Author's note The scene right at the start here between Kasa and Maximus. Pretend you read it back in chapter 13, that's where it is chronologically. The reason for it's odd placement is it was actually the start of the scrapped 13.5, that I started writing and hit a brick wall on and finally gave up because it really didn't offer anything to the story. I was just going to scrap it all, until I began writing the final sequence of this chapter, when I realized that I had to set things up at least a little. In retrospect adding it in wasn't as important as I had thought, but, I still like it because it gives some further insights in to the characters that would have otherwise been lost. When I revise it. (after finishing it) this sequence will be in it's proper place in the story. Oh, also.. >.> OH has finally his 'novel' status. I finally broke 50K words! **Edit because the author was an idiot and set this as an independent story** /Author's note.

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"Make yourself comfortable." Kasa said as she walked in to her apartment, hanging her rifle on the gun rack by the door. "I'll get you patched up best I can if you get me a moment." Maximus didn't know what to make of her apartment. A single small room, the only furniture a bed, a work table, and a chair for said work table. And, of course, the gun rack by the door, which held more guns than any one person should rightly own, some of them Maximus didn't even recognize. The only part of the room that wasn't in perfect order, was the work table. Which had a dismantled gun sitting on it. "I take it you like guns a bit?" Maximus chuckled, sitting at the table. "And you needn't worry yourself over my wounds, they're nothing serious." "The smell of blood and burnt fur begs to differ." Kasa said, pulling things out of a cabinet. "And what ever would make you think I like guns?" "Well, I highly doubt any ordinary soldier would be issued that many firearms on a non-combat post." Maximus said. "Besides which, several of those are illegal." "True, you caught me." Kasa said, setting about cleaning and dressing his wounds, and stitching up the cuts in the artificial fur covering his cybernetic limbs. "I've always loved guns. Studied them from a very young age. That's why I trained to be a sniper. Gave me a great chance to train with various firearms, and, all snipers are required to be able to do repairs on their gun in the field so I got to learn how to fix them, too." "Training, repairing firearms, studying bioengineering and, apparently learning first aid.." Maximus said. "What do you do for fun?" "Firing range." Kasa smiled. "And a lot of snipers take field first aid too. Usually we're dropped off for a mission in pairs. A sniper and a spotter, a fast light weight close range fighter, their job is to make sure nothing sneaks up on us while we're looking at something a couple kilometers away." "Besides," Maximus replied, chuckling. "The better you know how to heal a person, the better you know how to hurt them." "That, too." Kasa nodded. "Though you seem pretty hard to hurt. Just how much of your body has been replaced?" "Far too much." Maximus said, shrugging. "An arm, a leg and a half, my rib cage, my heart, both lungs, one eye, my jaw... the list goes on." "That's all from the arena?" "Yep, every last one of them." "Not to sound cold," Kasa said. "But why put so much money in to keeping you alive?" "I was a favorite of the crowds." Maximus said. "It's simple. As long as the crowds like a gladiator, the owner will continue to do everything in their power to keep that gladiator in the fight. When the crowd stops liking them, the owner stops putting so much money in to them. "I was just lucky enough to be sold before I had another incident that would require a large sum of money to keep me alive." ".. Do the owners really make that much money off the fights?" Kasa asked. "The fights?" Maximus replied. "Sometimes. An owner makes ten percent of what anyone bets on their gladiator. Plus most major events have a victors pot. The real money for an owner though, comes from two places. Marketing and .. well prostitution." "... Prostitution?" "I've never understood the mentality, myself." Maximus said. "But some people seem very fond of having sex with gladiators." "Bet you were popular in that department." Kasa said with a grin. "Not really, no." Maximus shook his head. "Oh, how so?" Kasa asked, casually sliding in to his lap. "Big, strong, hansom. A lot of girls would pay quite the sum for a man of your stature." "One might think." Maximus said, purring. "But I think you might be judging the goods sight unseen, as it were." "Am I now?" Kasa grinned, idly toying with the button on his pants. "You do know it's not the size of the gun, but the skill of the wielder." "I never have been too good with guns." Maximus laughed as he slid out of the chair, keeping a hold on Kasa to keep her from falling, and then pinning her to the floor. From there he began to lick her neck, his rough tongue sliding through her fur and over the tender skin beneath, eliciting a shiver. "Now, should you like to test my skill with a sword...." "I don't doubt your skill." Kasa grinned, wriggling under him. "A demonstration would be most welcome though." "'twould be my pleasure." Maximus purred sitting up briefly looking down at her, a crooked smile crossing his face. "Though, there's a slightly more pressing concern at the moment. Your uniform." "Oh.. yeah.." Kasa started giggling and slid out from under him so as to stand up. "I forgot these can be a bitch to remove." Removing her uniform took Kasa all of about thirty seconds, she could have prolonged it, but it really wasn't much designed for a striptease. Maximus watched her intently, it would have taken him at least ten times as long to figure it out, and it reminded him of the puzzles his ward, Toel, was so fond of. "Better?" Kasa asked, standing before him clad in nothing but a pair of dull black underclothes, a sharp contrast to her pristinely groomed shining black coat. Maximus could not deny she was one of the most beautiful wolves he'd even seen, in many ways she reminded him of a panther. She was in pristine physical condition as well, somewhat slender but extremely well toned. The only physical faults one could give her would be being slightly small of breast, which suited Maximus fine, and her tail had been broken once, which added character. "Muchly so." Maximus replied, rising to take her in to his arms, caressing her back, letting his hands drift steadily lower. A deep purr rumbled in his chest as she began running her dulled claws over his back, trailing through his fur and over a network of sensitive scar tissue. "Mm. Now seems to me, you were going to give me a swordsmanship demonstration." Kasa said, playfully licking his chin. "Yes, yes I was." Maximus replied, pushing her on to the bed to kneel over her with a crooked smile. "It's been a while though, so I may be a little rusty." "So that's metal, too?" Kasa asked, giving his crotch a squeeze before undoing his trousers. "I'll let you figure that out for yourself." * * * Movement in the room brought Tiera to a state of full awareness, just Loki getting dressed. She'd been given the choice between Loki's couch or the Medbay, and at this moment she was regretting choosing the couch, five foot couch and seven foot wolf don't exactly mesh well. "'mornin'." Tiera mumbled, cracking her neck as she stood. "Good morning." Loki said, sounding far too chipper. "Sorry if I woke you, I was trying to be quiet.. you seemed to be having such a nice dream." "It's fine." Tiera said, blushing slightly, although her fur hid most of it. She reached down to pick up her discarded uniform and sniff it. ".. Good for another day." "You can borrow a dress again, if you like." Loki said, stepping out of the closet to put her dress of choice on. "Mrf. I prefer my armored uniform." Tiera said, cocking her head to one side and chuckling slightly. "That would explain your scent.." "What?" Loki said, then noticed where Tiera was looking. "Yeah, it would. What did you think? That I just spent so much time fucking that the scent was permanently on me?" "I didn't really think much of it." Tiera said. "But I kinda did." "Honestly, I wish that were the case." Loki said with a laugh. "It'd be easier to deal with than being a herm, and to be honest... I don't get nearly enough action." "I find that surprising." Tiera said. "What with four men on board. Does the fact that you have a dick scare them away that much?" "Not at all." Loki said. "Most of them actually prefer dicks. Well, Odin does. Frekki swings either way and Gerri actually has a female preference, but they prefer each other over anyone else. Thor ... Thor just doesn't fuck." "I took Frekki and Gerri to be brothers." Tiera said. "They are." Loki said, nodding. "So, you sure you don't want to borrow a dress. Can get your uniform washed for you.. Besides, you look nice in a dress. Bet Nathan would think so, too." "I s'pose." Tiera said. "Just until my uniform is clean." "Tricky part will be finding another that fits you." Loki said, rummaging through her closet. "Why exactly do you have so many dresses?" Tiera asked. "And in so many different sizes, no less?" "I like them." Loki said. "Something wrong with that?" "Not really." Tiera said. "I suppose we all have our strangenesses." "This one should do." Loki said tossing a vibrant purple dress to Tiera. "It'll work." Tiera said, slipping it on. This one was sleeveless, rather light weight and not overly revealing. Tiera actually rather liked it, not that she would admit such a thing. "Do you know where Nathan is?" "Want to see what he thinks of you in a dress, hmm?" Loki chided. "Valkyrie, where is the human on board?" "Nathan is currently in the weapons locker." The ship replied. "That's not it at all." Tiera said, blushing. "But thanks." "Any time." Loki said with a grin. "And remember, if Nathan shoots you down, I'm here for you." "I'll keep that in mind." Tiera said, heading out of the room. Her mind wandering as she traveled the silent halls of the ship. Trying to think of what to say to Nathan, and how to say it, but her mind kept wandering back to simply wondering if he'd like the way she looked in a dress. On reaching the weapons locker, she stood there for a moment just staring at the door. Years of training to be cool in the face of danger, to not hesitate against even the most insurmountable odds. All worthless in her current situation. Pushing past her nerves, she opened the door and was met with an explosion of sound. It took her a moment to realize that nothing was wrong, it was just music. Supposedly, at least, Tiera wasn't sure she could hear the appeal in this. As she walked in though, the music lowered in volume. "Nathan, you have a visitor." The ship said, catching Tiera slightly off guard. At first she couldn't figure out where Nathan was, or what he would be doing in here, then he slid out from under the large land vehicle in the center of the room. He presently lacked a shirt, and had a bandanna holding his hair out of the way. His hands and arms were greasy, and his knuckles banged up. He looked at her with his typical crooked smile and she couldn't explain why, but for some reason at this moment she found him more attractive than she had at any other point. "Hi, Tiera." Nathan said, looking around briefly. "If I'd known you were coming I'd have cleaned up." "It's fine." She replied. "I think the look suits you well. Though... what are you doing?" "Trying to secure passage to Earth." Nathan said. "How?" "By fixing this beast." Nathan said, kicking the vehicle. "It's in pretty bad shape, and has had so many jerry rigged fixes on it, I'm surprised it's even in one piece." "... I don't even know where to begin." Tiera said. "It still makes no sense." "You're right, it doesn't." Nathan said with a laugh. "I expressed that I could fix it. Odin said that if I could do it within twenty four hours, he'd provide passage to Earth." "Okay. I suppose that part makes sense." Tiera said. "But that still leaves more questions. Like how did you know it needed to be fixed. How can you be sure you can fix it, when it's technology is hundreds of years beyond anything you've worked with? And I suppose most importantly, how's it look so far?" "I can answer the first two questions at the same time," Nathan said, "I have always had a knack for machines. Since I was old enough to take the apart, even though I was never taught, never studied it, I was able to determine what made them work. I could tear them apart, and put them back together again, often working better than before. I only ever got better at it, too. I worked as a mechanic, I studied electronics... "As for how it's going. Like I said, this thing was obviously not taken care of by any proper military mechanics. It would honestly seem that if anyone can fix this bucket of bolts, it's going to be me." "That still doesn't answer the second question." "... It's like this. When I was six, my mom's blender broke, stopped working for no apparent reason. I'd never opened up a blender before, I had no clue how they worked... I didn't even have a user manual for it. I tore it apart, poked and prodded at it. When I put it back together about two hours later, it worked again. "The Crawler isn't all that different. Other than this time, I have a significant amount of education under my belt, and I have the tech manuals on it. Although it's also a hell of a lot fancier of a blender." "So you're sure you can fix it?" Tiera asked, giving him a funny look. "Well, I should be able to. As long as it doesn't need anything significant replaced." Nathan said, shrugging. "I think their primary issue was that this beast was a military vehicle, and I doubt it was legally obtained. It required both an access code, and voice authorization to start. No one on board had authorization to access it. "I was able to give the computer a hard reset. Wiping everything but the primary operating system from it. I now have access to the computer that controls it, unfortunately, it can't run a self diagnostic due to the amount of unconventional repairs. I've been going through and specifically testing each system on it, bypassing the computers normal diagnostics and just making it tell me if it works or not." "You haven't slept yet, have you?" Tiera asked. "I've got less than eighteen hours to get a pretty much alien vehicle running." Nathan replied. "Sleep is a luxury I can't afford right now. But, I'm pretty used to that." "I should probably let you get back to work then." Tiera said, right now looking for an excuse to leave. "If you must." Nathan said and grinned. "One question though. What's with the dress?" "Er. The dress?" Tiera said, and just shook her head. "Nothing. Uniform was dirty, didn't have anything to wear." "Concerned about nudity all the sudden?" "Not really, no." Tiera said and the sighed. "I'm wearing it for you, I guess. I wanted to see what you would think of it." "For me?" Nathan chuckled, blushing slightly. "While it looks good on you, I prefer your uniform. But, I've never been a big fan of dresses." "Neither have I." Tiera replied. "You really like the uniform better?" "It suits you." Nathan said, nodding. "It's flexible enough to allow you to move, tight enough to show your tone and ability as you move. Besides, I've always had a bit of a weakness for uniforms. But, I know you didn't come down here just to ask me about a dress." "Well, I wanted to talk, but if you're busy and on time constraints we can talk later." "I have the time, Tiera." He assured her. "Work can always wait." "We can talk after you fix it." "No, that's a mistake I've made far too many times." Nathan said, shaking his head. "What'd you want to talk about?" "I've been thinking a lot about what you said yesterday." She said hesitantly, trying to decide if she really wanted to go through with this. "You were right on one thing Nathan, I do need to grow up." "Tiera, I wa-" Nathan began, but Tiera cut him off. "Let me finish. I realize now that I came on too strong and showed more interest in what you are than who. That's the way most of our society works. Love is rare. Relationships are usually short lived based on physical desires, or for reproduction. And all I have to go off of for your society is what I've read, which I now know isn't the best example. "While I cannot deny my advances have been spawned of physical desires, I do want more than just that. I just don't know how to show that." "You already have Tiera." Nathan said. "At least, to me. I've never met anyone who would go through everything you've done for me, simply on the hope of sex. I just couldn't see the forest through the trees, as they say, when I finally pulled my head out of my ass and really looked at everything you've done for me, I realized that." "I didn't really think of that at all." Tiera said, shaking her head. "You just needed help getting by in an entirely new world." "And you chose to help me." Nathan replied. "Even after it was made very clear, very early on that it wasn't going to be easy and there were gong to be people gunning for me. You've stuck by me despite multiple attacks, losing your job, me being an ass, and any number of other things. That indicates something more than just desiring a quick screw." "Well, at first... that was my motivation." "I'd be lying if I said I thought it was anything else." Nathan chuckled. "But I also do not believe that it is still your motivation." "A little, maybe." Tiera smiled. "But I think after all I've been through, I deserve more than a quick one." "I should say so." Nathan laughed. "That will have to wait until after this bucket of bolts is running though." "I'm going to hold you to that." She promised with a smile. "But I should let you get back to work." "Tiera.." Nathan began, placing his hand on her shoulder as she started to stand up. "Stay, I could use the company." "Sure. If you don't think I'll be a distraction." "Not at all." Nathan said before sliding back under the crawler. * * * Kilin's office was deathly silent. No one dared disturb him unless they had good news, which was in short supply right now. The human had manage to slip out of his grasp, and so far none of his men had found it yet. And to top it off, there was another reported death on the Jump Pad and the lion was still on the loose. A beep from his com broke his thoughts, alerting him of a call. He hit the receive button growling. "What?" "I am sorry for the interruption, Admiral." The speaker was a captain, he could tell by the uniform, and by the surroundings he was aboard a fighter, beyond that Kilin didn't know, or care, who it was. "We were able to locate the human, unfortunately the vessel that had him had us out gunned, and in a position where we had no means of taking him alive. The vessel is the Valkyrie, she is on a course that seems to be headed straight for the Jump Pad." "Captain," Kilin said. "Are you trying to tell me that your fighter was out gunned by a civilian vessel?" "Yes, sir." The captain said. "She's a pirate vessel, her weaponry array was impressive, and while we might have been able to defeat her in a direct fire fight, the odds of killing the human in the process were too high, and her crew could have easily taken mine if we tried a hostile boarding." "Understood." Kilin growled. "I suppose it was the best course of action." "Thank you for understanding, Admiral." The captain said. "Will there be anything else." "No." "Very well, Firestorm out." As soon as the call ended, the screen clicked right back on, this time it was The Doctor. "I want that man and his crew executed for such a failure!" "Sir, I understand how you feel. I am angered by his failure, too." Kilin said calmly. "But, in this case, it is best not to take any severe punishment against them, I believe. As long as their information pans out. Consider, if they had brought it to a dog fight, then the human could have easily been killed if the ship was damaged. "And a fighter crew is not outfitted for the hostile boarding of a pirate vessel. While commanding the Jump Pad, I lost a lot of ships to pirates, and most of them were lost because the pirates boarded." "Kilin." The Doctor hissed in annoyance. "You seem to be much softer than your reputation. Why do you seek to spare so many, our colonies are over populated as it is." "With all due respect Sir." Kilin said, still calm. "The PDD has been decreasing in popularity throughout the entire system, even within our own ranks. If it gets much worse it may lead to a civil war, which yes we would likely win, but we would lose decades of work, irreplaceable resources, and likely even some of our colonies. "Actions such as executing an entire crew because their captain made a tactical decision that was the best fit for both his orders, and his duty to his crew, will increase the negative view of the PDD." "Wise words, Kilin." The Doctor hissed. "I like you, you have more backbone than your predecessor. How then, do you recommend that we handle this situation?" "Put the Jump Pad on alert for the Valkyrie. Give them specific orders to let her land, settle in and go about her business. Likely she is stopping there with the plan of concealing the Human, and resupplying to head to her final destination. "Then lock the ship down and head a heavy assault force against them using nonlethal force to subdue and capture everyone on board. That way if the human is caught in the crossfire he's not killed. The crew of the ship can be given a proper trial for their crimes, and as per law, executed, and the human gets delivered to you." "I like it. But there is one matter of concern, I understand the human has friends on the Jump Pad?" "Yes, he does, as such all of the attack details will specifically be handled by those I know are loyal to me." "Very well, Kilin." The Doctor hissed. "There is one other matter that disturbs me." "I've lost another one of my contacts on the Jump Pad, he was one of my best and most loyal. He was instructed to kill the lion, Maximus. It wouldn't disturb me much, except for the fact that his death does not fit the lion's style, nor that of the snake that's still on the loose." "I will have my men look in to it." Kilin said. "They are looking for the lion now." "Very good." The Doctor hissed before the screen went black. Kilin growled, shaking his head. Still no good news. He then set about drafting the orders to send to Mayhem. * * * Mayhem stalked in to her apartment growling, after the body of Kurz was found it went to a station wide lock down. Anyone not on duty was to be in their quarters, and the Lion still hadn't been found. This angered her more than anything, she wanted her revenge. Her computer monitor indicated she had a message, she went to delete it, until she noticed it was urgent orders from Kilin. "The fuck does he want now?" She growled, opening the message. The human has been spotted. He is aboard the vessel known as the Valkyrie and en rout to the Jump Pad. Orders have already been issues to the stations command to allow her to dock and not search her. We have reason to believe that Tiera and Aerix are aboard this ship, too. As such we cannot risk any further information going to the general populace of the station, as they both have a lot of friends there. This is why these orders were only sent to you. You are to assemble a crew at least twenty strong, all of those loyal to me. After the Valkyrie has settled in, send two men to secure the control center of the hangar she is in. They are to lock the entire hangar down as well as seal the bay doors. You and the other eighteen are to lead a direct assault against the ship. Lethal force is authorized against anyone who challenges you. However, the human is not to be harmed. You are to make sure he survives this encounter and is taken alive. I know you are unhappy about this order, and know that I am too. However there are powers greater than me who wish this human to remain unharmed. As a warning, the Valkyrie is a heavily armed pirate vessel, expect heavy resistance on your assault. Don't do anything foolish Mayhem, I need you as my eyes and ears on the station. Also. I have heard of Kurz's death, and I am informed that it does not fit the profile of either of the fugitives we have on the station presently. Make certain this is investigated. A noteworthy possibility is that the person responsible may have a connection to the lion who is aiding the human, Kurz had been tasked with killing him. "Hah. The best news I've had all week." Mayhem laughed, taking a few minutes to choose her team and send them the orders. Then she began considering the possibilities for Kurz's killer. She really wasn't at all upset by Kurz's death, in fact no one on the station was. It would have been brushed off if not for the other recent attacks, as it were she doubted any investigation would be taken seriously. "We know he was killed by a Sniper." She mused to herself. "If the killer was associated with the lion... Who would he have an association with on the station?" She purred at this puzzle, and began to work, taking advantage of the security access Kilin had arranged for her. First finding the lion's boarding information. One Maximus Fireheart, employed by Ion Tech, a possible point of connection, but too slim to pursue yet. Next she searched for prior visits to the station, which turned up negative. Then a search for prior contact with the station, also negative. She hadn't expected it to be that easy, though she hoped. Then it hit her, Maximus was a fugitive on the station under a false accusation. A good bet would be someone who knows his innocence. She called up the details on the squad who had been attacked, and then filtered out those who didn't have sniper training, and then filtered out those who had died in the encounter. This left one name. Kasa Marmell. And as it happened, Kurz's death had occurred between Kasa's apartment, and the last location Maximus had been seen at. Mayhem purred to herself, grabbing her security key. It not only gave her access to any place on the station, with a few exceptions, but it also basically said she could do whatever the hell she wanted by orders of the Admiral himself. She put in a call to two friends in the security department and told them to suit up and meet her in the hallway outside Kasa's apartment. There was just one more thing she needed. She hadn't gotten to use it since her last surface mission. Her second favorite weapon, the BoltBracer, it was a double barreled twelve shot bolter, built on to a bracer. She purred, strapping it on her left arm as she meandered towards Kasa's apartment. She would get there ahead of the security, but she wanted to make sure it wasn't too long, she didn't want to get impatient, and she knew that just breaking down the door alone would be a bad idea. The lion was a formidable foe, and Kasa was an exceptional shot, both with rifle and pistol. She was one of the few who had less than a 5% hostage injury rate in exercises, which meant she was very good at shooting past an ally in to an enemy. She only had to wait about five minutes after reaching Kasa's apartment before the security crew arrived. They were clad in heavy riot gear, sans the riot shields, and both had their standard issue sidearm, as well as stunner swords. She filled them in on what she suspected. From there it was just a matter of stepping aside and opening the door for them. * * * Maximus was stretched out on Kasa's bed, idly going through the manual for one of her many guns, simply because he had nothing better to do. His gaze strayed to Kasa, sitting at her desk stark naked taking a test, predictably doing well. Maximus had been somewhat surprised to learn just how intelligent she was, despite her young age and demeanor. She reminded him of Toel in that way. Which that in of itself was slightly disturbing, the girl he had been screwing for the last two days, reminded of his ward. The lock down following the discovery of Kurz's body had actually been a good thing. It meant no one would come to see Kasa, which meant less chance of him being discovered. It also meant there were pretty much three things to do in the apartment, and all of them were things Maximus tended to enjoy. A beep from the door interrupted his thoughts. He instinctively reached for his sword as the door hissed open. His reactions were not quite feast enough though as a pair of security officers in riot gear stormed in, one quickly leveling it's rifle at Kasa, the other circling around to train it's aim on him. "Both of you, hands in the air." One of the officers commanded. "You are both under arrest and are to come peacefully." "Alright." Maximus said, raising his hands and shaking his head, idly wondering how he was found. "We don't want any trouble." "Oh, but I do." Mayhem purred, stalking in to the room. "Red, get his sword. Bryan, deal with the bitch. The pussy and I have some unfinished business." "Mayhem." Maximus growled, watching one of the two officers, Red he assumed, retrieve Excalibur. "I take it you didn't learn your lesson last time?" Mayhem just laughed and threw a right hook that connected with Maximus' jaw with the resounding clang of metal on metal. "Wait, that's seriously how you decide to start it?" Maximus laughed, casually backhanding Mayhem with his left arm, this time the impact was that of metal on flesh and sent Mayhem sprawling in to the other officer. Without a gun trained on her, Kasa reached under her desk, recovering a concealed pistol to train on Red, who presently had his rifle trained on Maximus. Maximus turned to Red with an evil grin, showing his metal fangs and stalked towards him. "Now, Red. You can get one shot off in the time it takes me to reach you to get my sword. If that shot doesn't kill me, you're a dead man." The intimidation worked, Red stood there frozen as Maximus reached for Excalibur. "Stop right there." Bryan commanded as Maximus gripped the hilt, he glanced over to see Bryan holding his gun to Kasa's head. "I don't want this to get messy, but I will kill her if you even try to draw that sword." Maximus nodded solemnly, shifting ever so slightly taking advantage of Bryan's reluctance to kill by making slow, seemingly harmless move without drawing Excalibur. "I am sorry you chose this rout Bryan. I didn't want to have to kill you." "You fail to see that I am in the stronger position here." Bryan growled. "Give yourself up. You cannot possibly hope to save her by agr-" A single swift move from Maximus cut Bryan off, he slid forward, extending his left hand while Excalibur faded from his right, only to appear in his left just in time to slide right through Bryan's helmet. Even as Bryan fell, Kasa leveled her pistol at Red, and in quick succession three pops sounded. Maximus wasn't precisely sure where any of them came from, however he was sure of the effects of two of them. One lodged a bolt straight through his right shoulder, the other struck Kasa from behind, causing her to collapse. The sound of an impact behind him indicated that the third had struck Red. "You need a lesson in humility, lion." Mayhem purred stalking towards him. "First I am going to beat you to the point that you cannot fight. Then you're going to watch while I slowly kill Kasa in the most disturbing manner I can come up with. Then I will turn my attention back to you, until you beg me for death." "Big talk." Maximus growled. "Bring it." Mayhem grinned, firing two un-aimed shots at Maximus while she charged towards him, obviously underestimating him. Maximus slid out of the way of the bolts, and casually brought his claws down to catch Mayhem's side as she charged. The howl of pain and spray of blood let him know he connected. "Fuck, you're quick." Mayhem hissed, backing away. Kasa's apartment was small, but she could stay out of his reach, if she was quick. She began dodging around the room, firing off shots from her bracer. Maximus tried to count the shots, though the speed they came made it hard to keep track of that, and blocking or avoiding them at the same time. By the time the bolts stopped coming, quite a few had grazed him, thankfully nothing more than that though. "Twelve shots." Maximus growled. "You're out." Mayhem growled quietly, eying Maximus, he was between her and the door right now. She charged, dodging to his right, obviously hoping to avoid his blade. Maximus sidestepped left, letting her get most of the way past before spinning around, bringing Excalibur down and cutting in to the floor, but not before finding it's mark. Mayhem howled in pain, stumbling forward, not quite aware what happened, until she looked behind her. "A little something to remember me by." Maximus growled, picking up the six inches of her tail he'd just removed. "Next time you hurt my friends, I will kill you." It wasn't a threat, it was a cold statement of fact. Mayhem whimpered, never had she met someone who was faster than her, stronger, and able to keep their calm so well. She did the only thing she could do, run, which right now she couldn't even do that well, losing part of her tail threw off her equilibrium. Maximus growled, reaching up to pull the bolt out of his shoulder before moving over to check on Kasa. There was a bolt in the back of her leg, it shouldn't have been enough to knock her out from pain or blood loss. Poison was his best guess. At least she was alive. He checked through several of her cabinets until he found a bag, which he stuffer her uniform, medical kit, rifle and a few spare clips in to. He then slung the bag over his right shoulder, ignoring the pain it caused, and picked Kasa up and draped her over his left. "First order of business, find someplace to hide." he mused to himself, figuring that a larger security detail would be here very soon.