Path of the Hunters [PART 5] (NSFW)

He smirked. "Greenhorn, my ass. A greenhorn woulda went stormin' off, in a fit. And in case you ain't noticed, we still fuckin'." Sure enough, his hands were still gripping Sunny's hips, everything still locked in place.

"Your funeral. Stewart has a fondness for the idiots that screw in the elevators. I should know, I helped design the deterent systems for them. Zero-G pinball ain't all they can do..."

Sunny's eyes rolled and she nibbled idly on his shoulder. The first couple of shakes had been entertaining, but they wouldn't get very far being bounced around like crazy. "Hm..."

*

Trip smiled, falling asleep soon after her.

*

She frowned. "Yes, I know the tales."

Another tech laughed, "You folk ain't the only ones that can shrug that stuff off, those ODSTs seem to liken it to screwing in an HEV and find it entertaining as hell, so we the Commander had us install things like tasers, heating coils, vents that led directly to space for rapid atmosphere evacuation, extreme durability and allowed the safeties to be removed rapid bursts of high speed..." He chuckled, trailing off, "The clean-up crew don't like cleaning up messes of that kind, and they have a bit of leverage with the Commander...something about their leader discovering one of the Commander's best-kept secrets..."

Briggs sighed, bringing the both of them to their feet. "Y'know, I tried to deny it, but that last bit was it. You humans are fuckin' psychos. Now, what's this about a secret?"

*

The hedgehog's dreams weren't outlandish, anymore. Just normal kid dreams of friendship. And she wouldn't have it any other way.

*

"However, do you know that he gave birth to a Baudoin child?"

Sunny's eyes rolled. It was just another reason for her to want to get the hell out of there.

*

Trip didn't dream at all, blissful.

*

"Pardon?"

"Hey, we're just doing our jobs, though we may have gone overboard..."

"Dude, even the ODSTs avoid screwing in the elevators now, I'd say it was worth it."

"True, those guys are the truly insane folk."

Both chuckled. The first turned to Briggs, shrugging, "The secret is what it is, a secret. Everyone knows about the secret, but they don't know just what it is. The few that do know are burried under what we assume to be a mountain of threats, so they keep their mouths shut. The most we know is that whatever it is, it ain't pretty and it has something to do with the reason why the Commander despises ONI so much as to give a capture or kill order."

Oh, it's that secret. Wait'll they find out that's been taken care of. Briggs scoffed, picking up their clothes, pulled his pants back up. "Y'know what? I don't even care. I just wanna get the fuck outta here."

*

"This was before Teufel received the blade, so it is often overlooked. He laid with a Baudoin woman out of wedlock, a different one than the infamous 'infertile' one. She died shortly after childbirth, the baby left to rot in some orphanage."

"Oh, you guys mean that secret." Sunny smirked. "Yeah, we already know it."

*

"Are you certain?"

"And we'll leave it at that." He handed, Sunny her shirt back, slipped his own back on. "Tell your commander to hurry the hell up, so we can go home."

*

"That child was my great grandmother, so yes, I am certain."

"Seriously..."

*

The blade in her hand clattered to the ground. "You are a descendant of Tuefel?"

"Damn girl, tell us! Pretty much everyone here is curi-what the hell?" He stopped, looking up at the large holographic screen showing Katherine looking no different than she did when she was an AI standing next to Damien, who was sporting a nervous grin.

"Hey everyone, this is a bit of an all-call from me. I'm certain you people are wondering who this real-life version of a very familiar AI is. Well, I'd like to formaly introduce...well, re-introduce, Katherine... Katherine Jackson."

The sound of a pin dropping would have rivaled an atomic explosion in the dead silence of the hanger...and the rest of Shadow Squad...

She smirked, obvious seeing the looks of outright shock and confusion of the bridge personel. "Yeah that's right boys and girls, it's me, Damien's personal AI. 'Cept I wasn't always an AI. Why I'm here now is thanks to some rather good friends of ours that'll be profiting from a tremendous discount of all services rendered in the future."

The two techs glanced over to Briggs and Sunny before looking back at the screen.

"Yeah, guess it's time to let it out. Back when I was just your standard-issue ODST sniper on leave with my newlywed wife."

"Don't ask, you're not getting details." She interuped with a smirk.

He blushed slightly, shaking his head, "Anyways, back then, ONI paid a visit and 'convinced' me to participate in their newest super-freak project. Naturally, I agreed, I shouldn't have been surprised when several years later, she popped up in my life as an AI. You people know the rest, and now you know why I hate ONI. No, I'm not going into details, no, we're not going to discuss how realistic her body is, no, you aren't allow to fantasize either. Thank you and good day."

The screen cut off.

Sunny lifted a brow. "Like they ain't gonna fantasize anyway." She hit the down arrow. "Now that that's over, let's get the hell out of here."

"Sounds good to me."

*

"Surprised? However, the child did not gain the powers Teufel had, nor did its later generations. However, since I am the only one with knowledge of this-not even the blade knows-nobody pays it any heed.

"But I digress. This is about you. I never liked the Laroche/Baudoin rivalry, however, family issues forced me into it. I always knew there would be a revolution, where all of that would change. I never thought it would occur in my time."

It only took the two half an hour to make their way back to the phantom, the Sangheli were gone, though, having left due their lack use.

"Anyways, that's one less secret I have to worry about keeping...shall we head back to base?" asked Damien.

"Fuck. Yes."

*

Her eyes narrowed. "Good. Then it may be that much easier for the Laroche elders to stop fighting." Hopefully, Nova and the others were doing all right...

"Hell yeah!" Elesis shouted. "Finally!"

"Settle down, Elesis," Sol mused. "Chances are Crescent's not back yet, anyway."

"Yeah, I kno-What's that supposed to mean!?"

*

For the others, It was somewhat tough. The Laroche Elders were much better guarded, much more prepared for an attack. With a Teufel to each team, the odds were evened, and they were on their way to the rendezvous.

Nova looked up to the sky, Lady Constance shouldered unconscious on him. He sighed heavily. "Aurélie, please be careful..."

Both of them laughed at her.

"You're not helping your situation, girl." Stated Katherine.

"Indeed."

The phantom sealed up and left the docking back of the Redemption. Took them another 45 minutes of uneventful space flight and a bumpy re-entriy to arrive back at the base. Damien and Katherine left rather quickly for obvious reasons...

Elesis quickly stalked off the ship as well. She hoped she could see Comet soon, and get Crescent out of her mind.

Cross chuckled. "I have to admit, in all the years I've known her, I've never seen Elesis so wound up."

"Kinda reminds you of you, huh?" Sol mused.

Mani laughed. "Well, maybe if you guys didn't tease her so much."

"Real world, Mani," Briggs said. "Can't hack it, you're better off dead. Besides, she brought it up. Ya think we wouldn't play on that?"

Sunny snickered. "Come on, Briggs. Fuck elevators. Let's just see how long you can hold out."

The hedgecat was in the craft before Cross even had the chance to step out, her mouth fused with his, her fingers busying themselves with shedding hid clothes.

"Well... Hey, Star." She waved, mouth still on Cross's.

*

Aurélie looked around, walking into the small apartment. No Laroches were in the building, luckily. They'd definitely come at a good week. "Sit," she mused, gesturing for seats.

Sol chuckled. "Guess we got kid duty tonight, huh?" Cross gave him a thumbs-up, mouth not leaving Star's

Mani laughed. "Come on, Sol. It will be good to spend some time with our family." She led the two of them off the craft.

Briggs looked at Sunny, grinned. "Yeah. We can pull the elevator stunt at home."

*

Lord Geoff did as he was told, sitting casually.

It infuriated Camille. This was not the man that took her body on a regular basis. "You may have Aurélie fooled," she said darkly. "But I know the truth. You opportunist bastard!"

He stared bored at her. "...My dear lady. If you kill me, you lose quite a bit of leverage in ending this feud."

She growled, stalked away.

"My thoughts exactly." Sunny grinned. "Geez, Star, not even gonna let him off the ship?"

The hedgecat broke the kiss to move her mouth to Cross's neck. His pants were already undone and she was half a second from letting them fall. "No, I'm not. Go away."

*

Aurélie followed her, wary. "Camille... This does not excuse him for what he has done to you or any other woman. But we cannot kill him." She sighed. "Consider yourself free from him, though."

The ship tilted, causing the two, and anyone else unfortunate enough to be on it, to slide right off onto the pad. It leveled out, and one could see a Sangheli pilot scowling from the cockpit doorway. "No." The ship sealed up and flew off.

The hedgecat meowed, disgruntled, then hopped back onto the echidna. Sunny rolled her eyes. "They don't like public sex here any more than back home, idiot."

She nuzzled Cross, vaguely listening. She didn't want to go anywhere. She wanted her husband and the thought of 'husband' made her kiss him again.

Briggs smirked, shaking his head. "Damn, I saw that comin'."

Cross laughed, getting to his feet, cradling Star in his arms. "Yeah, I heard you two got into a mess similar."

"Yeah, these guys're very picky about that shit."

"Oh, well. The barracks it is. C'mon, Star." Hedgecat in arms, he walked off for the barracks.

*

"This isn't about me," she said, panting. "It's about all the lives he's sacrificed for his own gain, while he sits back taking notes. Everyone knows that Geoff's true weapon is not a battle skill, but his silver tongue. To this day, I don't think he's said a single true thing, unless it was about sex."