Chapter 88: Sands of Time.
"Gotta love the hypocrisy of this fucking maniac really don't you?" Markus said as he rolled onto his back and looked up at Adesus who was currently looking over the lip of their covered-over hide which looked down into the city below them.
"What do you mean?' Adesus asked never taking her eyes off the city below them.
"Well on the one hand he is proclaiming that it is Velon , purity and strength that will carry the Velon people forwards and turn them into a force to be both respected and fear on the universal stage, then on the other hand he's using alien mercenaries to keep the populace under thumb with an iron fist," Markus said shutting down the broadcasts that he'd been listening to over the reciver in his suit.
Adesus snorted in what could have been a laugh or possibly a growl or maybe a mixture of both.
"That's Clan Ruara all over, bloody hypocrites the lot of them, on one hand, they value little but purity and strength and yet they had to use alien force to overcome the other clans because they did not have the strength or the honour to be able to do it themselves, instead they start an armageddon on the world they claim to love so much," she said bitterly.
Markus could actually see the tension in her as her body tightened and her muscles bunched in frustration, so Markus leaned up and reached out to place a hand on her thigh which made her flinch slightly as she was not expecting it.
But she seemed to relax as she shot a glance downwards and saw whose hand had touched her uninvited, "Don't worry Adesus we'll free your people and return the natural order of things around here, Clan Mason will not rest until every single Velon stands free as they are meant to be," he said.
Adesus sighed and nodded before slowly lowering the chameleon netting which was a special form of camo netting that the Raptorians produced and sitting back down in the shallow stone ditch.
Chameleon netting worked like normal camo netting in that it was designed to allow the users to hide a vehicle or structure from prying eyes by blending it into the background, but what made chameleon netting special was that it was auto mimicked its surroundings, according to Lucious his people had developed it after capturing a creature they referred to as a mimic that would as its name implied mimic its surroundings and eat any hapless creatures that wandered too close to it, males included.
The material was smart in that thanks to a series of sensors fitted into it the replication process it employed to mimic its surroundings was nearly indistinguishable from the real deal until you touched it and realised it was a mirage.
In an environment like this one it was a Goddess send as it allowed them to not only hide the OP but their skimmer as well while allowing their suits to remain in low power mode which considering how hot it was outside was a blessing, as most of their power consumption was now running to keep them cool.
"Sorry if I am coming over as brash Markus it is not my intention, I know you and your people are doing all you can to help us and hell after what one of ours did to the poor Beledon it is far more than we could have ever hoped for to have a coalition of alien races to come to our aid in our time of need, but the fact that your aid is needed in the first place is what frustrates me, we should be able to take care of our own problems but we could have never expected such villainy from one of our own," she said hugging her knees up to her chest.
Markus nodded his head in understanding, her people and especially Adesus herself were a proud people and the thought of not only accepting help from strangers but relying on them for your salvation was a hard pill to swallow.
"We all need a little help from time to time Adesus, even the Grand Matriarch and Patriarch of my Clan were once prisoners," he said and she lifted her head to look at him through her visor.
"Oh that's right, they met on a hunting reserve world didn't they?" she said and he nodded.
"Both captured and deposited there to be nothing more than prey for vile bad bloods, but they instead found one another and despite their differences, they realised they were stronger together, so they teamed up and fought side by side and from this mutual respect and cause a romance that has spanned centuries at this point bloomed and so did Clan Mason, so you see sometimes it is when we are at our weakest and most vulnerable we not only discover who we truly are but learn how to be stronger than we ever thought we could be," Markus said.
His words seemed to truly perk Adesus up and she nodded her head as she thought this over, "Your words are wise Markus, yes I can see this being the catalyst that propels my people to newer and greater heights," she said thoughtfully.
Markus patted her long powerful thigh again cheerfully causing her to look at his hand.
"That's the spirit girl and when you do Clan Mason and our allies will be waiting to welcome you into our little galactic community as equal partners, just you wait and see," he said.
"Thank you Markus your words and strength were exactly what I needed," she said and he nodded.
"Glad to be of service," she said flashing her a smile from behind his opaque visor before remembering that she couldn't see his face.
"Though I would say this you might wish to refrain from patting the thighs of any other Velons when you meet them," Adesus said standing back up to peek out from under the lip of the chameleon netting.
"Oh? And why's that?" Markus asked curiously as he stood up to join her.
"In my culture, it's seen as an invitation to engage in courtship and a wish to change the nature of your relationship with the person, an expression of a wish to become more intimate with them," she said and Markus could positively hear the smirk in her voice as she knew he would be blushing under his suit.
"Oh well I err yeah I'll umm remember that," he said sounding as flustered as he felt.
Adesus laughed and despite her voice being rather low and smooth her laugh was light and airy, "I can feel your embarrassment through the suit, I believe that maybe we have been spending too much time together as I am beginning to be able to predict how you will react to certain things," she said covering the snout plate of her mask with her hand despite her snout and mouth being hidden.
Markus laughed and nodded, "I don't see that as a bad thing," he said and he saw her shoot him a glance out of the side of her visor.
"Interesting, not the response I was expecting you to give but I will remember that you said that and so should you," she said and he could positively hear the smirk in her voice.
"Oh? And why's that then?" he said and Adesus turned back to the sensor system they had set up to scan the city ahead of them.
"Because when I finally make my decision you will not be surprised," she said cryptically and while he felt the urge to probe for an answer as to what decision she was struggling with he got the feeling it was probably better to leave it drop so instead he just nodded and turned his attention to the sensors.
The species that Clan Ruara were using to keep control of the populace were as insectoid as their ships and just like them they too seemed to come in a variety of shapes and sizes.
While they were in the OP they saw a number of troops, everything from bipedal soldiers right up to six-legged giant beetle-like walking tanks with painted carapaces that were designed to blend in with their surroundings like painting the hull of a tank.
One of the more notable species that they observed looked like a giant stag beetle crossed with a crab, it had six armoured legs with a set of massive and armoured pincers at its front end that looked like they could sheer clean through metal let alone personnel.
Grafted onto its back was what looked to be a turret get with more of those organic weapons, it looked to be carrying two large plasma cannons as well as a host of smaller missiles mounted in racks around the sides of it.
"Those fucking tanks are no joke, they look like they got enough firepower on them to level a small town in a single salvo," Markus said as their sensors scanned a group of four of them that were stationed on the outskirts of the city.
"A part of me wonders if they are living creatures or bio androids designed to mimic them?" Adesu said looking at the readouts coming from the scanners they had running that were looking for weaknesses.
"That's the odd part, while you were running scans earlier I decided to reach out a little with my senses to see if I could get anything from them and they are definitely living things but not like any kind of living thing I've ever felt before," he said.
Adesus looked at him curiously.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well to life there's a kind of chaos if you will, feelings and thoughts that create this kinda emotional maelstrom inside each living being, now insects are a bit more structured than most forms of life sure but these guys are...ridged," he said trying to find the right word to describe what he was getting from the creatures.
"Ridged?" Adesus asked obviously not understanding.
"Well think of it like this, say you were going about your business for the day, say you were going down to a shop to get yourself something to eat, it seems like a pretty standard task right?" he said and she nodded in agreement.
"Well during that time it takes you to complete that task you will have a variety of emotions and responses that you would pay very little mind to, for example, you leave your dwelling and it's hotter than you expected, you think about this and then this leads into your feeling a slight discomfort which might cause you to hurry up in order to stop feeling like that, or maybe you spy a male you like who elicits a sense of arousal from you due to his aesthetic appeal to you, or maybe while in the shop you find a new type of product you haven't seen before and you wonder to yourself should you try it out or not risk it? You see all of these little outside stimuli that while on the surface seem mundane and basically unseen create a kind of chaotic nature to you," he said.
Adesus nodded her head obviously understanding him now, "Are you saying that these creatures are not like this?" she said and he nodded.
"They are single-minded to the point of feeling like androids but at the same time I can feel the undeniable ebbs and flows of sentient life flowing through them, or at least the bipedal soldiers anyway, the living vehicles feel much more like animals than they do sentients, there's very little emotion there, it's like once you give one of these creatures a purpose they do not deviate from it regardless of circumstance," he said.
"That sounds...disturbing," Adesus said glancing back at the scanner and Markus nodded.
"Yeah tell me about it, Something tells me a war roar is going to do basically fuck all to these guys, I'm not even sure they can feel fear," he said with a hard note of concern entering his voice.
As they watched the scorpion-like Velons going about their daily lives under the multiple watchful eyes of the occupiers Markus could feel the resentment ebbing off the populace.
It was like a bitter tinge to the air that contained a barely repressed anger, it kinda reminded Markus of a powder keg, where the slightest spark could ignite it.
"Hey check it out I get the feeling something is happening over here," Adesus said pointing towards the west side of the town and Markus turned his attention to where she was pointing.
Where she pointed there was a cluster of buildings that were low-slung with ramps instead of stairs running up the sides of them but given that the race that lived here had six legs that were understandable, but it the shapes moving in the alleyways on either side of the road that obviously had Adesus interested.
Suddenly one of the walking tanks along with four insectoid guards walked into the middle of the road and with perfect timing two large chains that had laid hidden below the sand that covered the road in between the tank's legs.
As it got tangled up and before the soldiers could even react to it a series of small objects flew from both the alleyways and from the rooftops on either side showering the tank and the soldiers both.
"Ambush," Markus said as one final projectile was thrown from one of the rooves and this one was different from the rest in that it had a flaming rag stuffed into the top of it.
As the Molotov struck the back of the tank it burst with a wash of brilliant gold and blue flames that rushed outwards to coat both the tangled tank and the soldiers alike causing a small firestorm where all the bottles of flammable liquid that had been thrown before the lit one had disgorged their contents onto both the tank and the soldiers.
But even as the firestorm was well and truly burning Markus found himself astonished by the complete lack of panic from the soldiers that were currently aflame, rather than run around or even attempt to extinguish the flames the four of them turned as one and opened fire into the alleyways on either side, all while coated in burning liquid.
The tank meanwhile seemed to extend some kind of small prongs that were hidden under its carapace which sprayed some kind of liquid and gas mixture all over its shell which almost instantly extinguished the flames coating it all while it simply snapped through the chains like they were made of paper as it turned to face the alleyways.
Suddenly Makrus saw why the soldiers didn't seem to care about the flames because the mist that the tank was spewing out extinguished the flames coating them as well as it washed over them leaving them slightly blackened but otherwise no worse for wares.
"Fuck! Markus look!" Adesus exclaimed pointing again and he turned his attention where she pointed, instantly feeling his heart sink as he did.
"Are those what I think they are?" he said.
"Juveniles, teenagers, it's a bunch of angry teenagers, Markus," she said with dismay dripping in her voice.
"Ahh fuck," Markus exclaimed as he watched the soldiers giving chase as the teens who were a fair bit smaller than their adult counterparts fled out towards the deserts.
"We have to help them, Markus! We can't let the soldiers kill them they are just kids!!" Adesus wailed with a voice laden with both desperation and anger.
While the orders of the Grand Patriarch and Matriarch rang inside his skull he knew that his conscience would never allow him to live with himself if he did not intercede here.
"Pack up the OP I get the feeling it's going to be burnt after this," he said and instantly he felt Adesus smile at him under her mask before the pair rapidly dismantled their hide and jammed it onto the carriers on their skimmer.
"Dial the rear gun to antimaterial and let's do this, we have to be in and out quick before they realise what's hit them, the biggest problem is going to be that fucking tank, I don't think we've got anything that could scratch it," Markus said as he leapt onto the modified skimmer.
Adesus jumped onto the seat behind him facing backwards as she grabbed hold of the mounted gun that was positioned above the panions so that she could fire at any pursuers if need be.
"If we can take out the soldiers and draw the tank away from them then they can get away," Adesus said as she checked the gun was loaded.
"So much for unseen and quiet," Markus muttered as he fired up the skimmer's engines making them crackle and hum with electricity as they lifted up from the ground.
The skimmer shot forwards at incredible speed as Markus gunned the throttles leaving a long trail of dust and sand in their wake as they sped towards the fleeing teens and pursuing soldiers.
Markus focused his mind hard summoning his powers to full as he moved which he knew would have the unfortunate side effect of removing him from the shroud of nature that he was using to hide his presence from any Nightmare Assassins that were watching for his kind, but needs must when the devil drives and right now he was royally in the seat.
As they drew in close Markus took a few long deep breaths and fully activated his abilities which cause time to slow to an absolute crawl as they raced between the soldiers, banking hard right into a steep arc as they did.
Letting go of the handlebars for a moment long vines leapt from his wrists to the hands and took over for him while he draw his bow from his back its string igniting in an instant.
As his fingers took the draw two long golden arrows appeared in the nock flaring to life as they were drawn back, they looked like to burning javalins sat in his drawn bow ready to bring burning death to whomever found his eye.
The first target he set his sights upon was a soldier with a ruby red carapace and who kinda reminded Markus of a mantis crossed with a beetle thanks to their thick armoured carapace and scythe-like arms.
he loosed his arrows as his plasma casters which had also raised up at the same time fired on the soldier on their opposite side sending two burning hot blue balls of boiling death towards their hapless target.
Now while the Molotovs had had little to no effect on the insectoid soldiers the same could not be said for either the arrows or the plasma bolts, the red solider struck by Markus's sunburst arrows burst into a tower of golden flame as the arrows did exactly as their name implied, they burst open to expose the insect's insides to pure sun flame.
Every single gap in their carapace instantly became as a jet exhaust as golden flames burst out like he'd hidden a rocket exhaust somewhere inside his shell, this completely incinerated all flesh caught within the plumes reducing the insect to nought but a smoking husk in a mere second.
The other soldier who had been struck by Markus's plasma bolts fired from his casters simply exploded into a shower of smoking chunks as the plasma bored into their carapace and erupted within them causing a pressure wave to explode outwards rather violently.
"Whooo!! Eat this you child-killing fucks!!" Adesus roared from behind him opening up on the other two soldiers as they turned to try and face their assailants which from their perspective thanks to their active cloaking tech would look like nothing more than an odd shamed shimmer in their midst.
The heavy auto coilgun that was mounted on the back of the skimmer was generally mounted vehicles due to its large size and cumbersome weight, but lately, Markus had seen them being fielded by some of the Grand Matriarch's Beledon Hunter teams.
Usually, when it came to heavy automatic fire support the Clan tended to rely upon the six-barrel rotary plasma gun like the one that Tik eleth Mason herself tended to like to field, which was basically a six-barreled minigun that fired plasma shot and had some serious cooling systems powered by liquid nitrogen to stop it slagging the barrels as it spewed out death at an obscene rate.
But this puppy known as TBACG or Triple Barrel Assault Coil Gun was a whole other beast.
It had originally been conceived by Yoshi as a weapon that his beloved queen Citrus could wield into battle during a Dark Star as up until recently pretty much only a Xenomorph queen had been strong enough to not only lift it but absorb the recoil of the weapon as it fired.
But thanks to some help from their Raptorians and their love of miniaturizing everything the hive had managed to shrink down the tech that they used in building inertia dampeners used in spacecraft.
This was predominantly because the Raptorians used a rather similar system within their skimmer vehicles where each coil had its own dampening system and once the hive had gotten their multitude of hands on this tech they'd stripped it and screeched at every part until they'd figured it out and improved it.
The result was a micro dampening system which could absorb over ninety per cent of the recoil with little problem as long as the gun was powered, then combine this with an improvement in alloy making thanks to the forges of the Grand Patriarch and the result was a weapon which could be fielded by queens, Beledon and even some of the bigger Yautja girls though most tended to avoid it because it severely reduced their mobility as it was rather hard to leap into a tree while holding a gun as large as this.
But this system also had another added benefit of making it capable of being mounted onto floating vehicles like the skimmers as thanks to the recoil absorption it would not throw them off course, whereas if they'd tried to fire one of the mark one versions of this weapon off the back they'd have turned into a sprinkler of death in less than a second.
The meaty whine of the weapon announced its spin up and the continual roar announced each burst Adesus let loose thankfully having the trigger discipline not to fire it in one continual burst.
The stream of tungsten that ripped from each of its three long spinning barrels turned the hapless soldiers in its path into a could of paste and chitin chunks as they arced around the teens and stopped before them.
Markus flipped a switch on the skimmer causing them to become visible to the startled Velons who looked at the odd pair with wide eyes visible below their black cloth shrowds that they wore over themselves to hide their identities.
"We will draw its fire, hide yourselves!!" Adesus yelled to the frightened teens but with a nod of heads and a wave of claws, the group scuttled back into the city just as the tank rounded the corner and turned its massive guns towards Adesus and Markus.
"Time to go!!" Markus yelled gunning the throttles and sliding the skimmer around as there were two massive thumps from the tank's rear-mounted cannons.
Adesus swivelled the gun around to the right side as she leaned down pressing her tail end against his back as she fired at the tank in the hope that some of the Tungstan slugs might find a weak spot in its thick armour, but even as powerful as the slugs were they did little to penetrate the thick carapace of the living tanks.
As they impacted the thick chitin the tungsten slugs were travelling so fast that they turned pretty much to liquid which burnt into the thick armour, but thanks to its shape and thickness it robbed the projectiles of both energy and velocity which caused most of them to slag and fuse to the outer hull of the vehicle.
"Aim for the guns!!" Markus yelled as he turned another tight curve to make their path unpredictable as two more heavy slugs flew over their heads and slammed into a dune to their left with a plume of sand.
Adesus did as he said and turned her attention to the two long guns mounted to the back of the giant armoured beetle, now while the sugs really didn't do much to the turret armour itself they did have an effect on the missiles mounted on its outer housing.
Adesus scored a hit on one of the long rocket-powered projectiles causing it to ignite and explode with enough force to stagger the tank, it also caused the other ordinance to detonate in a chain reaction which while it didn't cripple the tank itself, it did cripple the main guns.
As the smoke cleared they could see both barrels were bent at awkward angles as while as some of the turret armour plates were crated by the damage done.
"Aim for the weak spot on the turret you might hit the ammo canister!!" Markus yelled as he looped them around.
Turns out that he and Adesus were of one mind on this one as even as the words were leaving his lips she was turning the long rotating gun to aim at the cratered point on the side of the tank's turret.
As she squeezed the triggers a jet of molten hot tungsten spewed out like a zipper of death from the gun into the side of the turret of the staggered tank, now while one or two projectiles would have not been enough to make it through the damaged but still thick plates, a couple of hundred of them travelling at incredible velocity did the job just nicely.
As the molten tungsten burnt through the last remaining plates, they exploded into the inner hull of the turret and also seemed to find what must have been a canister of either propellant or ammo.
This resulted in a massive explosion as the tank simply erupted in a mushroom cloud that sent chunks of burning debris raining down in every direction while also leaving the six heavy legs of the tank standing.
"Whoo fuck yeah!!!" Adeus yelled from behind him as the tank exploded.
"Nice work Adeusus but now it's time to bug out," Markus said as he slid them to a stop but as they did he heard it, the cheers coming from the city.
There were cheers and the sounds of claws being struck together hard like clapping and as Markus glanced behind him he saw civilians peeking out of their homes and cheering their victory so he couldn't resist doing a quick victory lap while Adesus stood up on the rear of the skimmer in a victory pose with her fists in the air, though it was a victory pose that did basically rest her surprisingly firm rear end against the back of his head and drape her long thick tail over his shoulder.
As he recloaked them and they shot off into the desert again Adesus dropped back into her seat and leaned back against his back, "That was exhilarating!' she exclaimed in a kind of giddy voice.
"Combat can be quite a rush but let's not get ahead of ourselves here, there could be consequences for our actions here," Markus said warningly.
"What do you mean?" she asked turning to look at him over her shoulder.
"While I didn't pick up any kind of transmissions from those soldiers or from that tank we can't be sure that they didn't send any as we still haven't managed to crack their military comms network yet, if they managed to report our actions to their HQ they will be looking for us, ironically the best we can hope for here is that we got them before they could call for help and that the troops on the ground believe that this was the result of resistance actions though that will still mean they will clamp down o the populace," he said and he felt her slump back against him a bit more.
"I didn't think of that," she growled softly obviously angry with herself.
"Don't beat yourself up Adesus there was no way either of us was going to be able to live with ourselves if we'd simply have sat back and watched them slaughter those teens, guilt would have eaten me alive, hell I doubt the Grand Patriarch would have even been able to to have sat there and done nothing and the Grand Matriarch definitely wouldn't have, hell she'd have probably beaten the tank to deal with its own turret for daring to point it in their direction," Markus said making Adesus snort a laugh from behind him.
"Thanks, Markus that helps," she said and he nodded.
"No problems it's what I'm here for, to help wherever I can," he said.
"And thank you for caring as well, these are not your people but it is obvious to me that their fates matter a great deal to you, that means a lot to me," she said and he smiled inside his helmet.
"You don't have to thank me for that Adesus, that's simply what it means to be Clan Mason and not something I can help nor would I," he said softly.
She leaned even further back against him now, "And that mere sentiment means the most of all, it's something that I truly didn't understand at first until I spent all this time with you and your people but I can see it now as clear as the sun above our heads, you all genuinely care about people, about their well being and their safety, you care little of who they are or even where they come from, all you care about is that they are safe and protected from evil, it is wonderful to see it truly is when this is all over I am going to suggest that we send Guardians to your homeworld so that they can train with your Hunters and Saviours so they can see the true value of life and how best to protect it," she said.
"I think the Grand Matriarch would highly approve, she loves to teach and to get a chance to show off her skills as a mighty huntress, I'm sure she'd be up for something like that," he said with a smile.
"Who knows maybe we even have our own Dream Warriors hidden among us somewhere and if the Clan can help us to not only understand them but to help them to learn about who they are then maybe the next generation of Guardians of Life will be able to ensure this kind of thing never happens ever again," she said.
"Oh you definitely have them look at Adem," Markus reminded her and he heard her snort a laugh from behind him.
"Oh yeah him, is it wrong that somehow my brain doesn't associate him with your kind? Because I see all of you and especially you and the dedication you all have to preserve life and the natural balance of nature and you are just all polar opposites from that vile smear on my people's honour that I do not even associate him with you all?" she asked.
Markus smiled again and shook his head.
"No it's not wrong and it might be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me Adesus, it shows that our efforts have not been in vain if one who has never encountered my kind before can see us so differently from those like us who would do evil then we have done our job right," he said.
"You are a true credit to your people Markus and it is my honour that you fight at my side for mine," she said warmly.
"The honour is all mine Adesus and don't you worry it is an honour that we will show to all Velona one day very soon," he said.
As the pair pulled up to the cave Markus grinned as he realised that the rest of the team had been very busy, there were now a series of portable sensor relay posts hidden all around it acting as an augmentation to the Runner's already powerful sensor systems.
The entrance to the cave was also now covered over by a huge roll of chameleon netting which completely hid from view of anyone not using a Clan Mason visor system to see through the cloaking system.
There were also a series of automated turret guns mounted around the entrance to provide fire support if needed and by the little shape that was high above the entrance Markus could tell that Lucious had set himself up a sniper nest up there with a good view over the desert beyond.
"We're coming in, got a lot to go over," Markus called over the radio.
"Roger that I have eyes on you, come on in I'll get the kettle on," Lucious's voice chirped back over the comms and Adesus snorted a laugh from behind him.
"For such a skilled little warrior he is such a homebody isn't he?" she said though there was not a single trace of either sarcasm or disapproval in her voice.
"Comes with him being a male Raptorian, they are all kinda like that," Markus said.
"And what of you humans? Are your boy's homebodies also?" she asked and Markus felt the presence of a loaded question there.
"We can be if need be and also for the right person," he replied tactfully.
He felt Adesus chuckle from behind him, "I will have to remember that," she said softly.
As he pulled up and powered down the skimmer Victus appeared from the Runner's loading ramp carrying the portable charging kit for the skimmer's fuel cells as well as a couple of cans for the weapon.
"Don't forget to give her a good polish as well," Markus said jokingly as the massive Beledon male lumbered up to them with his burden and he snorted at him in response while a high-pitched laugh echoed from above them.
"Oh don't mind him he's just grumpy that I insisted we wait for you guys to either call in or return before I put dinner on, he's a hungry boy," Lucious said sliding down a long rope that seemed to lead to a tunnel in the ceiling.
'I cannot help it if I enjoy your cooking, my kind have very healthy appetites," Victus said grumpily.
"There there big guy they are back now so you'll be filling your belly soon enough," Markus said with a grin as he retracted his helmet and shook out his hair vaguely aware of Adesus watching him from behind her own visor.
"So what's the deal boss did you see anything noteworthy out there?" Lucious asked and Markus gave him a guilty smile.
'You could say that, we err kinda blew up a tank and a squad of soldiers," he said and Lucious's mouth dropped open while all of his feathers puffed up.
From atop of the ship a hissing laugh sounded and Levi appeared clinging to the outer hull of the ship, "Ha told you! Pay up feather boy!" she called down to him and Lucious grumbled to himself.
"Alright what's it gonna cost me?' Lucious called up.
"I want one of those Xeno-sized jam doughnuts of yours with the honey glaze!" Levi said and Lucious simply nodded.
"You guys bet on us blowing up a tank?" Markus asked trying to choke down a laugh.
"More like they bet on whether you two would end up getting yourselves into a firefight," Feris said appearing out of the ship.
"So what happened?" Lucious asked and Markus sighed.
"We'll get cleaned up first and we'll explain it over dinner there's a lot to go over," he said and with that, both he and Adesus headed for the ship though he noticed she seemed to be sticking rather close to him now, which was kinda odd but not unpleasant, to say the least.