what came out was something completely different. "What in the name of the Holy One is that!?" He exclaimed in demand.

In front of him and the workers was an unidentifiable being (to them) encased in ice. It's appearance looked like an old person. Grey hair and a fairly trimmed beard wrinkles on its face. And a strange object that was on its face. Ice covered it so they had no idea what the creature had on its face. Its clothing was weird even for them. It's clothing consisted of a dark blue long sleeved shirt, a sleeveless brown jacket, and dark blue jeans and dark grey boots. Hanging from its neck the being had large earphones that looked worn out. Behind it was an object that was unidentifiable to their eyes as they could not get a good enough eye on it. But they could tell it was massive!

What they didn't realise that the being in front of them was someone who was once human. Who in his time-line was nicknamed 'The grandfather of all zombies'. He was captured by the zombies and infected by the element 115 that was spread throughout the island.

Nasty widened his eyes at the sight before they narrowed. He turned swiftly to face the workers and yelled in a commanding tone that had everyone stand at attention and focusing on him. "I want this...creature, dug out of there and disposed! No arguments. No excuses. I want some progress to be made!"

Had he still been looking at the former human behind him he would have seen a pair of sinister glowing yellow eyes slowly open. Had he been looking he would've noticed the being encased within the ice shift around. Had he been paying attention he would've noticed there was cracks beginning to appear on the ice as the former human began to become more and more aggressive in its escape.

Had he been paying attention, he would've been able to react in time when the ice containing the former human shattered into smithereens, with the former human roaring out challengingly as he swiftly brought down his weapon – a stagelight that had crackling electricity surrounding it – on Nasty's head, brutally crushing his head and the rest of his body like a grape. This in effect shook the entire tunnel system' putting everyone inside on alert.

The terrified apes all screamed in terror as the being effortlessly lifted the stagelight onto his shoulder, before leering at the monkey's with a cruel sickening smile. He began to laugh maddeningly out loud as the working apes ran away out of sheer horror.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha! Aw, don't run away!" The former human called out to them in an inhuman voice that was border line mocking them. "I've just woke up from a long sleep!" He added in exclamation before he slowly trailed after them. Like a predator stalking its prey.

Throughout all of this Samantha Maxis, who was still disconnected from her main body was watching. She didn't really care for the apes in the first place. Like she thought of them before they were merely a means to an end. They had found one of her more powerful undead minions. One of the rare few that are incapable of dying. With him haven been reawakened from his million year slumber, the chances of her victory had just increased. And with his stagelight he can increase the combat capability of her other minions.

Sometimes, she really loved being in control.