Now, I don't know shit about whatever the creatures we rescued were, but one thing that was clear to me was that whatever liquid they were floating in when we found them was some form of pain killers because it wasn't long after we boarded the Chinook that they started to suffer, even though they were doing a pretty good job of hiding it, I could still tell. My best guess as to why is because they thought since we had already spared them once against my will, that I wouldn't be willing to help them on top of it. Let me just say that at first, I wasn't. But Arnett couldn't stand to see them suffering and started trying to help, which was a bad choice for her. She must have been allergic to something in the blood, because the little bit she got on her paws made the scales on them start sliding off. So where did this leave the team? Well, I was the only other on the team that had medical knowledge that even began to compare to Arnett's, so while Nina bandaged her paws, she had to tell me what to do, since I didn't have the same reaction to the blood that she did. There is a reason that the only doctor I ever wanted to be was a doctor for sports cars. When your trying to close a hole in someone's chest so big you can see their heart beating, now that shit gets to you. When I finally managed to get the hole closed off, I gave him the biggest dose of morphine that Arnett and I could both agree was safe and then used a drug I can't tell you the name of because reasons to put him to sleep. Now, his sister wasn't suffering as badly as he was, because she wasn't missing all the flesh on her chest, but I'm willing to bet my tail that third degree burns and a back leg that looked like someone had carved it with a hunting knife still hurt like a mother fucker.

Arnett and I made short work of her injuries and put her to sleep as well for the remainder of the 15 hour fly back to area 29. When we finally did touch down, the sun was baking the black tarmac with all the force of ten thousand suns of misery. Morningstar and the Prof were waiting for us on the strip with his Veyron throwing it's blue glow all over the place.

"Let me see them Ace", Green said cutting straight to the chase. I had radioed ahead a few hours before we landed and told him that we had recovered two of Black River's creatures and killed a third. I had also done the best I could to describe what the one we fought looked like, which left Green scratching his head and apparently antsy for us to return.

"I don't think that their awake Prof", I said stepping back into the Chinook, pointing to the back where only the male was awake, "well, both of them any way."

'Where are we?", he asked, his voice soundly only slightly better than it had.

"Area 29", the professor said, "Ace told me over the radio you were hurt, so please try not to talk, there's a medical team on the way, they'll take care of your sister."

"Please don't cut us apart like they were", he said, sounding as though he was about to cry with the thought, "I can't handle any more knives!"

"Cut you apart?", the professor asked, "what do you mean?"

"Those people", he said tears streaking down his face, "the men with the white coats. They kept bleeding us, cutting our sink off, it just went on, and on, and on and they wouldn't stop!"

"I promise I won't go anywhere near you or your friend with any knives", Green said as the two Korean Doctors showed up, "and if I do, I also promise that it will only be to help, not to hurt. You can trust us here."

The male didn't reply. Nina and I had to help Green and the Docs take the two of them to the infirmary where green instantly set on treating their injures. I wasn't sure why I so...concerned about this. What was off here? I sat in the infirmary for an hour or two before I got tired of waiting and went back to the barracks to play Minecraft. 1.9.0 had come out about two or so months back and at first, I had hated it because it ruined my texture pack, but I eventually got used to it and realized it was awesome. I had just barely gotten my PC booted when Carlos came in, a big grin on his face.

"What are you so smiley about?", I asked as I entered my password.

"You'll never guess who I just talked to on the phone", he said.

"Oh I can guess", I said grinning, "hmm....you called tech support because your stash of lesbian porn went missing?"

"Not quite", Carlos said.

"Then I'm out of guesses", I said.

Carlos laughed, "I talked to your Dad ace."

I paused for a second, not sure I heard it right.

'Come again?", I asked, "you talked to my Dad?"

He nodded, "your entire family loaded up the van a few days ago. They just drove into Bakersfeild."

I closed the PC, "well holy shit, My Dad came to California, I didn't think he'd ever set foot in this state."

Carlos laughed, "keep preaching to the choir brother."

"Any idea when they'll get here?", I asked.

"About an hour or so", Carlos said.

"Who manages the vehicles for Project Venom?", I asked, "pays for them and all."

"Sam", Carlos said.

"Thanks Carlos", I said putting up my PC. I quickly put my boots on and ran to the dome. I had an idea in my head that in all honesty Sam would probably shoot down, but hell, it couldn't hurt to try. I had to search the dome for a while before I found Sam in the cafeteria dining on a pizza.

"Hey Sam", I said knocking on the door.

"Hey Ace", he said, 'what's up?"

"I have a pretty stiff question to ask you", I said.

"Heh", he laughed, "shoot."

"How much money do you have?"

"Shit Ace", Sam laughed, 'I can't count that high. Why ya wanna know? What you want?"

"Is there any possible way you could get a 1997 Nissan 240SX with a 1,000 horsepower R34 Engine for my Dad?", I asked.

Sam set his pizza down, "A 240? Why a 240 of all things?"

"Because 240's mean something to him", I said, "they mean something to me to. I can't tell you all the fond memories I had in that 240 he had before he sold it a few years back. It was the first time I ever actually saw my Dad cry."

Sam leaned back in his chair, "hmm. If I could get this 240, and I'm not saying I can, what color would it have to be?"

"Red", I said, "to match his old 240, also, if you can, I have a picture tapped to the bottom of my PC of the interior of his car. If you can, make it match."

"I'll see what I can do Ace", Sam said, "but you know I can't make promises."

I smiled, "yeah I know, thanks Sam."

"Don't mention it", Sam said, "it's what I'm here for, but from here on out, if you think someone should have something, don't ask me to buy it."

I laughed, "yeah yeah."

I stood up and left the cafeteria, headed down to the lounge, where as I suspected, the others were hanging out, crowded around the Xbox watching Nina play black ops zombies.

'What wave is she on?", I asked pulling up a chair because Jayden had the couch.

"94", Jayden said, "even with always insta kill and the RPK she's about to get overwhelmed.

Nina was leaning forward trying to focus on the game, but then. blam, zombie behind, balm, zombie from left, blam, zombie from right, blam, the horde from in front, she was run over like asphalt.

"Damn", Nina sighed slumping back into the couch, "so close."

"Zombies never end Nina", Rylar said, "they just keep coming until they get to crack open your skull and feast on the succulent meat that spills out."

"Please", Nina said, "why attack me when Mako is so much smarter?"

Everyone looked towards Mako, who was in the middle of biting into a granola bar.

Mako made a blank face, "why is everyone looking at me?"

"Cause when the zombies come we'll use you as bait to get away", Arnett said.

"There are no winged zombies", Mako said, "there is only zombies without wings, so why can't we just fly away?"

I shook my head.

'See that's the kind of talk that makes you wanna cap him", Riley said.

Mako bit into his granola bar, "and then Ace will hold you down while I hit you in the face with a pillowcase full of rusty drill bits."

I pretty much fell off the couch laughing at that remark, "you've been watching waaayyy to much You Tube Mako."

"Nothing better to do", Mako said, "I already hacked the shit out of Minecraft PI edition."

"What you add?", Jayden asked.

"Everything", Mako smiled, "I watched Ace playing 1.9.0 on his Toshiba and I decided to add all of that."

"You are way too smart for your age", Mercury commented.

"And were all technically too young to be in the military", Mako said, "I mean, were kids."

"So what?", Arnett asked, "look at us, were six feet tall weigh almost a quarter of a ton and can spit liquid nitrogen. We can kick just as much ass as everyone else whose been doing it for 20 years."

"Amen to that", I laughed, "god I can't wait for my parents to get here."

"No fair", Nina said, "Morningstar told me that My Mom and Dad just left Maine."

"Carlos told me mine will be here in about an hour", I said sliding down onto the couch and picking up my controller, "until then, Fallout 4."

I ended up playing fallout 4 for a mere 20 minutes before Morningstar came into the lounge.

"General on Deck", I said standing up, pausing the game as I did.

Morningstar sighed, "Ace this crap with General on Deck is getting real old."

I didn't answer.

'At ease kids", Morningstar laughed, "and Ace there isn't a need to do that."

I shrugged and went back to my game.

"Oh and by the way your parent's are here", he said.

At that very second, the best thing possible popped into my head.

"Stall them", I smiled, "I wanna do something."

"Very well", Morningstar said.

I ran out the back door of the dome and rocketed to the top, flying over the dome and out front where I could see my Mom's '07 Nissan Quest, the van that had made me love Front Wheel Drive as well as realize 0-60 was infinity more important that top speed, parked. The sun shining off the silver paint that I never realized I missed. I climbed to about a thousand feet and then folded in my wings, free falling straight down and landing beside my little brother Nick making him jump back. Once the dust settled I looked up at him and said.

"No body armor!", I smiled, "that was a thousand feet straight down, let's see The Master Chief do that."

"Chief fell from SPACE", Nick returned, "you are invalid."

I sighed and shook my head, "how can you reply like that after seeing me like this? After what I just did? What even are you? Some alien robot?"

"Yes", my sister Catherine said making that same stupid face and voice.

I laughed, "ahh, you guys have no idea how happy I am to see you. The shit I have seen in the past two months has just been....insane, no one's died thank god, but it hasn't been easy."

"Have you sen combat yet?", Ben, my oldest, younger brother asked.

"A few times actually", I said, "it's not anything like it is on the video games."

"I always tried to tell you son", my Dad piped up from the background.

"Yeah and I always listened", I answered, "but I guess it's one of those things you have to experience before you understand it. But that's enough of that", I said, "come inside, it's hot out here and I want you to meet my friends."

I lead my family inside the Dome. I could tell from the look on their faces when they walked in that the sheer size of the place was just overwhelming.

"It looks like the Death Star in here", Ben said.

"Heh", I answered, "Imagine how I felt when I first came here, knowing I wasn't going to leave, as a human anyway."

"You should have come home that night", My Mom said.

"I know", I sighed, "or at the very least gone through the drive through, though even then Morningstar probably still would have approached me."

"Whose Morningstar son?", My Dad asked.

"The Us Army General who recruited me into the Project", I said, "at first I declined because I thought he and his buddy were faking, but he knew I'd been kicked from the Navy and that convinced me to give him five minutes."

"I take it he persuaded you", Ben added.

"You could say that", I laughed, "come on, I got something else I wanna show you."

I walked them down the hallway and through a few doors, leading them to the area that over looked the bottom of the tube where the change took place.

"That", I said pointing down, "Is where I was when it started."

"looks like a gas chamber", Nick said.

"It sort of is", I said, "they vaporize the serum and have you breathe it in. The weird thing is that when it's a gas, it's green and you can see it."

"How hard was it to do?", Ben asked.

"I hesitated for a few seconds", I said, "then I realized I was in it to win it, so I took a deep breath and ended up passing out. When I woke up, Morningstar told me I'd been KO on that grated floor for like two weeks because they were afraid they'd killed me."

"We know", Dad said, "they told us."

I sighed, looking at Mom, "I don't want to even think about what that did to you. You okay Mom?"

"Yes", she answered.

"I'm happy to hear it", I said, "now I have a few people I want you to meet.

I lead them from the over sight and down into the lounge, where I found the others playing video games.

"Hey Nina", I said.

"Yeah Ace?", she asked looking up from Black Ops 3.

"Come here", I have some people I want you to meet.

Nina handed her controller to Mako and joined us.

"Is this your family?", she asked.

"Yes", I said, "Ben, Nick, Catherine and my parents."

"It's nice to meet you Mr and Mrs Miller", Nina smiled.

"And you as well", My Mother said.

"So does she like you?", Dad asked looking at me.

"She's my girlfriend", I replied, 'what do you think."

"No I mean does she LIKE you", my Dad joked, causing Nina to turn red.

"Dad shut up", I said.

"So it's a yes?", he said smiling.

"Fuck off", I half said, half sighed.

"Hey", Dad said, "you may have joined the military, but I'm still your old man and you don't talk to me like that."

I shook my head as Morningstar showed up.

"Already getting on your Dad's bad side eh?", he asked, "yeah, I did that same shit when I was done with basic."

"You must be the one I talked to on the phone?", My Dad asked.

"Yes sir", Morningstar said shaking my Dad's hand, "Alex Morningstar."

"Johnnie Miller", My Dad answered, "how's my son been since he joined?"

"He finished basic and AIT at the top spot", Morningstar said, "lead his team through two combat missions already."

"How did those go son?", Dad asked.

"Am I allowed to talk about that?", I asked looking at Morningstar.

"No", Morningstar said, "some of the stuff you kids saw can't risk leaking into the public. For now, we need to keep a lid on it."

"Sounds serious", My Dad said, "how many people you got General?"

"14", Morningstar said, "the kids and Carlos' Garcia's Marine Team."

"That skinny Mexican dude?", Nick asked.

"Speak for yourself gringo", Carlos said from the couch, not looking up from his magazine.

"I am not affected by insults", Nick said.

"Hey Carlos", My Dad said, "he wants to be a Marine."

"No he doesn't", Carlos laughed, "he thinks he does but he doesn't."

"Yes I do", Nick said.

'Alright then", Carlos said standing up, "down, gimme 800 push ups."

"No", Nick said, "I don't do commands."

'Come on Marine!", Carlos said, "your brother had to do twice that daily!"

"No", Nick said, "I refuse."

Carlos and I pushed him to the ground, "give us 800 Marine!", I shouted in his ear.

"No", Nick said, "I refuse."

Carlos and I went around the bush with my brother for a full hour before we finally gave up and let him go.

"Be glad I'm not your real DS", Carlos said, "other wise things would have ended very differently."

"Yeah", I said, "you would have shot him, just like you did me."

"Come again?", My Dad asked, "you got shot?"

I nodded, "yep, you usually get two bullets to the gut when you screw up. Doesn't matter tough, our scales can stop anything short of a 20mm, even straight .50 AP won't get through, all it does is bruise.....a lot, but nothing brakes and it doesn't do any lasting damage. On my first mission I even took a bullet to the back of the head. All it did was leave a lump for a few days. But any way. Who wants to go jump out of a C-260?"

Pretty much the only one who said no was my Mom. While my parents unpacked the van, I went to the hangar to get the pilots to agree to take us up, and amazingly they did. After that was done, I went back to the dome, finding out that my Dad had brought along all the guns, Ben and Catherine's AR-15s as well as Nick's Mini. Since they didn't have vests, I went to the armory and borrowed a few spares that fit them. Once everyone was ready, we went up to three thousand feet. About five or six minutes into the flight, the red light came on.

"Remember", I said putting on my sunglasses and looking back to Ben, Nick and Catherine, "when the light turns green, you jump! Don't think about it!"

"I never thought I'd be doing this again", Dad said over the wind as the hatch came down.

"Neither did I", I said as the light turned green, "let's go!"

I jumped from the 260 with Dad close behind me. Ben and Nick didn't waste any time, though Catherine took a few seconds to work up to it. Now, here's what I didn't tell them, the jump zone was right over the obstacle course where Nina, Carlos and the others were waiting with sim ammo. Dad knew what we were jumping into, but my siblings didn't. When we touched down, Nina shouted, "five hostile paratroopers spotted in the north Entrance!"

I began to lay down surpressive fire with my 220 while my Dad took off his chute. He soon joined me with his AR-15, taking more precise shots than I was. Within the first couple of seconds of us touching down, Conner and Luke were out, but Tyler had decided he was feeling some juggernauts today and had stepped into the corridor with his uniform and armor on.

"Focus your fire on the hostile with the M60!", I shouted turning my 220 on him.

"What kind of Holly wood bullshit is this!?", My Dad asked.

"Money at work!", I shouted as I ducked down and pulled the box of the 220, opening the dust cover and sticking a new belt in place. That was when I noticed that my brothers and sister were laying prone on the ground, looking scared shitless.

'What the fuck are you doing guys!?", I asked over the gunfire, "get in this! Dad! Flash going down range!"

"Rodger!", Dad said as I pulled the grenade out of my vest. When I stood up, everyone was facing the opposite direction with their eyes covered. Conner, however, couldn't take both hands off the 60 without losing his grip, s the most he could do was close his eyes. I tossed the flash bang underneath Conner's feet. When it went off, it sent him reeling.

I gave my Dad a tap on the shoulder, signifying that I was moving up. I leapt over the barrier I was hiding behind and charged Conner, slamming into him with all of my quarter ton and bashing him over the head with my rifle, knocking him down and talking him out of the fight, but thanks to the armor, he could get up and walk away with a little more than a small bump.

With Conner out of the way, Dad and I turned our attention to the others. Nina and Carlos had everyone in a well defended, well coordinated machine gun nest that was armed with a Minigun and a single belt of three grand rounds.

"There are 13 hostiles remaining", I said as everyone gathered behind the solid steel block, the very same block that my team had shared during our run of the course on the 4th day of basic., "there well dug in with a Minigun in their nest, if we can get a few flash bangs in side their perimeter, they'll have to brake focus to defend against them, we can use that opportunity to get close and render the mini worthless."

"That's a bullshit plan!", Ben said.

"You can't shoot if you can't swing the gun around", Dad said, "your brother's right, that mini is on a 75 degree mount. Son, where's the closest cover we can move to without risking fire from the emplacement?"

I quickly peeked my head around. It wasn't necessary, I knew the course by heart, but they might have moved something to create a situation in which the mini could fire on us no matter where we were.

'The closest cover is about 50 feet away", I said, 'Large, rebar framed canvas bag full of sand. If I can mount my 220, I can decimate their nest while you and the others march on it."

"Move on my go", Dad said pulling a flash bang from his vest, I did the same.

"Now!"

We tossed our flashbangs and darted from the block we were hiding behind as they went off, blinding Carlos and everyone in the emplacement. When we made it back to cover, I dropped the box from the 220 and pulled the others out of my vest as I quickly attached a Tripod to my weapon.

"Put these belts together", I said, 'there's a thousand rounds there."

My Dad put the belts together as fast as he could and I Began to spray Carlos' and Nina's emplacement.

"Move up your covered", I shouted.

Dad nodded to me and began to push on the nest. When he made it up, my machine gun kept them from sticking their heads up to counter attack and Dad picked them off as quickly as he could, until Carlos, who must have been feeling suicidal, stood up with a shotgun in hand just as my Dad dropped the magazine out of his M4 and my 220 failed to eject the last round fired, popping the dust cover up in my face.

"Someone kill that fucker with the shotgun!", I ordered as I began trying to clear the jam.

The faster I tried to clear the jam as Carlos forced a hand to hand engagement with my Dad made my heart beat faster and made me lose my hand eye coordination, causing me to drop the bolt of my weapon.

"Son of a bitch I dropped the bolt!", I squeaked reaching down and quickly picking it up, "Someone shoot him!"

A single gunshot rang out, Carlos held onto his side as he collapsed down from the sting and my Dad slapped another magazine into his M4, before slinging it and helping Carlos up while the others rose as well.

I turned around, finding Ben still had his jungle cammo AR to his shoulder, his magnifier flipped up. I wasn't exactly sure what to tell them.

"I thought we were jumping out of a plane!", Ben said, "you didn't say anything about a combat course afterwords!"

Dad laughed as he joined us, "that was a rush, haven't run a combat course since I was in the military."

"Did you know about this!?", Nick shouted.

"Yes he did", I said, 'why do you think he was able to go from fun time to combat mode so quickly? This was just a test because I wanted to see how you would react if it was real."

"It wasn't real", Catherine said clutching her Ar-15.

"No but you thought it was", I said, "that's what I was looking for. After all, aren't you all wanting to join someday? Now you have a taste of what it's like."

It probably would have been best to let them know I was going to drop them into a fight because for the rest of the day they kept me at a distance. Dad however was a different story. He and I were running courses and drills all day with Carlos and the others. Even being 50 years old Dad could still sling lead with the best of them, even though he kept telling me he'd have a migraine in the morning. I had never been able to spend this kind of time with my Dad before. We'd never been especially close, but maybe now that would change. I was especially hopeful because when Carlos shut the courses down for the day, Dad put his stuff up in the dome and I was going to armory when Sam flagged me down.

"Hey Ace", He said, "got some things for you."

'What up Sam?", I asked.

Sam reached into his pocket and handed me a box that looked like it was for jewelry. When I opened it, I saw a carbon fiber, titanium key with a silver "240SX" on it.

"No fucking way", I said, my heart skipping a beat, "How'd you get it so fast?"

Sam smiled, "i have my way's Ace, and um mm, I know your birthday was two months ago and I didn't know you, but here."

He handed me a second box. When I opened it, there was a similar key with a "Supra" logo on it.

'Sam what did", I started but he cut me off.

"You didn't make a request", Sam smiled, "so I made one for you. 1,120 horsepower at all four wheels through a six speed manual transmission, it's got the V12 and even your tan interior with a red roll cage."

"How did you", I began, but was once again stopped.

"Your Deviant Art page isn't exactly private", Sam smiled, "plus, I been subbed to Short Throw Shifter since 219 subs."

"Thank you Sam", I said, "i can't wait to go out with my Dad tonight."

With a smile on my muzzle, I put up my gear and then went to the lounge where the kids were playing Black Ops Zombies and Morningstar was on the phone, ordering pizza by my guess while my mom and dad were watching TV. I walked over to the couch next to them and sat down.

"Did you have a good time today?", Mom asked.

"You have no idea", I said, "after all those rants about the army at the dinner table, I never once thought I'd put on a uniform myself. Tough technically I'm not Army."

'What do you mean?", Dad asked.

"Project Venom is privately owned and funded, which technically makes us PMCs, though we aren't exactly for hire."

"Interesting", Dad said, 'how does that work?"

"Well since Morningstar is a Us general, we deploy like a regular Army unit. We've seen some direct combat, but so far it's been black ops and all that secret shit I can't talk about."

In the hour that lead up to dinner and the hour that dinner took, I basically filled in my parents about what project venom was, with Morningstar picking up the tab on things I wasn't supposed to talk about. At the end of dinner, we were hanging out in the lounge when I decided now was a good time to give my Dad his new, thousand horsepower, All wheel Drive 240.

"Hey Dad", I said.

He turned ti look at me.

"Come with me", I said, "i got something for you to see."

At first, he disagreed, he said he was tired and I could see why. So to fix it, I told him that if he saw what I wanted to see and was still tired, he could come back. Reluctantly, he agreed. He, Mom and myself walked across the hangar where Nina and Sam were already waiting, I had told them to be waiting with the cars wrapped.

"Son", Dad asked, 'what's this."

"Dad", I said, "this is a thank you."

"Do it", I said.

Sam pulled the tarp of the blazing glossy red 240SX drift Icon while Nina revealed to me a deep blue 1992 Toyota Supra 2.0 GT. Both cars were slammed on coil overs, sported yellow Brembo brakes in the front and rear and even shared the same wheels and mirrors. The 240 had Nissan across the windshield while the Supra had Toyota in the same place. Both cars looked factory fresh and further inspection of the interiors revealed a flat 5 miles on the odometers.





My Dad was utterly speechless and looked like he might cry, I had never seen him look like that before. Words fail me in describing just how I felt on the inside.

"Son", he asked, "...how?"

"Dad, no matter how hard I tried, the idea of you behind the wheel of anything but a 240 just....doesn't do it for me. You belong in Nissan's drift Icon. And I belong in the Supra that dogs you through each corner."

I handed him the key as Sam spoke up.

"The car's yours Sir", he said, "been payed for, tested and shipped."

"How?", My Dad asked.

Sam smiled, "I know people and I have money that convinces said people to get me things, quickly. She'll do 0-60 in under two seconds and packs 1,027 horsepower at all four wheels through a six speed manual transmission. You can thank a donation from Godzilla for that."

"Did I hear that right?", Dad asked.

Sam nodded, "my people built ya an R34 engine from the ground up, no other car on the planet will fit the engine that rests under the hood."

Sam and Nina opened the hoods of our cars. Even though my Dad had half the cylinders of my 1 GZJ v12, it was by no means less powerful. This 240 and this Supra were meant to rival each other. After inspecting the engines thoroughly, I tossed my Dad his key.

"Still tired?", I asked.

He smiled as he opened the door to the car, "you really need to ask that?"

"That's what I thought", I said as I opened the door to the Supra.