Tekeshi found the sound of shattering vertebrae uninteresting. He opened his hand and let the orc's corpse crumple to the ground, its neck wrinkled and compressed. It was just another corpse added to the mountain he had already left behind him.

He looked up. Unlike most of the places he had assaulted in the days since he had learned of the artifact, this was an actual laboratory of some sort. It had full security sectioning. A well developed security force. It was surprising, but not much considering the facility he had rescued his Aunt Ruby and her daughter from.

He looked over the remains of the squad that tried to stop him from reaching the admin section. It wasn't much of an effort, but then there wasn't much that could put up a reasonable amount of resistance against him. The door however, that might take a second to get through for him.

"Well, now I get to find out just how physically strong I am now," he said as he looked for any kind of hand hold.

One he found it, he tightened his grip on it. He began pulling on the thick steel door, and it just gave. He stepped back and looked down at his hands, concerned at just how powerful he was. It was so strange that he had spent so much of his life, weak, and limited to just above human ability. It worried him what might happen if he lost control of himself.

He remembered the brutal strikes that Shinso had brought against him. Sometimes it even felt like he could still feel the vibrations from their swords colliding in his palms. He clenched his fists as a pulse ran through his hands as he thought about it.

"Get it together Tekeshi. You are the single scariest son of a bitch, that is walking this world now. There isn't anything that can threaten, nothing that can cause you any real damage," he took a deep breath to try to calm down, but one last thought made its way past his lips, "The only thing you have to fear, is what you may do without intent."

He shook his head and his hands out. This wasn't the time to think about things like this. They had constantly seemed to be two steps ahead of him, moving the stone before he could reach where they had it. Usually just hours. It infuriated him to no end.

Three cities in India. A couple of camps in Australia, someplace that he really didn't have an interest in revisiting. A facility in Iraq, another in Syria, and two more in Egypt. Now he was in Thailand, and it didn't seem like he was any closer.

He couldn't get his head around it. He tended to strike quickly, and didn't leave anyone with enough breath to talk. If he thought that someone might be able to survive, he usually put a bullet in between their eyes to make sure they wouldn't. Besides his utter hatred of Fairy Tale, that was reality. He couldn't afford to let them know just who was hunting them

He strode through the hallways. He wasn't worried particularly about anyone escaping. The Napalm filled bombs that were setup to cutoff access to the surface would make sure that either the attempted escape ended in an impromptu cookout, or the oxygen was slowly removed from the facility, which wouldn't bother him any.

He kept his eyes open as he reached for the carbine hanging at his side. Now that he didn't have anyone attempting to knock his head off, he could deal with the jammed round. It had happened three floors up, and he had spent the intervening time t... there was another group coming after him.

The squad had abandoned their human forms, which wasn't the worst idea. A couple orcs, a giant, and something that looked like the ugliest woman with the biggest breasts he had ever seen. Who ran in front of her comrades, and then pulled its shirt up.

"TITTIES," it yelled.

Tekeshi wasn't that impressed, and definitely not aroused. Scarred may have been the better description of what he felt. He didn't know what that was, and he really didn't care to know. He just hoped he was going to be able to forget the incident once he was out of here.

"No thanks," he said as he pulled his sidearm, "I have two much better sets waiting on me back home."

He raised the pistol and fired. The mental scar crumpled, and judging by the looks on the other soldiers faces, they weren't very happy that had happened either. Though one could say that at least whatever they were had enough self confidence to do that. Whatever the purpose of that was supposed to be. A distraction?

Tekeshi holstered the gun as he strode forward. One of the orcs charged him, and the haymaker Tekeshi delivered to its face, literally tore its jaw off. The giant came at him next, awkwardly as it couldn't stand completely up in the limited space. The vampire let his weight drop back as the, giant, though there aren't many straightforward ways to describe a giant, reached him. Tekeshi came back up with a palm and collapsed his attacker's left knee, and then finished him off by grabbing him by the jaw, with some difficulty due to, of course, its size. He brought the giant's head back, and almost literally folded him in half backwards.

The final orc was a woman, and apparently had some sense not to just rush him. Tekeshi had not interacted with many female orcs, they just didn't seem to exist in either society as often as the males. She just looked at Tekeshi, not making any move to attack him. He returned the look. He waited to see what was about to occur.

She slowly moved her hand to a sidearm on her hip. More slowly than if she was trying to draw and fire on him. She popped a strap off the back of the automatic, and then pulled it out by the rear sight and back of the slide. Once it was free of the holster she managed to awkwardly drop the magazine out, and eject the round that was in the chamber before tossing it to the side.

"Look, I'm not going to claim that I am here under duress, or being blackmailed. I will say that I don't care about any ideas or bullshit like that. I have children, and a husband who lost his leg in a construction accident. I am here for a paycheck, and that is it," she said, putting her hands up beside her head.

Tekeshi raised an eyebrow, "So you joined a terrorist organization?"

"Where I lived, and my lack of education, didn't make work an easy thing to come by. The only job I had previous was as a truck driver in the US Army. I had issues and was given a dishonorable discharge. Look, I'm an orc, it isn't that big of a surprise."

Tekeshi was watching and feeling around as she spoke, "I wasn't aware that orcs believed in marriage."

"Very few other races want to judge us by anything other than our worst examples. They think that half our race are savage rapists, when we have worked to leave that behind us. Sadly the bastards are the ones that everyone meets. The rest of us just want to live, just want to survive," the woman never moved her hands, or from where she stood.

"So, you just want me to ignore that you are a part of Fairy Tale? Why do you assume that I have any intention of letting you live," Tekeshi was curious at this point.

The woman took a deep breath, "Because I can see you aren't the same as the people signing my paychecks. Maybe it is the fact that I can tell you are still a kid, and you haven't let yourself fall completely into being a murderous bastard."

Something stirred in Tekeshi. He let his eyes sweep over the three corpses. The coldness that he had dispatched them with, suddenly hit him. Who was he becoming? Was he willing to continue down this road?

"How do you know that I am a kid?"

"I have a fifteen year old daughter, and a nine year old son. Mothers can tell. It may not make much sense. Men, and girls who haven't had children, don't understand. Like I said, I am only here, to earn a living, not to fight for any ideas," she let a small smile curl her lips, as a tear ran down her face.

Tekeshi could only continue to observe the woman. Something nagged at him that she wasn't someone that he should kill. He hadn't let anyone that was part of Fairy Tale live up to that point, why should that change? He couldn't afford to let anyone give his hunting of them away. Could he? Did he have any other options?

"What is your name?"

"Annalise Grimbal."

Tekeshi fixed her with a strong look in her eyes. He didn't really know what he was doing, but he was doing it, and he at least wasn't going down with a nuclear bomb behind his eyes.

He could suddenly see something that happened in the past. He could see the woman with her family, standing next to a bag.

"Do you really have to go, Mom," the girl asked, a sad look in her eyes.

Annalise didn't look happy about it, "I don't have much choice. What they are offering to me, Head of Security of a research lab, and five times what I made in the Army. It can set us up after a few years, and send you college, and Andrew here. It might give me a way to get something setup so that we can keep income coming in, and you two may never have to work a day in your lives if you don't want to,"

"Mama, I don't want you to go. What if we never see you again," the little boy grabbed her leg in a fierce hug.

Annalise's frown deepened as she looked up at her husband as he rolled into the room, "Kids, can you give me and your father a few minutes. Please?"

The children walked slowly out of the room, worried looks on their faces. Annalise looked down at the stump of her husband's left leg. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Anna, it wasn't anything you did. You weren't even there, so don't feel guilty about this. I don't like who you are working for though," the man's rumbling voice seemed to soothe her some.

"Dillon, I don't want to go. If it wasn't for this god damned DD on my DD214, then maybe, I wouldn't have to," she said as she knelt down beside him.

An orc's smile would unsettle most people, but to another orc was more comforting, "Hey, I'm proud of you for lasting as long as you did. We are orcs, discipline isn't something we excel at. I will do what I can to keep things together. Your mother is happy she is going to get to come stay with Celina and Andrew. I don't want you to go either. How would any husband, but I understand. Just promise me, you won't die for them. Fairy Tale isn't something that has any positive end, if it comes to it, you don't owe them any loyalty. Take any way out, that lets you come home. I don't want to think of losing you, ok, just come home."

The present seemed to just come back abruptly. Annalise hadn't moved. She was trying to keep a brave face on, but she wasn't fooling anyone with how afraid she was.

He closed his eyes again, looking for any solution that seemed like it was going to be the best outcome. He couldn't let himself become a monster, couldn't let himself become like Fairy Tale. He had to have some line that he couldn't cross. He had to have someway that he could go home at the end of this, and be a man that Utsuki and Deesseedra could love.

"Don't move from there, otherwise you, and your family, will die. You have already seen that I can do this, so don't take the chance," he said as he stepped backward through a wall.

He could feel her fear and surprise, and knew that she was motivated to do anything that would protect the people she cared about. He was thankful that she wasn't going to force his hand. So thankful.

He pulled his phone out of a pocket. He wasn't really sure if this was the best thing, or if he really wanted to. He didn't know if he was going to be able to continue after this. It was hard enough leaving his Aunt and Uncle, but this was someone else that he was about to talk to, someone much closer.

As the phone rang, he tried to keep himself calm, until the phone picked up, "Kodomo?"

"Hey Pops," he replied.

"You don't know how happy I am to hear your voice. Your Uncle Fang-fang let us know that he saw you, and you were ok. Please tell me you are about to say that you are coming home," Tsukune asked.

"I'm not yet. I came across something that I need to do, don't ask questions about it. Just trust me. I need you to do something for me, something that I don't know how you will react to, or if you can even think about agreeing to. It is really important to me, and who I still am," Tekeshi replied, not sure how to word his next request.

"Anything Tekeshi, as long as it brings you home sooner," he could hear the sheer relief in his father's voice at just hearing his own voice.

"The organization that has been hitting Fairy Tale like Fat Man, you already figured out it was me, right?"

Silence emitted from the phone for a few seconds, "I suspected. I didn't want to believe that you were capable of such cold slaughter, but I had a feeling that it was you."

"Yeah, I just found one of those situations where I either keep that up, or I show some mercy, and keep some little speck of, humanity, if you wish. One of them surrendered to me. Didn't attack me, like any of the others," he told his father.

"That is, I don't know what you are asking?"

Tekeshi took a deep breath, "Pops, she is a woman, who just wants to try to provide for her family, and didn't see many other choices. They were paying her a lot of money, to be the Head of Security. I haven't let anyone else live, but if I kill her, then who am I. I want you to protect her and her family. They are orcs, so it may not be easy, but it would be the right thing to do."

"I see. It would be difficult, but not undoable. I can have your Grandfather see to it as soon as possible, at least as far as her family is concerned. Can you get her to me here," he asked.

"Yeah, uh yeah. I should be able to."

"Tekeshi, my Little Samurai, I am so proud of you, for choosing this path. Please, come home soon, we are all waiting."

"As soon, as I have found what I am trying to. I will talk to you in person next time, I hope."

As he ended the call his grandmother appeared next to him, "I'm proud of you too. I was worried you were about to kill her. What made you stop?"

"I think I tapped into another one of the off the wall powers. How it works I don't know. I don't even know if I could do it again whether I wanted to or not. I saw her family, and her goodbye. How sad they all were, and how much her husband was afraid that he would never see her again. How much her children didn't want her to leave. Then I thought about Mom."

He stepped back through the wall. Annalise stood there, sweat starting to drip down her face. He looked at the uniform she was wearing, and realized how it would look if she showed up there, dressed like that.

"Strip, down to your underwear," he said.

A blushing orc was novel, but she was definitely blushing, "Uh, that may be a little difficult," she said with a nervous chuckle.

It took him a second to realize, "Oh great. Look, I really don't want to ask you to do this, but it might be worse if you show up dressed like that. Just, lets, get this over with. Also, you can put your hands down. I'm not going to kill you."

"So, you want me to get, naked? Uh," she seemed extremely uncomfortable with the order, as any mid thirties woman should have been when ordered to take her clothes off by a teenager.

"Want? No. I would rather you didn't, but if you aren't wearing anything under the uniform, do you have any other choice? Also, I already know what you are going to ask, and unfortunately I do have to look at you to do a transportation spell. If it helps, you can turn around so that I only have to look at your ass. Just please explain to these people why you are naked when you get there. Also make sure they know that I didn't touch you, make sure they understand that."

Despite her misgivings she did comply, and maybe out of some sense of thanks in her mind, she didn't turn around. She was much more pleasant to look at compared to whatever that thing was, as long as bulky and somewhat armored was your type. Tekeshi for his part did his best to keep his eyes on her face, thinking of the two women that were waiting on him. Was this his punishment for indiscriminate murder? An orcish strip tease?

"Ok, I'm naked. Can we just get this over with, I didn't know how cold this place was," she said after a moment.

Tekeshi held his hand out, and a magic circle formed under the woman. With a bright gray light, she disappeared.