I know this is a step backwards but I decided to add some things here instead of running through events. So the chapter with the meeting with Scythro has been changed a bit and the arrival of the Global have been postponed. I've decided to do this so that I can train myself to slow down on writing and focus on details and the likewise that would be possibly more appealing to you guys, the readers. With that being said I hope I can reach that goal without making the story less enjoyable but for now sit back and enjoy the concoction of a chapter I have whipped up for you. ^u^ Also, special thanx to Cudabear for makin me rethink some things. (^w^)

Scythro and Sara left their men behind as they walked towards a door mounted against the hard cave walls.

Sara knew that through the door was a cave and on the other side of the cave was Scythros castle like headquarters. Something was different though. The last time she had ventured to Scythros headquarters the door was made of wood, and poorly made at that. However, now the door was made of slick steal, with two very large locking mechanisms on either side of it. The door itself seemed to have multiple keypads. Scythro had increased his security since the last time she had been there.

Scythro had not been lying back and relaxing for the past years as Sara had thought. He had been so quiet, besides his minute pillaging of Delivarian food, that she hadn't thought he was doing anything at all. The amount his men took was far too little to be much of importance with the Delivarians large surplus. The Delivarians had no complaints with it because it was such a small amount, and because they didn't have an issue Sara had let it slide. As a result she hadn't spoken or dealt with Scythro for a few years now. Besides the short arguments that followed the unexpected vanishing of men over the past few months, and the treaty Scythro had broken with the Delivarians. Sara had little doubt that it wasn't in fact Scythro, but Scythro was a neutral, very devious and untrustworthy in the eyes of the circuit leaders.

Sara shook her head, shaking away all thoughts besides those of use and focused on what was important. One issue of extreme importance was the hostility that seemed to radiate off of Scythro. Although she didn't like the idea, and often refrained from it, she thought it wise to be as polite and precautious as she possibly could. Tearing herself from her own standards, while they were far from barbaric, was something she only did with the Global General and only then because a visit from him was nothing to joke about. Still this meeting would be nothing of use if she was slaughtered because her poor choice of words angered Scythro. She didn't know his standards, she never had, but she held the fate of the entire unit in her hands. If all went well Scythro would be on the path of becoming an ally, or in the least someone who was willing to cooperate.

She glanced at him, and a chill ran through her spine. He stood taller than she had remembered. Standing straight, as he was, he was an inch or two taller than herself. His arms and torso showed the muscular profile of a soldier preparing for a massive war. His head was tilted down slightly and a look of heavy skepticism and dissatisfaction had painted itself across his face, with his eyes narrowed with a flare of absolute annoyance. In the eyes of any ordinary soldier he was on the higher edge of intimidating. To Sara however his look was one of a more threatening nature than simply intimidating. For now, however, she would have to work around that. She had a task at hand, and she was determined to get it done correctly, no matter how difficult it might prove itself to be.

When they reached the door Scythro typed multiple codes into the three keyboards on the door. He then proceeded to lead her inside the dark, unlit hallway beyond. Scythro snatched a lit torch off the wall and continued to walk, with Sara following close behind. The door slammed shut behind them, loud clicks rang through the walkway as it was relocked and the security systems rearmed.

They walked in silence for a long while. As they did, Sara widened the distance between them until she felt there was enough room to breathe but not so much as to cause suspicion. Being that there wasn't much to look at in a dark tunnel-like hallway, so she focused on Scythro. His anger and annoyance hadn't gone down at all, and now added to that his body seemed more tense. Sara didn't quite understand why he was so angry, or if he was angry with her why he had agreed to meet with her before he had the chance to calm down. Either way she knew she was dealing with a very dangerous man. A man with a large amount of anger and stress built within his that one false word, one change in tone, might set him off. Without anyone around them, and with her lack of knowledge about him, there was no room for such mistakes.

Suddenly Scythro stopped and quickly spun to face her. Sara stopped a few feet away and stared back at him. "Do you have any weapons on you? Anything hidden on your body?" He asked hastily.

Sara answered quickly with an even toned voice. "Why would I bring a weapon? Why would I bring anything?" she paused briefly expecting him to reply. When he didn't she continued. "I left my weapon with my men. Besides it was I who called this meeting, so why would I have the desire to compromise it? I am also alone with you and from the last time we met to now it appears to me that either I have grown weaker or you have gotten quite strong. Add to that the fact that we are in your base of operations and miles away from mine I see no need for you to worry. But if it will please you mind I will let you search for any weapon you think I may have."

Scythro stared at her for a few moments before walking towards her. "You are much different from the last time we met, Sara. Something has changed about you."

"Is that so?" Sara replied calmly. "Although I have noticed a change in you as well."

Scythro stopped, somewhat startled by her response. "How so?" he asked.

"You seem…stronger to me, a bit more paranoid as well. Are you afraid of something?" She asked with a calm curiosity.

"Me? Afraid?" Scythro shot back appalled. "Why would you think that?" He demanded, his temper rising.

"Well you seem a bit on edge and you have grown very strong, as I have said multiple times now, since I saw you last. You have also increased you security and updated your defense systems, or so I gather from the door we just entered through. All together in my eyes they suggest a paranoid state of mind. Are you expecting someone to attack you Scythro? Or am I just misinterpreting precaution?" Sara explained remaining calm, though she knew Scythros temper could erupt at any moment, or so she thought. Better safe than sorry. She was a bit curious as to why Scythro had become stronger and why he chose to update his defenses. Was he really paranoid? Or was he just in a bad mood and her presence was making him uncomfortable? Both options were very possible for she didn't know Scythro very well and had never really understood the workings of his mind. Thus her proper and careful choice of words. For while she wanted to know more about Scythro, she wanted the tension between them to die down a little before she addressed the real reason for why she called this meeting, however unique it was.

It took Scythro a few moments to come up with an answer. He seemed not to know the answer, as if it was a completely new topic never addressed before. "I am not paranoid," He said at last with a somewhat controlled hostility.

Sara nodded and said, "Hmm, my mistake then. I do apologize for my misinterpretation. I take it then that these upgrades in security and strength are acts of precaution then? So if you are attacked tomorrow you will be ready for everything that might come to take down your humble house."

"Yes," Scythro replied slowly, "That is exactly what they are for." He continued to walk forward through the tunnel.

Sara followed. "Very wise on your part."

Scythro pondered the statement for a few moments. "Yes," he replied almost absent minded, thinking about something else. "Yes, but I have noticed that you have not taken the same precautions. Why? Are you fearless to the dangers that lurk in the shadows?"

"No, it is what keeps me awake during the nights. We haven't the supplies to create the defense you have created, and we have no means of acquiring the steel to make a strong defense. We are a team of stealth and speed, not strength. Those whom we protect only offer wood, food and spear heads for arrows and spears. Not even they have steel. We could use the rocks found in the woods around us but we have no time to chisel out every item needed for a well-built complex security and defense. We have nothing but wood and against guns and explosives it will do nothing but give us splinters," She replied. It bothered her a lot. The fact that they were so vulnerable to an attack in the middle of the night, or even in the daylight, gave her chills. Any moment day or night an intruder could come and slit their throats and no one would find out for days, even months. It was a frightening fact, and one that kept her up some nights, standing in the security room watching every camera for the slightest movement. Out of the two of the she began to think that she was the more paranoid one and Scythro the one who had nothing to fear. She looked at the ground that passed below her feet, feeling more inferior than she had before.

Scythro remained silent. After a couple of minutes he stated, quite calmly, "It is you who is paranoid then."

"I suppose. It would only be right for me to be paranoid seeing as anyone, even yourself, could come in the middle of the night and kill us all. Days might pass before anyone even starts to wonder where we have gone or why we were being so silent," Sara replied.

Scythro stopped and stared at her. Sara stopped as well, her eyes still trained on the ground beneath her toes. He crossed his arms. "You are at quite a disadvantage then," he said.

His voice was calm, and deep down she knew that, but at the moment his voice seemed to mock her. As if he was laughing at her. She whipped her head up and glared at him. "Is there something about that fact that amuses you Scythro?" she snapped, unable to stop herself, but immediately regretting it. Just the thought of her unit being so vulnerable rubbed her the wrong way.

"You think I am mocking you?" He replied, his voice returning to annoyance. "If I was to mock you I would have attacked you in your pity base, defeated you and all your hundreds of men and laughed as you all cleaned my base."

"Well it would take us quite some time seeing as there is only forty of us, and it would give us great relief for we won't have to stay up all night fretting an attack that we cannot stop and knowing one day that it will come," Sara snapped. "Now I did not come her to fight you Scythro, and I most certainly didn't come to be chastised and threatened. I have enough to worry about as is. What I called your attention for was to discuss the fact that men from both of our bases are missing and I have no idea as to where they are. Your acceptance to me coming to your base show me that you either do not have my men or have them so securely locked up that I shall never find them. Which leaves me to think that there is someone else that we are overlooking. Someone who is making life rather hard for the both of us. I would like to rid myself of this hassle as I have other issues to worry about. The only reason I am standing here right now is to ask you if you will assist me and my men in finding out who this person is, but if you have no interest other than to make life even more difficult than I will not ask for your assistance and depart at once."

Scythro took a step back, shocked as he did not expect such a response from someone who had seemed so calm only moment before. Staring into Sara's death glaring eyes he knew he had touched a very sensitive topic. Not caring much for he was, in fact, in a bad mood her simply blew her off saying, "Then you have come to beg for help?" He grinned.

"Fuck you Scythro!" She shouted and turned away. With one hand against the wall and her own temper steaming she made her way back to the entrance of the tunnel. She couldn't believe Scythro had been so aggravating and immature. She thought he would've been easier to talk to even if he was angered. Whatever reason he had. She shouldn't have asked a man who she hadn't been on good terms with to help her. What was she thinking. She already knew the answer to that. She was thinking that he was responsible enough to take her seriously. That any man who could control a multitude of men and not be monstrous beasts running about conquering others had to be reasonable and responsible. She over estimated him. But that's what you get when you trust men without knowing them first.

When she got to the door she looked for anything that would open it. There were no handles or keypads. Nothing. Sara slammed her fist against the door. She could feel her heart beat in every muscle of her body, her upper body tense with so much fury it made her tremble. Her jaw set so tightly it made her ears ring, her breathing unstable as she tried to contain her anger. Her efforts, however, were futile, and the fact that she could not open the door to return to her base only fed her rapidly growing fury.

Scythro walked up silently behind her as she slammed her fist again against the metal door. "You won't open it that way," he stated calmly, slightly amused by her rage.

"Really?" Sara hissed with her fist still where it had landed on the door. "Then how the hell am I going to get out of here? I don't believe I can stand another second anywhere near you."

Scythro placed the torch back in its holder and clasped his hands together. "You need to speak a code word for the gateman to open the door," he explained.

Sara removed her fist from the door and smiled with impatience. "And what exactly is the code?" she inquired impatiently with her back towards him, knowing by the tone of his voice that he wasn't going to tell her.

"Well you see, it seems as if I have forgotten it," Scythro replied. He smiled at her, knowing that he had the upper hand.

She turned around and leaned back against the door. "Of course you don't know, what was I thinking. This is what I get for trusting a paranoid man," she told herself loud enough for Scythro to hear.

"Hey I already said-"

Sara cut him off her rage dying down with the knowledge that it had gotten her nowhere and wasn't going to get her anywhere. "Yeah I know what you already said, I was standing right in front of you, but words don't mean anything if actions say otherwise and your actions are paranoid no matter which way you cut it," she said with a hopeless calm.

"You give up very easily," Scythro stated.

"Just give me the code Scythro." She was done. Yes she was giving up on him. She didn't want to be around him anymore. She just wanted to go back to her base, and lay down, and not worry about him, and think about tomorrow.

Scythro thought for a minute. "You…you said your unit was weak?"

"I didn't say we were weak. I said we were a unit of stealth and speed not strength. Where do you see weak in that sentence?" She corrected.

"Well," Scythro huffed, "You said you weren't strong, so you implied weakness. But I don't see why you would think so."

"We aren't a very strong unit Scythro, anyone could see that. From the very start we weren't a strong unit. It's why we're always picked on and looked down upon. We are a weak unit, just look at us." She sank to the floor. Sitting with her back against the hard metal door. "We don't have anything! We're not strong, we can't even find enough supplied to protect ourselves. So you know what, yes I am begging you to help us. Because those forty men are damn good men, they have hearts and families that they'd die for. That's the reason they didn't leave when everyone else left, because the unit is their family too. And they don't deserve to die, or to be left to die. The only one who deserves to die is…well, me." She was feeling very hopeless at the moment, her body didn't even have enough reason to move. Hopeless was an understatement. She was so small and insignificant and all she seemed to accomplish was making more problems for her and the unit than she solved. She was such a failure. "Amani should never have left me to lead the unit. He was so much better than me." That was the truth. Amani had been the units leader when she was a kid. He was charming, charismatic, determined, intelligent, a very likable man and an excellent leader. He never lost a single battle and in his entire career he only lost ten men. He lead the unit for thirty-six years and everyone liked him, even the Global General liked him. He appealed to everyone, weather they were from the high end estates or worst rundown towns and everything in between. And he could make the most rotten egg into a jeweled crown, given the chance. He was the perfect person to lead a unit. She was the exact opposite. Where Amani got things done, it seemed she couldn't get anything accomplished. Where Amani had very few enemies, she seemed to have an uncountable amount of people who hated her. And where Amani was liked by everyone and everyone held such a high respect for him, she didn't seem to get any respect at all. Amani should have picked someone else. Anyone else, just not her.

Scythro stared at Sara for a long while. She had dug herself a deep grave and was giving up, planning to bury herself under the dirt and die. She had hit a low and from the way she spoke and the things she spoke of, he didn't blame her. Anyone would wish themselves dead with that kind of thinking. Play time was over. Scythro remembered Amani, his father had always envied Amani because he was so perfect. He sat with his back against the rough tunnel wall and said calmly, "Tell me something, is your name Amani?"

Sara looked up at him. "No."

"Are you Amani?"

"No."

"Why do you insist on comparing then? Why does it matter what he was?"

"Because everyone loved him, and look at me, I get nothing done, everyone curses me, Unit Nine is falling apart. It never fell apart when Amani was the General. It thrived, the cities around it thrived. Everything is falling apart now," She explained solemnly.

"I see. You are helpless."

"Why do you care?"

"Well if you must know it is because while I have built up my base and my men and even myself I have watched as your unit was beaten by that man and I watched as your men left, as they all gave up. But what I didn't see was your unit growing weak. It seemed to get stronger actually. And when you recruited those four boys just before everyone left, even then you seemed to get stronger. My question still stands, why do you say your unit is weak? Because you have no defense? Because you have but knives and spears? Let me ask you this Sara, what is a weapon without a master? What good is a knife if you have no knowledge of how it is used? Your men may not have guns or explosives, your unit may not have a defense system, but your men have something better, they have experience. I have watched you Sara I have spied upon your unit in the past weeks, and I have seen something. I have noticed that your men are more than just men, they are mutants. People who can sense an attack and be prepared for it. They have no need for guns or explosives, they can locate the nearest object and use it as a weapon as if it was their weapon of expertise. They are not normal men. Their expertise is not with the sward or the spear or bow, Their expertise is with their unnatural ability to pick up a wooden stick and take down men with guns or knock out a man with a single blow."

Sara stared at him. What he said was right. He was absolutely right. Why hadn't she seen it before?

"I am not just saying this because it is against my nature to be so charming," he said calmly.

Sara laughed at him. if there was anything she would call him it definitely wasn't charming.

Scythro smiled. "Yeah, you're right I'm not very charming. In fact I hate charming people they annoy me terribly. So terribly I want to cut them into many tiny pieces and feed them to a lion. Or maybe just feed them to the lion whole."

Sara raised an eyebrow at him, completely thrown off by what he had just said. She couldn't tell if he was being serious or not.

Scythro caught her look. "What?" he asked defensively. "You don't feed people to lions?"

"No, I don't make a habit of feeding people to lions," She replied somewhat confused. Scythros odd personality had forced her to smile. With a lighter mood she shook her head and said, "Scythro you are a very odd character."

"Oh why a' thank ya very muchly, a hyuck uck uck," he joked.

Sara eyed him not knowing what to think. "You have a very weird personality, were you dropped as a child?"

"No," Scythro replied somewhat seriously, "but I do remember my father telling me that he dropped my egg."

"Well that explains a lot."

"Well then!" Scythro exclaimed with pretended shock. "You have a marvelous way with words, but that saying is very much overused, especially by those pesky humans. Though I must say I like the idea that we have to do things underground. You know what I think? I think we should make an underground tunneling system that is only big enough for foxes and everything smaller."

"What about elephants? They dislike the humans just as much as the rest of us?" Sara pointed out.

"Well they're protected by the good people," Scythro replied

"You mean reservationists?"

"I do believe so. I mean they protect the elephants but what about the rest of us who get run over by cars and busses?"

"Does this have any relevancy to what our problem is?" Sara asked.

"Well…no not really why? We can't just sit and chat?"

"We don't have time to, I admit you are an intelligent man…to some degree anyway, so you should know that we can't just sit here and chat. But I have the need to ask, why were you so angry when I first arrived," Sara asked curiously.

"I wasn't," Scythro replied. "I was curious to see how you would react. It was very interesting, I never thought you could talk so properly. You didn't seem like the type." He stood up. "Gatekeeper will you open the door?" he shouted.

"I'm not," She replied standing up. "Was that really the code?" she asked with disbelief. The door behind her began to open. She couldn't believe it, all she had to do was ask the gatekeeper to open the door. It was silly, but very smart. No one would think to just ask for the door to be opened. They'd be standing there for hours just trying to get out. She stared out at the cavern that their men were standing in. they were still staring at each other. They looked like stone sculptures to her, standing so still.

Scythro whispered in Sara's ear, "Did you ever hear the expression, it takes a genius to be extremely moronic?" He backed away as she turned around.

"That was not what I was thinking, but yes I have heard that before." She smiled at him.

"Then let me make the extremely moronic decision to aid you in your search for this hidden monster," he smiled at her.

"You are an odd character, but you do have a certain charm," She replied.

"Everyone does my dear." His smile faded as a demonic screamed echoed through the cavern.

Sara spun around, her heart rate speeding up again as she scanned the cavern for any hint of movement. The men at the other end of the cavern had all gotten into fighting positions ready for anything.

But they weren't ready for everything.

Two metallic arms burst through ceiling and snatched two of the men then disappeared back into the ceiling before releasing a dark blue gas.

Sara and Scythro ignored the blue gas and ran towards their men. They never made it. Blackness engulfed them before they got there.

I hoped it was better than before. Even a little bit. It had the same basic ending I would think. Scythro is still a buddy now. R&R ^^#