Cobalt-Lukather

very nice art, i like your style ^^

Of the ones mentioned here, I have to go with iceage. It's the closest enough style for me. however, i'd also like to toss up beetlecatoriginals.com and citymuttfursuits.com I plan to get one from citymutt fursuits, as the style head that citymutt used on Bruce the Rottweiler was EXACTLY the shape i want for my own.

Hello and welcome! Glad to have you aboard our fine little site! You have a very cool suit and I look forward to seeing you open up and shine God's light with us!

i'll be happy to read along!

Chapter 8: “I'm soaring now somewhere in the sky, the rush of air: never wanting to come down, there's nothing that I've ever felt like learning how to fly, I'm learning how to fly†https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCJEEN-Meb4 --------One week later, Cobalt’s POV-------- We were returned quickly after our success. Yurei finished his test a full day before I completed mine. This display of ability and successful training wasn’t just a show however. It was a distraction from something we soon found out after our nearly 2 year “vacation.†New AnTHRROS were being “produced†at base. I counted at least 40 as we passed them doing outdoor training. Most of them were canine, but there was an equal mix of what seemed like foxes, assorted felines, and some I couldn’t identify from the distance. Inside, there were a few more groups and my eyes widened as I saw some up close “Yurei…there’s more of us…†He shrugged “yeah. And?†He didn’t seem to care much. I guess I had to do the same. We went on with our daily routine with some light training for our sore bodies, but we were told to report to the lab. Dressed in only smocks, we were led to what was an operating room, laid down, diagnosed and knocked out cold. --------two days later, Cobalt’s POV-------- I woke up groggy and yawning. I shifted uncomfortably and rolled onto my side. I had an IV in my arm and a nurse urged me to stay calm and move slowly. I had no intention of moving fast, as tired and weary as I was from such a long sleep. I nestled into the cozy bed and fell asleep again for a few more minutes. When I woke up, this time, my senses were on alert. I sat up and then began stretching my arms, legs, and back all stretched out into the biggest star I could make as I let out a yawn. Stretching more, I felt something odd. I touched something but my hand wasn’t near a wall or anything. It felt a bit like an arm, and I soon felt my new set of limbs. I turned my head and saw a massive pair of white wings stretched out above my head, feathers large and brushing against the wall over 5 feet away, at a point over 10 feet away. “HOLY…mother…of…†I tried not to panic. I knew that would be bad for me and everyone else. So I just stood there in shock and amazement. I soon figured out how to control them roughly, drawing them in and spreading them back out. “This was a built-in feature for you, but Dr. Rothguard never got to do it himself. He knew how to though. We took the liberty of…finishing his work.†Jack’s voice was over the intercom. He was watching through the cameras. I tilted my wings and warped them, adjusting them in all ways my muscles could. “You have pouches in your back to hide your wings. They’re a bit like a kangaroo’s. You’ll find out how to fold them up and hide them away.†I tried doing so. It took a long time but it finally did go inside. My back was sore and aching as my new muscles were worked over this structure, and my old muscles adapted to working with the new ones. I laid back down and groaned softly “This sucks…but it’s kinda awesome…†I rested as my back’s muscles rested and then got up to go get food. I was starving. --------One day later, Cobalt’s POV-------- After more training after our experiments, Yurei and I decided to hit the showers at the same time. In separate stalls mind you. I undressed within the stall and shook out my fur before turning on the cool water, letting it cool myself down before getting moderately warm. My wings were tucked inside their pouches, aching far less now and hidden very well. There was barely a difference. I looked over at Yurei’s stall, as the walls separating each stall were only shoulder-high. I saw him getting doused by the water and begin to wash himself, all business. I decided to have some fun with him. “Hey, Yurei, why the long face?†he looked at me confusedly, and then I tapped my muzzle, and he facepawed and shook his head. “You are a horrible mutt.†“Ooooh, you broke my heart big brother. Meanie.†He chuckled and continued washing and I followed suit. After the wash, we grabbed towels and began drying ourselves up. I noticed something odd about Yurei’s fur as he dried it. It seemed to glimmer as he dried it. No, I wasn’t falling for him, it was one of those things that you catch and see as weird. “Hey, Yurei… there’s something weird with your fur.†I stepped close to him and he backed off “Back off, brother.†He shoved me lightly, and I saw for a moment what it was. He was becoming invisible where the towel brushed his fur the wrong way. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, don’t you see that?†I began ruffling his fur on his shin on his outstretched leg, and it disappeared in spots where the fur was ruffled up right. Like, you could see through his entire leg. And the shadow below him had light spots where the leg disappeared. “Holy…damn.†Yurei stared at me incredulously and pushed me away, matting his fur down and it reappeared “Wow man, you got a superpower now, that’s awesome!†Yurei growled at me “Stop it. I’m not going to tell you again.†I backed off “That’s awesome man, how do you do that? Can you become entirely invisible?†He sighed, seeing that I wasn’t going to let it go. “Yes, Cobalt, I can.†“Well, why haven’t you ever used it before?†he stared at me “I have. No one has ever caught me.†I nodded and grinned giddily “Hehe, don’t worry, your secret is safe with me!†I dived at him and snatched the towel off his waist and ran out the door “Hey!†he turned to chase me but didn’t do it, using his tail to cover himself “Give it back, Cobalt!†I shook my head “Show me how good you are and try to catch me!†I ran off and heard growling behind me, and I could feel myself being chased, but neither saw nor heard a thing as I looked back, turning the corner and heading to my room. I dashed inside, my own towel flopping around my speeding legs and I slammed the door shut behind me. I beat him. At least, I thought I did. The towel was snatched out of my hand and wrapped around an invisible waist and the reappearing figure of Yurei stood a few feet away “Convinced?†I smiled and nodded “Totally. Awesome.†Yurei and I got dressed soon, and I decided to play with him. I spread out a wing and began rubbing him behind the ears “Cobalt…I’m going to kill you…†he smiled and his tail wagged, but he hated it when I pet his ears. I didn’t listen to him, but when he lashed out, to his surprise, I wasn’t as close as he thought. I was well over 10 feet away with my wings out. Yurei looked at me and his smile went away to mild surprise “Oh…so that’s what they did to you?†I nodded. “Yup! Soon as my muscles set in, I’m cleared for flight!†He charged and tackled me to the ground and gave me the biggest noogie in my life. --------Cobalt’s POV, one month later-------- Donning a white helmet and white pressure suit, I took my dogfighting skills to the ultimate test. At 10,000 feet, and two F16 Fighting Falcons on my tail, I’m pushing my limits of taking down aircraft. My speed was nothing compared to jets, but I was smaller and far more maneuverable than just about any winged aircraft made yet. They had missiles and .50 caliber guns. I only had my SCAR-L. However, of course, we were using tracers. No party involved would enjoy having to pay the bill of a trashed multi-million dollar jet. Or a guinea pig of questionable worth either. I was dropped from a cargo jet and sent soaring into the jet stream at a ground speed of 300mph. A heads up display in my helmet gave me all the information I needed to know about my flight. Except I lacked a radar. But I did have a radio. I set it for close range and automatically made it dig through channels, trying to pick up any radio chatter. I got a Mexican pop radio station and a news weather report, but I discarded them from the feed quickly, and then I got some chatter worth hearing. “Alpha Lynx, on approach to target. Radar signal is barely worth scat on him.†“Acknowledged Beta Fox, but I don’t see him. Flank right, he’s around the cloud on your 2 o’ clock.†That was all I needed to hear. Turning left hard, I did an aileron roll back towards the F16 Falcons and readied my SCAR. Once I broke through the cloud, I saw the two jets and emptied a clip on them. They moved quick though, and I only got a few bullets into the closer jet, which I presumed was Beta Fox. The tracer’s beams were non-vital and I turned to try and pick them off from the rear, but I was seen and they were doing the same “Whoa! Target is on your 7, Alpha! Watch out!†Just before they flew out of range, I got a vital hit on one of the jet’s engine, and he was called in. “Alpha Lynx, you’re out! He got a hit right in your propulsion system.†“Beta, you have mild damage, but watch out, one came close to the tanks.†I smiled and spoke as I slowed down to nearly hover in place “Don’t bring a cat to a dogfight!†the fox growled and retorted back “Yeah? We’ll see about your witty comebacks when I blow your arse outta the sky!†“I can’t let you do that, StarFox!†I heard someone giggling from HQ and smiled as the fox came back “I’ll ride your tail and smack it out of the sky!†“Hey, you’re going to have to buy me a few drinks to make me forget I’m straight first.†The giggles turned to laughter and a flustered growl was uttered. I banked around a few clouds, using the white to disguise my position as I listened for the jet. I found its position and got ready for a head on battle. The plane broke through a cloud and charged right at me, knowing my position. At first, he tried getting a missile lock, but my heat signature wasn’t enough to get a trace. He then switched to the guns and fired his tracers. Diving and rolling, I dodged them as he dove after me. I took a steep climb back up with my momentum and got ready to fire. He barrel rolled and blasted out of range at full throttle as yet another bullet glimpsed at him After 15 minutes of this war of attrition, I was nearing the end of my tracer rounds. I went and dive-bombed straight down, the fox’s plane staying with me. We had to stay above 5,000 feet to keep the dogfight legitimate. Going well over 400mph through the air, I pulled up at 5,100 and began climbing back up a little. The plane, going nearly twice that speed, did the same but a little lower. Then I opened up my wings and slowed down like a parachute. The plane flew mere feet above my head and I fired all the tracers I had left. The tracers indicated I had shot half the fuselage and hit several key machines and instruments. Had this been real, there would have been no more plane right now. “DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT!†the fox raged as I smiled and began my descent to earth, freefalling and enjoying my success and the descent to earth very much. When I got down, I saw Yurei’s test go on. He was in a large room, testing how effective the invisibility was. Standing perfectly still, almost no noticeable effects were made. However, as he moved, a light ring of distortion appeared around him. The faster he moved, the more visible it was. It worsened with wind, generated from a large fan, as it brushed his fur out of place for movement. He began fading in and out of visibility. Different speeds and levels of movements were used, and then smoke was poured through the fan. The smoke wrapped around him, making a ghost-like figure in the middle of the room. He was then asked to get dirty, and a scientist walked to him with a pail of dirt and sand. Rubbing it on himself, he turned invisible, but the effects were far less spectacular as the grains of dirt and sand stayed visible. The test was stopped, and the bare-furred Yurei was brushed clean and made to wear a black jumpsuit, looking similar to ones made for skydiving, but form-fitting. On the inside of his left wrist was a tiny button. It turned on a very mild electric current through the suit and it was rendered invisible. Everything that covered Yurei was invisible, but his head was still visible. Doing the same tests over again, the suit improved invisibility in wind and while dirty, but it was about the same with movement. The testing session was over, and though it wasn’t perfect, it was really cool. --------Jack’s POV, one week later-------- We utilized Cobalt and Yurei’s newest abilities in taking down a potential terrorist ring. Invisible, Yurei walked in right behind the members of the meeting and planted a videocamera and mic while right next to the men. They noticed nothing odd and Yurei snuck into a corner he could observe things from. Tracking both heat vision and normal video, the penny-sized camera transmitted the video to Yurei’s larger, more powerful transmitter, and to the Intel vehicle I sat in a few blocks away. It went perfectly fine until they opened a window. Deciding that it was too hot in their cut-price LA flat and that the air conditioning wasn’t up to par, the wind blew through Yurei’s fur and rendered his head visible for the briefest of moments. Jumping up to hide himself in the corner of the room up by the ceiling, he maintained position, but two of the men claimed they saw something move. The camera had moved though, the wind blowing it onto the floor. It was still transmitting, and thankfully, the camera could still see most of what was going on. “What, you afraid o’ ghosts?†“Nah, I just coulda sworn I saw something move.†One of the men, an underling to the high boss of this ring, swatted at the air where Yurei had been. Some began feeling uneasy but Yurei maintained position. They continued with their meeting and closed out and they began making their way to the door. Then someone stepped on the camera. The video feed cut out but the audio still recorded. The man pulled his shoe up and saw the strange piece of equipment. It only took him a second to find out what it was “We were bug-nf!†Yurei reported he was still invisible as he made a mixed martial arts movement to hit the neck and render him unconscious. I patched into the hotel security video feed and saw the door opened with men inside the room. I could see about halfway into the room with this video camera, lucky break. The men had split up, some going down the hallway and others going down the fire escape. I turned on my radio “Yellow Jacket, west fire escape now.†The ones in the hallway hadn’t made it to the stairs before they were all knocked out in precisely timed pressure points. I drove over to the alleyway in the building, a local plumbing vehicle with a fake name and unregistered phone number. That’s when I saw the massive eagle-like creature swoop towards the fire escape Except that was Cobalt. Not an eagle. He swooped to the one that had gone the lowest on the stairs and used his Taser on him (something I urged him to use in this mission as we wanted all members alive) and held up the rest on gunpoint as his wings folded behind his back. In a quick, flowing movement, he cuffed one man to the stair railing and stole his weapon. The rest stared in disbelief at the creature they were looking at. Robbing them of their weapons, some were cuffed easily, others were too busy crying and praying in rapid fire Spanish as I heard over the radio. He pulled off his helmet, just enough to expose his face to the two men, growling at them. I could hear them whimpering and praying over Cobalt’s radio. ‘Madre de Dios.’ seemed to be a popular phrase. “God told me you’ve been bad guys. Enjoy prison, courtesy of the Yellow Jacket.†With that he jumped over them, pulling his helmet down, spread out his wings and flew around the corner of the building. Gathering both AnTHRROS in the alleyway, unseen, I congratulated Yurei on his tactics and chastised Cobalt for his. An official S.W.A.T. vehicle pulled up and teams went over to collect the dozen men. --------Cobalt’s POV, one month later-------- I began collecting trophies from our missions. First was a Hellcat Challenger that was used in a chase for evidence of a drug cartel. With a blown-out rear end and bullets in the doors and trunk, I began stripping it down to only what it needed. Two seats, a steering wheel and gauges, and nothing but bare metal. I made a trick latch for the trunk, where it would lock into a place at only a few degrees of height, leaving an 8 inch gap. I mounted the minigun back there, as well as the batteries and ammo. Onto armor, I pulled some teeth to get some bulletproof glass, as well as armor in the door locks and hinges. Then I finally went under the car, adjusting the suspension and putting a stronger subframe on the front end, as well as putting in a Dana 80 limited slip rear axle to replace the standard one. More weight and strength where needed. The fenders were mini-tubbed and the suspension moved inwards as the tires grew wide: Nitto Invo 345/25-20s on the rear with wheels as wide as they are tall. Much milder 295/35/20s went on the front. The second was a semi-truck, a Peterbilt 389 that I had commandeered while on the move from a drug ring. This rebuild was extensive and took nearly a full year of building, but when I was done, I had a diesel-electric hybrid truck making 3000hp and twice that in torque to all 6 wheels with true torque vectoring and a lightweight interior to offset the weight of the batteries, mounted down low to make the truck have an outstandingly low center of gravity. With dual-rotor carbon ceramic brakes with 6 piston calipers all around, it stopped VERY well for a massive truck. The addition of bullbars polished off the truck’s blacked out look with severe toughness. During that time, I also completed few mild builds: a ‘63 VW Bug turned into a street and dune machine, a 1970 Roadrunner with a modern big block HEMI, and a 1989 Camaro Z-28 with some handling and engine upgrades. I was also repairing many military jeeps, large trucks, tanks. As missions came and went, I spent much of my time building my fleet.

very cool work!

looking good! you're grammar is improving as well! can't wait to read more.

Chapter 7: “It’s only a teenage wasteland.†https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY5rztWa1TM --------4 days later, Cobalt’s POV-------- The following days followed up as normal. A little testing, a good exercise session, the same old weird food they feed us every day…just normal life. The other branches of the military have cried out for our assistance more than once, even though we are politically “pulling out of the war†rather than going into it. Yurei broke the silence as we walked back into our rooms. Some days ago, Yurei and I agreed to live in the same quarters, but with separate bedrooms. It was a lot more fun this way, and even grumpypants enjoyed it. “Hey Cobalt.†"Yeah?" I replied, picking some specialized food from between my teeth. It was the color of a marshmallow, the texture of lumpy sauce, but had no taste at all "Making me split my pants in hand-to-hand combat training does not count as a tactical move." He flopped onto the couch, still moaning about his one defeat in hand-to-hand combat. I chuckled and sat down on the floor next to him. "Alright. But Yurei?" "Ya?" I grabbed his tail with my mouth and grinned widely while holding it in there, trying to look as cute as possible. "ihf cnf stihl dfo thifs, righf?" "Ugh...really? I swear you’re acting like a puppy." I let it go and put up my mock shameful face and then stuck my tongue out at him. He was dang right about me acting like a puppy. "Hey, is Top Gear on tonight?" the question suddenly flashed in my mind as I glanced at the TV set. "I’m not sure cuz I dont watch it." he said, and then he decided to tackle me just as I reached out for the remote. I shoved back playfully, trying to launch him off me "Hey, you had your turn with the news this morning, I want to watch my show!" We roughhoused and played around, laughing and pushing each other like kids. It was good to loosen up and play like this. Even if I miss the first 3 minutes of my favorite show. The Top Gear crew put on an alright show. Not one of their funniest, but not their driest, either. The car challenge was quite good though, even though I think they missed a few puns. Yurei sat down on the plush beige couch, tapping away at his laptop, and I laid down on the same couch, my head resting on his thigh as I watched the TV. “You wanna do something fun, Yurei?†Yurei tapped for a bit before answering. “What’s going on in your twisted head of yours?†I smiled with a mischief in my heart that I had not had in a while. “What ‘dya say to a race…on the lunch carts down the main hallway?†Yurei shook his head “oh no, not this time. We’ve been in enough trouble already recently.†I smirked and put on my puppy eyes, and then I gave up and laughed as Yurei shook his head. “I think you’d rather get into a little more trouble with me than if I told Jack a little something you did one night on the computer…†Yurei glared at me, “You wouldn’t…†I laughed and then went to a dead serious face. “You play with me, big brother, or everyone finds out about who posted those ‘selfies’ on the big screen in the geek room.†-----Jack’s POV----- “What is the ETA on our project here?†a voice said, gruff and angered. Jack remained calm as he spoke through the receiver “Unfortunately, that is hard to say. This ‘project’ as you call it, is far more elaborate than our last ten projects put together. We are not dealing with guns and armor anymore. We are working with creating an entire subspecies.†“I do not care about that. I want to see results and I want to know when I can expect them.†Jack sighed silently “Two years at best. One year for proper development and adaptation of the equipment, and one, possibly two years for properly training and conditioning a battle-ready soldier.†The man seemed to just barely growl into the phone. “You have 4 months to make at least one working piece of equipment with a developing product inside it. If I do not see results by then, this entire project will be terminated. Including the people involved.†Jack nodded “Yes, Sergeant Major. You have made that very clear. Good day, sir.†Jack hung up on the general and ran his hands through his short, course hair. The top brass of the Army, Marines, and Navy are watching. They are wanting. After a year of trial runs within the S.W.A.T program, the entire U.S. military wants to replace their troops with copies of the two AnTHRROS that were in their room not 500 yards away. The Geneva Convention had also given us a helluva time with these soldiers, but thankfully they haven’t blown off their mouths. A little money thankfully made the majority of them agree that ‘copying’ two perfectly functioning products would not be violating any rights, even though they are illegitimate and ‘copying’ was a very loose term. But they gave the ok. That’s all that matters. Jack stood up and began walking out the door, heading downstairs to discuss a certain time crunch with a few scientists. I heard commotion coming from the lunchroom, with the yells of several co-workers and the cheers of two unmistakable canines. I walked into the open doorway, and something immediately hit me in the gut, and I fell onto the speeding wheeled object, quickly realizing I was on an empty food cart, a white and gray tail sticking out from the back of it, and a second cart passing it, Yurei visible, crouched on the bottom tray of the cart. They were racing the lunch carts again. “COBAAAAAAAAAALT!!!!†“Right here, Jack!†a familiar laugh echoed from under me as the cart sped down the hallway, occasional slopes in the hallway making the carts speed up even faster. “Stop the cart, or else your hide is my rug!†I threatened as I got onto a slightly-more-dignified position on the cart than splayed out like a mannequin. Cobalt laughed “I would love to stop it but we don’t have brakes!†I glanced at the end of the hallway, a solid, metal-reinforced wall coming up fast. “Cobalt! Stop the cart now!†I yelled, but Cobalt only went faster, rocking the cart and pushing it until he caught up to Yurei, going faster with every passing yard. The sloped hallway was always an area of danger thanks to these two. I held onto the cart tightly, and then jumped off the back, rolling onto the floor and turning around to see the two carts crash into the wall hard, falling over and spinning off in a horrible crash, the metal carts mangled and crushed in ways that would be fatal to any living thing on them. I walked over to the carts, half-expecting to see the two AnTHRROS in a broken heap, but they were not there. Then a fuzzy body tackled me to the ground. I tried to squirm free, but the grip was too strong: I was being held with both the arms and legs of my attacker. I looked up and saw Cobalt’s smiling furball of a face. “Hai Jack!†he said excitedly. “Get off me, or I will dock your tail and shave you bald right here and right now.†I said gruffly. Cobalt got off, his tail still wagging happily. Yurei dropped from the ceiling, and I saw the missing panel in the ceiling that they had hopped into at the last moment. Cobalt laughed, claiming a victory in front of Yurei, who only rolled his eyes, still smiling from the rush. They were as active as kids that had inhaled a crate of pure sugar. “Sakoor, Lukather, you’re lucky I don’t have the time to whip your backsides bare, so pick this mess up and get back to your rooms. I’ll work on a creative punishment later.†--------30 minutes later, Jack’s POV-------- “4 months?!†“What does he think we are designing? Children’s toys?†“Does he even have the jurisdiction to do that?!†I sighed, sitting down in the experimental wing’s meeting room with my fingers massaging my forehead. This was going to be a long 4 months. Time to get working. -----Cobalt’s POV, two months later----- “Hey, Yurei, you noticed how we’ve kinda been…demoted?†We haven’t gone out on a mission for 2 months. Yurei spent all day coding and training hand-to-hand combat while I spent all day in the garages, fixing and maintaining what felt like half the entire S.W.A.T fleet and running through simulators, everything from driving to flying to shooting. Yurei shrugged. “We were being tested in the real world, I think. Now they’re seeing if we can be plumbers and tech support when the war is over.†I rolled my eyes, “That’s a cheery way of looking at it. And I’m a mechanic, chips-for-brains. Mario is a plumber.†It was then that the television turned itself on, and Jack’s expressionless business face showed up. “Cobalt, Yurei, get your tails over here.†I smirked, walking over to the TV, the two-way feed on, no doubt. I got in front of the camera, on my hands and knees, and wagged my tail in front of the lens. “Cobalt, you know what he meant, you idiot.†Yurei shoved me aside and stood at attention, and I stood next to him, also at attention and doing my best to not look like my usual mockery. “Something has come up in three of the five military branches. We want to test your skills in ways we haven’t done before. You’re going to the Navy SEALs. Then the Air Force’s Fighter Weapons School, a.k.a Top Gun, and the Marine Special Operations Regiment. You’re going against the hardest and toughest training camps and tests known to man to test the absolute limits of your species. If you fail to succeed in becoming qualified for any of these three branches, we will test and experiment on you so hard you’ll fall apart. Is that understood?†“Yes, SIR!†we both said. “Yurei, you are ready for this in every single way I know of. I would have money on you becoming the benchmark of all AnTHRROS projects in the future if it was allowed. Cobalt, you are physically capable of overcoming any and every challenge that comes your way, but if you don’t wise up, I’m going to shave you bald and drop you off at the northernmost military base to see how long it takes you to freeze into a nice popsicle.†“Understood, sir!†I felt like a soldier already, shouting out sir with a spray of spit on purpose, fighting a smirk. Jack stared at me and shook his head “I would also have money that you’re going to get tied to a flagpole by your tail with your attitude.†“Very likely, SIR!†Jack sighed and reached over to disconnect the videocall “Signing off. You are dismissed. Try not to blow it.†Yurei saluted and made sure to smack me in the head while doing it. I laughed, humming ‘Highway to the Danger Zone’ while going off to play on another simulator. -----Jack’s POV, one month later----- “Prototype womb 1 and 2 are up and running.†No points for style, but we hope we have a working model of what we can use for creating more AnTHRROS. Both ‘wombs’ were designed off the exact principles that brought life back into Sakoor and Lukather. The few differences were that they were in a zero-g stasis in the wombs, suspended in a scientific cocktail to keep their bodies preserved and their muscles stimulated. Once the subject is complete and breathing, they would fall out of the womb, onto a cushioned floor. In theory, the end result would work exactly like Sakoor and Lukather. We brought in two body bags. One had a muscled, strong white man with dark, short hair on top of many layers of muscle, and the other held a woman, also white, a long haired redhead who was beautiful even in death, both causes of death were labeled under asphyxiation, being the most prime and undamaged bodies we could find. They were placed in the tanks and hooked up to the machinery. A separate group of scientists had taken cells of the two bodies and had mixed it with other animals. It was rather easy when the instructions for doing so were already completed for us. The tall man would become a Doberman, something we had found to not only fit him but also make him a very efficient and obedient soldier. The woman would become a fox, the natural characteristics of one making for an efficient spy. The mutated cells were injected into the bodies, and they were soon at work, radiation markers showing the growth of the cells as different organ cells were spread to their appropriate places, creating new organs on top of the dead ones, beginning the process of the inner mutation. The exterior effects won’t show for another day, according to the best guesses the eggheads could make, and they would be entirely finished in another month, leaving a month to see perform tests and make adjustments to see if the results were a repeatable success. But for now, we have to wait. -----Cobalt’s POV, 2 years later----- I’m stressed. I’m tired. I’m totally worn out, mind, spirit, and body. We haven’t had a single break this whole training cycle. We’ve been put on the most stringent cycles of training, not just advanced but accelerated. Our two and a half year long SEAL training was completed in 14 months. We had no rest but we were able to push through. Our nine week TOPGUN class came at a normal pace…a little bit of a mental rest and a big physical rest. Then our seven month training in Marine Special Operations is now drawing to a close…and I will be the happiest ‘furson,’ as the term has come, alive when it finally finishes. We’re only a week away from finishing Phase 4, Asymmetric Warfare, where we have to think like the enemy in order to disrupt enemy insurgencies, acts of terror, or guerilla warfare…we have the knowledge, we have the skill, but we need the experience. And someone thought it would be nice to have all that crammed in less than two years. This is like puberty for soldiers. I walk out of the tin metal barrack. It looked and felt and was almost exactly what jungle-based guerrilla warfare rebels would have. Limited clean water, very little food, no place to shower, and no insect repellant, the likes of whom were eating me alive. I knew I was in South America, not exactly sure what country, as that was classified. All I had to do was survive two weeks. And capture an enemy base within that time period. I was far less armed than when I was before. An Uzi, with 7 20 round cartridges, and an AK-47, with 5 15 round cartridges. I had a tally of 10 men with me. And they had even less ammo than I did. And I had scouted the base. They had more than 60 highly trained SEALS and freaking 50 caliber guns. Noooooooooo problem. Not at all. Yurei was being trained separately, with his own squad and a similar scenario. I was the only AnTHRROS there. It takes a bit to unsettle some decent army men…but a walking, talking wolf in a white mullet did the trick with my men. I could see it and smell it. And their skills were nowhere near as good as the SEALS. A brute-force takedown would be a guaranteed failure. But they obeyed. It may have been my intimidating looks and commanding speech, but my men did as they were told, no questions asked. So now it comes down to the plan. I had observed these guys for a full day. They were far more limited at night. The number of active men went from 60 to 40. They had an 8-hour sleep rotation. One was at 0800 in the morning. The next at 1600. The last at 0000. Each person was active for 16 hours and slept the other 8, meaning that there were always at least 40 men out there. Except for those 5 minutes men are switching posts. The most vulnerable was 0000, in pitch blackness. The rough terrain and many trees made for a LOT of shadows. That’s our time to strike. --------the next morning, Cobalt’s POV-------- It’s go time, mutha truckers. Everyone had been in position for 5 minutes now. We barely rustled a single leaf as we made our way to the encampment, our camo triple checked and our moves rehearsed. I scoped out each spot personally and knew exactly where each man was. And the clock hit 00:00. The sentries turned and walked about and we all moved forward silently at the precise timings I knew would be carried out within seconds. We all got to the edge of the fenced compound and I took out my tiny rotator saw and sliced the wire fence at the bottom of the fence, making an arc just barely big enough for ourselves to squeeze through. Thankfully, the soft jungle ground dipped as we trudged through, and then we split up. The stronger of the ten men went to the left, with my second in command leading, and I went to the right with the others. I ran to the side of the small tower on the side of the compound. I tried the door. Locked. Resisting the urge to blow it off, I slung my gun over my shoulder and began climbing up to the tower’s roof, where a sniper would soon come to take his midnight shift. The hastily built concrete slabs had plenty of foot and armholds, and my claws made going up the wall quick and easy. I made it over the lip as silently as I could and sat in the sniper nest. I took out my rifle and quickly strapped my homemade silencer on it. I glanced over to my second in command, who also had to climb up. The human took a little longer but I flashed my flashlight at him, signaling ‘I’m ready’. I heard the door begin to open and turned and aimed the silenced rifle at the man as he stepped out the door, and a dart shot out, giving a knockout-inducing shock. He fell silently. My gun wasn’t quite as silent as a properly machined silencer would have made it, but it was obviously silent enough. The second sniper fell to the floor and not a single alarm was raised. I turned and saw my second in command flash his light back. I planted myself against my stomach and aimed my sniper rifle at the third tower, and my second did the same in his tower at the fourth. I saw the head of my target and fired a single calculated shot through the scope. The man fell down, the dart in his upper chest. I looked over and saw the man in the other tower fall as well. The reports of our silenced rifles were only audible for the bat-eared below. They may or may not know our position. One man from each of our groups ran over to the tower and climbed their way up. From the sniper nest, I could see the entire complex. There were tents as well as semi-fortified buildings. Our remaining 7 men went their planned route. 4 of them split away and covered the moderately-sized camp, and two went for the arms storage barrack while the other went to the communications tower. There were two men quickly dispatched inside the comm tower and the communications were disabled without a problem. The two men in the weapons barracks locked away all the weapons and loaded them silently into a Humvee M1097A2, a Humvee with a large open cargo carrying bed. They went inside the car and flashed their flashlights three times. The keys were in the Humvee. The guys hopped inside, weapons secured, and started up the diesel truck, and drove it straight through the compound’s wire fence. Now THIS set off the alarm. Soldiers, most half-dressed, came out of their barracks and drew their weapons, mostly small arms pistols, only just before being shot down by the snipers. Weaponless and surrounded, our men took the soldiers with ease, and a quick surrender was at hand. I succeeded. 23 of the 55 soldiers had been shot with the non-fatal bullets. The remaining 32 soldiers were taken hostage by only 10 men. No fatalities on either side. We rocked this test.

it reminds me slightly of White Collar Sideshow, a Christian/Victorian horror/drama band: http://noisetrade.com/whitecollarsideshow/white-collar-sideshow

thanks my friend ^^ Chapter 6: you can run on for a long time, run on for a long time, run on for a long time, but sooner or later God’ll cut you down. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bwfm7-uNS4) The helicopter landed 10 miles away from the warehouse. Yurei went on ahead, and I followed suit. The bikes massive power ached for more speed than the dirty, night-laden suburban roads could allow us. The suburbs soon began giving way to sparser land, wildlife growing on either side of the poorly paved and aged old concrete as houses soon became larger and more spread apart. In no time at all, we had rode right up to the driveway of the mansion. We drove past it without stopping, and went around the corner. We saw the perfect guise for out motorcycles, an old tightly packed dirt path leading past the thick trees lining road and into an automotive graveyard of an abandoned house’s yard. A rickety shed surrounded by several rusted old hulls and shells of cars and trucks, all from the 50’s onto the 70’s. The bikes were laid up against the shed, hidden from all angles and easy to retreat to if need be. Yurei walked up to the house, a shadow in the nighttime trees. His black bulletproof outfit was modified from those of the riot police, entirely black. His red bangs and yellow eyes were covered his black sunglasses and his red tailtip was covered in equally black cloth. The moon, covered by clouds, could not shed enough light to portray him at all as he snuck around in only the darkest shadows. I had to switch on my heat sensors in my contrasting white helmet to see him as I hid in the distance, my SCAR-L sniper rifle at the ready. Yurei looked at every possible way to enter the mansion. Intel counted 74 points of possible entry, and of them, 32 were approachable, and 12 of those were likely to not get us killed. Then Yurei counted a 75th way to enter, and quite arguably the best. He slipped inside a broken wooden panel as if he were a snake, silent and undetected and leaving no trace he was even there. I adjusted my heat sensors to pick up more sensitive heat signatures, burning through the walls like x-ray vision. Outside, the air was a chill 54 degrees out. Inside, the climate control held the large mansion at a steady 71 degrees. Heat vision worked well, but it had its limits. The human shapes were very blurred, but I could tell that there were a lot of them. “Heat vision is screwy, Red Ghost. All I can say is that there’s a LOT of red shapes.†Yurei whispered back, his voice barely audible for the microphone to pick up. “Copy, Yellow Jacket. Going to ask for a distraction so I can get out of the wall.†I smiled “Raccoons always were one of my favorite creatures…†Yeah, I tipped the garbage cans and ran. The guards that were near Yurei’s position walked over to investigate the noise and I was long gone by the time they opened the door. Yurei shuffled visibly in my heat vision, and appeared to exit through a loose panel in the wall, and placed it back quickly, unsheathing his razor-sharp katana…looking at it wrong can cut you. He was inside. The first to go were the two guards. Yurei snuck behind them as they stood close together, and with a single quick slash, he cut both their necks cleanly, and caught the bloody thugs before they hit the ground, lowering them gently to keep them from making a sound. They were dead before they even felt the pain. Yurei moved on. He counted 4 kills before he ran out of targets that he could eliminate without blowing his cover. Then someone shrieked. Someone upstairs saw the bodies. I tossed my rifle aside and ran to the house, a 200 yard sprint, as Yurei pulled out his gun from behind his corner and plugged the man between his eyes with his pistol. I tossed a grenade at the door and it exploded in a barrage of splinters and metal as the CL-20, an even more advanced and powerful explosive than C4, blew a 25-foot diameter shockwave of mass destruction. Splinters bounced off my helmet and yellow bulletproof jacket as I pulled out my KAC PDW submachine guns. Ambidextrous, eagle-eyed, and outstanding hand-eye coordination made using two guns nearly as effective as movies made them out to be. 58 dead. Tons of bullets embedded in the walls and in the floor. Yurei had snuck away, taking down all the ones I wasn’t able to reach in time. Men were coming downstairs as I let the ammo fly, making their charge a very short-lived one. Overkill is the best kind of kill. Heat vision showed nearly as many thugs were still alive upstairs. He walked up behind me. I smiled and reloaded one PDW as I holstered the other. Heat vision revealed 9 men waiting at the top of the stairs, surrounding them from all angles, ready to shoot at any rival gang members coming upstairs to steal their loot. Unfortunately for them, we weren’t any of their pitiful rival gangs. We were the freaking S.W.A.T. I took the smoke grenade from my backpack, pulled the pin, counted two seconds and threw it near the top of the stairs. It blew up in midair and tear gas bellowed out, the smoky gas causing the men upstairs to yell and scream as their lungs and eyes were tortured. I casually screwed on the gas filter to my helmet as Yurei pulled on a muzzle that was akin to a gas mask. He and I walked silently upstairs, guns drawn. One began shooting wildly as he saw the gas blow, but I plugged him before he fired his third bullet from the barely controlled pistol. I quickly did the same with four others, Yurei getting the other four with his Desert Eagle. The other men began running to the stairs, firing into the thinning smoke. Yurei and I retreated down the stairs as they held the position at the stairs. By the time we kill everyone like this, someone is bound to escape. I shot what was left of my clips, three bullets, at an air vent. The vent was torn to shreds from the high-powered bullets as three simultaneous metallic clangs sounded out. Yurei reloaded his pistol and I motioned for him to follow me as I tore away bits of the vents. “Betchya this goes upstairs. I say we get around these thugs and pop them from behind.†I whispered into my mic, cautious as to keep others from hearing during our cease fire. “I’ll stay here in case anyone tries to escape and I’ll come up the stairs once they’ve turned at you.†Yurei responded. “Agreed.†I nodded and crawled into the vent. It was a bit of a squeeze, but I was able to make my way up almost immediately in the very dark vents. I needed no night vision, I already had that built into me. I saw the thugs lined up alongside the stairwell through my heat-seeking helmet visor. I crawled as silently as I could, trying not to give up my position, and looked at the vent. There was only one easy and silent way to remove it. I reached down, pulling out the smaller of my four Bowie knives and slicing through the cheap metal like a lightsaber. I still caused a little noise, but no one noticed as I made a hole just big enough to fit my arms through. I put the knife away and took both KAC PDWs out. With my heat vision helmet, I could see them through the wall. I fired into the backs of the crowd. The PDWs were on full auto, spewing out bullets like a lead storm as the thugs went down, most without even seeing where the bullets came from. 120 bullets were gone in 12 seconds. And all 40 targets were dead. Yurei climbed the stairs and looked up at me. “Nice work.†I smiled, even though he couldn’t see it through the helmet. The few remaining survivors cowered in fear, kneeling, hands on their heads and weapons cast down. As the door opened behind me, and more thugs came out. They had higher-grade weapons and spewed out a wall of lead. Yurei ducked back down the stairs and shot from behind it as he laid on his back, nailing two of them. I retreated back into the air vent, unable to reload my PDWs in the tight space, so I pulled out my two Berettas and popped my head back out, the firefight still going on as the rest of the thugs hid behind the door, Yurei unable to get a clear shot as they fired wildly. I did have a clear shot though, and I quickly lined up the shots and hit two of the three thugs in the head, and fired once more for the third. “They had a lot of people in here!†Yurei shrugged and got up “Still just a bunch of idiots that played too much Call of Duty and given real man guns.†I dropped out of the vent and got to my feet, reloading my PDWs before walking on. “Now where’s that sonofagun Barrel? Haven’t seen ‘im anywhere…†“Terrell.†Yurei corrected. “Search the whole place. Keep an ear out, HQ’s on satellite to see if anyone escapes.†“Copy that.†I responded. I walked into the room the thugs were and tore the place apart. Diamonds, money, gold, tons of it. Also other works of jewelry and things that were probably used to barter with. There were cages as well, but no one inside. I presume any slaves that were here had been sold elsewhere. No ways to escape from this room. Then I heard Yurei yell: “On the roof! Target is on the roof!†I smashed the window and hopped out onto the thin ledge on the windowsill. I jumped upwards, clinging onto the house’s rain gutter as I pulled myself onto the roof. Two figures stood in the night, the moon shining from a temporary break in the clouds. One was Yurei’s familiar shadowed figure. The other was that of our target. Black, muscular, underdressed, unmistakable. They stood face to face, Yurei holding a gun mere feet away from him. I snuck behind Terrell and grabbed his wrists as he stood in shock, completely frozen as I forced him to kneel to the ground. “Terrell, you are under arrest for murder, organized crime, fraud, extortion, black marketing, and so many other things that would keep us here all night.†The man struggled a little bit, trying to wrench himself away, but Yurei fired his gun, plugging the roof under Terrell, an inch away from his crotch. Scared stiff, he stopped struggling and stood with his mouth gaping open. I cuffed him and stripped him of his weapons, two guns, a knife, some keys and a cigarette lighter. Yurei led me the way he came up, from a ladder on the balcony. We walked inside and handcuffed him to an exposed water pipe running vertically on the wall. “Lucky for you, we can’t kill you in some creative leisurely fashion. But we can still have fun nonetheless.†I told him in a slight sadistic manner, and for the first time our tails were clear to our target, along with my oddly shaped helmet. Yurei stayed in the shadows, hiding clear view of his face. I wagged my tail slightly and grinned. This guy barely knows what he’s dealing with…but when I saw him…I knew. “Yurei, this particular person…looks familiar…doesn’t he?†Yurei looked at me with a quizzical look. “He…actually does.†I smiled. “It’s because we know him.†Yurei twitched an ear ever so slightly and I could tell it hit him. My memories weren’t perfectly clear, but clear enough. “We’re back from the dead…boss.†The man stared at us with eyes open as though we were crazy. “Remember the street urchins that you could never separate? Remember the brothers that would always do your jobs with the as quick and clean as possible? You killed us off. And we came back…like this.†I pulled off my helmet, something we had never done outside the base…and I revealed my snarl of a smile, the wolf-ish face clear to him. Terrell looked like he was going to pass out. Definitely starting to hyperventilate. “That…that’s fake…that has to be a mask.†I twitched my ears and put on a fake look of being insulted “Oh, that’s hurtful… after you went through so much planning in getting rid of us you don’t recognize us. Oh well.†I placed my claw at his throat and grinned again. “Have fun in hell. We’re going to escort you there.†Yurei had radioed in our status, confirming no escapees and mission success as I tortured our old boss with nothing but cutting remarks and a creepy smile. Memories flooded into my head as I threatened him creatively, turning his own words against him in pure irony, though I had a hard time recalling them later. The helicopter’s thumping became clear in our sharp animal ears and we turned and left. Yurei looked at me with an odd glance. I looked back at him casually. “Something you wanna say, big bro?†I asked as I pulled on my helmet and walked with him to retrieve our bikes. Yurei blinked and shook his head. “Well…all these years…I never knew that side of you.†I cocked an ear in confusion “What side of me?†Yurei shrugged. “Well…you did threaten that guy in about 50 different horrifying ways…†I waved my paw in the air and kicked up my SCAR-L that I had left in my hiding spot. “That guy used to own us. I wanted him to feel what it was like to be owned.†Yurei nodded. “I…kinda remember... but you just became a totally different person.†I waved him off. “I got caught up in the moment. Felt like an actor in an action film or something. You know that monologuing stuff.†Yurei sighed. “I guess.†We got to our bikes and walked them to the waiting heli.

end of third paragraph: "It's do time." should be go awesome story so far my friend

coolios ^^

looks good now ^^ also, if you edit your past posts, tell me. i'd like to re-read them and see how you improve them

.

sounds great! i started out like you a few years back. aim for the stars and keep on trying no matter what and you'll get to where you want to go, whether its with music, travelling to conventions, drawing, or anything else!

awesome fursona and welcome to the club! we have a few other catholic furs here too, so don't worry about it. did you draw that yourself?

Chapter 5: "Reach for the Sky" --------One month later-------- “Here is your first mission, good luck. Code word is Court.†We sat in the helicopter, checking our harnesses while in helmets custom fit for our heads, sitting on motorcycles, Yurei’s a classic cop bike and mine a smaller, sportier red bike. We had been over the routine, and were now going into a SWAT secured perimeter to engage target. Our tails were tucked inside our baggy pants that also disguised our legs. Yurei’s outfit looked very cop-like, with black leather jacket and jeans all around, while I was dressed far more like a civilian, with a yellow jacket and black jeans. The helicopter landed on a remote part of the beach on Lake Michigan, close to a firmly packed dirt path that would take us to the road, and from there we would intercept the target on his way to dinner. It was the season of fall, where the wind was cold and ice and snow was on its way. We rode the bikes onto the firm sand, and drove carefully onto the dirt path. I headed off towards the target, while the copter flew away again. Yurei took the north fork in the road, I headed southwest. The radio in my helmet came to life crystal clear, Jack speaking “Target is mobile, heading north. Stay on current course.†I smiled. Not just because of my first mission, but because of the superbike I was on. I was swung low over the red and white striped superbike. Although I didn’t get my favorite bike, the Aprilia RS3, the little Kawasaki Ninja 500R fit my need and our project’s budget as well. It was not as powerful as I would like, but it still had a bit of spunk. ----- I waited around a bend, listening for an engine. I heard it coming. Jack buzzed to life again. “Move in now. Enact stall.†I surged the bike forward and came around a bend towards a poorly placed intersection, with only one dim street light in the distance, walls lining either side of the narrow road with both roads turning at sharp curves, creating a very large blind corner. I stopped momentarily, and then moved out into the road at the right time- right in front of the underboss’s Mercedes Benz. The driver of the large black German sedan slammed on the brakes, and the car pitched to slow down, but still hit me at a low speed- only just enough to knock the bike onto its side. I got off the bike and yelled at the driver, standing up and walking my bike as a crutch, pretending that my ankles were shot, and hitting the car until the driver, an older Caucasian male in a black tux, came out. I had the biggest tantrum about injuries and insurance, and pulled out a prop phone to call the cops. As I yelled into the phone, I knew I was not calling the real cops. I was calling Yurei. Yurei came over, flashing fake police lights and looking over the vehicles as I shouted and grumbled miserably. Yurei pretended to begin writing a ticket and asked for the person in the back of the Benz to come out, and he did, shorter and wider than the first but also sharply dressed. It seems that if they had any evidence on them, it was well hidden or not even in the car. Yurei wrote them up and said that there will be a court hearing, and at this I pulled out my gun to the driver, and Yurei pulled his out at the passenger, moving forward at them and beginning to handcuff them. Yurei began reading the Miranda Rights to the two hostages, and I smiled confidently. Our first mission had gone as smooth as silk, I thought. And that’s when I jinxed it. A sniper shot bounced off my helmet, ricocheting off my muzzle and sending me sprawling to the side. The driver of the Benz sprang into action, taking out a knife, grabbing my Uzi and cutting it off the strap in an almost simultaneous fashion, firing wildly at me and Yurei, forcing us to back off as the two got into the car and tore away. Yurei saw the muzzle flash of the sniper and took his rifle out of the bike’s saddlebag, cocking and shooting within seconds of the sniper’s fire. The sound of a body tumbling down the steep hillside, tearing through the bushes let us know his aim was perfect. He fired three more rounds at the Benz as it turned around the corner, and I hopped onto my bike, Yurei following behind. The car hadn’t gone far. I let Yurei get ahead of me and he fired off rounds at the tires with his pistol, but they were run-flats and didn’t pop, and then he aimed at the glass and body panels. Bulletproof. This did not look good for us. I sped up and smashed into the side of the big heavy car. It was fruitless as I scratched my bike and was nearly thrown off. Jack was yelling at us through the radio to guide him to the southern SWAT perimeter, but I wasn’t going to let my prey away. My prey. I signaled for Yurei to give me his gun and he tossed it to me. I sped in front of the car on the inside of a sharp corner, and hopped off my bike onto the hood of the car, using my claws to stay glued to the car’s smooth sheetmetal. The bike spun off and smashed into a wall, riderless. I punched the grill of the car, and shot several bullets into the engine bay of the Mercedes. The car’s engine shuddered and the man hit his brakes. I flew off, rolling sideways and then running after the car. I must’ve hit something important, because the car shuddered and soon ground to a halt, the engine smoking and alarm blaring. Yurei loaded in an explosive round on his rifle, and fired it at the driver’s door handle, blowing it up and making the door swing open. The driver and passenger began firing at us, and unloaded their clips as we ducked for cover. We moved in at full speed as soon as shots stopped firing, disarming the two simultaneously and cuffing them. They made the mistake of running out of ammo at the same time and we took full advantage of it. They were resistant for a few seconds but as they were entirely disarmed, they gave in. We called in the helicopter, and Jack gave us the scolding of our lives. A smooth and quiet arrest was turned to disaster on our first go. I wanted to say that the sniper was a surprise, but we were given no remorse and weren’t allowed to speak for ourselves. I was also punished for smashing my 6,000 dollar bike beyond repair on a suicide maneuver that the SWAT blockade down the road would’ve done for us. The mission was a technical success, but we had failed to meet the standards they had wanted to see in us. Needless to say, it was a long helicopter ride home. --------1 year later, Cobalt’s POV-------- “We’ve had your equipment upgraded for this and future missions. Believe me when I say you will need them.†“Alright, so show us the gold already!†I was itching to see the upgrades- we rarely ever had our equipment upgraded, so this was like Christmas for us. Jack led us to the armaments bay, and straight to a table filled with guns and blades of all kinds. “Choose all the guns you want.†That set me off like a child saying he could have everything he could grab in a candy store. I grabbed two Berretta 92F pistols straightaway, and then two KAC PDW submachine guns, and four of the ten bowie knives, 2 Ka-Bar 16 inch long blades and 2 Death Adder 6 inch blades. As I scrambled to get a SCAR-L sniper rifle to add to my collection, I saw a sawed-off M134 Gatling gun with a strap similar to what you’d find on a satchel. I wanted it so bad, but I knew I couldn’t carry it, and I had no vehicle to mount it to. At least, not yet. The 92Fs went into two gun holsters on either side of my pockets, and then the PDWs were put on the upper inside pockets of my jacket, and the bowie knives were placed in sheaths built into my pants’ shins. The SCAR-L was placed in the holster on the inside of my jacket, right behind my head and before I knew it, I had all the guns I could carry. Jack tapped me on the shoulder “You have so many guns, you don’t have space for any ammo.†I pondered for a second, but I refused to give up. I took a black Jansport hiking backpack and then I slipped a smoke bomb, a flash bomb, a Kolokov-7 grenade and a CL-20 grenade onto the smaller side pocket. I then began filling the insides with all the ammo I could fit: 10 60-round boxes of ammo for the PDWs, 10 32-round boxes for the 92Fs, 5 boxes of 30 armor piercing rounds, as well as one incendiary, for the SCAR-L, and I quickly ran out of places. I must’ve put on a 45 pounds of equipment, but I had never felt stronger than this, fully loaded. Yurei saw me and smirked “Are you figuring on replacing half the army?†I stuck my tongue right back out at him “Do this enough and we’ll be the first line of defense.†Yurei shook his head “These will be enough.†He showed me his Uzi and his Desert Eagle, then swapped the Uzi for a Glock 17 with a silencer. Then he holstered both and pulled out a precision-sharp Mukansa-style katana, a deep black carbon fiber finish. “But this is all I need.†I laughed. “Don’t come whining to me when you run out of ammo!†----- We had new bikes as well. I had worked on them myself, a V8 Harley Davidson and a turbocharged Ducati 1199. The Harley Superlow, brought in 2 years ago as a retired police bike, and still looked like an average black cop bike, but with a much wider rear tire and a longer swing arm, and a custom-made 3.0 liter V8 (a heavily modified small block Chevy cut down to less than half the height and stroke) pushing 500 horses at the rear wheel on the dyno. Then there’s my little red Ducati 1199 Superleggera, an expensive bike intercepted in a past mission only a few months ago, with the two-stroke engine turbocharged to shove 400 horsepower at the crank while keeping the weight down, a little over 200 pounds shy of the Harley’s weight. Top speed goes to the Harley, but the Ducati’s power to weight and cornering ability is supersonic. Both our bikes were machines of insane speed and performance, above and beyond most cars and motorcycles in the world. Our guns were the best the world had to offer. It seemed like there was no one in the world to match us. --------Jack’s POV-------- The two AnTHRROS were more than happy with their new weapons and rides. Cobalt had never looked as ecstatic when he had when he was finally given the go-ahead to tune and use the bikes, as well when he was got his new weapons. Jack smiled, sitting on his desk. He knew that other upgrades were coming soon…just not ones they would carry in the same way. Dr. Rothguard was insanely clever. Or cleverly insane. Or both. The DNA design in their two new operatives had almost no possible ways to improve their design. Not to mention the added power that they had. Cobalt’s was easier to do…relatively. Yurei’s required incredible consistency and biological programming verging on the very limits of science itself. They had spent all these years double and triple checking the formulas, completing them, and rechecking and retesting them. They were complete. But they had one last mission in their schedule. --------The next day, Cobalt’s POV-------- “Hey, Yurei?†I was walking my bike to the cargo copter as it warmed up, where we would be briefed with all the details. Yurei flicked an ear, though he continued looking dead ahead. “You think we’re ever going to die?†Yurei’s ear twitched, dropping slightly. He was focused on only one thing, and that was the mission and apparently, I had touched a soft spot. “I thought so.†The bikes were strapped to the center of the cargo bay, and we sat in the bay’s seats, suited up, helmet on for me, sunglasses on for Yurei, and radios linked. My outfit had been unchanged since my first mission, apart from advanced armor in the jacket and pants, and stitching a small bee on the back, dashing from my left shoulder blade to my right one. Yurei, however, had been decked out in the latest military armor shoulders down. He refused to wear a helmet, but the sunglasses had all the functions my helmet did. He had a black leather jacket over a bulletproof vest, and black pants similar to my own. But unlike my clothes, his would become invisible on a small electric charge. The TV in the cargo bay remotely flicked on and Jack’s enlarged face showed on the screen. He skipped all formalities “You’re going to be infiltrating a major drug ring known for smuggling cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines from a multitude of countries and selling them predominantly in the states. We have the evidence we need to justify a raid, but we need a large-scale raid to capture all involved, which we intend to do. We are sending you because we are fully confident in your ability to wipe them clean off the face of the earth.†“We spotted a large shipment of drugs as they were received and we know it’s more than enough to justify even the most brutal raids. Your target is a large factory in the abandoned downtown area of Detroit, formerly a Nike shoe plant, the address is already programmed into your helmets’ GPS systems. You have no casualty limit, but use common sense around civilians. There may be a few slaves…people buy drugs with anything these days. Try not to kill any more than you need to but keep a lookout for Terrell. We…highly prefer to have him alive than dead.†A scarred, familiar face appeared next to Jack’s. Black, muscular, rough, with some scars on his cheek, and a haircut that perfected his ghetto look. He looked familiar…like the face I had thought was mine. Maybe, just maybe…he knew our past. Jack continued. “Make sure no one leaves. We want each and every one either in custody or deceased. That’s why you have your vehicles with you. Let anyone a half mile out and we take over the operation ourselves. Commander Jack, signing off. Don’t screw up.†The TV screen shut off and the room went dim, the running lights low.

cool beans man, welcome to the club!

thanks, i'll post more today. after that, it's stuff that i need to complete writing

ah. i only use my laptop for internet browsing and online school. ... with a dash of Second Life ^^;

The 1198 was the bike that made me love Ducati in the first place! the 1199 Superleggera absolutely stole my breath when it came out though.

lucky you, with yer fancy pc's and monitors and stuff all i have is my lil ol laptop

Hey Packey, I play the guitar at my church! We could have a seriously rocking service one day!

Thank you Rythe. and who knows, maybe you'll have one some day! I hear the Scrambler Ducati is quite enjoyable ^^

Chapter 4: “Making science, Making science…†(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDAFivGsKX4 ) --------one week later, Cobalt’s POV-------- I stood up, dressed in very plain white clothes that didn’t quite fit my anatomy, but I stood stiffly still as the poorly shaped pant legs cramped up and made me get yet another wedgie. Yurei was placed at the opposite end of the quarter mile oval track, and we got ready for yet another race. For two hours, we’ve been at this, and we were both dripping with sweat as the starter gun fired off again. 5 minute miles, with 40 pound weighted backpacks strapped to us, as a sit in for standard military packs and five pound weights on our arms and legs, also strapped to us were heart rate and mental activity monitors that were omnipresent in every test. And they itched. We were off again. Each time Yurei beat me, but by a little less each time. Five minutes of hard pounding racing later, and another mile had passed. Yurei had a 5:09, I had a 5:12. I grabbed a bottle of glucose-tainted water and drank it and ate an energy-rich bar of unknown substances as Yurei did the same on the other side of the track. 5 minutes of walking and 5 minutes of sitting, and we were both ready to go again. That went on for 5 hours total, and only then because we were beginning to drag behind into 6 minute miles. After that we were allowed the rest of the day to rest. It had been a week since these guys had brought us in, and they wanted to know our limits better than we ever did ourselves. We were both getting bigger, muscle-wise, but also very sore, both in body and personality. Yurei still never said a kind word to me, and I stopped caring about it. He was my competition now. The next day was something of a surprise to us. We weren’t given monitors like last time, but instead we were put into an empty glass-walled room about the size of a boxing ring. Cameras were placed behind very thick glass with scientists with electronic notepads next to their machines. A hidden speaker yelled at us once we were locked into the room “Yurei Sakoor, please go to the red corner! Cobalt Lukather, please go to the blue corner! Again, Yurei to the red, Cobalt to the blue!†We went into our corners and two lab-coated scientists came out and gave us gloves and socks with blunt, hard plastic that covered our claws on our fingers and toes. It became obvious what they wanted us to do. The scientists exited and locked the room. The speaker blared at us again “Fight begins in 5…4…3…2…1…GO!†Yurei charged at me. I charged at him. We both lowered ourselves and ran straight at each other. I knew I could out-power Yurei. But I also knew that he wouldn’t let me get into that position. We got inches from each other and Yurei launched his feet forward and slid under me, grabbing my leg and attempting to pull it out from under me. I expected this, however, and leaned away from him and used his momentum to bring me back in an attack with a hard, high punch to the stomach. Except he saw that coming as well; he blocked it by making an x with his arms and rolled away with the momentum of my punch, backing away and getting into a crouched position. I got low as well, as I knew that standing straight up exposes my stomach and neck, which means death. Yurei snaked his way to me like a crab. I backed away in the same style, and we studied each other for quite some time. I knew that if I could keep the same amount of distance between us, he would charge eventually. And he did with lightning speed. I readied myself, knowing I couldn’t dodge it, and got a lucky block in and strong-armed him to the side, grabbing him by the shoulder as he then punched my ribs. It hurt, but I still delivered a hard elbow to the gut, and he lost strength and the air from his lungs, and I twisted, putting my legs on his side and kicked off against him, spinning us into different directions. As I flipped backwards to my feet, Yurei was on me again with almost as much speed as before, and attacked with a kick to my shin, rocking my leg. I instantly put my weight on the other and shot up at him, but he dodged and put an elbow to my back, and I hit the ground and rolled away, knowing I needed to be more efficient as he came at me and attacked me again. I curled into a ball and he kicked me again and again, and then began laughing as he did so. That infuriated me more than the pain. I jumped up at him again, this time taking him by surprise and I delivered a blow to his head before he could move out of the way. He stood dazed for a second, and I swept his legs out from him and lunged at him, but he grabbed and locked my arms with his, trying to throw me away from him. I grasped his arms and picked him up with my own momentum and we both smashed into the glass hard, a crack appearing where our shoulders hit it, but we continued on without regard. The red mist had descended, and we were both taking more hits, each one harder and bloodier than the last. Our noses were both bleeding and other points where hard hits were taken to and where scrapes had torn skin. We were beating each other to death. The speaker was blaring at us, but neither cared at what it said. Out of the corner of my eye, as Yurei attempted to strangle me, I saw two people walk in, and they pointed Tasers at us, but before I could show Yurei, both of us were being tased. We hit the ground. The medical team came to us and began injecting painkillers and tranquilizers into us as we were moved onto stretchers, and hauled out of the room. I hoped to never see that room again. --------5 hours later, Jack’s POV-------- Yurei and Cobalt had been placed on white beds next to each other in the infirmary. Their noses and scratches were being bandaged and they were being analyzed for any broken bones. Thankfully, neither had achieved to do that, most likely thanks to their tougher-than-normal bodies than anything, especially Cobalt’s reinforced bone structure. The doctors told me that if their bodies had been as tough as a normal human’s, they would have been paralyzed rather than bruised. The doctors left them as night fell and they caught a little sleep. I watched the two from behind a glass wall, watching my iPad as information from Dr’ Rothguard’s lab was continually decoded. He put many different encriptions on everything he had “Hey Yurei?†I heard one ask, the drugs making him talk funny. I looked up as Yurei grunted and shifted slightly away from Cobalt, laying on his side with his back to him. “Good fight.†I saw Yurei relax a little with a small sigh. I stared at the two, swollen where they had hit each other. Yurei did nothing for a while, but he eventually said “Good fight, yourself,†back to him. I grinned. And then I heard a chuckle came out from Cobalt, becoming small laughs. Yurei turned over to Cobalt and stared at him as if he had gone crazy. “They gave you too many painkillers.†Cobalt burst into laughter and nodded, Yurei beginning to laugh as well. As they laughed, I chuckled as well. I hope this will put them on friendlier terms now. --------one day later, Cobalt’s POV-------- Next day, another maze, more bad lab clothes and monitors. Now we really were oversized lab rats in a maze. Yurei started at one end, I started at the other, and we had to race to the finish. A small scent trail had been placed for each of us, and we had to follow it through. It was going well at first, and we were being placed against each other, our wins almost equal. After an hour, they got really crazy with the maze, and as I ran around a corner, I ran straight into Yurei, who was crouched down, making me trip and fly into the wall as well as knocking him off his feet. Yurei yelled at me “What’s your problem?!†I was upside down with my butt plugging a hole in the wall was the big one, but I decided to shut up. “Hey, I’m just trying to get out faster than you. Now, if you could be a sport and help me out of this wall…†Yurei held up a handpaw. “The scent trails intersect here. I was trying to find out which one is fresher.†I stuck my tongue out at him, and tried wiggling out of the wall, but I was stuck too deep in it. “Thanks for the tip. Now if I could actually move, that would be a BIG help.†Yurei laughed. “Yeah, right. Later, Cobalt.†He ran off and I sighed. I was quite sick of being stuck before all my blood had rushed to my head, but it looked like no one was coming. “HELP?! ASSISSTANCE NEEDED! STUCK IN A WALL HERE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!†I yelled like that for a few minutes, but no one came. Until suddenly, I felt a hard punch to my butt. After three punches, I was out. I stared through the hole to see Yurei with a small smirk on his face. “You’re lucky the path led here. Now stop whining and move it.†I got up, and stuck my tongue out at him and mocked him “Yeah thanks, you just ruined my sexy butt.†Yurei laughed “You’re an idiot. I guess that’s why I take a little pity on you.†I dove through the wall and picked up the scent trail almost immediately “Last one to the finish massages the winner’s butt!†Yurei darted after me “As if!†As we ran, he tried passing me, but I blocked him, laying on all the speed I could as I ducked to check the scent trail at speed. Yurei took his opportunity by jumping onto my back and vaulting himself in front of me. He tried to get away, but I grabbed his tail and pulled him backwards and shoved him into the wall, putting him behind me once again. “Hey!†he yelled! “All is fair!†I tucked my tail between my legs so he couldn’t get a grip on it and pull the same move I did, and we rounded the last corner, the exit straight ahead. Yurei scrabbled for the lead, and eventually found a space to pry himself between me and the wall, shoving each other as he made ground and we came out at nearly the same time. The scientists were talking among themselves, in deep argument about violations. I laid on my back on the floor, and Yurei sat next to me. “Wimp.†He stared at me as I splayed myself out on the floor. “Slowpoke.†I shot back, eyes closed as I relaxed. We laughed a little bit as the names flew until a scientist came back to us. “There were multiple violations in that race…Cobalt Lukather, you are disqualified for becoming stuck, moving illegally through a wall, and blocking and slowing down your opponent. Yurei Sakoor, you are disqualified for assisting your rival and blocking and slowing your opponent as well.†“So we both lost? Get real, I totally won that race.†I laughed at him and Yurei kicked me lightly in the leg “You must be blind, I beat you hands-down.†The scientist sighed and went away. I got onto my feet and smiled at Yurei. He gave the tiniest of smiles back. --------an hour later, Jack’s POV-------- Jack came by and sat with us. “We have some information from Dr. Rothguard’s laboratory and I decided to take it upon myself to tell you it.†I scooted closer to Jack as my ears perked up at what he had to say. “There was a purpose for the doctor’s creation for you two, though it was one that is never going to happen. He saw a high mass, low volume meteor moving very quickly through space but thought it to be aliens, as he’s had obsessions with aliens as far back as our record of him goes. That’s why he became a brilliant scientist in both biology and aerospace.†Yurei dipped his head. “Sir, we already know this.†Jack nodded and moved on. “Something I found particularly interesting was your competitiveness and your relationship to each other. Any guesses why?†Cobalt shrugged “We were raised in a lab, so I don’t think we exactly had the ideal homegrown American family going on.†I rolled my eyes. The ‘ideal homegrown American family’ seemed to have vanished over 60 years ago. “You two were combined from two individuals and two pups. The first were human bodies from a fatal accident that had gone unclaimed and unidentified, and you were then passed through for scientific experimentation. So you knew each other before this time. You also had life given to you through cells with mixed DNA. You were part human and part wolf from conception. The most interesting thing about it, though, is that you had the same mother wolf. DNA shows a fair amount of similarity. Not much but it’s there.†They looked stunned. “Wait, so… we’re half-brothers?†Yurei stared at me and Jack continued “I’m not so sure. You were in the same crash together, and about the same age and you both took the experiment nearly the same way. I believe that may hint that you were brothers there, too.†They were silent. They stared at each other, and then they stared at me. “So… Who is the big brother?â€