Sī vīs pācem, parā bellum

Crisis-2 surveyed the ruined station. Dead bodies, carnage, destruction, it was all of his favorite things, if only they hadn't been sent away just before the action started.

"Carter did all this?" He asked Dr. Murphy.

"Along with his compatriots, yes."

"Impressive." Crisis-3 said as he surveyed the wreckage.

"Show me." Crisis-2 demanded.

Dr. Murphy only hesitated for a moment before bringing up a recording on the nearby wall. A woman in power armor- one of the ones he had wanted to kill on Thiidian, he noted -fought her way through a handful of guards to reach the holding area. Crisis-2 looked closer, he'd recognize that speed and fluidity anywhere. He wasn't the only one.

"How did she gain access to your serum, doctor?" Blackout's wave-comm image asked.

"Unknown, but it may be another security breach, like Noma." Dr. Murphy wasn't even looking at Blackout, instead he was watching Crisis-3 with rapt attention. The video changed to inside the holding area, where, to his shock, it appeared Crisis-3 fought and died days ago. They both looked at the doctor.

"Just a flash clone. They make for versatile assistants in the lab." Dr. Murphy answered their unspoken question.

"You haven't been authorized to clone Venix personnel, Doctor." Blackout sounded pissed alright. He still had that pyscho fucking smile though. Crisis-3 just shrugged, indifferent to 'his' ****.

The end of the video was an all out brawl, mostly between Carter and anyone unlucky enough to get close to him. Even against opponents enhanced by the serum and armed with power armor, the man had more than held his own. His strength was incredible, probably rivaling Crisis-5 with none of the wasted bulk. And the guy could take a punch, too.

"What you see here, represents a significant loss of our investment, doctor." Blackout lectured. "You assured us that you could handle 09 without oversight."

"The samples taken-

"The samples are just that. Samples. You promised us viability. Working products. That's what pays for all these failed experiments."

Doctor Murphy scoffed and didn't bother replying.

"So now what?" Crisis-2 sneered. "You want us to hunt down your little lost puppy again?"

"No." Blackout replied. "Return to base, rearm, then pursue Carter. Eliminate the all those involved, including Carter." Blackout turned to the doctor. "You already have your 'samples' after all." The feed cut out after that.

"You does not understand." Doctor Murphy mumbled to himself. "You do not throw away a diamond, to pick up a rock!"

The doctor turned back to them. "Tell me you see it, at least. The potential, the-"

"Power." Crisis-3 finished.

"Yes. Power." Doctor Murphy caressed every syllable. "09 represents what we tried to achieve with you. A superior version of our species. Is that not worth a few lives and credits?"

Crisis-2 couldn't agree more. To harness that kind of strength was worth any price. "If only there was something we could do." His voice was carefully neutral.

Dr Murphy studied him for a moment, before pressing a few buttons on his pad. A wall panel split and retracted and the familiar sight of heavy injectors, loaded with serum appeared. It was the big bottles, the good stuff. Crisis-2 **** himself to keep from running over; he could sense this was a test. His will held by a thread, but it held long enough for the Doctor to speak.

"How would you like some extracurricular assignments?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"The personnel here cannot be trusted. Failures and incompetents."

"You want me to kill them?"

"Yes, I have compiled a list of personnel who may have been involved in the abduction that we can safely terminate. But that is neither here, nor there." Dr. Murphy held out a handful of syrettes. "This is Halcyon, it will weaken 09. I will accompany you on your mission to RECOVER him. Alive. And you will deposit us at a location of my choosing. Do this and I will give you all the serum you could ever need."

Crisis-3 had already grabbed a handful of injectors, every cell in his body was screaming at Crisis-3 to do the same, but he resisted. "I bring you to Carter, and you give his power to me. That's the deal."

The doctor held out his hand. "That's the deal."

."This really is impressive technology." Katerina held up the dead BB she'd extracted from Adam earlier. Sam didn't seem to agree, snorting derisively and rolling her eyes. She had a ...unique relationship with her mother. Adam just felt queasy. Same as he'd felt for days since he'd started taking the shots regularly. "The molecular monofilaments are obviously nanotechnology, custom work, I would guess."

"Can you fix it mom?" Sam drawled. They'd been watching her examine the precious little sphere for over an hour in the medbay.

Katerina reluctantly put it down, shaking her head. "I doubt anyone could. It needs to be replaced. Otherwise..."

Otherwise Adam would have to keep fighting to keep his breakfast down in the mornings. The irony wasn't lost on him. "So we go to Irix? Or Belladonia maybe?" He suggested. It had been three days of this, if anything it was getting worse. He'd march naked down the streets of London, if he had to.

"You and I probably shouldn't wave our faces around too much. Too many cameras." Sam reminded him. She seemed nonplussed about being declared AWOL and a person of interest. Or maybe she just figured it was too late to worry. "We'll ride the pine, mom and Cindi go grab the goods?"

Kat shook her head again. "This kind of technology is cutting edge. Too advanced even for Alliance military, let alone civilian. It's ....Confederate." There was a very pregnant pause. Neither woman had known Miss Fox, but then again, had Adam? With each passing day, he wondered more and more about his onetime companion's past. Where had she gotten cutting edge Confed nanotech? And for what purpose? Adam just hoped she was safe and out of this mess in the Periphery. Ha. Safe, in the Periphery. What was the galaxy coming to that a human would be MORE safe out there?

"The solution is simple. We need to go to Constantine." Kat finished.

What? Cried the Instinct.

"What?" Adam repeated dumbly.

"What!" Sam demanded.

Just then, Cindi swaggered back into the room. "We are officially out of the Thiidian system. I just did two short lightspeed hops. No one is following us." She looked around the room. "What?"

"You want us to go not just into Confederate space, but to their very homeworld?" Sam glared at her mother. "If they catch us sneaking in, they won't arrest us, they'll assume we're spies, they blow us to atoms!"

Adam was more measured. "Why can't we just go to one of my old contacts, I'm sure they could get us set up? We could go back out to the Rim."

"Adam, honey, anyone who doesn't turn you in to the Alliance on the spot, would just be waiting to get a bigger payday from the Cooperative." Kat explained. "Both of them have limited reach in Confed space. And I have some old friends out there that can help us."

"What sort of friends?" Adam asked.

"Black Market, former revolutionaries, that sort of thing." Kat didn't even blink while she was describing the sort of people no college professor should ever count as friends.

"Nova." Cindi whispered.

Sam wasn't convinced. "Mom, this is suicide." She glared around the room. "Even if we the Confeds don't look for us. Even if your crazy friends don't kill us all, if they're even still alive, we can't GET to Constantine." Sam dragged a squawking Cindi over by the hand- why did that make Cindi blush? -and brought up a sector map. Sam flicked it to hologram mode and the stars burst into dazzling view all around them.

"We're here." Sam pointed to the space just outside Thiidian. It was in the Alliance, but not the Core. Sam dragged her finger Rimward all the way to Confed capital world. "Here's Constantine." She doubled back and made a tight circle that encompassed most of the space between the two points. "That's Galsec's main dragnet. Forget the sensor buoys, the flight control stations, the random patrols and the civilian traffic. What about CSA? Or Gravitational telescopes? What are we going to do when they find our stolen pirate ship, with two felons on board?"

The room was silent. Ok, maybe Sam wasn't doing so well with being a fugitive. Before Adam could even offer, Cindi reached over and pulled her cousin into a gentle hug. What was going on with those two? They were always either fighting or hugging these days.

Cindi spoke up from Sam's shoulder. "She's right, we can't go through the main route, we'll be detected for sure." Cindi pulled Sam back to look her in the face. "No one is going to take you two. I won't let them." They were bold words from a girl who barely came up to head height on most people, but the glare was as fiery as any Adam had ever seen.

"So we're stuck?" Adam wondered if maybe it was time for him to run again. Without his problems, maybe they could find a way to fix what he'd broken. Get Sam's career back, go to the authorities about Keith, hell, just be safe for more than five minutes at a time. All the things they couldn't have around him. Was it more selfish to stay or go? Was there even a choice in front of him?

There is always a choice.

Kat interrupted his musings, she'd placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder as well, though she hesitated as if worried she'd break her. "I wasn't suggesting we go the main way. We need to go through the Dead Worlds."

She pronounced it like it was a **** sentence and it very likely was. The Dead Worlds were the colloquialism for planets that had been destroyed or abandoned during the war and the subsequent Typhon Plague. It was a patch of space cut out of the heart of human civilization. Hundreds of settled planets and a dozen Old Worlds, all gone dark. The only signs of life were criminals and looters, picking the bones clean. The territory was officially part of each of the three powers, but in practice almost no ships went in. They had a way of not coming out.

Charlotte Chapter waited for her prey. The Aestyr wasn't all that special. It was a fast little personal yaht, well armed, but she was no gifted pilot. Instead Charlotte relied on the two things that she had in abundance. Willpower and money. The latter paid the bribe that gave her access to the data from the GalSec's Cascading Sensor Array. The former kept her huddled in darkness, shaking from the heat after she manually disabled the sinks eight hours ago. She also really had to pee.

Keith had figured out someone was following him early on. And to his credit, he'd used his time well. Charlotte was almost impressed when he got himself scrubbed from the official traffic data. That would have cost him more than bribes. Maybe he was skirting the edge of the systems, staying off sensors? It was possible. The man was as good a pilot as Cindi, better than Francis too as she recalled. Her thoughts warmed briefly as she thought of her husband. She missed him. Missed being able to share her life with someone. He had been an excellent partner. Not perfect, not by a longshot, but still more than most men. He'd supported her and let her return the favor (why did Adam feel the need to NEVER ask for help?) he'd cared for her, loved her even despite some mistakes on his part.. He'd even accepted his place, taking her name, joining the Carter family- in part purely out of practicality, no one wanted to do business with a former Confederate privateer after all -but he'd also accepted his place within their marriage. With one exception.

Charlotte had only had time to feed her baby girl before handing her off to the night nanny. Cindi, as expected, started to cry, but Charlotte had to gird herself against the sound. Their caretaker knew her business, already soothing and cooing little Cinderella to sleep before she even reached the crib. If only they'd had the money for servants when Adam had been born. Not that Charlotte was going to be able to rest tonight anyway. She plugged herself into a work console, sifting through the various data packets and messages.

Keith Martell wanted to become a part owner of CET. Ha! As if she'd ever get into bed with that snake. There were a dozen different supply back orders, Charlotte just hit refill all. If their chief mechanic was skimming, frankly he hid it so well, she'd never catch him anyway. She flicked over to her husbands message pool. Francis wasn't diligent with electronic communications, a product of his time outside the law, she supposed, but still no way to run a business. Sometimes months had gone by before he'd simply reply back, and then it was usually just a simple yes. Charlotte accidentally deleted a contract file. Damn her tired eyes. Irritated, she opened the trash folder and restored everything. There wasn't much, Francis really didn't bother to delete either, only two files. The first, her contract was quickly resolved and sent on its way. The second was labelled Carter family inquiry. Charlotte felt her blood run cold.

What did Francis know? Had he told anyone? Her mind raced to the children upstairs and the unconsciously, her hand reached down to caress the knife she'd kept in her boot since she was a eight years old, leaving on the streets of Sirius Prime. Charlotte listened, were they already on their way? Was Francis involved? Had all this just been some sick game, the life, the happiness...the children? Where they coming to take them away? Or just put them down like animals? Icy dread, the certainty that she was going to be violently murdered had frozen her body. Bit by bit, Charlotte **** her hand off the knife and back to the console. She opened the file.

Inside was the standard inquiries from a private investigator. He'd been hired by Francis to seek out any additional Carters who might have survived the war. Charlotte dared to breath again. He wouldn't find any living ones, Charlotte had seen to that. The investigator wanted to know if Francis wanted to dig deeper, and gave out an estimate. It was a fair sum. Charlotte debated having him killed. Honest men were a dangerous thing to have around secrets. Ultimately she thought it might bring even more attention to an issue she wanted buried along with her the rest of the Carters. Charlotte sent a thanks on Francis' behalf and a small bonus, along with a promise to use him in the future.

Francis and Kat were lightyears away, running a lucrative transport contract. It took every ounce of willpower Charlotte had not to empty the wall safe, grab the kids and run. She **** that thought down. Running brought attention. Tomorrow, she would hire another investigator. Someone less scrupulous. Someone who could clean up the few loose ends Francis' investigator had uncovered. Someone the galaxy wouldn't miss. Tomorrow.

For tonight, Charlotte sent the nanny home. She laid down on the day bed in little Cindi's room, listening to the soothing breath of her little baby. In and out. In and out. Kat used to thrash in her sleep; attacked by memories she'd repressed while awake. Cindi slept like a angel. Her life completely untainted by the Carters and their horrific 'grand vision for humanities future'. Her children were safe.

The knife had found its way back into her hands. It was the same knife that she'd plunged into Jeremiah and Abilene Carter, the knife that had freed her and her baby sister from imprisonment. They knife she'd held as she sealed the screaming relatives and family friends inside the mansion, before she'd watched it burn. The knife that had kept her safe on the streets all those years until Francis found her. After all those years, it was almost a part of her. She trusted it. And that was a rare thing for Charlotte 'Carter'.

Francis wouldn't like being told to 'drop it'. Especially with no reason given. Maybe it would start a fight. They'd been fighting more lately. It didn't matter. What mattered was the secret. And that it stayed where she had buried it.

Charlotte was pulled out of her memory by the chime of an incoming data packet. The CSA had found the Falcon-3.

Adam was lying in his bed, later that same evening. The nausea mercifully passed for another day. Kat hadn't been able to visit him in a few days, she spent most of her waking hours in the lab, trying to help him. Tweaking the Halcyon or studying the BB, or just trying to uncover more secrets about Typhon physiology. Which was great, except his cock had been rock hard for days now. He had hoped one of the girls would notice and offer to take care of it for him, Kat's advice be damned, but even that hadn't happened. He barely even saw either Sam or Cindi and when he did most of the time they were together, not ideal for his purposes.

Tomorrow he would have to talk to them. See if they couldn't resolve this. Find a way for all of them to be together or take turns, or ....he was an idiot. More than likely they were going to laugh in his face or cry. Sam would probably punch him, too.There was a gentle knock at the door. "Adam? You up?" Came Cindi's whisper.

Adam sighed, or maybe he could ruin this tonight. No way he could resist his sexy little sister in his current condition. Being alone with her, now, like this, it was a recipe for disaster. Swallowing his frustration, Adam didn't answer, he just checked to make certain his door was sealed. Satisfied (and very much not satisfied), Adam stared at the ceiling, hoping he'd fall asleep in a few hours. The traitorous door slid open without his consent. Great. Cindi hacked his door. Why couldn't she be this diligent when it came to cleaning up the mess area? The girl was a fucking slob. Adam sat up and noticed two things. First, Cindi was looking at him in a very suggestive way, and second, she wasn't alone.

Sam was holding Cindi's hand with an equally lustful expression, but that wasn't even the strangest part. It looked like she'd put on some of Cindi's clothes. Skintight shorts and a crop top weren't something he'd thought he'd ever see on her, but DAMN could she pull it off. Adam opened his mouth to speak, but Cindi cut him off. She put a finger up to his lips and shook her head, before pressing him back into the mattress. Okaaaaay. Maybe they wanted to talk first. Only they didn't talk.

Instead, both girls knelt on the mattress in by his feet and pulled each other into a gentle, but passionate kiss. Hands gripping each other's asses, breasts pressed gently together, they were teasing each other as much as him. Sam darted her tongue into Cindi's mouth, only for Cindi to nip at Sam's lip. Which made Sam gently pull her cousin's hair, and on and on it went, until their tops started coming off. Four perfect breasts, Cindi's enormous, Sam's a more lovely medium greeted him. Adam thought he might be in heaven. He was terrified to speak, to move, anything could break the spell of lust that was unfolding before him.

Only, the girls weren't done. Still silent, their lips puffy and red from their makeout session, Cindi pulled Adam upright, while Sam gently eased Adam free of his pants. His cock sprung gratefully into her face to land on her forehead. Sam smiled, eyes dancing with excitement. Adam didn't know what they had planned, but he thought he was going to love it. Without even losing a beat, Sam grabbed his shaft and dragged his cock into her mouth, swallowing the whole head in one go. She worked her tongue over the sensitive crown, sucking and tugging at the base. Cindi, meanwhile was content to lick and bite at the skin of his shaft, while staring up at him, love shining bright in her eyes.

"We have been working on sharing, but its soooo hard, Adam." Cindi stooped sucking long enough to talk. "Maybe you could help us practice?"

Adam was so lost in sensation he almost didn't hear her at first. Was she serious? Had he stumbled ass backwards into every man's dream? Maybe the universe was finally paying him back for that shit run of luck he'd been having.

"Does that feel good, brother?"

"Yes!" Adam cried. "God. You're amazing"

Cindi took her cousin's place, licking and suckling at the head, working Adam's fat cock into her the back of her mouth. Adam nearly lost it when Sam started to cup his balls and worship him. Maybe he deserved this.

You do deserve this.

"You're so big, cousin." Sam purred. "I can't believe this whole thing fits inside me."

Adam groaned. He fought to keep his orgasm down. He didn't want to be a one pump chump on their first time all together.

"Have you been good, cousin?"

"Yeeeeeeeees." Adam moaned.

A flash of pain and teeth. Adam yelped. They bit him! Both of them. Hard enough to leave marks. Damn, that hurt.

"No. I think you've been bad." Sam's tone, made it clear what she wanted to hear.

"I've been so bad." Adam corrected himself. "So very bad."

They started kissing around his cock now, dragging their lips and tongues from base to tip, only to give each other a quick kiss at the top. It was the most erotic thing, Adam had ever seen. Just when Adam felt like he could take no more; his cock engorged and trembling, ready to bless them with his load, they stopped.

"You were playing with two girls at the same time." Cindi pouted before gently kissing the crown of his cock. "People get hurt like that big bro."

"I'm sorry." Adam said. He was. He really, really was. But couldn't they let him cum before they figured this out?

"I'm so glad to hear that." Sam said, giving him a lick from base to tip. "You care about our feelings, right, Adam?"

"So so much." Adam gasped. And it was true. But it was their lips and tongues he wanted right now. Wrapped around his shafted and pumping like no tomorrow. When would they get back to that?

"And you wouldn't want to hurt us." Cindi spoke up, gently pumping him with one hand.

"Never!" Adam meant that too. Only he really, really, really needed them to get him off.

"Okay." Cindi said, standing up. "I believe him, and I accept his apology."

"Me too." Sam replied as she pushed to her feet and away from Adam's aching cock. Adam stared at them both, flabbergasted.

"What!"

"Like you just said Adam, you hurt our feelings." Sam explained. "WE learned to share. But you haven't made it up to either of us, yet. I like poetry."

"Flowers." Cindi suggested. "Chocolates?"

"Some nice dates." Sam agreed.

"After that, we can revisit, this whole sharing thing." Cindi led their cousin away, still topless, hips popping with every step. "For now, Sam's gonna keep me company. It gets so cold in my quarters."

"She's always sleeping in the buff." Sam shot Adam a shit eating grin, then gave Cindi a peck on the cheek and a slap on the ass.

Cindi jumped and looked at Sam, incredulous. Sam just shrugged and dragged her out the door. Leaving Adam alone with a painful case of blue balls and the most confused he'd ever been in his whole life.

What

The

Fuck

Outside Adam's quarter's Cindi finally let what happened hit her, and she flushed deep crimson even as she hopped from foot to foot in excitement. "It worked, it worked. I can't believe it worked! Did you see his face?"

Sam had that look on her face again. Those dark eyes were simply devouring her. Cindi felt her nipples harden in the cool air, her lips, still wet from Sam's saliva, suddenly started to tingle. Sam traced a hand down Cindi's cheek. Her heart felt like it was tap dancing. She swallowed nervously.

"You were uh, good in there Sam." Cindi offered lamely. This had all been part of their master plan. To pay Adam back for what he'd done to them. Only, Sam had gone off script at the end. And whatever this was...

"You too, Cinderella. Really good." Sam gently tucked a stray lock of hair behind Cindi's ear, fingers just lightly brushing her skin. Cindi's pressed into her cousin's touch, back arching, breasts heaving. She shuddered.

"Adams not here." Cindi whispered.

"Shhhhh. Let's not ruin the moment, by talking about stupid boys." Sam was so close Cindi could feel their nipples touching ever so lightly. It sent shocks of desire straight to her core.

"Uh uh um." Cindi babbled. "W-What do you mean?"

"Well I've been thinking, I already got one cousin, why not complete the set?" Sam slid one strong hand up Cindi's bare back, teasing her sweat drenched skin, until it came to rest cupping her neck. Gentle, but dominant. Sam dragged Cindi close enough that she could sniff her hair, breathing her scent in with deep full breaths before pulling back to stare at her hotly; mouth perched in a smug grin, eyebrow cocked as ever.

Cindi's pushed her gaping mouth closed. "You can't mean." But she did. Obviously. Cindi had let Sam flirt and eye fuck her for days now. It was a little late to pretend she hadn't noticed. Or hadn't enjoyed it. "I mean- what we just did.... I'm not a.... that was just to tease Adam. We're not really gonna... together ... or or or without him? Right?"

"Relax beautiful. I'll go slow." And with that Sam kissed her full on the lips. Mouth gently meeting her own, so oddly soft, yet Sam-like in its persistence. When her cousin probed with her tongue, Cindi's mouth shot open to accept it gladly, dancing furiously as she moaned in pleasure. Cindi wasn't sure when she started clutching Sam's waist, only that it felt so right. It was like kissing Adam. But different. But in a good way. By the time it was over, Cindi's head was spinning. Even Sam looked a little taken aback, she still had that cocky smile though.

Without a word, Sam gently kissed her on the nose and strutted away. Cindi felt her eyes drawn like magnets to that magnificent ass, popping to each side as her hips rolled.

"Don't you know it's rude to stare?" Sam called back.

Cindi blushed like fire, but she didn't stop looking either.

In the inky black depths of space, straddling the invisible line that separated Confederation from the Gagarin Republic the **** Cruiser Kalais, waited in silence. It's crew was sworn to the highest levels of secrecy, its mission unsanctioned on any level, blacker than black. Even the big K herself was merely a ghost, her hull laid down in secret, armed at a private dockyard far outside Confederate territory. All of this secrecy, all of this caution for one man.

Contre-Amiral Jintao van der Byl, was not that man. The Amiral was a sharp eyed man, just past middle age, with more grey than black in his hair; his smooth face, at war with the severity of his gaze as he reviewed incoming data packets. his was the duty of conscience. The burden of decision. He was the only officer in the entire Marine Nationale that answered to no one. Not even the Secrétaire Général knew of more than their existence. They predated him, and his predecessor, and they'd likely outlast him too, because more than any other task ****, they were the sword that kept the peace. The only question was, where to swing that sword, and when.

"Wake him up." Amiral van der Byl commanded. And with those words, the wheels of peace began to turn, marching to the drums of war.

Ten decks below, in the heart of the ship, surrounded by walls of computers and a handful of monitoring doctors, the man two thousand people lived and toiled for waited in a frozen cocoon. He wasn't officially dead, though his heart didn't beat, nor did his lungs breath. He had been in stasis for decades, woken and put to sleep again and again, always waiting for a great enough need to justify his use. The Amiral's voice was easily heard over the gentle mechanical whir.

"At approximately 1400 hours, Galactic Standard Time, we received intelligence, judged to be credible, that the Armistice between the Sol Alliance and the Human Confederation, has been broken. Specifically, article 5, subsection 19; writ 'the cloning, genetic modification or replication technology is expressly forbidden in all forms. Pursuant to this violation, I, Contre-Amiral Jintao van der Byl by the authority of the Secrétaire Général and the human citizens of the Confederation, do enact protocol 001." The Amiral's tone became a micron warmer. "Wake up our boy. It's time to get to work."

The gentle hum, became a high pitched buzz as the familiar 'defrosting' procedure took place. Cryofluid drained away, and the body temperature was raised to survivable levels. Within seconds the the embedded pacemaker within the man restarted his heart and his lungs took their first breath of air in years. Moments later the mans dark brown eyes shot open and he bolted upright. The doctors and support staff left the room, before anyone spoke, SOP was a small information circle on the Kalais.

"Good morning, Quarterback." The Amiral greeted him."

"Mornin', Control." The man answered. "I take it the galaxy is completely at peace and you woke me up to sing Kumbaya?"

"We have an article 5 violation."

"Venix?" The Quarterback rocked to his feet, an almost inhuman level of grace in his movements.

"They've overstepped badly this time."

"ROE?" QB1 wasn't a large man, but his long limbs were rippling with lean muscle.

"Eliminating Crisis Team is priority one. Concealment is secondary. I want this finished. Sending additional target package now."

A whirl of information flooded a nearby console. Amiral van der Byl gave him the highlights. "An Alliance base was attacked by Crisis Team recently, nearly destroyed. One of our informants there shared this with us. A grainy video of five black armored soldiers laid waste to a camp, one of them stopped to inject himself mid battle.

"We have some unfinished business." Quarterback noted.

"There's more." A tall young man with a huge frame spread over the screen. "This is Adam Carter. We believe he's a former Venix operative who may have turned. He is using unknown serum variant as well. He's wanted by the Alliance and the Cooperative. We prefer him to be taken alive for interrogation before disposal. He may be traveling with others." A trio of women popped up, all pretty, all similar.

"Sisters?" QB1 asked.

"Sister, Aunt and cousin." van der Byl replied.

"Good genes."

"Probably the best money can buy." van der Byl agreed. "We've had more Typhon reports in the last three years, the previous twenty combined. Something is coming, Quarterback. I need this off my plate. Destroy the Adonis Project and anyone involved. I need it done yesterday."

"One of your 'bad feelings'?" QB1 asked as he studied the kill targets. Familiar names like Murphy and Kovacs, followed by a handful of others he had never seen before.

" Something tells me we don't have a lot of time."