“Hey Drake!” She yelled out to get his attention.

He slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder at her. His cold, angry stare reminded her of when Drake attacked the seven tail, Mathias. Then she noticed he had drawn his Demons eye and was firmly gripping it. She saw some of the trees around him had been cut down; some had chunks missing from their trunk and others are riddled with gashes and slashes almost like Drake has just wildly swung his sword in anger.

“Drake…?” Alina asked slowly, not sure how he would react.

“What?” He responded coldly.

“Can I say something?” Alina asked him calmly.

Drake didn’t answer. Instead he just went back to looking at what was in front of him. Then he simply shrugged. So Alina took that as an okay.

“Hey look, I’m sorry. I guess I took things too far, but I’m just worried about you. I hope you know that.” Alina started.

“I know, but I don’t want to talk about it. I’m fine, I can still function, and I can still fight. That’s all that matters.” Drake answered.

That last bit broke Alina’s heart. Sure Drake loves to fight, but part of him is questioning that and if that’s really who he is or if that part of him is also created.

“Well then, after this we can beat the answers out of King. Or who knows, maybe he will be willing to tell us on his own.” Alina suggested.

“And who’s to say he won’t just tell us what we want to hear just to save his ass?” Drake responded.

His argument was sound. King could really say anything he wanted and no one would be able to prove otherwise. They would just have to take was he says in stride.

“Then we can just discover it ourselves. There has to be someone out there who knows the answer to our questions, and maybe we can pressure that someone into talking to us.” Alina suggested again trying to get Drakes hopes up.

“But they will all be connected to King. He is ultimately the one who created me, and he is the one who has the answers. No one will have the complete answer but him, and he could have told them lies while they thought it was the truth. There is just too much unknown with King.” Drake pointed out.

Again his argument was very sound. But Alina was not ready to give up yet.

“Then we will look into it ourselves. First confirm if personality fabrication is even possible. I think that’s more a nurture than a nature sort of thing.” Alina countered.

“Personality is nurture over nature, but most mental issues are not. They are usually some sort of genetic defect, meaning that my sadism could have been created and then combined with the proper raising; give rise to my personality. And it all leads to the same thing, King created my personality.” Drake stated.

“Using that logic, he created everyone’s’ personality. He is the one who created the base and runs it. So he is responsible for the nurture of everyone, thus creating everyone’s personality. But look, you and me are pretty different even though we both woke up around the same time and dealt with the same upbringing.” Alina argued.

“Yes, but the main difference between you and me is that I’m created. With you he could only change so much since most of what he needed was already there with your DNA. And your personality may have already been set by your experiences as a human. But with me he was free to create any kind of monster he wanted.  Free to create any kind of personality he wanted. I was a blank canvas.” Drake pointed out.

“Alright, you win. I won’t push anymore. But will it hurt to at least ask him? He may give us useful information that we can use to expand the search.” Alina questioned.

Drake just shook his head. It never hurts to ask, and they will just have to sort through what, if any, info he gives them. It still gave Drake some hope.

“Good. So then, let’s hurry up. We don’t have much time left but we still have a bit to go.” Alina pointed out.

They both took a look at the map and saw they still needed to cover about nine miles, but they had just a little under a half hour to get there and get set up. So Drake attached his sword to the magnets, tightened the straps to his rifle, and booked it with Alina close behind. To them, the distance wasn’t the hardest part, but the constant changing of directions. Thanks to all the trees and shrubbery, it made it impossible to just go in a straight line. So the couple had to constantly stop to look at the gps and map and then readjust. But they made it to the sniping location with five minutes to spare; just enough time for them to get set up and dialed in.

Drake started by loosening the straps to his rifle and laying it down on the ground. Then he took off his swords and set them up against a tree that was close by. Next he quickly snapped off some branches and set them around his gun to give it a shrubbery look leaving space for his scope and slug guide only. Finally he laid down, extended the bi-pod on his gun and got into position.

Meanwhile Alina did much of the same thing. She set down her spotter scope next to Drakes rifle and loosened the straps for her katar holsters and took the mags she was holding for Drake out. Then she took off her Katar holsters and broke off some branches and other foliage to make a quick ghillie suit. Finally she laid down next to Drake on his left and looked down her spotter scope.

Drake loaded one of the mags Alina set next to him, then loaded the chamber and waited for Alinas instructions.

“Okay, set angle to bravo nineteen alpha five zeta one. Distance two point six, variable.” Alina instructed.

What she was doing was giving Drake the exact angle he needed to aim his rifle to see the base and the distance to the base with a variable range depending on where he would be shooting at. Drake knew exactly what to do and moved his gun to match the settings Alina had said. Then he looked down the scope and sure enough the base was I perfect view. From there Drake ran the numbers through his head and started adjusting and magnifying his scope. Looking for any and all signs of wind, he adjusted for that as well and set the power level needed on his gun.

“Gun set, locate targets.” Drake confirmed as Alina scanned the area for high value targets.

As Alina was still looking, the phone rang and Drake answered it.

“Hello?” Drake answered.

“All set?” Derek asked.

“Acquiring targets” Drake confirmed.

“Negative, report what you see.” Derek commanded.

Drake then passed the phone over to Alina.

“What!?” Alina demanded.

“Report what you see.” Derek repeated.

“Large base with normal level of activity. However, by some hangers on the north end there is more personnel than normal. Unable to determine what is in the hangers.” Alina reported.

“Any targets of particularly high value?” Derek asked.

“Yes, several gold ridges, some with five or more gold ridges, and one with what looks like a ruby colored ridge as well. All located by the hangers I mentioned earlier.” Alina reported again.

“Fuck a Ruby Ridge?! Ok primary target is the Ruby Ridge, you cannot miss that target. Eliminate asap. Is that understood?” Derek commanded.

“Rodger” Alina replied.

“Ok Drake, Target is Ruby Ridge; angle re-set to bravo zeta bravo six nine. Distance two point seven five nine” Alina instructed Drake.

Drake moved his scope to the northern end of the base and zeroed in on the hangers. Instantly he found the ruby ridge, but he was moving into the hangers.

“Negative, target moved into hangers, unable to confirm location.” Drake said.

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Then an idea came to his mind. What if he could see the aura through the scope? He would be able to accurately locate the aura of his target and fire on that. So he tried it out and to his excitement, he could see the auras through the scope. But when he looked in the building he couldn’t see anything. Then he remembered the target can’t be behind anything for him to see their aura unlike Alina who could see everything within a curtain range.

Then the massive hangar doors started to open up and the couple watched with confusion and interest. Alina instantly called back Derek to report on the situation.

“Yes?” Derek answered.

“The hangar doors are opening, but the Ruby went into the hangar before we could get a lock on him.” Alina explained.

“Ok, as soon as you locate the ruby again lock and fire.” Derek instructed.

“Rodger” Alina answered.

“That hanger is bigger than normal.” Drake pointed out after Alina hung up.

“I know. Wonder what’s in it?” Alina curiously stated.

“Me too.” Drake replied.

They didn’t have to wait long for their answer. Soon after, a giant flatbed truck rolled out with a huge robot laying down on its bed. The Ruby Ridge was standing on top of the robot pointing every which way. Instantly Alina called Derek to report.

“Yes?” Derek answered.

“It’s a giant fucking robot!” Alina reported.

“What?” Derek asked confused.

“What was in the hanger; it’s a giant robot, probably around a hundred fifty feet tall. Humanoid with feet, has yet to be powered on though.” Alina reported.

“Fuck... The FEAR. And the Ruby?” Derek asked.

Alina looked at Drake who did a slight nod. But she wondered what the FEAR is and how Derek knew what it was. However, that would have to wait til later; She had to focus on what's going on now.

“Located and ready to fire.” Alina stated.

Drake did some quick adjustments to his rifle, increasing the power to five and adjusting the scope for the increase in power. Then he switched off the safety and the gun hummed to life.

“Good, take him out.” Derek replied.

Drake lined up the cross-hairs on the Rubys chest and emptied his lungs. Alina gave him the signal to fire and he squeezed the trigger in between a heartbeat. The recoil kicked into Drakes shoulder and he winced from the pain. But he kept his eye on the Ruby and watched his chest explode from the impact of the slug. The slug kept going and exploded through the head of the robot; taking out a quarter of the head. As for the Ruby Ridge, his body was blown in half thanks to the force of the round. Drake instantly covered his gun and scope to hide it from anyone who may look in their direction. They must have counter snipers as well and they would be looking everywhere for them. But Alina and Drake had a lot going for them. Firstly, the gun they used is a one of a kind; no other rail guns exist as a sniper rifle since Drake is the only one capable of withstanding the recoil; all the others are massive guns mounted to battleships, or land mortars. So they will be trying to figure out the projection of the bullet based on a regular sniper rifle. Second, they are extremely far from the target. The number of people who could pull off a shot like what Drake just did is extremely small. So they won’t think to look that far out.

Soon after Alina started picking out targets. She was looking for any and all with a high ranking. After a few seconds she already picked out a couple of higher ranked gold ridges.

“Five gold at angle bravo zeta bravo six six. Distance two point seven five one.” Alina instructed.

Drake turned his gun to match Alinas instructions and uncovered his scope. He turned down the power to three to throw off the Ridge group with a different firing angle and adjusted the scope accordingly. He lined up the crosshairs again and emptied his lungs as he waited for Alinas signal. Once she gave it, he squeezed the trigger in between his heartbeat again. Since the power was reduced, the recoil wasn’t nearly as harsh, but it still caused the gun to kick into his shoulder.

After watching the five Gold Ridge drop, Drake then saw an opportunity. A few humans were running in a line just a few tens of feet in front of the five Gold Ridge he just dropped and Drake couldn’t resist. He turned up the power to get a straight line of fire. Not even bothering to wait for Alinas signal; he fired. He watched as the slug punched through all three of them, ripping them apart. Drake chuckled at the sight and went out to look for more targets. However, Alina tapped his shoulder to get his attention. She was mad he fired without warning her. Now thanks to the scare she had to readjust her scope.

But it mattered little to Drake, he was able to see quite a few targets and he could easily calculate the adjustments himself. So he tapped Alina on the shoulder to get her attention as he adjusted the power on his rifle to three and a half. She got the hint and got ready for Drake to fire. He only had two rounds left in the mag so he set up a quick two shot. Seeing a two Gold Ridge he quickly scanned upwards to where he would need to aim the gun if he wanted to hit the two Gold Ridge with a recoil shot. Luckly there was a six Gold Ridge just a little below where he needed him to be.  

“Location angle bravo zeta alpha three four, distance two point three and two point four nine one.” Drake informed Alina.

He lined up the crosshairs, recalculated the recoil and when he would need to fire again and fired. As the guns recoil pushed into him lifting the gun, he fired again knowing the power would drop down to one as well as a different angle of fire. Even Alina was amazed as she watched the two slugs hit two different targets; the first hitting the six Gold Ridge dead center of mass, the second hitting the two Gold Ridge that was significantly closer right between the eyes, blowing his head off. How Drake even knew the second target was there was beyond Alina. The two Gold Ridge should have been out of Drakes sight, but he did it none the less.

As Drake was reloading his gun, Alina called Derek to report.

“What’s the situation?” Derek asked.

“Ruby eliminated as well as a few higher ranking Golds.” Alina reported.

“Good, fall back to base. You must be tired and you took out a very high ranking target.” Derek commanded.

“Understood.” Alina said and hung up.

“Time to fall back.” Alina reported.

Drake gave her a look of disappointment, but understood. They waited for a few minutes and then slowly started to back up farther into the tree line. Once they got far enough back, Drake sat up and started to rub his shoulder. A huge bruise was visible where his tank top wasn’t covering. He knew it would heal quickly, but this is the one reason he hated using the rifle. Alina saw the damage done and felt bad, but knew it was the price to pay for such a powerful weapon. Still, after folding up her spotters scope, she scooted over to rub Drakes shoulder for him.

“At least you didn’t need to use full power.” She pointed out.

“I didn’t even use half. And it still feels like it will pop my shoulder out.” Drake replied.

“True, but that double shot you pulled off was pretty cool!” Alina complemented him.

“Hahahaha Thanks love.” Drake responded.

“Anyway, let’s get back to base. Derek said we can rest while he gets everything in order.” Alina said.

“Sounds good. I’m starving. We haven’t eaten since before the freaking battle back at base.” Drake pointed out as his stomach growled.

“Well we got quite a long hike back to base. Want to hunt something? We can even camp out here is you want.” Alina offered.

“Sounds good. But let’s look as we head back that way if we don’t find anything, we can still be on the way back to base.” Drake said.