Alina had started walking away, but quickly realized that Drake wasn’t following her. She turned around so see him just standing there, deep in thought.

“Drake!” She yelled at him.

Drake jumped from the sudden noise and looked at Alina who was just standing there. She waved for him to follow her so he picked up his stuff he had unknowingly dropped and went to catch up to her.

“What was going on with you?” Alina asked concerned.

“What do you mean?” He asked confused.

“You were in some kind of haze.” She pointed out to him.

Drake didn’t know what she was talking about. He was just thinking about her eye powers and then she suddenly yelled at him.

“I was just thinking about something.” He replied to her

“No.” Alina started.

“You completely zoned out. You had a thousand mile stare and didn’t even blink. Hell you didn’t even notice you dropped your gear!” She pointed out getting more concerned.

“I’m fine love.” Drake reassured her.

“Yes, tell her you're fine!” A voice whispered to Drake.

Drake looked around, wondering where the voice came from; which only led to more worry for Alina.

“Seriously, what’s wrong?” She asked Drake very worried now.

Drake just shook his head.

“Nothing… Just imagining things.” He replied.

But he was wondering what that was. It seriously confused him, and he knew he was causing Alina to worry. And worry was exactly what Alina was doing. She had caught on to and noticed Drakes change. She didn’t mind his dark personality, but he was always sure of himself in the past. Now he seems distracted and confused, and that change worried her. But she accepted it and if Drake said everything was fine, then she believed him.

“Hey Alina, Look at that!” Drake pointed while grabbing her hand.

Alina looked to where Drake was pointing, but only saw a tree.

“What’s so interesting about a tree? We are surrounded by them.” Alina responded confused.

“No not the tree, the Rabbit. Why would a white rabbit be in the forest like this? It only stands out like that.” Drake replied to her.

“Huh?” She muttered out as she looked again thinking she just missed the rabbit.

But in fact, there was nothing there; just the big tree that looked like every other tree.

“Aaawww it went back into its hole in the tree. Oh well.” Drake said and looked back at Alina.

“Ready to go then?” He asked her.

Now she was very worried for Drake. Nothing was there. There is no hole in the tree and there was no white rabbit. Even with her vision she couldn’t see the energy of any living animal where Drake was pointing to. She knew something was wrong with Drake, even if he said he was ok, he wasn’t. She wanted to tell him to get his head back together, but she wasn’t really sure how to tell him. He genuinely believes there was a rabbit there, so she figured she would let it go for now until she could figure out how to talk to him about this.

“Love?” Drake asked waving his hand in front of Alina.

She jumped back and quickly snapped back to reality.

“Hahahahaha, see; even you zone out in thought from time to time.” Drake said sarcastically.

“Wha?” Was all that Alina could muster out in her confusion.

“I asked if you are ready to go.” Drake repeated.

“Yah sure. Let’s go.” Alina said and they took off again.

From there the remaining two hour walk to base was uneventful. Nothing was really said or done until they finally reached the base. But thanks to their fight, along with the other shenanigans that happened, that group they ran into right after they landed beat them to the base. How they did baffled both Alina and Drake since they had a dead member and a cripple. None the less, they accepted it and went to check in. But before they even could, some of the members of the army raised their guns at the couple.

“Freeze!” One of them yelled.

“What for?” Drake asked nonchalantly.

“You assaulted that group over there, and we don’t take kindly to that.” The first one responded back to them.

“Hey guys, I’ll take care of this.” Another voice said from behind the army personnel.

“Hey guys, I’m Derek. Don’t worry about these guys, I have already spoken to Dr. King about this. You’re off the hook this time. But don’t let it happen again!” Derek told them as he walked in front of the crowd.

Derek is as tall as Drake, if not just a little taller, and just as dark as Will. However, his hair was a burnt orange color and unlike Will, he grew out his facial hair into an orange goatee. He carried an energy full of confidence and power, something that Will did as well but not to the degree that Derek does. And as for weapons, he is like a walking sword armory. He has four swords on his back, one on each side of his waist, and two on his lower back equaling eight in all and all of them are different shapes and sizes.

“And who are you to tell us what to do?” Drake challenged, now clearly annoyed with everyone.

“I’m the one in charge of all GenOpS for the main assault force.” Derek replied back calmly.

“But my intel on you guys is off. It says you have nine Cat Tails Drake and Alina has eight. But both of you have a Fox tail…” Derek said as he looked over some paperwork.

Both Alina and Drake looked back in shock to see they both had a Fox tail. But what was different is that both of their tails remained solid black and not the tan with a white tip like everyone else.

“When did that happen?” Drake asked Alina.

She just shrugged though. She had no clue either. She knew what could have caused her Fox tail to come in, but what caused Drakes? Unlike him, she actually had a development, or maybe his experience fighting the gold Ridge was still settling causing him to become more powerful. But neither really knew nor understood how or why it happened.

“Wait a second…” Derek said and walked over to Alina.

“Do you know if you were human in the past?” He asked her while looking over her.

“Why does it matter?” Drake asked aggressively.

“Whoa, chill there big boy, it’s a harmless question that has a point to it.” Derek explained

Alina grabbed Drakes arm to show she has no interest in Derek, in which he replied with a click of the tongue.

“Sweetheart, you’re hot, but n….” Derek started but Drake punched him.

The hit sent Derek flying, and caused the guards to go on the defensive again.

“Stand down” Derek replied to the guards as he sat up slowly.

“Damn son, you hit hard for a Fox tail.” Derek complemented Drake.

“But you’re not good enough to stand up to me.” Derek said now pissed off.

That’s when Drake saw his number of tails. Derek had three Fox tails, and the energy he gave off is one changed to that of a controlled blood thirst. Still Drake didn’t back down.

“You so much as look at her the wrong way and I’ll rip your head off your body and use it like a puppet!” Drake proclaimed and released his energy.

Not wanting to cause a scene, Derek backed down. Somehow, he knew that fighting with Drake would be a bad idea and would leave both of them seriously hurt. Not the greatest of ideas right before starting a war. So with that in mind, Derek lifted his arms to show no contest.

“I just wanted to know because she looks like someone I read about in the past. If she was in fact a human before she became a GenOpS then there is a very real possibility that she is who I think she is.” Derek explained

Alina looked at Drake. She had chance to learn who she was before she was turned into a GenOpS. It may not be her history, but it very well may be. Drake understood this from the look in her eyes, but still something bugged him.

“How can you be so sure? She has grown and matured since she became a GenOpS and looks different now.” Drake pointed out.

“That is very true, and I could very well have her confused with someone else. But looking at your age, and when you woke up in your personnel file the timings seem too close together to be coincidence. Now if you are lab created then that’s all it is, if not there is a very real chance.” Derek explained.

Again Alina looked at Drake, this time practically begging him to be ok with it. Drake simply shrugged and Alina nearly jumped for joy.

“I was a human before all of this. According to King, he picked me up almost eight years ago and I underwent two and a half years of genetic alterations.” Alina told Derek.

“Knowing that I’m pretty sure that you are the Vampire of Russia; a serial killer who drank the blood of her victims. In just a three month period, you killed and drank the blood of over twenty people, including your own family. What baffled the police was just how young you were, and your sudden disappearance. Even after having you in custody, you vanished into thin air.” Derek told her.

“Well that is if that really was you. King could answer that question, though he may not just because he won’t want to.” Derek finished

Both Alina and Drake were in shock. Alina… A serial killer? But to Alina it made some sense. When she wiped the blood off of Drake during the fight few days ago she had that uncontrollable urge to lick the blood off of her hands. If that’s a psychological issue not even the genetic alteration could change that would be even more proof that she was this ‘Vampire of Russia’.

“What do you think Alina?” Drake asked her.

“It makes sense. Remember when I licked the blood off my hands? That was an urge I couldn’t really resist. It may be a trait that stuck with me even after all the GenOpS changes.” Alina explained.

“Guess we will just have to ask King when we get back.” Drake stated.

Derek cleared his throat to get the couples attention.

“A few things. First, if you ever hit me again Drake I will put you down.” Derek started.

That sentence got Drake worked up.

“Try me!” Drake exclaimed with his devilish grin.

“I’m not here to fight you right now punk. We have a war to fight, which brings me to my second point. I know you two just got here and need rest, but I need you to head out already. You can leave your stuff here, and we have cammies for you to change into.” Derek returned with a confident and authoritative tone.

The news excited Alina and Drake.

“Well depending on what we need to do, we might just stay in our current cloths and stay comfortable.” Alina replied happily.

“I heard that Drake can snipe from over a mile away, I want to take advantage of that and have him try and pick off as many GenOpS as possible. But he will need to wait until I give you the ok so we can time it with everything else.” Derek explained.

“That’s bull! I want to be in the fighting, not sniping from a distance!” Drake protested vigorously.

“And you will. We just need you to locate and pick off some of the key leaders. Then you can rush down into the fighting before it starts.” Derek explained.

Drake sighed and gave it some thought.

“How far is the base from here?” Drake asked.

“About twenty miles north-northeast.” Derek replied pointing in a direction.

“We will give you a map of the area that you can study and find a good spot.” Derek finished

“Ugh. Fine.” Drake agreed unwillingly.

Drake then dropped the case holding his Mission Statement and started to unpack it.

“What is that?” Derek asked never seeing a rifle like it before.

“My sniper rifle. It’s a rail gun that can fire special slugs over ten miles if I wanted. But I don’t have the scope to pull that off. I can only see things about three miles away with this scope.” Drake replied showing Derek the different parts.

As Drake was unpacking and assembling his rifle, Derek looked over the gun. It was huge once he had everything out and lined up. It looked to be just over five feet long after everything gets connected; so it was longer than any other sniper rifle Derek had ever seen. It wasn’t very bulky either, in fact it was uniformly slim and rectangular throughout with the fattest parts being the stock, which housed the battery, and the scope. Everything was a solid matte black with a few different colored switches on the right side and a gloss black knob with white numbers one through twelve on the left side. As for the slugs, they came in a cylindrical housing and after being fired the housing broke off revealing a pointed projectile that had fins on the back to create its own stabilizing rotation based on how fast it travels.

“And with this I can see targets about five miles away and give him proper targeting.” Alina said showing Derek her spotter scope.

Derek was impressed. For their first mission, they had some very impressive gear.

“How did you guys get those things?” Derek asked curiously.

“Our trainer gave them to us after I aced the sniper test from over a mile away.” Drake replied while he locked the slug guide into place.

“I see. Well let me go get that map and the cammies for you guys.” Derek finished and walked off to get the map.

Drake then slid the battery and shock absorber into place and started to load rounds into the magazines, as Alina finally took a look around. The place was massive. About fifty feet away from them was the entrance to the base. The entrance was just a small tent to help hide everything, but what was behind it was the truly impressive part. To keep the base hidden, everything was built around or in the trees of the forest; which would explain how the Ridge group still hasn’t found the base yet. And the buildings themselves had exceptional camouflage making them very difficult to see when just scanning, much less from a distance.

“Hey can you help me hun?” Drake asked, snapping Alina back to reality.

“Sure. With what?” Alina asked turning to look back at Drake.

“Just help me carry some of the mags. They are pretty bulky and I can’t fit them all into my pockets.” Drake answered while handing her two magazines.

Alina looked over Drakes gear. With the two he was handing her, the two still on the floor, and the four he had in his pocket, he is missing four magazines.

“Where’re the last four?” Alina asked Drake.

“Huh? Doubt I’ll need even this many.” Drake replied.

“I don’t want to be sniping for very long. Only take out a few main targets and then jump into the battle as quickly as we can.” Drake finished.

“Hahahaha, good!” Alina exclaimed excitedly.

She then opened up one of her suitcases and pulled out her Katars and their sheaths. After taking off her flannel shirt, she strapped the two sheaths on her back and put the Katars in them.

“Why only your beater?” Drake asked.

“Easier to move around in with the holsters on than with an over shirt.” Alina replied.

“What about you?” She asked in return.

“Hum? Cuz it’s comfortable, and it’s really hot here. And I really don’t feel like changing.” Drake replied

A few minutes later Derek walk back with a map of the area and the camo suits he mentioned earlier.

“You guys know how to read a topography map?” He asked the two.

They both nodded.

“Good, then here. We will call you in two hours. We expect you to be set up and ready by then.” Derek ordered.

The two looked at the map and Drake instantly saw an excellent spot. A huge cliff roughly two and a half miles from the main base. It is a sheer cliff that overlooks the whole base giving them a perfect view and a clear line of sight.

“We will set up here.” Drake pointed out on the map.

“I saw that too. Think you can do it?” Alina asked.

“Course I can.” Drake replied confidently.

“Good, then get changed and get going. You have two hours.” Derek commanded.

The order only served to get a cold look from Drake. But the two set off after Alina picked up the last two magazines on the ground without picking up the camo suits. Derek wondered why they didn’t want the camo but didn’t need more conflict. Those two are indeed a special case.

“You think we can cover two miles quick enough to get in the fight?” Alina asked after they got out of earshot.

“Sure, we just jump down the cliff and run there as quickly as we can. We should cover the ground pretty quickly.” Drake replied.

“But this should be fun” Drake finished with a grin.

“Please kill the targets with the first shot Drake. No blowing off their leg or arm so you can watch them squirm” Alina scolded.

The smile dropped off of Drakes face instantly. He really wanted to, but he knew why he couldn’t.

“I know… I know.” Drake solemnly replied.

“Good.” Alina said patting Drake on the shoulder.

“So… How is firing that thing? Looks painful from what I’ve seen.” Alina asked to break the silence.

“Well at max output it hurts like hell. The recoil is absolutely insane!” Drake exclaimed.

Alina giggled at Drakes somewhat over-reaction to the recoil, but it isn’t a joke either. The one time Drake shot it at max power; the rifle pushed him back a few inches and almost broke his collar bone. At that power output, the round punched through several fully armored tanks from three miles out and still hit the target dead center; blowing it apart. The best part is that there is no noise from the gun. No flash, no bang, nothing. Since the gun relies on electrical and magnetic forces to propel the round, it only makes a small hum when it fires and then the recoil hits. The sonic boom from the round is a different story; the round is traveling over a mile per second at max power. That speed is what gives the gun such a great shooting distance and such destructive force.

Alina had zoned out thinking about watching Drake fire his rifle. And before she knew it they had already covered half the distance to their target location. The only thing that snapped her back to reality was Drake stopping her.

“What?” Alina asked

“Nothing, you were just super spaced out ya’ big doof.” Drake replied in a goofy voice.

“Ppppfffftttt. You big doof? Really?” Alina asked trying not to laugh.

“Knew that would get a smile out of you.” Drake gleefully answered.

And it did, but it also brought Alina back to a train of thought; trying to bring up Drakes mental health to him. She knew something was off, but didn’t really know how to say it. So she just went for it, after all Drake is pretty blunt himself.

“Hey Drake, are you okay? Like really really okay?” Alina asked after a few seconds hesitation.

“Yah. Why?” Drake asked.

“Cuz when we were walking to the main camp, you said you saw a white rabbit go down a hole. Except there was no rabbit; I looked and looked, but nothing. And shortly before that you started looking around like you heard something. But the only living things around us were the trees.” Alina started.

“Hun, I told you I’m fine.” Drake answered quickly before Alina could say more.

But that answer didn’t satisfy her at all.

“People don’t just see things that aren’t there. And they definitely don’t look around them like they just heard a voice or something!” Alina protested.

“Oh yah? Well what about you being a serial killer? And want to explain your impulse to drink blood? Those aren’t normal either!” Drake responded angrily.

“What the hell Drake? That was before I became a GenOpS. Maybe something was wrong with me as a human I have no idea. I don’t remember!” Alina replied, now angry as well.

“At least you have a fucking history! What is there to explain me? I was only created to do this then die? What kind of life is that?! I mean my personality is probably just some fabrication of King just so I’ll fight longer and enjoy it!” Drake started

“I don’t have an excuse why I’m seeing shit, and why I’m hearing shit! I just am. Why the hell can I even do what I do? My swords should be too heavy for anyone to swing. Each one weighs more than six times as much as I do. Yet guess what? I can fucking do it. Not to mention I should weigh over a ton, but somehow I don’t… And no one could understand or explain it? I’m a walking exception to the laws of physics! There aren’t only bad mysteries about me! But unlike you, I doubt I’ll ever get an answer for why. So just drop it!” Drake yelled, clearly pissed off.

After that outburst Drake stormed off; leaving Alina to her thoughts.

“Well that confirms that he is also hearing things. But that’s what he’s been thinking? That’s what’s been bothering him? Knowing he may never get an answer to who he is other than a fighter; that his personality may be created just so he will fight longer and enjoy the fight. He carried that with him all this time and never said a word.” Alina thought to herself.

After Alina finished her thought she looked for Drake, who had already walked out of sight. So she looked for his aura and found it. But this time it was different, it was huge, and it was violent. His pitch black aura was thrashing about around him, and gave off a dreadful feeling. It almost made her not want to approach him and just let him cool off. But she knew better; Drake never cools off under his own power. Hell, his rage is one of his defining characteristics to her. She knew she had to go apologize. So she ran after him. Luckily he was just standing still, almost like he was waiting for her.