Chapter 32: Clan Mason Door Knocker.

Jack and his Seekers were first through the breach before the smoke even had a chance to clear and therefore were the first to come under fire, but trying to hit a Seeker in full battle mode is like trying to catch smoke with a net and not the Raptorian loving kind of Smoke, because that would be giving them ideas and they already had too many of those.

Jack deflected and cut through every projectile in his path, the Scalathor seemed to use oddly mixed weapons, some seemed to use projectile-based firearms, kinda like the Raptorians while others used energy-based weapons, which were the ones that were rather dangerous to Clan Mason's armour, in fact, Jack was almost positive that they had been rush developed to try and countermand their battle armour after their encounter on the Serpentinus homeworld.

Whatever the case was a number of them had already been sent up to the mobile science Hive aboard the Grand Matriarch's Fury in order for them to be studied and countermeasures created, but for now, speed and their superior senses were the Seekers greatest defence against these small arms.

They seemed to work on a similar system to a pulse rifle but fired compressed plasma shot, the rounds had nowhere near as much punch as one fired from one of the Clan Mason rifles but plasma is plasma and it is incredibly dangerous, hence why the shielding on Clan Mason battle suits was designed to dispel the charge that held it together as it flew causing the gas to wash harmlessly over the shield itself.

Though not without cost obviously, each shot absorbed would deplete the shield's capacitor and if enough of them hit you your shields would drop and your suit would go into recharge mode, leaving just your armour between you and the superheated gas which was hotter than the surface of a sun.

But one thing the gas couldn't melt through were the blessed weapons that the Seekers held, metal-reinforced with the blessing and power of a Goddess both deflected and dissipated them very nicely while also cutting through the more traditional metal projectiles.

The Scalathor and Draconis had formed ranks to attempt to repel the invaders and at its head were Jack and his Seekers prime targets, the Nightmare Assassins.

But something felt off here, something felt really wrong, as they charged forwards Jack got a cold shiver up his spine and he felt the cold darkness that seemed to come along with the presence of supreme evil, that's when he saw it and his heart was instantly filled with both the coldest of dread and the hottest of anger.

To the right of the barracks building was a pile of bodies, just piled up and discarded like trash awaiting collection, Jack instantly recognised the form of the Scalathor males, all of them that they'd kept on this base were dead.

But they were more than dead, there was no soul aura to them, despite having only just been killed, some of their grievous wounds obviously caused by bladed weapons were still leaking blood onto the ground, it was a Soul Tear, the Nightmare Assassins had drained these poor innocent creatures and killed them after they had no more use for them, they had turned their very life essence and energy into fuel for their dark powers.

"Watch out they killed the males and took their power!" Jack exclaimed and as one he felt the echo of his moral outrage echoing through his Seekers.

It was like a bolt of white-hot lightning travelling between them as the reality of what these vile creatures had done hit them, the Seekers stopped dead before the Nightmare Assassins and a familiar face stepped forwards.

Oddly none of the Scalathor or Draconis troops was firing at the now stationary Seekers, they were more focused on the invading Hunters and Raptorians that were pouring through the breach like angry water.

"I told you we'd meet again Jack Mason," Gelvia Furyscale said stepping forwards towards him, around her swirled an aura as black as the void, it was like pure darkness made real, instantly Jack felt the fear and the pain in it and he knew that this was the remnants of the souls of the poor innocent males that they had harvested to bolster their fighting power.

"You did and at that time I offered you a choice, to step back from the path of evil and madness, but what you have done here cannot be undone, the stain of those innocent souls will forever mark yours with the blackest of stains, you and your kind made them suffer in life and now you have denied them the peace of eternity, this is a crime that cannot be forgiven, you will pay for it mark my words, in this life or the next you will pay for what you have done here," he said calmly as his rage boiled beneath the surface of his cold exterior.

The one they called the Fallen Angel simply laughed and it was picked up by her fellow Nightmare Assassins, "Oh you Dream Warriors and your morals, when will you realise that they don't matter, none of us matter, all that matters is the will of the Dark Seed, all that matters is the strength it grants and the promise it made, when all this is over, when the darkness has washed over the universe and bathed it in the deepest of black, then you will understand, when you finally see your precious so called Gods and Goddesses on thier knees, stripped of thier power and begging for thier eternal souls, oh how glorious it will be to see the so called Eternal Huntress on her knees begging like the pathetic worm she truly is, then Jack Mason you will understand and trust me you will be there to see it, while I have permission to kill all of your little friends here today and the rest of them in the future, I have somewhat special plans for you" she said a rather creepy and salisious tone coming into her voice.

"I'm not interested in your plans, I'm only interested in your destruction" Jack snarled tightening his grip on his huge sword.

The Fallen Angel laughed again and flashed him a wicked looking smile of white teeth which really shone thanks to her ink-black scales, "Yes the Seed said you'd say that, but it still gave me a very special permission when it came to you, you see I think it would be such a terrible waste to utterly destroy such a pretty, strong, powerful male, such as you, so instead I approached the Seed and asked for permission to make you my pet, it agreed, but only on the premiss that I utterly crush you and your little rebellion, oh and it did make one other rule, that your charming wife has to be left alive as well, so that she can watch as I fuck you, infact I think I'll keep her around so I can make her watch every single time and who knows, maybe I'll even let you enjoy it, infact do you think she'll like it when you start to beg me for more?" she said her voice going sultry and seductive.

Jack simply roared at the top of his lungs, a roar that was picked up by every Seeker and Hunter in the place, including his wife who'd voice cut through the chaos like a cleaver, this seemed to startle and shock the Fallen Angel, but not as much as the rush that followed it.

The soul-infused Nightmare Assassins were no joke, the life energy of a person to a Dream Warrior was like a shot of NOS to a car engine, it provided an incredible boost of power, the Nightmare Assassins scattered but Immediately regrouped and came back at the Seekers with a tremendous force and fury, in fact, it was all they could do to ward off their relentless attacks.

Even Jack himself was having major difficulty warding off the furious slashes of the Fallen Angel as she darted around him attacking him seemingly from all sides at once, she on the other hand was seemingly loving how the tables had turned, "Do you see it now Jack Mason? Do you see that future of yours with those pretty eyes of yours? Of you laid helpless in my bed simply waiting eagerly for my return so that I may use you as I see fit again?" she taunted.

"No, but I do see your skull hanging on my wife's trophy wall while she uses your pauking tail to sweep our yard" Jack shot back through clenched teeth.

The Fallen Angel simply laughed and danced around him her smoking black blades singing through the air cutting inside his guard and glancing off his armour as they punched right through his shields like they weren't even there.

"Why do you fight it Jack? If only you'd taken my offer when I made it, you could have been a king, stood proudly at the side of the Dark Seed's black throne, watching the countless masses bend their knee ready to sacrifice themselves at your very word, but now all you'll be is a pet for my amusement" she said.

"Oh I'll be there at the throne of the Dark Seed alright, but I won't be kneeling, I'll be holding the blade that cuts its head from its shoulders and casts its blackness back where it came from along with the rest of you" Jack snarled darkly.

The Fallen Angel laughed loudly, that's when Jack realised to his horror that they were losing, his Seekers despite their strength were being beaten back, he saw out of the corner of his eye the Nightmare Assassins scoring hit after hit and ground being lost, if he didn't do something fast one of them would fall and then all would be lost.

That's when it hit him, he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it before and he cursed his fucking pride for muddying his mind, "Seekers to me!" he bellowed and he jumped backwards along with the others landing in a protective circle as the Nightmare Assassins turned to face them.

"Had enough already Jack?" the Fallen Angel taunted resting her blades on her shoulders and adopting a relaxed and rather arrogant pose.

"Hardly," Jack said with a smile that seemed to confuse her.

Jack whirled his huge sword around his head and slammed it into the ground at his feet, "This is not our soil, not our home, but here we stand ready to defend it, we have and will continue to spill our blood and give our lives to make it free again, we are the proud children of the Eternal Huntress Paya and we stand here humble in the home of others, enthralled by its beauty and its purity, but before us stand those who would sully it's beauty, defile its innocence, Great Tree hear us now, you called to us for aid, to free your children form the Darkness but we are not strong enough, please Great Tree lend us your strength, aid us now, lend us your strength as we off you ours freely, help repel those that would defile your beloved children in your very own garden, we call on you to send us the souls of the slain and defiled, send us those that already walk in the beauty of the Golden Garden, lend us their strength and thier righteous fury, let it aid us, make us strong, let us use it to avenge them one and all, et them be the ones to extract justice for thier deaths and let them use us to protect thier beloved prides!" Jack bellowed so loud his voice rang through the place like a bell resonating in every soul that heard it, it wasn't often Jack pulled a summon but when he did hang on to your arse.

"He's fucking summoning! Stop him!" the Fallen Angel yelled as the other Seekers laid a hand on Jack and repeated his words perfectly and their words just like his resonated in every soul present as the power of the Dream Warriors Soul Speech took hold amplifying its power.

A faint breeze carried with it a whisper like voice that cut through the chaos of battle like a blade, "I hear you beloved children of Paya and I answer" it said in a voice that was a perfect mixture of male and female.

Suddenly out of nowhere flowers began to punch through the metal flooring of the base popping up all around Jack and his Seekers feet, seemingly breaking through where his blade had struck the ground using the crack his blade had cut in the metal to take hold, a large golden vine entwined Jack's sword before absorbing into it and warping it before his eyes, the metal taking on both a green and a golden tinge and sheen, one of the Screaming Nightmare Assassins charged at Jack with her blades held high and Jack braced himself.

"Do you trust me child of Paya?' the voice asked.

Jack felt a calmness washing through him, like warm golden sunshine washing across the rolling plains of home, "I do" he said softly and it was echoed by all of his Seekers.

The Nightmare Assassin yelled with fury and lunged at Jack but sooner had her feet left the ground than vines shot out of it and dragged her back down, they wrapped themselves around her legs and others shot up and wrapped her arms, "You have defiled the beauty that I have sown vile one, you have stolen that which is not yours and never shall be, you have taken my most beloved ones from me and now I take them back, no more shall your fear torment them, they will walk with me in the Paradise of the Garden I planted for them and they shall be free!" the whispered voice said with a surprising amount of venom.

Golden vines shot out of Jack's blade and wrapped themselves around the struggling and screeching Nightmare Assassin, then like a fisherman pulling in a fighting fish the vines went taught and tore the imprisoned souls from her aura and body.

It was like the black smoke of her aura was being torn apart, like it was being run through a coffee strainer made of golden vines and while the thick black vileness was dissipated golden sparkling clouds began to emerge from it.

The souls swirled and danced around like golden sunbeams trapped in gas until they shot into Jack's sword making it glow, the Nightmare Assassin fell to the floor looking utterly drained, "My children thank you for calling me to free them, they beg me for the chance to help you free their beloved brothers, they lend you their strength Jack Mason beloved child of Paya, use it well and wisely, free their beloved brothers and send them home to me" the voice of the Great Tree whispered.

"I will Great Tree, I swear it to you," Jack said and with that, he grabbed the handle of his sword golden vines instantly wrapping themselves around his wrists and joining the sword to his hands as he pulled it free.

Suddenly the Nightmare Assassins were not so sure of themselves, other golden sparkling entities were pouring from the flowers around the Seeker's feet and were joining with the other Seekers, their weapons too were being wrapped in nature and golden vines, all of the Seekers's began to glow, their aura's like white fire billowing all around them, the Soul Summon had taken hold and there was no stopping it now.

"We will take back that which you stole, we will free the enslaved and we will bring peace to the tortured, because we are the Seekers of Truth and we seek out evil and when we find it, we destroy it!" Jack and all of them bellowed as one.

Now it was the Nightmare Assassins on the back foot, the renewed and invigorated Seekers charged them, each of them was surrounded in an aura of pure white and gold that billowed around them like a pair of wings made of flame, each one of them looked like a vengeful angel and this was visible to all, not just to other Seekers, the effect of this summons was so powerful it had bled through into the physical world and now every Hunter, Saviour and Battle Angel, not to mention Raptorian could see what the Seekers truly were.

The righteous anger of the fallen flowed through them bolstering their already considerable strength and igniting their own souls with a thirst for vengeance, a thirst that they would quench by tearing the innocent souls from these vile creatures.

That's when Jack saw something interesting, there seemed to be a connection between the Nightmare Assassin's and the one called the Fallen Angel, it was like tendrils of superfine blackness reaching from her to them, it took him a moment to realise what he was looking at, "Puppets" he said softly as his blade clashed against hers and instantly he saw her eyes widen in shock that he'd seen it.

"Brothers and sisters they are puppets! Don't kill them! They are being controlled by the Dark Seed and by her! Which means if you kill them she will get their power, they are our innocent sisters, free them!" Jack yelled to his Seekers which instantly changed how his Seekers fought.

Whereas before they were fighting to utterly destroy them now they began to wear them down instead, the strength of the fallen Scalathor and Raptorians flowing through them pushing their strength well beyond normal limits it made it impossible for the Nightmare Assassins to keep up as they were fighting with stolen souls not freely gifted ones.

Now, this is where the difference between the use of Soul Tear and a Soul Summon properly done really came into their own, as the Seekers were getting a continual replenishment of soul energy direct from the Great Tree, so as one soul depleted its energy it was called back to the Golden Garden to wander free having expended its anger and thirst for vengeance, it was then instantly replaced by another, the Nightmare Assassins had only the stolen souls to count on, now while this did make them stronger and faster as they were using far more of the energy it was short-lived as they burned the soul out and left it as nothing but a Shadow.

Which exactly as Jack planned wore them down and one by one they fell being pounced on by the Seeker fighting them who tore the remaining souls and shadows free of them, sending them back to the Great Tree for it to rejuvenate them and to care for them, they then set about doing what Seekers did best, they began to exorcise the Darkness from the still fighting Nightmare Assassins.

One by one the Great Tree powered Seekers were victoriously tearing a vile blackness from the struggling Nightmare Assassin's they had pinned down and burning it with golden fire leaving a rather confused and frightened looking Scalathor woman in its wake.

One by one the tethers vanished and the flames of black surrounding the Fallen Angel shrank and shrank until they were basically a whisper around her, Jack smiled at her as she seemed to realise that the tables had well and truly turned on her, with one last push she kicked off his blade and landed a few feet away, "This isn't over Jack Mason! I will make good on my promise just you wait and see! You will be mine and I will become unstoppable!" she screamed and with that, a claw of shadow erupted from the side of the building and swallowed her in its smoke-like fingers leaving not a single trace of her as Jack's blade slammed into the wall where she had stood moments before.

Jack turned and saw that his Seekers had already secured the now freed not to mention utterly confused and terrified former Nightmare Assassins, but the power of the Great Tree and the souls of the Golden Garden had not faded, the thirst was still there, he lifted his blade high above his head its metal glinting in the sunlight.

"Souls of the glorious dead I am your humble servant, I am the vessel through which you return, use my connection to this world, I am the left hand of the Eternal Huntress and I offer myself to you freely, use my power, return to this place and avenge yourselves!" he bellowed and with that, he slammed his sword into the ground again and held the fuck on.

Instantly Jack was swept up into the air and he hovered above the battlefield below, tethered to the sword by golden vines which wrapped hard around his ankles, a golden blast of light burst out of Jack's chest like his heart had turned into the sun itself, the battlefield was instantly bathed in glittering golden smoke out of which the figures of the fallen Raptorians and male Scalathor emerged all dressed in golden armour that was decorated with flowers and trees, obviously the symbols of the Great Tree, they stood together shoulder to shoulder, a vengeful army of the dead, ready to stand for the living, to fight for the ones they had loved and left, together they raised their golden blades like an army of knights and charged screaming at the remaining Scalathor and Draconis.

"What's happening!?" the Raptorian prides began to scream in fear as they saw the ghosts of their fallen pride sisters and friends charging past them as well as the fallen Scalathor males.

"Fear not little ones you are witnessing the true power of my beloved Ack and his Seekers, they call upon the gloried dead to aid us! The fallen have come to exact righteous vengeance!" Tik yelled and as one the Hunters pumped their fists in the air and cheered the fallen on as they tore into the Scalathor and the Draconis like a wave of pure justice.

It took literal seconds for the fallen to utterly destroy the remaining warriors, as no weapons they had could harm the already dead spirits, their bullets and plasma passing through them like smoke, but the blades of the fallen were not like smoke, they cut just as deep as a steel one, utterly ignoring the armour their foes wore and striking them right to the heart.

As that happened Jack touched down onto the floor again with billowing white flame-like wings around him, his eyes were glowing bright gold as he surveyed the destruction the fallen had wrought upon the invaders, but he felt no pity for them, their intentions here had been insidious ones and now they were stopped.

He was still tethered to the sword by golden vines, the ghosts all gathered around him and a particularly small Scalathor male stepped from the silent crowd and looked up at him, it was one of the children that had been among the comfort males, Jack actually remembered the tears that had burned his eyes upon seeing his broken little body thrown upon that pile, not to mention the fury that had stabbed his heart, but now the boy was clean and clear, not a wound nor a blemish adorned his radiant scales as he stood before Jack and a smile of pure joy lit Jack's face to see him free.

"Thank you Paya's left hand, you have earned the gratitude and respect of the Great Tree this day, you kept your promise as the Great Tree hoped you would, you did your Goddess proud, you gave us the chance to rest easy and to aid our beloved living ones free this beautiful place from evil, we are told that should you ever wish it there will be a place for you and all who follow you in the Golden Garden to spend eternity in peace and joy, plus even if you pass into the Eternal Hunt when your days here are done you will still be received as honoured guests and friends in the garden should you wish to visit," he said.

"No young one I am merely the vessel, this victory was yours, without your strength this victory would have not been possible, so thank you one and all" Jack said dropping to his knee and saluting the fallen Scalathor male child all of his Seekers and Clan Mason followed the lead of their Grand Patriarch in showing their respect the same way, even Tik.

Strength through unity..." the boy began, planting a glowing hand on Jack's shoulder as the elder Seeker looked up in stunned silence.

"...Unity through togetherness..." a Raptorian pride said placing their hands atop one another's before placing it on him as well continued.

"...Togetherness through pure love..." another older Scalathor male said.

Another Raptorian though this one was alone stepped forwards "... a love so pure it burns through all who hear its call..." she said.

Then another, "...and hear its call, you do..." she said.

Now another male, "...and answer that call honestly, you did..." he said.

Suddenly a very familiar face stepped forwards out of the crowd, it was V'Lek, "...humbled by its power, you were..." he said as he placed his hand on his patriarch in law's shoulder a warm happy smile planted firmly on his golden mandibles.

One after another, the spirits joined, each placing a hand on him, "...humble and proud you still stand...shoulder to shoulder...these are your brothers and your sisters...they stood for you as you stand for them... you are never alone for wherever you are you carry your brothers and sisters with you... as they carry you...your strength is theirs as theirs is yours...together you are strong and you are free...for you are Clan Mason and you stand proudly together now and always...and together you stand for those who need you as you always have and always will, for while Clan Mason stands all are free and those that fall will be avenged, in the name of the Great Tree and the Eternal Huntress and of all the deities who look down on you with love, stand proud brothers and sisters for you are blessed and you are loved, one and all" the spirits said in perfect unison as they said the Clan joining oath albeit slightly modified.

Then just as quickly as they had sprung forth the spirits took one last look at their friends and loved ones before with a final wave of thanks and goodbye, they vanished like golden smoke that was sucked back into Jack and travelling along the vines and into the sword.

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Tik eleth Mason stood with her mandibles hanging open, never in her life had she seen something so wondrous, her beloved Ack stepped up and pulled his slightly changed sword from the ground and held it aloft, proudly pointing it at the sun so that the rays hit the blade and caused it to cast a golden light over everything around him, "Raptoria is now and will forever be FREE!' he screamed to the sky and every single person there except for maybe the captured former Nightmare Assassins screamed in joy and began hugging one another.

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One of the command prides walked somewhat timidly up to Jack, it was obvious this display of sheer power had utterly rocked their world to its very core, not only had they stood shoulder to shoulder with fighting males and utterly unthinkable thing to them, but they had just witnessed a male so powerful he had ended a war using an army of their dead sisters calling them from the very Golden Garden of their beloved Great Tree itself.

"We have received word from the teams in the other two bases, they have been victorious as well, all of the Scalathor and Draconis lay slain or captured, Raptoria is truly free again," they said looking up at him in awe.

Jack smiled warmly down at them, "Good, but we must not get complacent here, it won't take the Scalathor and Draconis long to figure out that something is very fucking wrong when they can't contact either their fleet or their ground bases, there is still a battle to be fought there but I have a personal score to settle on their shore after what they have done here and what they have taken from us, Clan Mason never lets the loss of our own go unpunished and they will pay in blood for every Hunter, Battle Angel and Saviour that fell here, but please do not take that to mean I am in any way angry with you or your people, every one of them gave their life proudly and willingly in the defence of this beautiful place and its beautiful people and given the choice I know every one of them would do the same again even if it meant the same result, that's just who we are" Jack said.

The command pride all nodded, "We are truly beginning to see that, when you first arrived we did not trust you, a benevolent mixture of alien races coming here to simply stand at our side and fight our enemies with us? The very notion seemed preposterous, we thought you had an ulterior motive, that you wanted our land, or maybe our resources, even possibly our beloved males, but you truly don't do you?" they said and Jack smiled.

"All we want is your friendship and your safety, it is the duty of the strong to stand to protect those that need them, when the strong stand together united in both purpose and belief then this is the result," Jack said sweeping his hand over the scene of Raptorian prides hugging one another and any Hunter, Seeker or Battle Angel they could get their little hands on.

The command pride nodded in agreement, "You truly are an inspiration Jack Mason, never before would we have ever believed that a male could stand and do such things, but what we have witnessed here today, well if we had not seen it with our own eyes then we would not have ever believed it, but thanks to our statements and those girls there, all of Raptoria will see what you all did for us here today, today they will all know the truth and today they will all believe in Clan Mason" they said proudly gesturing to the little camera crew and reporter pride who was stood right in the middle of everything filming everything, Jack got the feeling he was about to become rather famous.

As thanks for what they had done the Clan was invited down into the Raptorian cities to join in the festivities that were going on once the news of the utter defeat of the invaders was broke by the brave war reporters of Pride Life Today News and boy did the Raptorians know how to celebrate.

As Jack and Tik crossed the bridge into the city they could already hear the parties raging, no sooner had they entered the gate than they instantly spotted a huge screen displaying an image of them and what appeared to be Smoke all stood with weapons in their hands all stood back to back in full on hero battle poses, the screen flickers to show them off on at a time as they watched.

First, it showed Smoke stood proudly with his hands on his hips and his chest puffed out, underneath it read 'Hunter Smoke the Guardian of Males, Defender of the innocent, winner of Raptorian hearts' before it changed to show a picture of Smoke helping male children and holding a small Raptorian dolly in his hand before changing again to show in holding a shield and standing defiantly between a group of terrified looking males and what appeared to be a giant pink blob thing, before finally changing to show him surrounded proudly by his fearsome proud looking pride all holding their weapons proudly as they stood together looking every bit the proud interspecies pride they were, Jack recognised Vippy right at the front before Smoke.

Then it changes to show Tik, first stood in the pose that Smoke had been in, underneath her it read 'Tik eleth Mason, Grand Matriarch and Huntress of evil, Breaker of Chains, freer of slaves and avenger of the innocent'.

The image changed to Tik smashing huge chains with her war hammer and freeing captive male Scalathor before guiding them to safety and into the loving protective arms of what appeared to be Raptorian prides, the final image showed Tik stood defiant with her hammer raised and looking every bit the beautiful huntress as she stood between the males and their new prides and what was obviously evil Scalathor females trying to steal them back.

Then it was Jack's turn, he stood with his hands on his hips beaming at the viewer, under him, it read, 'Jack Mason the Grand Patriarch and protector of Raptoria, the Seeker of Truth, guardian of the innocent and the freer of hearts, destroyer of evil'.

The image change to one of Jack standing valiantly before an army with Raptorian prides at his back fighting the Scalathor before it changed again and this time he seemed to be delivering both Yautja and human males into the arms of very happy looking Raptorian prides, he instantly recognised both Smoke and A'Ramek in the picture as he seemed to be guiding the two boys into the arms of loving grateful looking prides, underneath the picture there was a caption, "Bringer of true love and alien joy' it read.

Then the picture changed one last time to show the three of them surrounded by Surface Stalkers all in full battle armour, 'Heroes of Raptoria' it read underneath.

"Oh boy suddenly I'm very glad we have cloaking tech," Jack said making Tik and Ryan who had joined them after returning from his own victory nod in unison.

"Ahh what the matter Grand Patriarch? I think they captured your good side there" a familiar voice said and they turned to see Liam approaching with a large grin plastered on his face, he had Smoke and his pride in tow with him and they were all stood gawking up at the huge screen.

"Before you ask no I don't think it makes your tail look fat and that goes for all of you, is a good excuse to stare at them without getting caught though," Smoke said and every one of his pride took it in turns to give him a playful punch on the leg.

"You may stare at our tails as much as you desire, covered up or not," they said playfully.

"How about raised or lowered?" Smoke shot back making them all blush and grab at him, then Vippy turned to Jack.

"Please excuse us Grand Patriarch and Matriarch we need to err borrow your Hunter here for a swift lesson in the consequences of teasing your pride," she said and before any of them could answer the Pride hoisted Smoke up off his feet and shot off with him in the air and three of them on either side of him, he looked like he was riding a magic carpet made of Raptorians.

They hadn't got far before a yell went up, "That's him! The Guardian of Males!" and it was followed by a squeal and the sound of running feet, as it turned out that Surface Stalker training came in rather handy in evading not only surface predators but rampaging crowds of female fans too and Smoke pride shot out of sight.

"Oh boy this is going to be interesting," Liam said and no sooner had the words left his lips than more shouts went up.

"It's them! It's them! The Breaker of Chains and the Protector of Raptoria!" the yell went up, before any of them could move the entire group was utterly surrounded by Raptorians, all wanting to shake their hands, take pictures with them, get their autographs, plus it seemed that more than one pride wanted to ask Jack if he could send a human or Yautja boy their way as well.

But by far the most beautiful thing was a small group of Raptorian males who walked right up to Tik without fear, each of them was carrying children with them and they seemed utterly enthralled by the giant Huntress dressed like a golden war Valkeryie before them, one of the males placed his young son down and the small boy who literally looked like he could fit in the palm of one of Tik's huge hands walked right up to her with no fear, he held something up to her and she knelt down and took it.

"I drewd this for you, thanks yous for saving the Scallythor boys, my daddy says they will be happys here, girls will takes care of them like our mommys takes cares of us, yous is good," the little boy said ruffling his pretty feathers at her happily.

Jack saw Tik's heart utterly melt in her chest, nothing made her mommy Tik more than innocent little cubs, no matter whose they were, "Thank you little one, I will cherish it" she said opening up what appeared to be a drawing of Tik holding up a big hammer and protecting what appeared to be dragons but were probably male Scalathor.

"Can I sits on yous shoulder?" the little boy asked and the father went to intercede but Tik held up a big hand to stop him.

"Of course you can little one," she said and with the tenderest of care, she scooped him up and placed him so he was sat on her shoulder fin-like it was a saddle.

"Wow yous is sooo tall!" the boy squealed in pure joy looking around over the crowd which had fallen oddly silent as they watched this scene in utter amazement.

"I am a Yautja, we are all really tall, do want to see how high we can leap?" she said and he nodded eagerly.

"Hold on tight," Tik said and with a mighty bound Tik showed off one of the tricks that made the Yautja utterly fearsome in combat, she leapt clear over the crowd and landed on the roof of a nearby building with a boom before turning around and leaping back.

Jack saw the father looking nervous as all hell, "Fear not, the entire Scalathor army could not harm your cub while my wife guards him, she would kill an entire planet of them rather than a single scale of his get scuffed" Jack said proudly as Tik landed back in the circle with a tremendous boom that just covered the screams of pure joy of the boy clinging to her shoulder.

Tik handed the boy back to his relived and grateful father, "Thank you Breaker of Chains, you really are all they say you are" he said and the crowd erupted again, Jack got the feeling it was going to be a long night, but a worthwhile one.