The lights in the room were slightly dimmed and a soft song was playing in the background. Marcus enjoyed some tender, roasted chicken with potatoes and broccoli together with a branded soda. "This is really good!" He said while chewing. "Thank you, I will tell the chef." Cherry answered with a smile. He and Azaa had been invited to Cherry's private rooms to dine with her and Janette. The Queen had given up her normal apartment a long time ago in favor of a large place in the HQ. It was closer to work and she spent a lot of time in the Italian villa anyway.

Still, the place was a lot more cozy than her office, Marcus thought. The furniture and general vibe was warm, and the influence of Janette was very visible. Besides several portraits, clothes and cheesy items that must have been presents from her to Cherry, a half disassembled rifle was staged on a small table in the corner. Several containers of ammunition (several types), pistols and for some reason a poster of a half naked man with a large machine gun and a red bandanna, could be found all over the room. It was like she was marking her territory, Marcus thought.

Marcus watched Azaa inspect her broccoli with her fork, the same way an eight year old child would do. She had prepared herself to eat some human food and for some reason her chicken had already vanished but that green stuff… Marcus took the broccoli from Azaa and gave her the rest of his chicken. She looked very pleased and worked on the chicken. The other women in the room made a face that said "look how cute they are".

Marcus made a grimace in response and ate his extra portion of broccoli. "How is the decryption going?" Marcus asked Cherry to advance the conversation. "I would not know. We outsourced the work. Cerberus is not really known for tech stuff," Cherry said and had a sip of red wine. "Sleeping Sky is working on it. They are famous for their heavy computer skills. They are connected to at least one large hacker group," she went on explaining and Marcus nodded.

"You have a set of unusual names. Amelia Long is your real name, but you are also Cherry and the Queen of Hearts," Azaa said to Cherry without any hint why. The currently bald woman swallowed hard and looked to Marcus for help. "Have you not told her why I'm Cherry?" She asked Marcus, trying to clear one name at the time. "No, because I don't know either," he said and Cherry looked at Janette, who was suddenly really interested in her potatoes. With a smile Cherry got up and fetched a small, expensive looking box from a cupboard.

"Two days after our first meeting, the little demon, that is Janette, and I walked hand in hand through London. She spotted one of those street souvenir shops and bought me this." Cherry opened the expensive box and revealed a bracelet. Small, red-golden hearts connected to a band and a pair of cherries hung down from it. The thing was made out of cheap plastic with thin colors, a present for a little girl. "She put it on my wrist and said I'm now her cherry." Cherry giggled and suddenly Marcus remembered how Cherry had put a ring on Janette's finger in the same way. Now it made sense. Azaa looked at the cheap toy and then to Janette and at last to Marcus. Her eyes stayed on him, and for some reason he knew he had to buy her something to wear on her body, very, very soon. Janette had a red face and quickly put the bracelet back into the box and buried it in the cupboard.

After a moment Azaa focused back on Cherry, "And about the other name, Que-" Azaa's head shot 90° to the side and her eyes became sharp. "A large group of class holders is quickly converging on this building," she said and a second later the rest jumped up from their seats. "Are you sure? Can you tell how many?" Cherry asked, instantly transformed into one of the leaders of her clan. Azaa concentrated for a moment. "About forty. They are in the air and should be here in less than a minute."

Cherry jumped to the wall and pressed a hidden button, sirens howled through the building. Janette was already moving to get some armor and weapons while Cherry worked a screen at the wall for a moment and shouted, "Enemies inbound! This is not a drill. A large group of enemies is coming from the east. Prepare defenses, pull back outer defense personnel. I repeat this is not a drill." Cherry hit the wall with her fist and it left a dent in the dense material. "We are understaffed because most of our top teams are searching for the enemy. They got us good. At least Javier is still here." Marcus could see the frustration in her eyes, he would feel the same way in her place.

Janette reappeared from a different room with a large, traditional sniper rifle. "Azaa, point me at the enemies," she said and opened the next window. Azaa gave her directions and then Janette closed her eyes. Marcus could hear the sound of helicopters now and realized the enemy used their own tactics against them. The sound grew louder with every second and just before Marcus could make out something in the darkness of the night, Janette shot once, twice. Seconds later the fireball of a crashed transport helicopter illuminated the night. "That has reduced their numbers by ten. Well done," Azaa said with a cold and professional voice.

"Don't even think about it." Janette said without turning around. Marcus looked and saw Cherry making an attempt to leave the room. "I will not…" "SILENCE!" Janette shouted, overpowering the sound of the helicopters. "You are not well and if the enemy learns you are weakened, they might come after you, and it will also lower the morale of the troops. Stay in this room. Have fun with Azaa," Janette said. Cherry looked angry, but after a second she sat down on one of the chairs. Before Janette could drag Marcus out of the room Azaa said, "Be careful, both of you. Some of the enemies are stronger than you." Marcus nodded and followed Janette.

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"First goal armory, I need my kit. You have to keep me alive until then clan leader," Janette said while running ahead. Marcus had problems matching her speed and he could already hear the sound of heavy fighting in the distance. Explosions rocked the building. This, together with the sirens and the red warning lights made Marcus feel like he was in the middle of a war zone. Marcus unmuted Xeen, who had the evening off.

What is going on?

We are being attacked by the enemy. It might get nasty.

I would not want to miss that. Xeen observed Marcus' thoughts for a moment. I'm sure she will be fine, both of them.

They were not the only ones trying to reach the armory. Several Cerberus members armed themselves, while a handful of them fought back enemies who tried to take control of the armory. Marcus charged right into the flank of the attackers while Janette sprinted into the security room without looking back. Marcus engaged two enemies at once, who had put pressure on the defenders. A man with a machine gun unloaded a salvo right into the charging Marcus but the bullets reflected off Carapace, and before the man had recovered from this surprise Marcus landed a flying knee kick into his head. It was a one hit kill.

But Marcus had no time enjoying his first victory, the other enemy, a woman, was of a completely different caliber. She dropped her rifle and charged Marcus from two meter away. A pair of daggers moved from her hip to her hands in a blink of an eye. She deftly dodged his swing, ramming one of the deadly weapons into his stomach. Marcus fought through the pain and made a chopping strike but she dodged again and was now only centimeters from his face. She pushed the dagger even deeper into his body and at the same time opened her mouth and a scream of magnitude ten hit Marcus point blank.

The sound made his head ring, but it was not enough to shatter his eardrums, not with nearly 70 vitality. It made him dazed and allowed the woman to stab his heart with the second dagger. Or she would have, if she had not ignored his hand on her shoulder, thinking he had not the strength to fight back right now. The Impulse Hammer pushed her to the ground and broke her shoulder and half of her ribs. She tried to use her voice again but Marcus put his hand over her mouth and looked her into the eyes. A second later she let go of her weapons. "Good choice," Marcus said, pulling out the annoying weapon and letting it fall to the ground. A Cerberus class holder took charge of her, now that the tide in the local battle favored the defenders.

Mercy in the face of the enemy, very commendable.

But?

But, what?

You always lecture me. Like, it will get you killed or you need to harden your heart Marcus!

Well done Marcus, I'm proud of you.

That was weird and Marcus did not trust the situation.

Move on, there is still lots to do. He did, but not without feeling odd being praised by the old man.

A minute later Janette came out of the armory, still getting everything into the right place, but armed with her terrifying rail gun. She said something, but Marcus was still deaf and he pointed at his ears. She nodded and they moved on, with Janette leading. Marcus hoped she knew where they were going, but he quickly realized they got closer to the fighting. They stormed into a large room that was evidently some kind of cafeteria with rows and rows of tables and chairs. The room was devastated, an ongoing battle between class holders had taken its toll. Burned, melted or simply torn apart tables and chairs littered the floor. Pieces of the ceiling and the walls had fallen off and a team of Cerberus was desperately fighting off an enemy attack of double the size. They were pressured hard and only one Elemental Mage retaliated, Elena.

They had barely stepped into the room when something hit Marcus with the power of a speeding car and threw him into the next wall. A spear stuck out of his abdomen, it had pierced him from one side to the other. "Lancer, a high level one." Marcus shouted under pain. He could see an enemy lifting another spear but a Plasmaball broke his concentration and gave Marcus time to remove the spear and get moving again. Even though he took a lot of fire Marcus charged the enemy position to get into range, and also to give the Cerberus unit some air to breathe. The Lancer, preparing to stop Marcus, lost his head in a spectacular way as a rail gun projectile popped it like a ripe watermelon. This caused some upset in the enemy camp, and Marcus and two Cerberus warriors reached the entrenched enemy. Only now Marcus realized Leon was one of the men fighting on his side, which meant this was Elena's team.

Seven enemies were left and they used a tight defense formation around one man in the middle. Marcus had no idea what class the guy had, but he guessed it was a type of buffer and that meant he had to go. With a loud scream Marcus rushed the retreating enemies, and was hit with bullets and at least two degradation effects that hurt him, but did not stop him in the slightest. Concentrating on big, nasty Marcus was a normal reaction, but it was a bad life choice as the faster and deadlier Cerberus class holders managed to slip by and start cutting down the enemy. Leon used an enemy's sword, but as an Aspect Warrior he was not dependent on a weapon. He swung the sword in one direction, pushing back an enemy, and his other arm into the direction of a second enemy. A phantasmal claw formed and nearly sliced the man into pieces, and vanished a second later. Only now the enemies realized in how much trouble they were.

A strange wind blew by Marcus, and if he had not spent months training with Pavel back in Helsinki he would not have taken notice. Marcus turned and tried to warn the back line of the Windwalker, only to see Janette pinned against a wall with a sword through her left arm. In pure panic he started running towards Janette, but a second later Janette unloaded half a dozen bullets from her heavy pistol into the chest, neck and head of the bastard. Each shot made a deep and heavy sound, a testament to the power of the special weapon.

The Windwalker dropped dead, and Janette pulled the sword out with a painful grimace. She continued to fire at the retreating enemies and Marcus turned again to help too. Only the ominous buffer managed to flee and ran through the door trying to connect to the rest of the attackers. With a massive crushing sound the frame of the door suddenly contracted and smashed the man into something less than human. Blood and viscera splattered over the area and gave everybody pause. A massive shadow leaned into the room, ignoring bits and pieces of the dead buffer. "You okay?" Javier "The Dwarf" Flores asked with a worried look. Earth Bloods are so fucking scary in a building, Marcus thought and a shiver ran down his spine.

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