A thousand reploids stood sealed in containment tubes beneath the facility, a sentient server farm where the constant thrum of a deep subdermal sound revelled throughout the immense once-hidden room.  Creatures of every shape could be seen from felines to canines, reptiles and birds of various sizes with eyes staring dead through the newcomers as cables twisted out of their heads through the tops of their slave units stacked in threes atop of each other.  Jack took pictures of everyone, opening his mouth to reveal his video lens and making double sure of all the evidence he had as he went through each and every row carefully monitoring their faces.  The mantis waited until he was done before they approached the very back of the room where a lone reploid sat in a throne of pure steel with wires pouring from his armrests.  Renbie remained seated with only the barest of recognition in his glazed eyes as Jack cracked his steel knuckles to deliver a ruthless haymaker across the police dog's face.

        "Payback's come you son of a bitch.  Don't bother talkin', I won't need an interview this time."

        "As I have said he is unresponsive," said the mantis rubbing his face, "he can register our presence but I have severed his motor functions."

        "So he's just locked in huh?  Good, means I can take him no problem."

        "His functions can be restored when you return to your world so as to administer a fair trial."

        "It's more than he deserves but that's the law," said the croc rubbing his chin, "now how do we get everyone else out of here?"

        "Stonevoice!"

The slicer headed over straight to Barkclaw's position at one of the far corners of the room as he nosed at a panel with several red buttons.

        "I found more bloodstones!  What do you think they do?"

        "Alright nice work Bark!" cried the gator strolling up.  "Glad they at least had the sense to put release consoles here."

        "It requires us to press them at the same time," noted the badnik, "presumably as a countermeasure against lone operatives."

        "I guess so.  Alright, let's do this."

        "Barkclaw, when I tell you, press that stone with your snout just like before."

        "Alright," the raptor nodded.

        "Ready?  ...now!"

Two hands and a snout pushed the buttons simultaneous as the blue room turned to green, blaring a warning siren as the server-capsules started to hiss and shake with power roaring downwards from a monstrous storm to a feeble whimper.  One by one the pods opened up as reploids stumbled out amidst hydraulic smoke creeping across the floor with an icy cold, muttering both confused and frightened as the great unplugged came through towards the terminal room, the sound of their metal feet like wildebeest stampeding through the valley to the point that Barkclaw was shocked and hid from their view uncertain.

        "Wh-what...what happened?"

        "Where the hell are we?!"

        "This isn't Teslaburg it looks too clean."

        "ATTENTION EVERYONE!"  Jack swiftly stood up before the entrance to the server room.  "Sorry, how you all doing, my name is Jack, Snappy Jack for long but I know what's happened to all of yous.  You were all kidnapped by a corrupt police chief who took you in for questioning just so he could ship you off to this base and make you part of a cryptofarm."

        "Wh-what, really?"

        "W-WAIT, wait I DO remember that!" cried one of the teeming metal beasts.

        "Th-that dog police dude, he told me I had to be relocated for witness protection!"

        "Well he was a lying bitch," said Jack sweeping his arms, "and he's gonna pay for what he did, he got shut down thanks to my good friend Dronin here who basically saved all of our chasses."

        "Uh, sorry but," a rhino stepped forwards built like a tank, "who the hell are you?"

        "I'm a reporter that was tracking down on your disappearances, now lemme explain."

He retold the entire story best he could, along with video evidence to support this with reploids recognising themselves being thrown into vans as well as the data of their missing files gathered.  Relief came slowly out of confusion, most of them not sure what to make of their new surroundings as well as a general malaise from exhaustion of their constantly-powered units having not had a chance to fully rest.  Jack's assurance of their return home as well as Renbie's defeat soon assuaged them of their fears as some of the more fatigued reploids went into sleep mode whilst the others watched over them as guards, the croc warning them not to go near Renbie's body for he needed to be intact for his trial upcoming with help of their evidence unified.  He sat with a blonde wolf in a peach shirt and blue skirt who rubbed her steel fingers across each side of her head.

        "I just can't believe this," she murmured.

        "I know it's a lot to take in," said Jack leaning against, "but I promised I would do everything to help, right?"

        "Y-yeah...yeah, I remember you, you said you...you would find my friends."

        "I'm sorry they took you Amy.  I tried, I didn't want them to but I couldn't do anything against-"

        "It's okay."  She smiled and squeezed his fingers.  "You kept your promise...thank you."

        "Thank Dronin, he's the guy that broke through the system."

        "That bug dude with that...dinosaur?" she gestured vaguely to the two oddities.

        "Yeah uh it's a long story but you all should thank him."

        "What do we do now?  You said the base was out on the ocean."

        "We got a link to a human facility," said Jack leaning back, "they're friends of Dronin's so he'll have them sort us back home with some warp technology for convenience."

        "Warp technology, like wait a starship?"

        "Well yeah I mean it's kinda hard to send like a thousand reploids anywhere across the ocean without SOME sorta help."

        "I guess..." she twisted a finger through her synthetic hair, "so what's gonna happen?"

        "We get back an' go to my news station," said the gator rubbing his snout, "get my report all sorted, take down your names first and foremost for the big scoop, that way you all get your stories told before anybody else tries to do anything."

        "You think someone might still come after us?"

        "Hopefully not but I dunno if Renbie still has buddies back on the force, so let's play this out to the media first and THEN we go to the police.  If anyone tries anything then we got the press on our side."

        "Alright...do you think everyone will want to?"

        "It's up to them," said Jack patting her shoulder, "as long as there's enough of you they can't deny it but I'm not gonna make all of you testify, I just need some of you."

        "Right..." Amy sighed rubbing her forehead, "we don't have a leader though among us, I don't really know how we can speak for ourselves."

        "Well why not you?  You got a good head on your shoulders, people like you a lot, you were the one that gave me the leads out to Teslaburg when you were runnin' all the shelters."

        "Yeah but, I'm just a helper, I never really led anyone."

        "Well..." the gator shrugged, "I never planned to be more than a traffic monitor but here I am."

        "Heheheh...thank you."  She pulled him close into a hug as he squeezed her softly.  "I never thought all of this would happen and-"

        "It's fine, you're okay an' so is everyone else.  But, yeah you oughta thank him most of all."

He pointed over to the badnik in question who had sat himself down at the wall in the corner of the PC terminal room.  With mission complete he could do nothing but stare at his hand and struggle to process his new memories.  Dreams filtered through him, blood and oil with steel and wires ripping between teeth of the earth as the voice of Maurice echoed in his thoughts.  He wanted to sleep, more than anything he wanted now to turn himself off and defragment everything he could.

        "Stonevoice?"

The slicer looked up to see Barkclaw who nudged his solar rim with soft licks.

        "Are you alright?"

        "I am...uncertain," said the mantis.

        "Why?"

        "I have...remembered things."

        "What things?"

        "Things I had done before I met you.  Things from my tribe, odd things, friends that I knew before."

        "Do you miss them?" the raptor asked sitting down beside him.

        "I...I do not know."  He clenched his fist with a shiver in his throat.  "I was...I was not myself before."

        "Not yourself?"

        "I was a different creature.  Someone I did not recognise yet I dreamed I was him.  I dreamed that I was a warmblood, except that it was not a dream, but a life that I had once lived.  And now..." he looked to his silver hand with a flickering in his eyes, "I do not know who I am anymore."

        "But...you are Stonevoice."  Barkclaw stood up more fully to rub his cheek.  "Is that not who you are?"

        "No, that is what you call me."

        "But is...i-is that not you, you are the Voice within the Stone!"

        "Barkclaw."  He pressed a finger firmly on the raptor's snout.  "Please understand, I have just learned of an entire other life that I once lived, it is difficult for me to think."

        "O-oh...I am sorry."  He pressed his snout against the cold arm.  "Do you...want me to leave you alone?"

        "...no."  He stroked the raptor's head with pebbly skin.  "I...I do not want to be alone.  Would you stay with me, please?"

        "Of course, I will stay with you."

        "Um, e-excuse me?"  They both turned towards the reploid wolf.  "You're...Dronin right?"

        "...correct," he stifled the urge to correct her.

        "I just wanted to say thank you, for everything, coming here and freeing us."

        "Gratitude is not necessary, Renbie was a threat to my home as well."

        "S-still...thank you."  She bowed as deep as she could.  "From all of us."

        "Understood.  I am glad you are all free."

He bowed in return as she walked off back to the huddling mass of machines all milling their way across the base, sitting with Barkclaw as they remained together for the next hour until the raptor headed back to keep an eye on the insects still in their cages making sure they were safe.  During a lull in the crowd of former captives as they hustled themselves into groups, Jack walked up to the mantis sensing disquiet in his sensors.

        "You alright buddy?"

        "My systems are still functioning," he replied formally.

        "No, I meant...are YOU alright, like you seem kinda worried about somethin'."

        "I do not 'worry', I have no capacity-...no, that is incorrect."

        "Huh?" the reploid came closer.

        "I am...struggling to come to terms with my identity."  He slipped a finger round the hilt of his sword.  "I have always known myself to be Dronin, since my awakening for the past twenty-six years and I never understood why, until Renbie's trickery when he mined into my data and he...trapped me in a world of memories far beneath what I had once known."

        "What like he found a restore point?"

        "Correct."  He nodded solemnly and hung his head.  "My first name was Ryouma, as a slave to my former master.  But my power source, my 'heart' as it were, was a living creature known as Maurice, for my creator made all of his servants by imprisoning animals inside of them.  Inside of me."

        "S-seriously?"  Jack rubbed his fingers uncomfortably.  "Wow, you never told me that, that...that's messed up."

        "The one known as Maurice was broken down and forced to accept his new name as Ryouma...my first name as a prison for a living beast.  But then I made a friend, one whose name was Dronin.  She tried to help me recover my memory for she had lost her own time and time again.  This."

He patted his crooked blade.

        "This is all that is left of her.  Her name is coded inside of it, that is how I remember it so, and yet it is not my name.  It never was anything but a promise to not forget my friend and so I ask myself...who am I?  What is my name?"

        "Damn...that sounds heavy."  Jack sat himself down beside the mantis.  "What are you gonna do?"

        "I do not know, other than return with Barkclaw back to his tribe, but I am at a loss as to my own identity."

        "Do you actually NEED a name though?"

        "It is not just the name," he shook his head clenching his fist, "it was my designation, my purpose, my root as it were.  It was all I had compiled myself upon only to find out that the base root of it was but a false function.  Do you understand?"

        "Yeah I...I do.  I kinda understand that a little more than you'd think."

        "What happened to you with Renbie?" he turned his head to the gator.  "I thought he had destroyed you with a logic paradox."

        "I thought so too," said Jack rubbing his snout, "I woke up back as a traffic monitor, stuck in this monotonous routine of watchin' cars an' hoverbikes flowing back and forth, just the same boring old life I used to live.  No fun, no excitement, just day after day of...well, yeah, until you pulled me out of it."

        "I too was trapped in a former life.  I also have something to tell you, something I discovered from Renbie's data."

        "Yeah wassat?"

        "The human master was fake, it was a video of a criminal's confession that Renbie recorded for the sake of evidence, that he then manipulated in the guise of being his master."

        "Seriously?"  The croc shook his head.  "So...Renbie doesn't have any master?"

        "He does not."

        "...well I guess that makes me feel a little better, even though I really believed it."  He crossed his arms with a heavy sigh.  "I'm uh...sorry about my freakout, I don't-"

        "I understand," the slicer nodded empathetic, "Renbie knew the effect it would have on you as a deterrent against reploids confronting him."

        "Still I did leave you in the dark, I mean it's awesome you managed to do all this but I feel I was really slacking, on my OWN mission."

        "I will not blame you Jack."  The mantis put a hand on his shoulder firmly.  "You have your evidence, the thousand reploids and the death of your friend shall prove a greater strength for your case."

        "Yeaaaaah uh...that's actually somethin' I need to confess."  He rubbed his neck with a deep sigh.  "Since you really helped me out I feel I owe you."

        "What?"

        "...you know that friend of mine I told you that got killed by Renbie?"

        "Correct, the one he challenged you to prove criminal evidence with."

        "He's actually right about that.  And the reason for that is...well...lemme show ya."

He pulled out the datapad from his chest cavity and tapped into a hidden folder.  The video inside opened up and showed a room hidden within a wall sliding open to reveal a destroyed burning apartment, scorched steel and crumbling faux-wood that seethed to ashen rot.

        "KH-KHHh-khhhh...h-hey...hey, over here."

In the corner of the room beneath one of the windows was a lump of steel curled up against itself, tarnished with black seared across its body where there had once been a pale tint of green resembling the remains of a forest fire.  The eyes of the video revealed two hands exactly like Jack's, moving the rubble off a broken reploid body.  It was Jack himself, staring into the video with a body crumpled inwards, wires sparking with half his face gone and drooping with circuits hanging amidst fluids that spilt across the floor and the hands of the viewer cradling him.

        "Nice to meetcha...handsome."

        "O-oh...o-oh jeez um...u-u-um...hi."

        "Hey.  Not often you get to meet yourself is it?"

        "N-no I mean...I knew what was gonna happen, you said, that is we, I said-"

        "Stop.  Let's not argue about you or me this isn't the time-KHHHrh-rkhZHHRKHT!"  The broken Jack sputtered from his throat a mix of fluid and sparks that became part of the flames.  "You know what you have to do.  Finish the report.  You have one chance.  Don't waste it."

        "I-i...well, this is more like a second chance right?"

        "Sure is, so don't waste it.  There are reploids whose lives are at stake, you have all the data from me, so just...just do what you can, if you need to make precautions then-KGHHRH-KRHHZZZHH!  Do what you have to do."

        "A-alright...what about me?"  The video dipped pulling the croc closer up towards it.  "After all this is done, do I just keep going?"

        "You know who you are dude.  You wanna be me, you are me, so go do it.  You wanna be someone different...well, you got every chance to be someone different cuz after all this you're legally dead."

        "Whadda you mean?"

        "Jack no longer exists."  The croc shook his head making his eye-camera swing beside his cheek.  "I died right here, don't bother getting help I know I'm dead here.  Renbie has to know I'm dead, or else you won't get an advantage over him but that means you are ALSO dead, legally."

        "Wait...shit you're right I mean I'm right I-"

        "Wh-what did I say about you or me-KHHH-khhh-KHHRRRRzhhhr...h-hoh jeez listen just, let me tell you something.  You can either be Jack...or someone else.  I'm not gonna make you continue being me, I just want you to finish...finish the job an' stop Renbie."

        "But...how am I gonna finish the report when I'm dead?"

        "You'll figure somethin'...just find those reploids an' make sure they come back home.  Please.  Don't let our death be in vain, after that you can be anyone you want."

        "But...b-but I want to be Jack."  The video shook with shaking breaths.  "I've always been Jack."

        "Then go be Jack."  The gator smiled with a broken grin as he clutched the viewer's hand.  "You got no one stoppin' you, just gonna be a lot more difficult gettin' it back...you know what I did here wasn't exactly approved you're gonna have a big fight ahead of you in court."

        "I'll worry about that when we get there.  I'm not letting Renbie get away with this, and I won't let him get away with killing us."

        "Can't try a guy for murder," said the first Jack, "if the body walks into court, hehehh...ughhkh...you be what you wanna be.  Nobody else decides for you.  That's all you need."

        "I-...alright.  Goodbye then...Jack."

        "Goodbye...buddy."

Jack closed his single eye to the sounds of a rapid beeping from his chest, signalling his body's end as his hand squeezed the viewer's for one last moment before he slumped fully.  The beeping stopped, his hand slipped as his head slumped with open mouth.  Jack's hands shook against the body of his former self as he clutched him tightly to the sound of tears whispering across his cheek.  The video soon ended as Jack put the datapad back in his chest.

        "You are a copy," said the mantis.

        "Yeah," said the gator with a deep sigh.  "My name is Jack, the second...I'm not actually sure what I'm gonna do once I get back, but I know I have to.  I can't let Renbie take my life away."

        "Will this not create a legal problem as your original self stated?"

        "It probably would but yanno what, screw it."  He shrugged wide with a smirk.  "I always took things the hard way, that's just the way Jack rolls, but...yeah I wanted to tell you that just so we were clear."

        "Understood, I respect the trust you have founded in me.  Will you still return to your homeworld?"

        "Yeah I mean I have to, gotta finish my report, and that's MY choice to do so."

        "And the rule of not harming humans?" the mantis asked fingering his robe.

        "That's still my choice too.  I'm not comfortable hurting humans, and that's not gonna change."

        "Understood.  I accept your choice."

        "And I accept your name...whatever you want it to be."

He put a hand on the badnik's shoulder and smiled as the slicer clacked his mandibles softly in approval before they made their way up towards the surface.  The mass exodus of reploids that followed them filled the halls through stroage rooms and the great tunnel under the sea where creatures roamed bizarre and primitive to the new-aged machines.  They gasped in awe and confusion at the strange sharks with spotted skin and the creeping eels alongside fish with sawbladed snouts and long-necked beasts that roamed and devoured indiscriminately.  The upper level of the base still had Renbie's goons but upon seeing the escaped horde they immediately stood down with hands up in surrender as Jack, Barkclaw and the one formerly known as Dronin made it to the surface first.  Night had fallen upon the world as stars draped the canvas to reflect them on the sea.  Jack made a fire out of some spare parts from the fake construction as a signal to wait and watch, Barkclaw signalling out to a pterodactyl an hour later that came slowly downwards in a spiral above their heads.

        "Hello?" asked the the winged beast.

        "Hello flyer!" the raptor chirred sweetly.  "I am Barkclaw, Oddclaw's brother, can you help us please!?"

        "OH, you are Oddclaw's familiy?!  I do not recognise those other beasts."

        "They are my friends too!  Can you um, tell my brother to tell the hairless to come find us?"

        "Why tell your brother when I can tell the hairless directly?!"

        "Because Oddclaw can explain what happened to them," said the mantis bowing, "tell Oddclaw this.  Barkclaw and Stonevoice have found starbeasts out at sea and so need their help.  We are not hurt, they are friends but we need them to come carry us."

        "Ahhh I see," said the pterodactyl flapping upwards, "I will tell him then, be back soon!"

The flyer went towards the southeast as they waited further with Barkclaw sitting himself down on a tarpaulin sheet to stare at the stars.

        "Wow."  Jack whispered as he stared with him.  "I...I never actually seen this many stars."

        "Really?" said the mantis.

        "Yeah I live in the big city and there's so many lights that, well...you can't see this many."

        "Every night is like this," the two sat down next to the raptor, "it is a world unspoilt by machines and corruption."

        "Is that why you love it so much?" asked the gator beside him.  "That you decided to stay here instead of where you came from?"

        "No, it was not the aesthetic that convinced me to stay here.  It was Barkclaw."  He turned his head to the raptor beside him.  "I understand him, more than I ever understood anyone."

        "Awwww...that's really sweet."

        "Are you alright?" the badnik asked his friend.

        "I am good yes," Barkclaw nodded back with a chirp, "it was very exciting but...what will happen to the smallwings?"

        "We shall free them of course-"

        "No, n-no!"  He shook his head frantically.  "They, they are not from here.  They are starbeast smallwings, they should be taken back home."

        "Are you certain?"

        "Yes."

        "What will you do with the insects?" asked the mantis turning to Jack.

        "Huh, oh those little guys?!" the croc rubbed his head.  "I mean they oughta be freed, but-"

        "Barkclaw says they cannot be freed here, they do not live here."

        "Yeah but, I don't really know where they came from."

        "You must return them home.  They are sensitive creatures, and for the sake of my friend you must promise to return them safely with the help of professional entomologists."

        "...alright."  The gator nodded with a hand to his chest.  "I promise I'll get them back, I already told the reploids not to touch 'em, just made up some shit about them being corrosive, nobody's gonna mess with them."

        "Thank you, Jack."  He turned back to the raptor.  "Stoneleaf has promised me that he shall take the smallwings back to their homes."

        "Oh, that is good thank you!"  The raptor visually untensed with a breathless sigh as he slumped over on the cold metal.  "I cannot wait to be back home."

        "Agreed.  I miss our home already but I will say that I am proud of you."

        "R-really?" the raptor gasped reeling back slightly.

        "You did not have to come with us to find those smallwings, but you did.  You knew I would find them, but you pushed yourself through to fight against starbeasts just as your brother would have done.  I am proud to be your friend Barkclaw."

        "I...thank you."  He nuzzled against the lukewarm body.  "I am proud of you too, Stonevoice."

They fell asleep briefly as the raptor and mantis huddled up together, slipping his arm round the scaled neck much to the gator's amusement.  He kept watch instinctive for any potential threats, none of which came from the sky or sea as not more than another hour late came a blinking light from the east.  Jack stood up and opened his camera lens from his eye to zoom in on the mysterious glint, setting to twenty times and finding it to be a medium-sized purple ship with alien metals and a smooth shape with spacefaring engines.  Barkclaw woke up before Jack could even reach his furthest zoom when the noise came through amidst a gentle roar that intensified until the sea itself was cowering beneath the jets in circles that rippled away from them.  The jet came closer as it struggled to land most of its body on the platform with some careful manoeuvring before the ramp opened up underneath.

        "Well, fancy seeing you here!" said Jane happily strolling down.

        "Hellooooo!" Barkclaw shook his tail running up to them.  "How are you Jane?!"

        "Oh not too bad, what are you doing out in the middle of the ocean?"

        "OH, well, Stonevoice and me were hunting stonewings not to eat but to watch they fly to the deep mountains every cycle-and-a-half and then we saw something out at sea so we met Stoneleaf over there and-"

        "A-alright, alright Barkclaw but-"

        "He said that, there were stonebeasts trapped under the sea and also smallwings trapped too so Stonevoice and me we went to help, we went under the sea and we fought off the stonebeasts the bad ones not the trapped ones, and then we freed them all and now we are here!"

        "...right, that explains everything!" she clapped her hands smirking.  "Sooooo uhhhh where are these other stonebeasts?"

        "They're all down inside," said Jack offering his hand, "hi I'm Jack, Snappy Jack for long I came with the rest of this place."

        "Oh well uh hello!" she shook his steel hand in turn.  "How many of you are there?"

        "Ohhhh about, maybe, a thousand give or take three?"

        "That seems not too ba-wait a THOUSAND?!"

        "Yeaaaaah well it's complicated lemme explain."

The reploid took Jane and her small guard down into the depths of the base to introduce her to the grand scheme that had unfolded beneath the world as Barkclaw moved to the ship with his guardian to find a comfortable space for them to be carried back to safety.  Time passed as they fell asleep, Barkclaw finding a soft bed to curl up on whilst the mantis sat in front of him like an ageless statue, facing the entrance to their quarters with a quiet vigilance as they waited for the humans to return a few hours later with a small collective of reploids including Jack and Amy the wolf amongst them.  The ship took off with a trembling shudder and within minutes they had arrived back to the human base beneath the blanket of a cool tropical night where Thomas and Oddclaw greeted them at the entrance.

        "You guys couldn't have waited until morning?" asked Thomas rubbing his eyes.

        "Sorry," said Jack shrugging as he offered his hand, "Hi I'm Jack, I'm one of the reploids."

        "And I'm Amy," said the lupine also offering hers.

        "Thomas Brightman, pleasure," he shook both their hands in turn.  "From what Oddclaw told me from the uh...pterodactyl that relayed your message, you have at least a thousand robots formerly captive in that seabase?"

        "Yeah uhh prettyyyy...much," his eye roved towards the anthro raptor who walked past him to hug Barkclaw tightly coming off the ship, "aaaanyways most of us are heading back home but a few of us actually got nowhere to really go or, have a worse life back home."

        "Let me guess, some of them are seeking asylum."

        "Your doctor said that you had space," noted Amy, "something about low-maintenance synthetic storage?"

        "We do have some robotic staff here," said Thomas crossing his arms, "frankly I'm more worried about us being overstaffed than anything."

        "Wellll you got like any other bases we could manage?  I mean it can't JUST be you here right?"

        "Well...technically...actually yes, we do have someplace we can put most of you in, if you want to."

        "What sorta place?" she asked scratching her ear.

        "A separate base that needs staffing, it's not a place that humans can really manage for lengthly periods but synthetics such as your group would find it suiting."

        "I'd have to ask more about it first," she clasped her hands firmly in thought, "if that's okay with you mister Brightman."

        "We'll have you confer with our chief physicist once she gets back from it," said Thomas slipping hands behind his back.

        "Nice!" Jack clapped twice.  "I'll hand you over to Amy then, she's kind of more the head of the group that's gonna be staying with you."

        "You're not one of those staying?" asked Thomas cocking his head.

        "I have a long legal battle ahead of me so I can't really, I'm the one with all the evidence of what happened to us."

        "Thanks again," said Amy turning to him as she took his hand, "seriously, everything you've done I-"

        "Ey-ey we're not leaving JUST yet, let's let everyone find their feet first before we start doing all the big goodbye stuff."

        "Hmhm, alright then."

        "Actually hold on a bit I gotta ask them somethin'."

Walking over to where the raptors stood along with Jane and the badnik, he heard Oddclaw speaking in the feral tongue of his brother who eagerly nuzzled and licked all over his face between rabid chattering.

        "And then, a-a-and then I JUMPED on this stonebeast and ripped off its head!"

        "I am just glad you are safe, I cannot believe you went out to a cave under the sea!"

        "I made certain he was safe," said the mantis rocking slightly on his heels.

        "I know Stonevoice, I said I trust you.  Thank you again."

        "It is fine, what matters is that everyone is alright."

        "That mean you off home then?" asked Jane rubbing Oddclaw's back.

        "Yes, I am sorry I cannot stay longer-"

        "Oh it's fine don't worry family comes first, but you're always welcome here."

        "Actually I was speaking with Moonclaw about taking our children out further to show them the lands."

        "Oooooh?"

        "Seaclaw is almost ready to hunt, so the cycle after this we are taking them on their first hunt and after that I think it would be good to bring them here and learn things."

        "OH that's a great idea!" she pumped her fists eagerly.  "I would love to meet them all proper and show them all our things!"

        "Well I should ask Thomas first then-"

        "Uhhh hi," Jack waved gingerly at them, "sorry am I interrupting?"

        "OH, are you Stoneleaf?" Oddclaw stepped up into the human tongue and offered his hand.  "I am Oddclaw, brother of Barkclaw, he was telling me about you."

        "Nice to meet you I'm Jack."  He shook him with an odd stiffness.  "Hopefully he was tellin' good stuff about me heh."

        "He told me of all the...well, we call them stonebeasts that were trapping other stonebeasts and that you tried to free them."

        "Right yeah, your brother's cool by the way, it's cute how much he loves bugs."

        "Hahaha, yes."  He petted his brother's head with a soft smooch to his snout as they purred gently.  "Did you want to ask me something Jack?"

        "Yeah uh, sorry this is kinda weird but, do you know a Roy MacGregor?"

        "Pardon?" Jane looked at him reeling slightly.  "That's a rather human name."

        "It is?  Well this guy isn't a human but uh you know him?"

        "No," said Oddclaw shaking his head, "I do not know anyone called that."

        "Hmmmm...you mind if I show you something?"

He brought out his datapad from his chest cavity, something that surprised Jane and the raptor as he slipped his finger across the screen a few times before hitting on one video clip.

        "Alright so uh, you know what videos are right?"

        "I do," said Oddclaw nodding.

        "Lemme know if this guy looks familiar to you."

Jack flipped over the screen towards him and revealed an old video file that showed much to the audience's surprise a black raptor anthro sitting on a bench with blue circular rings round his eyes.  They sat in a technologically-advanced city where the streets were purple steel and the buildings a cold bluish tint with miniature lights dotting the scenery behind them.

        "So whadda you think?" asked Jack from the past.

        "Ah think Hammond's here," said the raptor hunched over in thought, "that alley wuz definitely not there before."

        "Yeah like, how does an alleyway MOVE that's what I'm trying to figure out."

        "Might be sum sorta mechanism, see those two dumpsters on either side?"

The camera turned towards a small dark alley where two large trash containers sat on either side.

        "They look oddly placed, lahk they're too opposite of each other in an exact fashion."

        "So we wait for some others to crawl in an' sneak up behind them?" asked former Jack.

        "Righ', just see who comes in an' then take their passes."

        "Hah, so much for bein' a good cop huh?"

        "Ahll be gentle.  Ahm not killin' anybody unless ah see 'em do some bad shit."

        "Like this Campbell guy you're after?"

        "Exactly."  The camera turned towards the raptor once again as he turned to the viewers.  "We ever find that son of a bitch, you leave him to me."

        "That's gonna be a problem if you can't prosecute him in this world."

        "Ahm draggin' his ass back home whether he want to or not, he either pays the price back where we came, or ah take his head an' bring it back mahself."

        "Why the head?" asked Jack reeling slightly with his camera.  "Seems kinda barbaric don't it?"

        "S'whut thuh A.R.M.E told me to, they want thuh tech in his head cuz it's real expensive apparently."

        "But they managed to give you the same tech.  Can I ask you something Roy?"

        "Yeah sure."  The camera looked back to the empty alley and back towards Roy who was staring at the ground.

        "Doesn't it seem kinda weird to you that a guy kills a husband and wife, but then protects some kid and ALSO saves like a whole trainful of people?"

        "People change, he mighta been robbin' mah house an' it escalated."

        "Was your house broken in?"

        "No."

        "Did he pretend to be someone and scam his way in like yanno, a fake inspector?"

        "Mah dad would never have fallen fer that," snarled the raptor locking his fingers together, "ah dunno how he did it, but James Campbell's gonna fuckin' pay for whut he did to mah family."

        "Roy."  Jack's voice dipped as Roy looked up at him.  "I'm gonna give you the best piece of advice I ever learned as a reporter.  Every case you get involved with, imagine you have the power to kill anyone with a single shout."

        "Whut?"

        "Now imagine if you ever lost control of that power, you kill everyone in the investigation with a giant shockwave, guilty or innocent.  The only way to see the case through is to not lose control and to keep a level head, because the moment you start losing yourself, you end up ruining the investigation."

        "Ah don't..." he shrugged throwing his hands up to lean back on his seat, "ah just want this to be over Jack."

        "I know, but you owe it to any victim to find out the truth.  Even if it's not the truth you want, even if it's the most inconvenient awkward-as-shit truth, you owe it to them."

        "Hhhhh...ah know...it's just hard man.  Ah just want this to be over."

        "...we got signal."  Jack's viewer looked up towards two reploids stepping into the alley.  "Come on, it's time to dance."

The video soon ended much to the confusion of the faces gathered around him.  Oddclaw stared with a head-scratching look as he tried to make sense of the footage whilst Barkclaw looked between his brother and it.

        "I...I do not know him."

        "But he looks," Jane added, "he looks like the same species as you."

        "No he does not, he is black and blue!"

        "He looks just like you!" gasped Barkclaw prodding his neck.

        "In terms of structural build he resembles you," said the mantis nodding, "he also has the vocational ability to speak a human language, as well as the fact he spoke of your father's other name."

        "It is but," the raptor put his fist against his lips, "did this Roy tell you what James Campbell looked like?"

        "Yeah," said the gator slippng his pad back into his chest, "a brown raptor with purple stripes and uhhh green eyes."

        "That," he slightly reeled back, "that IS what my father looked like."

        "Sorry about that just, I saw you and thought 'hey wonder if that guy knows him'."

        "Perhaps your father is from the same tribe as him?" said the mantis with a hand over his own chest.  "He was from another world, it is possible that this Roy MacGregor is from the same land."

        "He was definitely from another world," said Jack rubbing his chin, "Roy told me himself, just he was hunting down this Campbell because he was a criminal apparently."

        "Wait wait what did this Campbell do?!" Jane asked with a hand upfront.

        "Killed his parents, ALLEGEDLY, that's all he told me I dunno anything else, I'm just telling you what he told me!"

        "Well did he have any proof, when did this even happen?!"

        "You mean when I met him or when this suspected murder happened?"

        "Both!" she stressed with an accusing finger.  "I'm sorry but you can't just walk in here and accuse my friend's father of murder without any proof!"

        "I'm not accusing anybody just tellin' you what Roy told me I'm sorry I THOUGHT you guys maybe knew him cuz he was my friend and I wanted to know what happened to him!"

There was an awkward silence as everyone caught their breath.  Barkclaw was confused and slightly upset by their raised voices until Jack answered her calmly.

        "The video recording was twenty-five years ago, his parents were murdered seven years before I met him soooo that's about thirty-two years ago when it happened."

        "Thir-tee...two."  Oddclaw muttered putting his fingers against each other before he blinked with surprise.  "That...that is how old I am."

        "Wait, what?!"

        "That was...hah, hahahahhaha, HAH!"  He clapped his hands with relief.  "My father did not kill them!"

        "Wait what?" the gator scritched his head.

        "My father was here with, my mother, thir-tee-two years back she birthed me and my brother, he was still here!"

        "That is true!" cried Jane too happily with risen finger to the sky.  "Ergo it is NOT Oddclaw's father who committed this apparent murder."

        "Well look at all you gettin' all detective-like!"  The reploid smirked and swept a hand over his head.  "Hoooo I mean, that's a load off my mind I'm sure Roy'll figure that out either way."

        "Oh of course you said he has no proof!"

        "And my father must remember my family," said the raptor proudly with swelling chest, "he can prove his in-, innos...what is it-"

        "Innocence."

        "Thank you Jane, innosins."

        "And on THAT delightful bombshell I'll just get you sorted here with your friends that want to live here."

        "No problem," said Jack bowing awkwardly, "sorry about the whole 'my friend accused your dad of murdering someone' thing I didn't mean to-"

        "It is fine," Oddclaw sighed trying to wave off his insulted air, "it was good to meet you Jack, I hope your friends are happy here."

        "Right, and uhhhhh Bark."

He approached the feral and gently offered his hand to which Barkclaw gladly rubbed his head against to let Jack pet him properly.

        "Thanks a lot for helping me, you're a real hero."

        "He thanks you for fighting beside us," translated the mantis leaning in.

        "Thank you for helping me save the smallwings," muttered Barkclaw in turn licking the reploid's hand, "I hope your friends return home soon."

        "He thanks you for saving the insects, and hopes that all of you return home safe."

Jack gave a smile to them before spreading his arms and offering a hug towards the badnik.  The mantis responded with a tense hug as the reploid patpatted his back.

        "I know you got a lotta things going on," he murmured quietly, "but I just want you to know, you're a hero to me, got it?"

        "Understood," he replied.

        "In case we don't get a chance to see each other again, I just wanna say...thank you.  Thank you for everything."

        "Take care of yourself, Jack.  I hope you find justice and a new life again."

They parted ways as the gator walked off with Jane heading into the base, joined by Amy in turn as Barkclaw sniffed at his brother gently.

        "Are you alright brother?"

        "I...I am not sure," Oddclaw turned to him and clasped his hands with a careful breath, "Stoneleaf has told me that our father was being hunted by that deep-scaled beast he showed us."

        "Wh-what?  Why?!"

        "For killing that beast's mother and father.  At least, according to the beast."

        "Th-that, that cannot be true, that is a LIE!"

        "Well of course it is not true, because father was here when the killing happened, he cannot  be in two places at the same time, Stoneleaf was just mistake and I told him that."

        "Oh...a-alright," he calmed down with a tailtwitch, "can we go home now?"

        "Yes, let us go...I am already tired but I am sure you are more than me."

        "Y-yes, yes I really want to go home."

        "Hahaha."

Heading over to one of the Ducky ships, Oddclaw headed up first with Barkclaw and the badnik taking up the rear before they were sent back over the ocean south to where the Hunter's Nest waited for their arrival.  The first raptor they saw was their mother Barren, standing at the shores of the landing beach with her toeclaw necklace dangling against her chest as she snorted the dust from her nostrils with piercing gaze.

        "I know, I KNOW!" Oddclaw cried stomping off the ramp.

        "Your children have been waiting on you, I thought you promised-"

        "I had to bring back my brother!" he marched past his mother without stopping.

        "He can come back himself he is an adult-Oddclaw do NOT ignore me!"

        "You are the only one who is upset about this!"

        "Says the one shouting at me like a spoilt child!" she barked racing after him.

        "I AM NOT A CHILD!  YOU are the one who keeps whining about every little thing I do with my children!"

        "And I know better because I RAISED YOU!"

        "Nnnnngh," Barkclaw winced as he stepped onto the sands, "can we go somewhere quieter?"

        "Of course Barkclaw," said the mantis.

        "Thank you.  I hate when mother and Oddclaw fight."

The ship left off behind them back to the human base, as Barkclaw and his guardian went circling round the edges of the forest in a long leisurely stroll to enjoy the peace and quiet.  In the midst of silence beneath the starlit night, shining dots twinkling through the trees they felt a sense of harmony return to them the closer they reached towards the Dry Mountain, Barkclaw hopping up the stones and entering the small cave where the mantis pushed aside the stone that led to the hidden place within.  The raptor slid down into the garden of blue flowers where butterflies drifted, sensing his arrival with a fondness as they flocked to him carefully, licking their feelers across his skin to taste the salts for nourishment that tickled him sweetly.

He sighed with purest bliss as he laid his body down beneath the flowers where cyan petals brushed his scalp, the badnik walking past to sit beneath the light of the moon peering in from the cracks above, showing pieces of the world as he watched the stars quietly.  His emerald steel glinted like a buddha sculpture, cross-legged with his solarcampal a bronze moon reflecting the silver space.

        "Stonevoice?"

The rustling flowers signalled Barkclaw's approach.

        "Do you want to...talk?"

        "About what?" he asked without turning his head.

        "Your other life.  I want to know about it."

        "Why?"

        "Because, you are my friend, I want to know."

        "I do not know if I can speak about it."

        "Why not?" asked the raptor.

        "Because it was not my life to begin with."  He turned to look back at him.  "Have you ever had a dream that lasted for so long that you forgot who you once were?"

        "...n-no.  I have not."

        "That is what happened to me, except it was not a dream."  He looked back towards the moon.  "It was a life that someone stole and forced me to live, tortured for something I never did, never could fight against."

        "...I had a brother who did that to me."

        "What?"

The raptor sat down beside him beneath the pale lights.

        "I had a brother, Sunscreech...Oddclaw told me I should never speak of him again but he...he hurt me."

        "Why?"

        "Because he tried to kill Oddclaw, he hated my brother because...he hated our father.  He had a different father but he hated mine because he was different.  He hated...Oddclaw because he looks like father did so he tried to kill him."

        "I never knew," he admitted shaking his head, "you never told me this."

        "But I found out, because, I followed them to the Roaring Caves and Oddclaw never came back.  I went in, and found their blood and that's when I...I knew what he did.  But Sunscreech found out, and he forced me to never tell anyone or else he would kill me too.  He told me...twenty-one-and-two days he told me."

He turned his head showing the deep scars grooved upon his face, his right side covered in grooves that shone darkly beneath the lunar gaze.

        "I am sorry," said the mantis bowing humbly, "what he did to you was terrible."

        "He is gone now," said Barkclaw with shaking sigh.  "We banished him.  So I know, I know what it feels like to be forced to...be something you are not, Stonevoice."

        "I appreciate you trying to understand, but this is-"

        "But I want to tell you...something."

He shuffled closer to the robot and nuzzled his cheek, softly licking across the cold steel chest.

        "I am happy you are here, because you are my greatest friend."

        "Really?"  He looked down upon his head.  "Not Oddclaw?"

        "He is my brother, that is different and greater than a friend.  But you are my friend Stonevoice, and I...I-i have always, known you as my friend."

        "That is true."

        "When, w-when that great loud fire frightened me on your island and I was...h-hiding, you came to me and you...you kept me safe until I found my brother again, do you remember?"

        "I do."

        "And then I called you Stonevoice."  He raised his head looking directly at the mantis.  "Because you have a voice that comes from stone, and that voice it protects me, makes me happy, helps me calm when I am frightened o-or upset.  I love my brother, I always do but...I love you too, as my greatest friend."

        "I..." he gazed deep into Barkclaw's eyes of sweet muddy brown as a smile whispered across his face.  "I have always been Stonevoice to you, yes."

        "I-i do not know who you were before, but to me you have always been Stonevoice, my kindest, greatest, strongest friend who, I know a-and trust and I know who would protect me and my family against everything because he has always protected me since the day I met him.  I have always known your voice, and it was the only voice I have known that comes from within this stone."

He tapped his snout against the metal chest.

        "That is where the voice of my friend lives.  No matter who or what life you were, I know that voice.  And it is you."

        "...thank you."  His voice broke slightly with a flicker in his eye.  "Thank you Barkclaw.  I will always remain your friend, no matter what may come."

        "I know you will.  You left your home just to stay with me."

        "That was not my home."  He shook his head.

        "No?" asked Barkclaw.

        "This."  He placed his hand upon the raptor's head.  "You are my home."

He wrapped his arm round Barkclaw's neck, pulling him gently close as the raptor slipped his head over the back of the mantis' head with soft breaths across his steel.  They remained like this for a minute as the badnik did his best to untangle the noise from his head, the names of many separating and reassembling to become intangible words.  Except one.  One that had always been his given to him by a friend.  He would have smiled for the first time in his life were he able to physically, but instead he held the raptor close and nibbled at his head with the soft click of his mandibles.  Something awoke inside of him, something different, a subroutine that tried to re-enact a feeling that he had lost.  His chest felt warm as he parsed new data into his cerebral unit.

Designation: Stonevoice

        "Awake."

Darkness surrounded him as he stood before the yawning abyss.

        "Can you hear me?"

        Yes...I hear you.

        "Good.  Follow my voice.  Just as your ancestors did."

There was nothing behind him, that much he knew in the back of his mind's eye that felt blinded by the oppressive weight of the world above him.  There was no sky except the black rolling clouds that suffocated the light from his view as he felt himself be pulled in towards the cavern's mouth, brazen fangs in the form of stalactites that dripped bleakly above him, salivating with his presence as the outside ceased to ever be.  Soft earth beneath his feet turned to black shells boiled and frozen, bubbles trapped in rigor mortis that gave a strange pebbly texture to his soles as he flicked his fingers to make a spark of light.  But the darkness sealed it before it even escaped him, silenced at birth as he clutched himself from the winds that howled at him.

        "Do not fear the dark.  Tread lightly."

        Where are you?

        "At the end of everything.  Come, follow my voice."

He took his steps carefully, shuffling forwards as the walls kept within touching distance of both his hands that he kept outreached to centre himself, the long passage keeping mostly straight as he kept his eyes open to the blinding dark.  Minutes passed as the wind ceased, the braver he became the more still the breeze would turn as his fingers traced across the strange mineral substance that seemed to devour all light from every source until its outlines glistened like black holes crystallised in ice.  Soon the cavern opened up and he lost track of his sense of balance briefly when he stopped before a great peerless chasm, not that he knew ohter than the sharp echoing winds that howled aloft and raked his skin.  He kept his arms spread open on each side as he took a deep breath, strengthening his heart as he took his first steps over the deep, the ground turning thinner on each side of him as his feet felt along the narrowing path bit by bit, creeping slower the further he went until he struggled to put one foot in front of the other and balance himself.  The rasping gasps of the zephyr beast raked his ears and would tear through his hair threatening to send shivers to his knees.

        "Strengthen your heart.  Those who died before you never did."

The voice seemed to goad him into courage as his body pulled itself towards the end of the passage, trusting his senses to feel the empty space at the edge of his feet and correct himself every so often before reaching to the other side.  A sound came from beyond next to the voice that guided him, dark and deep yet soothing like the ancient father with a strength to crumble mountains.  The wind came harsher at his face, tearing at his skin and threatening to peel it off as he struggled to breathe without the air being ripped from his lungs.  His legs started to fail him, staggering against the wall of another passage as he felt the smooth cold rock with a porous texture that preserved the imprint of his hand and stuck to his fingers.

He walked further on once he felt his legs recover, stumbling slightly into another darkness somehow different in its shade.  Not lighter, but different, he sensed that as he tried not to touch the walls too often for how uncomfortably warm and viscous it felt.  Hours passed in the space of seconds, his body drifting forwards through the venal cavern that twisted on itself, spiralling down then up as he traced his path with his hand reaching beyond his field of vision.

        "I have long waited for you."

        Do I know you?

        "You know...of me."

        Who?  Why am I here?

        "You are here for a test.  A test for your future."

        Future?

        "This darkness...is nothing compared to what you shall face.  You must prove yourself...against...that which threatens your world."

        Wait...are you...how do you know of-

        "I grow weak, descendant...you must heed my warning."

The cavern soon reached its end within a spacious room sculpted from ageless hands that burned with eternal flame, clutching the walls and tearing them slowly with raw crimson fingers that smouldered and crackled with tremendous fury.  He was thankful for the light if not the heat it radiated, burning his cheeks and tightening his robe that threatened to turn alight at a moment's notice from how the hem at his feet became blackened curls, sweat pouring down his forehead as he staggered forwards to try and see the owner of the voice somewhere within the heated room of thick roasting magma that oozed across the floor towards him.

        Where are you?  I am here, where are you?!

        "The...key."

        What?

        "Find...the key...a fire sea."

        What are you saying, what key?!

        "The key to your future...at the firesea."

        "James?"

The darkness melted from his eyes as the room returned to him.

        "Are you alright?"

        "H-huh?!"  He blinked a few times feeling the walls reassemble back to reality.  "What...what do you mean?"

        "You were talking in your sleep," said Jarogniew beside him.

        "Um...d-do I not do that often?" he turned towards him as the bedsheets rustled.

        "Yes but you...sounded different."

        "Oh.  Well um, I...s-sorry if I woke you."

        "It is fine."  The reptile smiled and leaned over to kiss his hair.  "Was it a good dream?"

        "I...I am not sure," said James scrunching the sheets in his fingers, "let me try and unravel it slightly."

He leaned over to the table on his side of the bed to bring out his notebook and start writing down the few fragments of dream that he could remember before it escaped him.  Chanoch smirked sitting up to watch the lemming write who struggled only once to pull the threads back to his mind before he put it back in his drawer.

        "I will deal with that in the morning, sorry."

        "It is fine," said Jarogniew slipping back under the sheets, "you are cute when you write."

        "You say I am cute about everything," scoffed the lemming scooting close to his body.

        "It is true."

        "So is the sky being blue but it is blue everywhere so that's not remarkable."

        "Hmhmhmhm..." Chanoch lifted his own head upon his fist, "do you write down all your dreams?"

        "Only if they are significant," said James sliding his head up to face him, "it helps me, when I write down my dreams I learn to remember them better, it's something of a training exercise for my muse with the Art."

        "What sort of dreams do you have?"

        "Oh the usual, flying monstrosities and brave heroes that defeat them, absurdist landscapes and nightmarish frontiers."

        "Not so different from mine."

        "I would imagine, having your experience would create more groundings for the beasts in your dreams."

        "Yes.  But, you have fought beasts too."

        "Not as many as you...s-sorry."

        "For what?"  The lizardman stroked his hair.

        "I-i...I do not want to glorify your history," muttered James looking downwards.

        "You are not.  I am just happy you are here."

        "As opposed to anyone else?"

        "Yes."

He pulled him close with a hand on the back of his neck as James found his lips pressing against Jarogniew's, warm pale skin against cool reptilian jaws as their tongues teased each other for a moment of peace.  The hungering breath of the long-lived beast swept against the student's trembling gasps and flooded his lungs with a depth that made him shake, cold fingers stroking the back of his hair that swept like grass down his cheeks.  Chanoch withheld his strength and James sensed it, despite a burgeoning heat that swelled beneath their bedcovers as he pulled close against the naked reptilian, firm scales grinding against his cloth undergarments as he whimpered with fits of excitement.

        "H-hoh...Ch-chanoch...p-please-"

        "Mmmmh?" he rumbled softly.

        "M-my body...betrays me I know but I am far too tired for anything as such-"

        "I know.  I am tired too."

        "Yes...s-sorry, I know we haven't done anything along those-"

        "Shhhh."  He pressed his clawed finger to the lemming's snout before raising it to his lips for a soft kiss.  "When we are ready.  Now, let us sleep.  Goodnight James."

        "Goodnight...Chanoch."  He pulled himself close against his chest.  "Pleasant dreams."

The knight gave a smile as he laid onto his back, letting his partner cuddle against his side as the sound of heavy breathing soothed James back into slumber sooner than he expected, his head resting upon thick emerald scales that swelled against his cheek.  Warmth of a different sort consumed him in a dreamless sleep until the morn with only the faintest words still flickering in his memory.  Words that crept deeper into his heart.