They were being escorted under guard, through the complex towards the habitat levels. VonGrippen matched Roki's strides, feeling uncomfortable as he memorized the twists and tunnels they were taking away from the STOAT. Aware that there was something wrong with the way Roki kept frowning as they descended stairs.

"What is it?" VonGrippen murmured leaning in a little towards the Lieutenant's ear.

"This isn't the way to the habitats." Roki replied between tight teeth, a bead of sweat beginning to roll down the back of his neck.

VonGrippen continued to march, reviewing what he knew of the complex; following the path they were taking they would end in the storage levels, well away from the sensitive areas of the facility. He felt uneasy, sparing a look towards the armed French soldiers with their hands on their SMG's, safeties off.

Dominic frowned at VonGrippen's strange look and his eyes flicked to see what VonGrippen had seen, his own hand straying to his rifle as he audibly clicked off his own safety. The guards around them tensed.

"Roki!" a dark haired doctor with a thick Afrikaans accent emerged from a side tunnel stuffing a clipboard under his arm. The black security badge clipped to his pocket, his eyes furious.

"Rikard," Roki greeted taking a moment to shake hands with the civilian doctor, and the tension between the guards and the British soldiers became palpable.

"What's going on brother?" Roki inquired, as down the hallway behind Rikard a second group of guards hurried out of a lab, escorting a pair of young women, one in a hospital gown leaning heavily upon a second.

VonGrippen seemed frozen in that moment, staring for what seemed like an impossible age into the luminous green eyes of the auburn haired young woman, who tensed and frowned, looking about her as if she sensed something, her hair brushing her slender shoulders as she turned her head and looked right into his eyes.

There was a question there, hanging between them, one that VonGrippen couldn't explain. He could feel a rush of something from her... fear, as she mouthed something at him.

"Accompany me to my office," Rikard was saying to Roki, gesturing back the way he had come, "your men..."

There was a clatter of arms; rifles snapping up and safeties popping off as the British soldiers followed Dominic's lead sighted their assault rifles in on the guards. Around them the guards raised their own weapons, pressing them in a tight ring as down the hall, the second troop began to run.

"Drop your weapons," the Capitane ordered sighting his SMG squarely at VonGrippen's chest.

It took effort to pull his eyes away from hers, focusing on the Capitane before him. Glancing too and fro at the heavier firepower the British troops had at their disposal, as well as the body armour, compared to the lightly armed French guards.

He squared his shoulders, adopting a cold look upon his face, as behind him Dominic swung his rifle around, bracing it upon VonGrippen's shoulder and sighting past his cheek towards the head of the French Capitane. Dominic shifted the weapon slightly, making it very clear that his first shot would take the Capitane's head clean off his shoulders.

VonGrippen kept his face expressionless, speaking in a low, even tone, "I want you to contemplate your next action Capitane. You and your men are lightly armed with 9mm Sub Machine guns loaded with low velocity ammunition. My men are armed with assault rifles with armour piercing rounds. Each of these weapons is set to automatic fire. While I am confident in your marksmanship, your weapons will not penetrate the standard body armour worn by these men. In turn, their rounds will kill your men quite effectively. And Lieutenant Worth here," Dominic lifted his head and smiled, still sighting the weapon in, "will ensure that you have a personal introduction to God long before you have a chance to shoot me."

The Capitane focused past the weapon in his face and stared into VonGrippen's unflinching, emotionless gaze, "you would still be dead..."

"It is a matter of logistics," VonGrippen said calmly, studying the Capitane's eyes, "and how willing you are to die here, shot by your allies. My advice is to simply surrender." He watched the hesitation on the Capitane's face, the glances at the soldiers around him and their body armour. Licking his lips seeing what VonGrippen had seen, knowing that their SMG's were insufficient for the task. If shooting began, his men would be dead in seconds.

An alarm began to resound in the base.

VonGrippen's hand reached out and pushed the barrel of the Capitane's weapon down, liberating the man of it as around him the British soldiers secured the French weaponry. Dominic breathed a sigh of relief, as he looked towards a shocked Roki and an equally shocked Rikard.

"Doctor," VonGrippen lowered his newly acquired SMG, "where is General Michaud?"

Katherine kept her arm around Sephradon's shoulders as the guards hurried them towards the infirmary. She hadn't expected the British soldiers, and something about the way the man in the long black coat had looked at her had left her shaken.

She watched as one of the guards lifted his radio and issued an alert, as moments later the alarms began to echo through the halls.

In her arms Sephradon tensed.

"No, no," she reassured quietly, trying to ease the panic she suddenly felt through Sephradon, "It's okay..."

Sephradon stumbled, gasping in pain as her feet turned beneath her and she fell to the metal deck plates. Katherine tried to catch her, struggling to keep her upright, but the flush of pain followed by the rush of anger caused her to draw back.

Sephradon lashed out, one of the guards that had stopped and turned was hurled over her head, colliding with another as the pair went down in a crash. The other guards reacting to the surprise attack. Memories of what had happened in the lab causing them to panic as they raised their SMGs.

"No!" Katherine called, too late as the guards opened fire.

Sephradon rose as the bullets fired holding out her hand as she struggled to hold back the weapons fire. Too many bullets for her to concentrate on, and while she stopped several, the rest hammered into her.

Katherine shrieked as she pushed Sephradon down, trying to cover her with her own body, the guards ceasing fire as they lifted their weapons. One of them roughly grabbing Katherine as they hurried her, despite her cries and writhing, towards the secure area, well away from the British.

VonGrippen heard the gunfire and the woman's cries, the Capitane's SMG in his hands coming up as he ran down the corridor, stopping at the corner to the tunnel they had gone down. He took a deep breath and stepped around it and holding up the SMG as he swept the corridor, taking in the sight of the retreating French guards who opened fire at him.

It was Dominic's hand on his shoulder jerking him back around the corner that saved his life.

"Are you mental?" Dominic cursed.

VonGrippen turned to the Lieutenant, and looked back up at the armed soldiers who were securing the captured French guards in one of the side rooms. Looking over at Lieutenant Roki and Doctor Rikard he hefted the SMG and trained it on the Doctor.

"You are going to take me to General Michaud." VonGrippen stated coldly, his eyes hardening threateningly.

Rikard stared at the armed British soldiers around him, and at the SMG trained on him, he sneered, "and just who the hell are you?"

"I am the Highlord VonGrippen," he replied gesturing with the SMG, "lead the way Enarbrem."

Rikard flinched and stared at the sudden use of his first name, and he stared at Roki accusingly.

"With Admiral," Dominic moved closer to VonGrippen, "we should get the hell out of here."

VonGrippen shook his head, "General Michaud is the man responsible for the assassination of the American Secretary of Defence, and directly responsible for the London bombings. He's on this base, somewhere."

"Who the hell are you?" Rikard repeated as he blinked in surprise at how much information VonGrippen seemed to possess.

VonGrippen reached out and caught Rikard securely by the collar, pressing the SMG into the small of his back, "secure the STOAT," he ordered looking at Dominic, "if you don't hear from me in twenty minutes take off and..."

Dominic shook his head confused as to what was happening, "but, sir..."

"Go," VonGrippen insisted leading Rikard back towards the turn in the corridor and glancing around it, before looking back and nodding to Roki, "his access card should get you back to the ship despite the lockdown."

Dominic's hand snaked out and caught Roki firmly, reaching out to unclip the security badge and nodding back at VonGrippen, "good luck sir."

VonGrippen smiled and dragged Rikard onwards, force marching him down the nearly empty hall, stepping over the slumped bodies of the French guards and the fallen girl in white.

Rikard uttered a small choke as he knelt beside her touching the red soaked gown in shock, drawing his bloodied hands away as he stood, "no..." He turned his head and looked up at the highlord standing next to him, "How loyal are you to the European Union?" He inquired standing and recovering his composure.

"You could say I have a passing affiliation," VonGrippen murmured, moving to the fallen guards and relieving them of their extra magazines, slipping them into the pockets of his great coat, "this has something to do with the GN project doesn't it?" He motioned with the SMG towards the body.

"It has everything to do with the GN project, Admiral," Rikard rose, "the European Union is faced with the distinct possibility of defeat against the United States, and I am not even factoring China into the equation."

"Take me to Michaud," VonGrippen ordered, securing the Doctor and leading him down the hall towards the bank of elevators, again pressing the SMG into the small of the Doctor's back.

"You aren't listening to me Admiral... Whoever the hell you are," Rikard faltered as he was pushed against the security port that gave access to the elevator controls, fumbling for his black card he inserted it and called an elevator car.

"I've heard and seen enough to understand what is going on here," VonGrippen stated softly, his voice like iron, "you have turned human beings into weapons, the question is how were you able to kill the Secretary of Defence?"

"Genetics Admiral, the ultimate technology, the future of humanity as shaped by our own hands. Smarter, faster, better human beings," The elevator doors opened and the pair entered, "Human beings that can kill with a thought at impossible distances. Like that girl up there."

"You are experimenting on human beings?" VonGrippen watched the Doctor press the button and waited as the elevator began to descend.

"We have created the GN-2's, Admiral, but they are being exploited. Opportunistic men are using them to bring forth their war, and they will use them to win it for them," Rikard turned, knowing that his only chance lay in convincing the man holding him hostage of the importance of his creations, "that is why I sent for Roki, to help me get them out of this... place."

"I am not your confessor," VonGrippen's voice was quiet, iron hard, "And I am not here to facilitate your escape. You are a GN-1, the man responsible for creating the ultimate weapon of the Third World War. Your conscience will have to deal with what you have done, and history will judge your actions. I am simply here to stop Michaud."

"Then stop him, Admiral," Rikard urged, "stop him by liberating the GN-2's, without them he's nothing."

The elevator opened on a lower level, and Rikard stared into VonGrippen's cold eyes, "please?"

"Which way?" He gestured out of the elevator with the SMG.

"To?" Rikard asked.

"To the GN-2s," VonGrippen gestured patiently again, "we have to hurry."

"There are reports of fighting on the upper levels," The French Provost Marshal rested a hand on the bank of security monitors and looked up at the General, "They're better armed than we are, if I open the armoury and issue a couple of platoons of our men..."

"You would be drawing men away from the Deep Core," Michaud warned angrily.

"Yes General, however we do not seem to have a choice, a couple of platoons won't make a difference. And our men are being cut to shreds."

"What about that?" Michaud pointed to the security monitors showing Rikard being guided by an armed man heading through the upper genetics labs heading for the Deep Core.

"The guards know he is coming, and they are more than adequately equipped to deal with a single man," The Provost Marshall reassured, "sir?"

Michaud bit his lip, something about the man on the screen bothered him, there was a purpose to his strides. And yet there was a fierce fire fight brewing on the upper levels that needed to be contained before the British could battle their way back to the STOAT.

"Do it," He commanded.

She gasped a long, tearing, choking breath. Feeling the air return to her lungs as she sat upright. The sharp pain that had torn into her body was gone, as were the burns they had inflicted upon her. She still remembered the wounds; she still felt the bullets ripping through her.

They had tried to kill her.

She stood, shakily getting to her feet as she stared about her, reaching out a hand to steady herself upon the wall. She felt sick, the poison flowing through her veins had changed her, she would sense it, and her intelligent mind would rationalize what it was doing to her.

She had survived point blank gunfire from those murdering bastards.

The elevator doors down the hall slid open as both cars spilled French troops into the halls. Two heavily armed platoons moving out to secure the hall. A couple of them spotting her and pointing.

She turned her head, her white blonde hair falling about her face as it twisted into a mask of utter fury. The French.

Her rage reverberated through the hall, as she concentrated turning and reaching out with her hand and pulling back with her sheer will. And through the ranks of French guards, there were the audible sound of clicks as the pins of every grenade attached to their TAC-vests drew at the same time, flying down the hall to clatter at her feet as she stared, icy blue eyes flickering as she registered a smile.

The French guards panicked, a few of them trying to tear the grenades free. Seconds before the hall exploded into a fireball of death. Sephradon shielding herself behind a wall of her will.

They felt the shuddering through the complex, VonGrippen turning his head, as he stared upwards. An explosion, a powerful one. The sound of tortured metal raining down somewhere in the complex. He looked back at Rikard.

"We need to hurry."

"For once Admiral, I won't argue," Rikard fumbled with his key card, the hatch to one of the cloning labs sliding open. A massive chamber filled with dark tubes stretching high into the vaulted ceiling. Machinery and medical tables arrayed around it each with their own particular purpose.

The crossed the round chamber, the holographic interface springing to life, "Doctor Rikard..." It began. VonGrippen stared at the hologram a moment as he crossed the floor, "we don't have time for this Doctor." He urged.

Rikard nodded his head, grabbing for a laptop and pulling it free of its cables, tucking it under his arm, "this is all I need from here, and the Deep Core is this way." He gestured to the far doors mounting the steps and opening them again.

VonGrippen moved forward cautiously, looking towards the security cameras overhead, the red light indicating they were being monitored. They'd been watched almost as soon as they entered that level, General Michaud or his lackeys all too aware of how deep VonGrippen was inside their lair.

He swung around the door, keeping the SMG up, tight in his hands as he advanced through the holding pens, looking at the little boys and girls that walked up towards the glass, a couple of them resting their hands upon it to try to get a better look at the stranger.

They were all clothed simply, shaggy hair and deep eyes, nudging and jostling each other as a couple climbed up on the backs of the ones behind them to see.

VonGrippen turned his head looking towards the far side, at the ranks of children, no more than about sixteen in his estimates. Curiosity burning in their eyes.

"The GN-2s?" VonGrippen asked staring.

Rikard shook his head leading his way onwards, "Kaynin, they're... a side project." He gestured to a small armoury in the room, "foot soldiers mainly, but a couple are trained on flight operations. We were attempting to find a solution to our man-power issues."

"We can't simply leave them here," VonGrippen replied walking to a central console and scanning across it, flipping switches that slid the doors open on the holding cells.

"No!" Rikard turned, his shoulders slumping as the Kaynin bounded out of their cells and formed into ranks, all saluting the uniform VonGrippen wore under his great coat. He was the ranking officer in the room.

VonGrippen slung his SMG and returned the salute, "Who's in charge here?" he asked looking across the ranks.

"You are sir!" echoed a hundred voices.

"Well that answers that," VonGrippen muttered, "are those weapons live?" He looked at Rikard and pointed towards the armoury.

Rikard glared a long moment, before he walked across and ran his key card through the reader, swinging open the mesh door folding his arms, "yes they practice with live ammunition, and these are fully trained models. We were preparing them for their initial deployment."

VonGrippen nodded, lifting his TAC-link, "Dominic?"

The Radio spluttered, then chimed in with the distinctive sound of weapons fire, "Yeah VG?"

"How are you faring?" VonGrippen asked marching down the ranks of Kaynin, turning when he reached the end and returning. Pacing steadily as he thought.

"We're meeting some stiff resistance now... but we're getting some help... I think. A young girl is... she's super girl."

Rikard's brow furrowed, "what?"

"Some girl in a blood stained gown is taking the Frenchies to school, sir," Dominic replied, the sound of chattering gunfire echoed out again, "we're not going to make it back to the STOAT though, they've cut off that section of the base."

"What if I said I just found a few hundred volunteers for the British Army?" VonGrippen stated tightly.

"Do any of them know another way out of here?" Dominic asked.

"There is another way out," Rikard said reluctantly, "there is a French frigate docked on pad seven, but it's heavily guarded. It's General Michaud's transport."

VonGrippen nodded his head, "you heard that Dom?"

"Sir, yes sir." Dominic replied, "pad seven."

"Good I am sending the 'volunteers' to you, you can't miss them." VonGrippen lowered his TAC-link and looked at the Kaynin troopers, "this base has been overrun by renegade French troops. You are to arm yourselves and assist British forces located on level one reach and secure the frigate on Pad Seven. Lieutenant Dominic Worth is in charge of the British force. Consider anything in a French uniform as hostile and deal with it accordingly."

The Kaynin nodded their heads, sprinting one by one towards the armoury and collecting their equipment as they rushed back to the far doors. Rikard standing slightly apart folding his arms as he looked at VonGrippen.

"I am certain this is not what Michaud meant when he requested a field test of the Kaynin."

VonGrippen shrugged, "I am happy to oblige his curiosity, now Doctor, perhaps we should continue to the Deep Core?"

Rikard reached into the weapons locker and pulled out one of the weapons that had been issued to the Kaynin. A modern looking weapon with an under-slung grenade launcher a clear magazine showing it was full.

"The latest in German weapon technology, a Pulse Rifle. Fires 10mm rounds without the need for gunpowder, meaning you can store more rounds into a magazine." Rikard handed the weapon across to VonGrippen who traded it for his SMG, checking the weapon as he sighted in and nodded.

"We are losing control of this situation," the Provost Marshall reported, coming around his station, pulling on the TAC-vest and accepting the shotgun one of his subordinates handed to him.

Michaud doffed his uniform cap and tossed it into a chair, "order the Aconit to warm up its drives, we will retreat back to the frigate and initiate emergency countermeasures and gas the whole facility. We will move back to reclaim it once we're sure the British are dead."

"And the Deep Core?" The Provost Marshall inquired.

"The Deep Core is secure and on an independent oxygen source, the GN-2s will be protected..." Michaud stopped looking at the security monitors and the sprinting Kaynin, armed and rushing through the halls, "who the hell set them loose?"

"I-I don't know," the Provost Marshall shook his head, "I didn't order them..."

"Rikard!" Michaud turned to look at another monitor as the British Fleet officer and the good Doctor approached the security barricades that surrounded the Deep Core access. Michaud swore, "Cut his access..."

"We don't have time..."

Michaud tore the shotgun from the Provost Marshall's hand and marched for the doors of the Command centre.

VonGrippen stopped at the last junction, knowing that around the corner the French guards would be waiting for him. Even with the pulse rifle the odds were squarely in the French favour, and he simply wasn't a good enough shot to take them all out alone.

He shifted the rifle to his shoulder as he thumbed the selector over to automatic, remembering what the Sarge at the War College had said, 'sometimes spray and pray'.

He swung around the corridor and pulled the trigger, gritting his teeth as he showered the French barricades with heavy rounds, pulling back as they began to return fire, slipping back to cover as he checked the magazine.

Rikard kept down crouching for cover as the returning French fire abated.

VonGrippen knelt, curling his finger around the grenade trigger, taking another deep breath as he leaned around the corridor and fired the weapon with an audible thunk.

The rifle grenade exploded into the ceiling above the French position, and the lights flickered as the sound of people creaming echoed down the corridor.

VonGrippen pumped another grenade into the chamber, swallowed again as he fired a second shot to be certain. Getting up as the second gout of flame washed out from behind the barricades, moving forward cautiously, the rifle swinging too and fro and barking at anything that moved.

He picked his way through the ruin, bracing a foot on the barricade as he climbed over it slowly, the muzzle of the rifle sighting in on vacant, burned faces of the French soldiers who had been caught unprepared for the grenades.

He heard a rustle, swinging his rifle around as the only survivor clawed to lift his pistol. The chatter of automatic fire ending the man's life before he could fire.

It was a cold realization that he had killed for the first time. VonGrippen stepping down on the far side of the barricade as he moved towards the doors, looking back to the far corner, "Doctor?" he called out.

Rikard hurried after him, clambering up and over the barricade as he fumbled for his card, staring at the dead, swiping the card, "there is one inside," Rikard warned.

VonGrippen pushed the Doctor aside as the door swung open, lifting his assault rifle and entered the deep core firing.

The guard tried to dive for cover, the bullets tearing through where he was, as VonGrippen dropped to a knee, sighting in for his next burst. Gunning the man down coldly as he stood ejecting the magazine and reloading the pulse rifle as Rikard rushed past to access the metal stairs and run down them as they descended.

VonGrippen followed keeping his eyes peeled for more guards, stopping at the foot of the stairs looking at the collection of young men and women facing him, a young man and a young woman standing between VonGrippen and the others, their arms outstretched to ward the children from him protectively.

"Markus we have to go," Rikard ordered turning and motioning for them.

Markus, the eldest, stared levelly at VonGrippen gauging him before he nodded to the woman, obviously his sister.

VonGrippen recognized the luminous eyed girl from above and he again felt her pull. He shook his head to clear it. Turning and marching back up the steps to cover the door.

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