"Ah! Don't touch it!"

"I'm sorry," Entropy whispered, shifting her arm so she was holding Cinder's shoulder instead.

Cinder had managed to dodge most of Stryker's attack, but his fang caught her arm and sliced it open. Entropy had had to slam part of a beam into his muzzle to keep him away from her, but now she had her friend's good arm wrapped over her shoulders to keep her from sprawling on the ground.

"Do you see him?" Cinder croaked.

"No," Entropy sighed. "I think we lost him. I just hope those kids got out okay."

"Well, I haven't seen any, so I guess we could take that as a good..."

She gasped and Entropy whipped around to see that Stryker was blocking the other end of hall, staring at them as he slithered closer to them. She stumbled back, hissing curses each time she heard Cinder cry out in pain.

"Stryker, come on!" she exclaimed, backing into a wall. "It's us! Don't you recognize us?"

Stryker lifted his head and hissed through his fangs, no recognition in his eyes.

"Cin..." Entropy hissed, watching her cousin carefully. "I'm going to throw you, okay? Get ready."

"Enny-" Cinder whimpered.

Entropy shoved her away as Stryker shot down, fangs bared for the kill. Cinder shouted as something swooped her up before she hit the ground. She looked up to see a midnight form holding her tightly as it flew away from the serpent.

"Zeph!" she declared.

He slowed to a stop around the corner, looking back to be sure they weren't being followed before setting her gently on the floor and examining her wound.

"Stryker did this?" he asked her.

"He doesn't know what he's doing," Cinder said, looking around. "Where's Enny? You got her too, right?"

"I moved her away before Stryker got her, but she still fighting him off," Zephyr said, tearing off a shred of his shirt and wrapping it around her arm. She cringed when he tied it tight. "I know you're not a hundred percent, but I need you to find Jack. He said he'd catch up, but he's in pretty bad shape."

Cinder nodded as he shifted into his Shadow Form and zipped off to help Entropy. Cinder took a deep breath and started to run, calling for Jack as loud as she could.

"Took you long enough!" Entropy snapped as Zephyr flew over and dipped under Stryker's head. "I can't keep him distracted for much longer!"

"Then hide!" Zephyr yelled as he formed a ball of air between his hands and threw it at Stryker.

It bounced harmlessly off his frill and dispersed, only proving to make him angrier. He snapped at Zephyr, missing him by centimeters. Entropy chucked a piece of board at him, then shrieked as Stryker wrapped his tail around her and started squeezing. She groaned as she felt her organs started smashing into each other. Zephyr, with lack of other options, pulled out the axe he created.

"Notus Hammer*!" he cried, bringing the weapon down as it changed to its mallet form.

A blade of wind sored from it and sliced Stryker's head, causing him to cry out in pain and hiss at his attacker as blood started falling down his face. He lashed out and Zephyr turned the Hammer vertically; he cringed as Stryker bit down on the top of the head and the bottom of the pole, his fangs dangerously close to him. Entropy managed to wriggle out of her cousin's grasp and slid down to look for something to fight with. Her eyes widened when she saw one of her wrist cannons lying on the ground. They must have stopped near the room where they had taken their things. She scooped it up and aimed it at Stryker's back, turning it to stun as she shot rapidly. Stryker cried out on contact, allowing Zephyr to unhinge the Hammer and fly out of his friend's mouth. Stryker whipped about and snapped at Entropy, then dipped down and slithered off in the opposite direction. Zephyr landed next to Entropy and slumped.

"...We have to follow now?" Entropy asked.

"Yeah..." Zephyr sighed.

******JP******

"Jack!"

He looked up and saw Cinder running to him, blood streaming down her arm. He tried to push himself off the wall he'd been scooting across, but he didn't have enough strength.

"Are you okay?" Cinder asked him. "Zeph told me what happened."

Jack nodded, reaching towards her arm and then drawing away. She looked down at it too and shrugged.

"It's okay, it looks worse than it is."

He didn't believe her, but he accepted her answer and tried to push himself up again. Cinder came over and carefully helped him off; he accepted her help gratefully, limping with her down the hall.

"Where's everyone?" he asked wearily.

"When I left Entropy and Zephyr were fighting Stryker," Cinder told him. She grimaced when she saw all the wounds on his shoulders. "We need to get you to a doctor, Jack."

He shook at the mention of it; he didn't know if he ever wanted to see another medical instrument again. Something moved ahead of him and he froze, glaring at the person who stood from the rubble. Eldritch stumbled for a moment, his goggles almost fuzed into his sockets, then turned and scowled at them. Jack heard Cinder whimper and moved her behind him, holding his ground as Eldritch stormed to him.

"Look at what your insolent friend has done to our grand building!" he shrieked, leaning down to see him when he stopped. "He's demolished like a house of cards!"

Jack didn't answer, just smirked, which was answer enough. Eldritch growled and slammed his giant hands around Jack's arms, disconnecting him and Cinder as he raised him in the air. Jack cringed, dipped his head, but his smirk never left.

"What are you grinning about, darling!" Eldritch snarled madly, shaking the boy. Cinder saw something behind the doctor and her eyes grew wide with fear. "You and your friends are never going to escape! We'll hunt you down and gut you like the wretched things you-"

He froze when a blast of hot air ruffled his hair and coat. Jack's grin widened and Cinder took a step back. Eldritch shook as a low growl sounded behind him, then joltingly turned to see that Stryker was behind him. His golden eyes were glistening angrily, trained solely on him as his lips parted to show his fangs.

"Hey, Stryke," Jack called, causing Eldritch to shake more. "You remember the guy who shocked you, right?"

Stryker hissed and Eldritch dropped Jack as if he were on fire, taking as many steps back as he could. Stryker's head followed him faithfully as Cinder rushed over to help Jack up. The redhead found the strength to stand on his own, and for once Cinder was glad that he kept her behind him.

"Hey, El?" Jack snarled at the shaking man. "What was that about hunting us down?"

Stryker snarled venomously.

"No! No, I would never!" Eldritch shrieked. "I meant the boss! He is he one who hurts others, not I!"

"Liar!" Cinder yelled. "You had your own plans to hurt Entropy and me!"

This time Stryker's head dipped low and he opened his mouth wide, close to Eldritch, who was trying desperately to stay on his feet as his legs shook. Without warning Stryker snapped him up in his jaws, screeching and all. Cinder squeaked and pressed herself against Jack, squeezing her eyes shut. Jack on the other hand, didn't even flinch, only stepped aside as Stryker turned and slithered passed them. Cinder peeked out and then stared as Stryker reared back, his head facing an empty holding cell, then spat Eldritch out of his jowls; the tall man rolled easily into the cell and Jack pressed the button for the door, smirking at the large snake as the head rat started beating on the doors to be let out. It appeared as if the serpent smirked back.

"You all out of rage now?" Jack asked him, squeezing Cinder's hand reassuringly. "'Cause I don't think you can destroy anything else."

A hum came from the serpent, and Jack and Cinder stepped back as its scales started to shimmer and glow. They watched in relief as the giant shrunk, shrunk, shrunk, until it was only five foot ten, as it should be. From the light they could see two legs form, then arms, then that Mohawk they knew and loved; Stryker groaned as the light diminished and he fell to the floor, his clothes torn all over but his wounds healed completely. Jack and Cinder ran over and helped him up, huge smiles on their faces as they each hugged him.

"Thank goodness you're back!" Cinder sighed as Stryker shook his head and opened his eyes fro the first time. "You had us all really worried!"

He tried to smile at her, then caught sight of the clotting blood on her arm and his face fell. Cinder covered the wound with her hand and continued to smile at him.

"It's okay," she said quietly. "You didn't know what you were doing."

"I didn't hurt anyone else, did I?" Stryker croaked. His face had grown pale and it looked as if he was mentally stabbing himself for this.

"I don't think so," Jack said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "This is kinda my fault anyway. You wouldn't have hulked out if it hadn't been for me."

"Darn right it's you're fault!"

They turned to see Entropy and Zephyr, battered and bruised, winded, but otherwise okay, lurch up to them. Entropy came over and socked Stryker on the head, her purple eyes blazing.

"Next time I tell you it'd be cool if you changed into your Monster-Snake Form, don't listen to me!" she yelled as Stryker covered his head. "You nearly squeezed me to death!"

"Least now you won't complain about me never hugging you..." Stryker muttered.

His comment got him another blast on the head.

"I almost agree with Enny," Zephyr grumbled, touching the slice on his cheek. "You and rage aren't a healthy pairing for the rest of us."

Stryker smiled apologetically as Jack looked down and saw the axe in Zephyr's hand.

"Hey, is that the Wu you created?" he asked, drawing everyone else's attention to it.

"Yeah," Zephyr said, obviously proud of the object. "I guess rage can be helpful if you know how to use it. I made it just before Stryker started chasing the goons around me."

He gave Stryker a wink.

"I will give you credit, it seemed like your snake form went easier on us than it did the lab rats. If they hadn't run away, you probably would have been digesting them."

"Like Eldritch over there?" Cinder asked as Stryker shivered at the thought.

Entropy straightened when she saw Eldritch pounding to be let out of the cell. He stopped and his jaw dropped when Entropy made a rude gesture and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Where's the boss man?" she asked after making fun of her former guard. "I want to knit his hide into a sweater."

"Don't know," Jack said, his eyes turning hollow and angry. "Wherever he is, I hope he's suffering."

"Anyone wanna search him out and make sure he's suffering?" Zephyr growled.

"Know what I wanna do?" Stryker asked them, dipping his head tiredly.

They all lunged for him when he started collapsing, almost falling onto each other as they pulled him back up. His eyes were half closed when they stood him up again, but he managed a weary smile as he looked around at them all.

"I wanna get our stuff and go home."

******JP******

Notus is a Greek myth wind god. I thought his name would be easier to pronounce than some of the other ones.