Ant and Four 23 - Tooth and Claw
by Winter

"They're not gonna get their deposit back on those."

"If they'd sprung for tailor made, that wouldn't have been a problem."

Ant was sitting cross-legged on the floor, while Four lay on their bed, watching him work. He had, quite unceremoniously, cut a hole in the back of his satin dress pants, and was now fitting a button with which to close a flap above his tail. One of the few things that had survived the Fourtitude's ordeal was his old sewing kit, and since the radiation from the galaxy core was not of the lingering kind, he had been able to put it right back to use. It irked him slightly that he only had thread that was basic red, since it clashed with the coral fabric of the tuxedo.

Not that anyone would really notice, since his jacket covered the alteration, but he knew. And Four, of course, though his sweet friend was too kind to comment on it.

Just as Ant put his needle away, there was a knock on the door. Four hopped up to open it, and let in a beaming Niklas. The boy twirled around, showing off his outfit. As far as Ant could tell, the tuxedo fit him perfectly. Albin, the Mourners' Lament crewman who had picked up their suits, had helped him with the final fitting, and done a good job. Niklas was still thin for his height, and the first time he tried his pants they almost fell down.

"What do you think?"

"Looks good," Four said with a smile. "The green sets off your eyes nicely."

"Who are you, and where's my son?" Ant grinned as Niklas stuck his tongue out. "Seriously, though, you're every bit the gentleman."

"Thanks, papa."

"Sure you don't want a haircut?"

"Nuh-uh!" He shook his head. "I like my hair."

"Maybe just trim the edges?" Four tilted his head. "Not that you don't look fine, 'cause you do, but it would complete your upgrade."

"Nope."

"Are you as stubborn as your papa?"

"Of course he is," Ant chuckled while Niklas fired off a proud grin. "My boy."

"I'm doomed,"

* * * * * *

The three of them were all dressed up when they entered the main room. It felt almost empty, now that the other mercenary captains and their aides had returned to their own ships. The Morning Calm and the Reaper's Kiss would head on to the casino station, while the rest took their positions, ready to move in at a moment's notice.

"You three look fabulous," Tow said with a smile. "Heads will turn, believe you me."

"That's kind of the point, isn't it?"

"Sure, Ant, but..." The mechanic suddenly looked unsure, and kept wringing his hands. Ant tilted his head; he hadn't seen his large friend look so out of it. Ever. "There's something I need to tell you. A warning, if you like."

"About what? Did we miss something?"

"No, but there's... These places, they..."

"Tow, what's wrong?" Ant closed the gap between them and gave the old man a hug, feeling him tremble. "Tell me."

"They... they like to serve drinks."

"So?"

"Not juice or soda, but... alcohol. For free, just to loosen people up. Make them spend more." Tow sighed, and stepped back to meet Ant's eyes. "That stuff... it's not good for you. Not good at all, even when it makes you think it is."

"I know."

"Ant got drunk once," Four filled in. "On beer. It looked kinda funny at the time, but he was really sick after."

"Right. The smell of it still makes me queasy. I'm not gonna drink any."

"That's good." Niklas pressed himself against Ant's side, and took his hand. "My mama, she could be real nice, but when she... When she..."

"I know, buddy." Ant crouched down, and wrapped his arms around the boy. "I won't do that, not ever. When I tried beer, I didn't know what I was doing. But I do now."

"Thank you, papa."

"No worries, Tow," Ant smiled over Niklas's shoulder. "But thanks anyway, for the reminder."

Just then, Raeder entered the room, followed by... Ant's eyes widened. He had only ever seen Knife wear combat-ready clothes. Muted colours with a snug fit, adorned with a sturdy belt that held blades of various kinds, and occasionally a handgun or two. Now, she sported a bright yellow, footside dress, and she was wearing jewellery! Silver earrings, golden bracelets, diamond-looking rings, and a green flower brooch on the left side of her chest. But the pièce de résistance, the thing that made her all but unrecognisable, was a shoulder-long blonde wig. Ant's surprise must have shown on his face, because the glare she aimed his way spoke murder.

"One word, pup," she growled. "Just one word."

"You look fantastic!" Four exclaimed, smiling happily, clearly not sensing the danger. "Red carpet worthy. So red carpet worthy."

Ant grabbed his friend's arm and tugged him back, stepping half in front of him. Knife's hands opened and closed, and he thanked his lucky star that she was currently unarmed. He still didn't fancy having his face pounded through the nearest wall, so he bit back the toothy grin that wanted to split his muzzle. On any other woman, the outfit would have looked great, but on her it was so wildly out of character that it baffled his mind.

"Look who cleaned up nicely!" Tow said with a rumbling chuckle. To Ant's surprise, Knife's expression mildened from rampage to surly. "But damn, girl, it's Ant who's supposed to be stealin' the spotlight."

"Shut up, old man." She looked him up and down. "I'd like to see you wear something like this."

"Not gonna happen." He brushed the sleeves of his matte blue boilersuit. "I'm about as dressed up as I'll ever get."

"Captain." Calm's face appeared on the screen. "We are approaching Green Clover station. They are requesting our credentials."

"Give them what we set up," Raeder said. "And remember, everyone, from now on we're the Iridescent Glamour, luxury cruiser out of Sun Haven."

"Luxury cruiser?" Ant asked with a smirk. "How are you going to pull that one off?"

"You didn't see the outside work we did back at the junkyard." Raeder grinned back. "Trust me, we look like something out of a magazine."

"And not Cheese Wedge Monthly, for a change," Knife huffed. "If we don't strip those panels off soon as this is over, I'll resign."

"Don't be like that."

The screen changed to an overview of a rectangular box, floating alone in deep space. The sides and roof were lit up by garish signs promising all sorts of wonders inside. An animation showed where they were cleared to land. Ant felt his guts clench; he was getting more nervous than he had been in... well, he couldn't think of an occasion. This was really happening.

* * * * * *

A casino employee wearing a black suit and tie, met up as soon as the crew quarters ramp lowered. Ant turned to Raeder, whose flight suit jacket fit perfectly for his role as private chauffeur, and instructed him to clean up the place while they were away. Then he introduced himself with the name he had been given in his fake passport.

"I am Antonio Ramirez, business man from Sun Haven." He patted Niklas's good shoulder. "This is my son, Nicky, his governess, Sarah, and our nanny robot."

"Very good, sir," the suit answered with a slight bow, then checked an oversized datapad. "You have dinner reservations at eight o'clock, but no suite."

"We'll stay aboard the Glamour." Ant smiled and turned to gesture at the ship, and almost lost his composure. There was little left of the off-white colour, and instead the ship's surface glittered like a sparkly rainbow. "Now, kindly escort me to the casino."

"Certainly, sir."

The man scanned Ant's passport, then Knife's. He nodded, and turned to walk down a well-lit corridor. Ant followed, his tail perking in spite of his nerves, while Knife and Four joined him in forming a triangle, with Niklas in its centre. The boy had objected to being guarded, but as they entered the atrium of the Green Clover Resort & Casino, Ant heard him gasp. Before long, he had a small arm around his waist.

Ant could relate; it really was a sight to behold. The main room was huge! It could easily house the Morning Calm, ten times over at least. The ceiling, three storeys up, had windows displaying a view of the neighbouring stars. Including a nebula Ant found quite spectacular. Everywhere were bright signs above doors leading to restaurants, bars, shops, a hotel claiming to be five stars, and other things Ant didn't really understand. He gave Niklas a reassuring squeeze. Four, who had been quite pleased with being cast as a nanny, closed in on the boy's other side, while Knife brought up the rear.

A waiter came over with a tray of drinks and canapés. Ant took a small glass of orange soda and handed it to Niklas, then picked one for himself. He munched on a tiny rye bread sandwich with cucumber slices, and listened with half an ear as their escort pointed out different game tables and the way to other parts of the casino. During their meeting with the mercenary captains, they had gone through the whole structure, and Ant felt sure he could find his way around blindfolded. The word cashier caught his attention, and he put his empty glass back on the waiter's tray, resisting the urge to grab another sandwich.

Soon he was carrying a wicker basket filled with colourful bits of plastic, representing a ridiculously high sum of money. The largest chips were made to look like gold bars, and it made Ant's head spin that just one of those was worth more than the Sunview mainframe had paid him for being a research subject. He drew in a deep breath, held it, then let it out slowly, trying to centre himself. It wouldn't do, to let slip that he was way, way out of his depth. Four seemed to sense his agitation, and brushed their hands together.

It was a barely noticeable gesture, but it warmed Ant's heart and helped him find his calm.

* * * * * *

The first game Ant tried was called roulette. He had learned about it earlier, but this was the first time he actually saw it played. Fishing out a couple of small red chips, he placed them on the number four. To his left, he heard a slight gasp, and he couldn't help but smile. If he had any lucky number, that was it. He lost, or course, but even though Niklas groaned, Ant merely shrugged. He wasn't there to win, after all. But the more he watched the spinning wheel, the more he began to see patterns. After losing a couple of times, he waited until just before the croupier called out last bets, and hurriedly chose number sixteen. As the wheel slowed, the tiny ball teetered on the edge, but in the end it landed where Ant had hoped. He heard Four and Niklas cheer, as he raked in a large stack of chips.

A couple of spins later he repeated the process with twenty-five, and won again. Thirty was next, and suddenly Ant was holding two wicker baskets filled with chips. This was easy! A couple of people around him gave him glares, and he wondered in their human eyes couldn't see the way the ball was bouncing around, and where it was going. No matter. He was just about to get ready for another bet, when one of the black suits walked his way. Were they about to come for him already? Ant tensed up, and felt Knife sidle up to him.

But nothing happened. The man stopped a few paces away, and held a hand to his ear. Clearly, whoever he was listening to told him to back off, because that was what he did. Ant decided to leave the roulette. Captain Arrow of the Reaper's Kiss had told him that casinos strongly disliked people who kept winning, and that they might be asked to leave if they were too lucky. Or in Ant's case, could predict the ball's movements. That was not his objective, so he placed one of the medium-sized chips on a number that was far from where the ball would land. A woman halfway around the table won instead, and she shrieked with joy, while Ant took Niklas's hand and walked towards another table.

This one featured a card game, a variety of poker, and Ant turned out to be really bad at it. Each player got two cards, and the object was to form hands with a row of communal cards. He knew the rules of poker; Tow had taught him several card games during his stay aboard the Morning Calm. Like then, he now faced the fact that his tail had a tendency to betray his hand. As soon as it started wagging, the others backed out, while Ant's attempts to bluff were mercilessly cut down. He kept winning small and losing big, and this time there was no sign of black suits. Except for, he mused, the clubs and the spades.

He shared the joke with Four, in a whisper he knew nobody else would be able to pick up, and was rewarded with a soft giggle.

To keep with his role as a rich business man who was gambling for real, Ant pretended to be annoyed as he finally threw yet another losing hand down, and he left the table mock-growling to himself.

After a while of trying and failing at several other games, he could tell that Niklas was getting bored. There was still a few hours before their dinner reservation, so he suggested a movie. They didn't have a time limit, so surely they could spare an hour or two. While he was travelling with Four, Ant had been to the cinema a couple of times, and he really liked the experience even though the sound was usually too loud for him. But Niklas, it turned out, had never been, and got more and more excited as they joined the line to a child-friendly film. Knife declined with a huff.

* * * * * *

One colourful and, to Ant, silly but enjoyable cartoon later, they had dinner in a luxury restaurant. Ant made big eyes over the place setting, with numerous pieces of silverware and several glasses. In a low voice, Four talked him and Niklas through it all, while course after course was brought to them. Each tiny, but all taken together, they provided a proper meal. To be honest, Ant would have preferred Mrs Brunner's cooking. So, it seemed, did Niklas. Four, who was playing a regular robot, only ate a couple of morsels which Ant secretively fed him.

Knife carried herself with ease throughout the meal, and Ant made a mental note to ask her about it at a later time. He hadn't figured her to be a high roller, but she had clearly done this before. Even though they had travelled together for the better part of a year, he now realised that he knew next to nothing about her life. Beyond weapons and martial arts training and the way she kept teasing him, they hadn't interacted much. Maybe he would talk to her about it, at some point, since he doubted she would volunteer to share. But not now. Not when they were in the middle of what could only be described as a covert operation.

Ant passed his dessert bowl over to Four, who beamed at him as he tucked in. He had found it far too sweet, though the others didn't seem to mind. With the meal over, Ant took Niklas to the restroom so they could both wash up, then it was back to gambling. Several times during the afternoon and evening, he saw men in dark suits approach him, only to change their minds at the last moment. Why, he didn't have a clue. He had contacted Raeder on their secure commlink, but the captain couldn't guess either. Maybe he needed to up the ante, so to speak.

There was an entire room filled with gambling machines, off the atrium close to where the cinema was. It was noisy, and lights were blinking everywhere as people put chips into what Ant knew was called one-armed bandits or slot machines. It was these kinds of gadgets, he remembered from his briefing, that the pirates were using upstairs to move stolen money in and out of their business. These were regular ones, though, and as wheels spun or screens flashed, people would occasionally win. But mostly they lost, which suited him fine.

He fed a couple of machines at random, but the symbols were nowhere near matching up. A few times, when no-one seemed to be looking their way, he let Niklas try. The boy was excited at first, but when he, too, failed to win he grew tired of it, and joined Knife in the back of the room, where there was a row of pinball machines. Ant lost a couple of the larger chips, more money by far than he had ever made selling toys.

"These things are so angry," Four whispered into his ear while two lemons were joined by a spoil-sport orange. "They are not happy machines."

"What do you mean?"

"They are computers. Not really sentient ones, but still. I can tell that they hate paying out, and try their best to not win." He patted the one that had just eaten another of Ant's chips. "Now it's feeling smug, for beating you. Almost happy. Try again."

Ant did, and this time he won. Not much, but the little tune the machine played while it spat out a couple of chips made him giddy with joy. No wonder people got addicted to this. He immediately paid a handful of chips, but now he lost.

"It's angry again. You won't win here for a while."

"We're not here to win." Ant bet big, and lost once more. "Do you see any bad guys yet?"

"No. But I don't really know what to look for. I doubt they'll be wearing those Steelwood uniforms you told me about."

"Black and red. Like the one who shot me." A thought entered Ant's mind, and his ears perked. "Do you think they chose those colours because of this place? Like the card suits?"

"Dunno. I have no idea how a pirate's mind works." Four led Ant to a machine at the end of a row, just as a man lost to it, groaning with frustration. "Try this one."

"Good luck with it," the man huffed. "That one's infamous. Almost never pays out. Some say it's cursed."

"The why did you bet on it?"

"'Cause the jackpot's huge! Someone's gotta win it, but it won't be me."

Ant gave the machine a chip while the man walked off, but to no avail. Four wanted him to stay, though, so he kept at it. He glanced over to the pinball area, where Niklas was playing a game. The boy was smiling widely, and so was Knife as she cheered him on. That caught him a bit by surprise. She looked happier than he had ever seen her, outside the gym. To see his son bond with his old crewmates, almost made Ant's eyes water. It felt as if his past and present lives were coming together. To form a future, maybe? He decided to join them, but Four stopped him.

"Almost," he whispered. "It's almost happy now."

Ant shrugged, and went back to gambling. This time two triple-sevens lined up, followed by a grape. He groaned, and reached into one of the wicker baskets. He came up with a handful of the golden bars, and a couple of people who were watching gasped. Well, he thought, I'm supposed to make a spectacle of myself. He fed all of the chips to the machine, then pressed the spin button. A few seconds later, all hell broke loose.

* * * * * *

This time, three triple-sevens! Ant barely had time to gasp, before red lights lit up atop the machine, and it blared out something that sounded like a siren. No chips came out, and Ant's heart nearly skipped a beat. Was this it? A black suit hurried over, flipped a switch on the back of the machine, and it quieted down.

"Congratulations, sir." The man gave a small bow and, seeing Ant's confusion, smiled. "A win this size can't be paid out in chips. If you'd like to follow me to the cashier's desk we can set you up with a check. Or, if you have a money card..."

Still dazed, Ant reached into the inside pocket of his tuxedo jacket, and fished out his card. The man held up something that looked like a bar code scanner from a grocery store, pressed a button, and both things beeped. Then he bowed again, and was gone. Ant scratched the back of his head. What had just happened? He had been ready for danger, but instead people started slapping his back and congratulating him. Four gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, then dragged him away from the throng.

"That one's angry now. Really furious. It won't give out chips for a long time."

"Where's Niklas?" Ant looked over at the pinballs, but saw no flashes or green or yellow. "And Knife?"

"At the bar. They're having ice cream." Four giggled. "Hey, snap out of it! You never been lucky before?"

"It's not really luck, with you reading the machines." Ant huffed. "Find me a totally angry one, we gotta start losing again."

Just then, he could hear raised voices from the atrium. Someone screamed, and there came the sound of many running feet. In a second, Knife was by their side, with a metre-long blade in each hand. Where had she been hiding those? Ant wondered. Niklas burrowed into him, while Four closed in on the boy's other side. They made their way out of the slot machine area, just as there were more screams, followed by a gunshot.

People were panicking now, but even as they ran they steered clear of Knife. Over at the back end of the large main room, Ant saw a sight that made his insides cold. Red and black uniforms, joining up with some of the black suits. More shots were fired, but the pirates seemed to be shooting in the air. Steelwood. Ant thought he could feel a twinge in his scar. He gritted his teeth, and his muzzle found an angry snarl, as an image of Caleb passed before his mind's eye.

No more!

No more of his friends were to die.

Let alone, his family.

With Knife leading the way, they squeezed through the mass of running people, aiming for the door they had come in through. Had that only been a few hours ago? Ant triple-tapped the commlink device on his collar; the distress signal they had agreed on, but he got no reply. He glanced at Four, who shook his head. So the comms were down. That was bad. Where was their backup?

Both the Morning Calm and the Reaper's Kiss were supposed to be watching the casino's security cameras. Raeder and the others should already be there, to deal with the pirates. To send them running to their ships, and fly off into the mercenaries' trap. But nothing happened, except the herd of panicked people thinned out, and the red and black pirates began moving across the floor of the atrium. Towards them. Ant gritted his teeth, and clenched his fists until his claws dug into his palms. If they both survived this, he was going to murder Raeder!

They came to a halt at the poker table, trapped on all sides. No way to get to the ship. No way to reach the stairs or the back rooms, to hide. Why they weren't dead already, Ant didn't know, but at that moment he cherished every breath. The pirates and the black suits all stopped, and to his amazement, they began to move away. They were still surrounded, but it was a loose encirclement. What was going on?

The answer came with the sound of a heavy metal door, opening. Ant watched as someone walked through it, bowing their head so as not to bang it against the frame.

Gone was the Steelwood uniform. Gone was the hood that had obscured his features in Lakeview. Wearing a light blue suit and tie and a smirk on his muzzle, the pirate wolf strode across the atrium towards them. Ant had guessed his height to about two-and-a-half metres, and now that he got a good look, he was ready to add a decimetre to that. What he could see of his fur, hands and face, was a sand-coloured tan. Light brown, almost golden eyes bored into his own. Large, sharp, perfectly white teeth showed as the pirate grinned.

He stopped on the other side of the poker table, completely ignoring the others. His entire focus was on Ant. It was as if all sound faded, time seemed to slow down. A part of Ant wanted nothing more than to lower his eyes, show throat, even fall to the ground and roll over. Submit, to this oppressive presence. He bit his lip until he tasted blood, the pain grounding him somewhat.

"Your humans can go." The voice was impossibly deep, a rumbling growl that played havoc with Ant's mind. The call for submission became a scream. "They mean nothing to me. You, on the other hand..."

Ant took a step to the side, as Four began ushering a struggling Niklas towards the parking hangar. Knife hesitated, but at a gesture from Ant, she followed them. The pirates parted, let them through, then backed away to form a wide perimeter. This, it seemed, was to be a two-wolf show. The huge pirate leaned across the table, inhaling deeply through his nose. Sniffing.

"Yes..." he hissed. "It is you. I thought I smelled you on the Range, and I saw the footage from the security cameras. Who are you? Where did you come from?"

Ant said nothing, but continued to glare. He could tell that his gaze was wavering, though. There was no way he could win this stare-down. The other wolf huffed, then slammed his fist on the table. Ant jumped, and took half a step backwards. Mental focus lost, his eyes snapped to his own feet, and his predicament was met with a deep chuckle.

"Come on, don't be like this. Tell me what I want to know, and I promise your friends can go. And that includes your two ships in the hangar."

"Wh-who are you?" Ant chastised himself, for not being able to keep his voice steady. He sounded like a lost and frightened pup! "Where... How... how could you... hurt people?"

"Mmm..." Those gold-brown eyes travelled up and down Ant's body, rigid scrutiny that felt all but tangible. "I thought you might be seventh-gen, or maybe they'd even started an eighth, but you're just a whelp! Tell me, now, where do you come from?"

"The freak show," Ant muttered surly, still unable to resume the eyes-lock. "I can get you in, we'll be a double act."

"Hrr!" The wordless growl almost made Ant's teeth rattle. "You should know that, by now, my humans have your kid. And your robot. And that woman from the Morning Calm. The one they call Blade."

"...Knife..."

Tears threatened to well up in Ant's eyes. He tried a deep breath, but it was too shaky and escaped his lungs before it could bring him any peace. This was impossible! He couldn't give up Niklas and Four and the others, he just couldn't! But to sell out his people... Who knew what this madwolf would do to them if he found the Mining Belt? The pirate growled again, then made a hand gesture. At once, all the others disappeared. Only the two of them remained.

"You're way too young to have fled the labs. And you're tiny. Weak." He sniffed the air. "You smell wrong. Were you born?"

"Born?" Ant's head spun. What a question. "Of... of course I was! What are you talking about?"

"You know nothing. Nothing at all." Suddenly the tone was softer, bordering gentle. "You don't even know what you are."

"I'm a wolf." And he had been. Ever since his stay at the Sunview hospital station, Ant had thought of himself and his people as wolfs. Before then, he hadn't had any name for his own species. They had simply... been. "Like you."

"Yeah!" The laugh that followed the exclamation sounded almost cordial. "There's wolf in you, boy. And bear, and ratel, and tiger, all kinds of animals. But mostly, you're human. They're where your brain comes from, and your precious opposable thumbs. When it comes to looks, though, I grant you, the wolf always won out."

"But..."

"You never even wondered where you came from? I guess you came from your mama, but where did your ancestors come from?"

"Nobody..." Ant swallowed around a sudden lump in his throat. "I mean... we just presumed..."

"That you were a natural thing?" Ant nodded meekly, and the other shook his head and sighed. "What's your name?"

"My name?"

"You have one of those, don't you? I saw you talk to your friends, though the security cameras couldn't pick up what you were saying. Do they call you 'hey, you'?"

"I'm Ant. That's not my real name, but everyone calls me Ant."

"Hmm. Ant." He nodded. "I never had a name, just a specimen number. My humans call me the Admiral."

"Admiral..." Ant's voice was hushed, almost a whisper. "Specimen?"

"I'm fifth-gen. Five-dash-six-six-seven, three-zero-zero-eight. It's branded onto my chest, underneath the fur. I'm a razer."

* * * * * *

"Razer..." Ant's mind was spinning. "What's that even mean?"

"What do you know about human history, Ant? In particular, the history of war."

"I've read a few books."

"Back on Earth, they almost warred themselves out of existence." The Admiral growled. "In hindsight, might have been better if they had. They fought for dominance, for territory, to find out who had the better gods. Or just, plain madness. And they brought their wars with them, when they spread out into the galaxy."

"I know that much," Ant muttered, still trying to find the mental strength he needed. "But there's pretty much peace now. Has been for centuries."

"On the surface. Grudges don't die easy." The Admiral leaned against the poker table, and caught Ant's eyes. "That's why they made us. The razers. A lab engineered freak show, as you put it. We were supposed to fight the last battles for them; the perfect killing machines. A handful of us would have destroyed a city, a battalion would have decimated an entire planet."

"So what happened?"

"Simplest thing in the world. Armistice." He laughed, and Ant could detect a tone of bitterness to it. "A couple of extremist fractions kept on fighting, but they were crushed by the regular armies. Before we could even be deployed, we were obsolete. So what do you do with your deadliest weapons, when there's no more fight?"

"Turn them," Ant said with a deep sigh, his eyes stinging with tears, "into miners."

"Miners?" This time, the laugher was disdainful. "That's what they had you doing? What a waste! No, Ant, they decided to kill us. Mistakes, to be erased."

"You escaped."

"A few of us. The strongest. The fiercest." He sighed. "But since then, the others have all died. Fighting each other, fighting me. Fighting anything that moved. I thought for sure I was the last. Which leads me, to you."

"M-me?"

"I told you my story, now you tell me yours. How many of you are there? Are you really, truly breeding?"

"Of course we are!" This time, Ant did meet the Admiral's gaze. "How... how else do you think I was born?"

"We were all made to be sterile." Ant's eyes widened, and for the first time ever, he felt something akin to sympathy for a pirate. "Barren!"

"I... I don't really know much. We were born, we worked, then we died. That's all. Nobody wrote our history."

"Where, boy? Where are the others? Are there even any others?"

"I don't really know." In a sense, that was true. More than two years had passed since Ant left the Mining Belt onboard the Morning Calm. For all he knew, they could all have left as well. "Why? Wh-what are you...?"

"Imagine. A whole army of us. Of razers!" The golden eyes were gleaming now, and there was a steely set to the Admiral's jaw. Ant didn't like it. Not one bit. "We could claim our own system, our own sector! Or we could just move from planet to planet, taking whatever we want."

"Like you did in Lakeview?" Ant could hear his own voice rise, even though that submissive thing inside him wanted nothing more than to back down. "So many died, for what? A simple robbery? My friend Caleb died!"

"Hmph! You're far gone, aren't you?" The growl deepened. "No human is ever going to be your friend. Not really. Once they get what they want from you, they'll throw you away. Like garbage."

"Not true!"

"Let me guess," the Admiral mocked. "Some of your best friends are humans?"

"Actually, yes." Ant clenched his fists, and this time he was able to meet the pirate's gaze, and hold it. "And if you hurt them, if you even touch them, I'll end you!"

"Tsch! What a shame." The Admiral shook his head. "You know, I had a whole speech planned out. How we're the same, how we should join up. Us against the world. All for naught."

"I'll never join you."

"I know." A smile spread across the pirate wolf's muzzle, a feral grin that sent shivers down Ant's spine. "But you will tell me where to find others like you, or I will flay your friends alive. Including your kid."

* * * * * *

A growl began in Ant's throat, and he snarled. The smug look on the Admiral's face made his claws itch. His conscious thoughts faded, replaced by that same red haze that had briefly filled him when he fought Knife. Only this time, even stronger. Enemy! This was his true enemy. This one was after his people. Both his blood kin and his adopted family. He could not allow that.

To his right, a door slammed, and seconds later... someone... crossed into his peripheral vision. Another enemy! No, wait, this one... this was one of his.

"Ant!" Knife called out. "Ant, come on! We gotta go."

His only answer was to growl again, and when she went to grab his arm, his jaws snapped shut mere inches from her fingers. She cried out, and stepped back.

"Snap out of it, pup!" she hissed. "Niklas and Four are on their way to the ship. We don't go now, they're gonna take off without us."

"Actually," the Admiral said, his voice almost sweet as he smiled at Knife, "they are on their way to one of my safe rooms. The sooner you stand down, the fewer pieces you'll find them in."

Knife cursed out loud, and Ant felt his mind snap like a rubber band stretched too far. With a half yell, half growl, he jumped across the table and threw a punch. The Admiral stepped back, surprisingly agile for someone so big, and the next second Ant's world exploded with pain. He felt dizzy, his mouth filled with blood, and he staggered back. Through the red, he saw Knife move in, jabbing with one of her blades only to have it slapped out of her hand. She barely dodged a vicious punch.

That was... that was his friend.

Nobody was allowed to hurt his friends!

This time, his own punch landed clean, right to the larger wolf's midsection. The Admiral grunted, but when he turned to Ant to retaliate, Knife's second blade sliced through his jacket sleeve. It came away darkly wet, and the smell of blood hit Ant's nostrils. His enemy's blood! Something stirred inside him, something both old and new and immensely powerful. A need to hunt. A need to kill.

He roared; a growl-cry deeper than anything his voice had ever produced before, and he swung wildly. His first two blows missed, but the third hit the Admiral's chest. From his left, Knife moved in, and she cut true. Fresh blood flowed down the pirate's front from a tear right next to his tie. A backhanded slap missed her, but it caught Ant instead. He stumbled, and the Admiral's boot caught him in the stomach.

All air left him, but he barely registered the pain. Instead he slashed with his claws, and tried to bite, but all missed. He growled with frustration. He wanted blood, and he was not to be denied! Knife yelled something, but Ant was too far gone for language. Deep inside, though, a part of him that was trying to reach the forefront, caught the gist of it. He needed a plan; they needed a plan. Attacking blindly would do no good. He would get himself killed, and Knife as well. And after that, who would be there to save Niklas and Four?

He made a swift gesture with his fingers, and from the slight curl of Knife's lip, he knew she had caught it. Hand signals during combat, was one of the many things she had tried to teach him. This one meant, go high. He aimed a reckless punch again, but when the Admiral reached for him, he ducked low and kicked at a knee. There was a crunch when his heel impacted, but not the clear pop that Knife had told him about, which would have meant blown-out ligaments. Still, the large wolf staggered, and at that moment, a blade lodged itself deep in his chest. This time, the growl had a bit of a whimper in it.

Fresh blood threatened Ant's ability to strategise, but before he was able to launch himself, a wild punch sent Knife flying. With a roar of fury, the Admiral ripped the blade out and threw it away, followed by a gush of blood. Ant swung, but missed. How could he get close enough, when he could barely reach the other's face?

Then it came to him. In the time it took to blink, he saw Caleb's grinning face. He saw the practice wall at Indoor Mountain, and he saw handgrips and footholds. He would have to climb.

Ant grabbed the other wolf's tie, jumped up and dug his toe claws into the waistband of his trousers. Next came a fistful of neck scruff, before he sank his teeth into the Admiral's throat. His mouth filled with blood, and all coherent thoughts left him. Ant became a creature of pure instinct. His pack had been threatened! He had to protect his own! The Admiral bellowed, but the sound was strained. Weakened.

The taste of his enemy's blood spurred Ant on, and every time he adjusted the grips with his hands or toes, he deepened his bite. Gnashed his teeth, worried the slice of skin he had ahold of. His mouth filled up, and he swallowed, and the red haze inside his mind grew to fill his entire field of vision. Against his cheek, he could feel the fast-paced thrum of the carotid artery. He wanted that! Wanted to rip it out, wanted to let his enemy's blood pour all over him. He shifted again, and this time he bit through tendons.

Then, there was pain. Claws raked through his tuxedo jacket, bit deep into his back. Ant ignored it, and continued to chew on the Admiral's neck. From somewhere very far away, he could hear the tearing sounds of small knives ripping fabric and piercing flesh. Knife, attacking while the large wolf was busy with him. This was it, they were doing it. They were killing the boss pirate! Before he could count his victory, though, the pain in Ant's back reached an agonising crescendo. He lost his grip as he yelled out; more of a shrill yelp.

His tail was being yanked!

With a roar, The Admiral tore Ant off of him, then spun around, still with a firm grip on Ant's tail. In mid-swing, he let go, and Ant crashed into the poker table, toppling it before crashing to the floor and rolling to a stop. His whole spine was screaming at him, but to his relief he could still move. When he crawled to his feet he saw the pirate advance on Knife, who seemed to have lost the last of her weapons.

"Down!"

Ant wasn't sure if he had actually formed the word, or if he had just cried out with rage. But Knife did duck, just as Ant jumped. His foot landed on the side of the upturned table, and he launched himself as high as he could. He kicked out, and connected with the Admiral's face, claws first. Deep gashes appeared, and the large wolf fell. Ant, too, collapsed in a heap. Shrugging off the pain as best he could, he staggered to his feet, just as his enemy, too, got up. He took one step, then spun around when someone grabbed his shoulder. At the very last second, he managed to stop himself from biting Knife, but he couldn't hold back a snarling growl.

"Quit it!" She slapped his cheek, hard, and the suddenness of the move stunned him. He blinked away some of the red rage, enough so he could hear and understand what she was saying. "We have to go, the ship is under attack. They're taking heavy fire, from two sides."

"Ni... Niklas...?" Ant's voice was raspy, the words difficult to form. "Four?"

"They're already there, they made it. But we have to help them!"

Ant was torn. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Admiral walk unsteadily towards the door he had come out through. His enemy. Wounded, but not fatally so. He needed to finish the job! But... his family needed him. Four. Niklas. Raeder and Tow. The choice was difficult, yet at the same time crystal clear. Much of the rage left him, as he turned to follow Knife.

Only now, did he see the destruction that had befallen Green Clover Resort & Casino. The panicked crowd had turned over most of the tables. The roulette wheel lay on its side. Doors hung half off their hinges. Here and there lay abandoned betting chips. All because the Admiral had wanted to face Ant alone. Then he spotted two empty wicker baskets lying on the floor, and he whimpered.

"My winnings..."

* * * * * *

Back to his senses, Ant could fully feel how much he was hurting. His feet gave way as they entered the corridor that would lead them back to the hangar, and he would have fallen if Knife hadn't caught his arm. He coughed, and the floor in front of him was spattered with dark red. All of a sudden, the sight, smell and taste of blood sickened him, and he leaned against the nearest wall and threw up. He had... he had been... he had been drinking the Admiral's blood. In his rage it had been the sweetest thing, now it disgusted him. He retched again.

"Come on." Knife's voice was soft, and she steered him gently away from the puddle of bile. "We need to hurry, they can't hold out much longer."

"Comms are back, then?" Ant could barely recognise his own hoarse voice, and it almost hurt to talk. Knife nodded. "How... how did we even survive... him?"

"He thought we'd be pushovers. I bet nobody's actually stood up to him, in a long time." She patted his shoulder. "You did good back there, Ant. Real good."

Groaning, gritting his teeth against the pain in his back, Ant followed as Knife took off at a jog. From somewhere up ahead, he started hearing gunfire. The rage threatened to return, but this time he managed to keep it in check. It wouldn't do to run against a hail of bullets, fists swinging. They would need another plan.

At an intersection of corridors, they came across five people, all lying slumped on the floor. All wearing Steelwood black and red. All knocked out cold. Ant sniffed the air, and even through the lingering smell of blood he could sense...

"Four. He and Niklas, they were here."

"He did this?" Knife whistled softly. "I'm almost impressed."

"They tried to... tried to..."

"Hey! Stay with me!" She bent down and picked up two of the rifles that the pirates had dropped, and ripped ammunition belts off two of them. "Here."

Ant almost dropped the gun that she tossed to him. It felt cold to the touch, and so wrong in his hands. Raeder had tried to teach him how to shoot, but he had never liked it. The bangs hurt his ears, and it never sat well with him, the thought of hurting people. Still, he clung on to the thing, steeling himself. He was ready to do whatever it took, to keep his family safe. Knife gestured to him to go on ahead, so he did, ignoring a sinking feeling inside his stomach.

As he ran he told himself that she was just going to search the pirates for more ammo. He told himself that the five swift raps of gunfire that reached his ears, were coming from the hangar.

The Morning Calm was, indeed, in big trouble. Peering around a corner, Ant could see that many of the colourful panels that had adorned it, were either shot to pieces or gone completely. To the front of the ship, dozens of pirates had barricaded themselves behind cargo crates, and they were now firing at the Calm's crew area ramp. Behind which, Tow was taking cover. At the same time, a smaller band of attackers were shooting from the side. Raeder was returning fire from inside the cargo bay door.

Ant could not see Four or Niklas anywhere.

Knife tapped his shoulder and pointed to the left, and Ant nodded grimly. From their position, they had an almost clear line of sight to the pirates that were firing at Raeder. He knew what to do, but he still almost botched it, squeezing his trigger twice before he remembered to flip the safety to off. Then, the gun kicked at his shoulder, and splinters exploded out of one of the cargo boxes. The attackers panicked; Knife shot a couple of them, and the rest exposed themselves to Raeder as they scrambled for new cover. It was over in less than a minute.

Ant saw two of the pirates raise their guns at them, but his rifle spat first. Both of them fell. Part of Ant wanted to scream. Wanted to curse the Admiral for doing this to him. Forcing him to kill in cold blood. Knife elbowed him, sharply.

"Don't start puking again!" she hissed. "Think of Niklas."

It worked. Ant clenched his jaws shut until it hurt, and kept firing. Raeder signalled to them to move ahead, then turned to shoot at the pirates up front. There was a brief gap in the barrage, and both Ant and Knife managed to duck into cover behind the crates. One of the attackers that he had shot stirred, but Knife ended him with a bullet to the head. Ant was feeling queasy again, but he bit it back. His other victim, a young woman, was staring at the ceiling, her eyes blank. He tried his best to rein in his emotions, as he readied himself to fire at the second group.

Readied himself, to kill again.

With their flank free, the Calm crew were able to keep their assailants at bay, long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Mercenaries from the Reaper's Kiss opened up a second front, and the few pirates who didn't fall, quickly surrendered. In a flash Ant was across the hangar floor, and up the crew area ramp.

"Ant!"

Niklas's shrill cry soothed Ant's feverish mind, took away the pain in his battered body. He caught the boy into his arms, cradled him gently, breathed in his scent. Alive! Four was there, too, fussing over Ant's injuries because, of course he did. His sweet Four, always thinking of others.

"Ant, the pirates! They jumped us an' they grabbed me, but he saved me." Niklas's rapid fire chatter barely registered. Ant reached up to touch his face, to make sure he was really, truly there, but he regretted it when he left a smear of blood on the boy's cheek. "Four, I mean. He was great, he just threw him an' he punched them an' he was amazing!"

Just then, when he was safe and his family was safe and his friends were safe, Ant's strength left him. His knees buckled, but Four held him up, moved him over to the coffee table and eased him down. Breathing ragged, Ant tried to speak, tried to tell them how happy he was to see them. How much he loved them, but all that came out was a croak.

Then there was a fresh jab of pain, and he saw Tow's large hands pull the needle of a syringe out of his arm. The betrayal! His mouth opened, but suddenly he was too weak to even bite. His aches began to fade. Niklas's voice drowned away. All that remained was Four's gentle hands, caressing his face, but then they, too were gone.

And everything turned black.