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That was it. What Tokeru had said snapped the last few bits of Will''s control. The bed went crashing to the tiled floor as he surged up out of it. Coming to his feet in a wave of pain and fury, he ignored several stitches pulling themselves out or the searing agony in his leg as he slapped Tokeru across his cheek. HARD. The younger Hunter was stunned and cowed. Even Jaffar staggered back, and quickly left. None of the other Hunters had ever seen Will like this before. He''d spent nearly seven years devleoping a steely resolve and rock hard control. It allowed him to do his job without giving into the intense passions that roared like flames within his spirit, but every so often his control slipped.

"SO, YOUR PHILOSOPHY IS AN EYE FOR AN EYE AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH, IS IT?! FOOL!! IF YOU LIVE THAT WAY, THE WORLD WOULD SOON BE BLIND AND TOOTHLESS!"

His rage was a terrible thing to behold. His fury had been the death of many creatures of darkness. He had adopted the role of kindly mentor, caring older brother, and passionate leader for his Hunters. But there was one more role he had to play, that of the stern father. Most of the Hunters were still children, not much younger than him true enough but many times it seemed that way. He had to be strong, he had to be many things, all for their sake. Even if they hated him, he would save them, even if it was from themselves. He cared far too much about them all to do any less. So he yelled right in Tokeru''s face, even as it ripped his heart in two to do so.

"Alright, let''s apply your beliefs to humans! The Germans slaughtered millions of Jews, so all Germans are evil! But at the same time the Jews murdered Christ, so they DESERVED it! Oh, don''t forget the Japanese! They attacked Pearl Harbor and murdered civilians and prisoners of war! Of course the Americans have more than their share of sins, such as the slaughter of the Native Americans and seizure of their lands, the enslavement and degradation of blacks, and let''s not forget dropping not one but two atomic bombs on a civilian populace! Let''s move on to the Christains! The Crusades, Spanish Inquisition, and Salem witch trials can all be laid at their feet, so obviously all of them deserve death as well! Muslims! Muslims have committed countless acts of terrorism and attacked us on our own soil, so they''re all evil as well! Of course blacks are little more than mindless beasts, only interested in sex, flooding the streets with guns, drugs, gangs, and violence! The same goes for Hispainics! And the Russians, the Russians imprisoned and murdered millions of their own people! The same goes for the Iraqis, the Africans, the Chinese, the Vietnamese, and most South American countries! Hell, if you keep going on like that, all mankind is the deepest, darkest sort of evil there is! Let''s get us some atom bombs and blow up the whole damn planet, kill everbody and everything, because they obviously all deserve it! Forget Albert Einstein, he''s German, and they''re all evil! Forget Martin Luther King Jr, he''s not only black but a Christain as well, an obvious liar and twice as bad as anybody else! Indians are bad news, so forget about Mahatma Ghandi! Mother Teresa is the most evil being on the planet, she''s Christain after all! The British are pricks, so ignore William Shakesphere! And the Japanese spiritual culture be damned! DO YOU SEE IT NOW?! THIS IS THE ULTIMATE RESULT OF THINKING LIKE YOURS! AN ENDLESS CYCLE OF HATE AND WAR!!! DO YOU WANT TO DIE SO BADLY, AND TAKE EVERYBODY WITH YOU FOR THE SAKE OF HATE!?"

He grasped Tokeru by the shoulders, staring into his eyes. Will''s entire face radiated fear for the younger man''s safety, for his very soul. "Do you honestly think I don''t understand? I DO! I feel the anger as much as you do! Some small, sick, diseased part of myself argues that those kids just got what was coming to them as Lunites! But who the hell are we to judge everybody based upon their race, gender, species, skin color, sexual orientation, religion, group, or species?! Is that what you want for us?! To be no better than Nazis, or Lunites? Has your hatred blinded you to what your own eyes have seen? Tyler fights beside us, Sethe fights beside us, Myythern is willing to support us, they fight with us against their own kind because there is something within them that demands morality on their part, because they want to do the right thing. Will you judge them as well based on the actions of others? Will you kill people who''d willingly give their lives to save yours, just because they belong to the same groups that have hurt you so badly? If you keep on that path, your war will never end. You will become darker and more depraved, slowly losing everything we fight for and becoming more and more like that which you hate so very badly until you finally die, hated and alone. Do you want that for yourself? I don''t want it to happen to you. I''d take my own life if it would keep just one of my Hunters from such a fate."

His hands slipped up to Tokeru''s face, cradling it as a father would a son, begging for his understanding. Begging with all his soul for this young man to be saved from himself. "So everyone you knew or loved was taken from you. And so you''ll do the same to the vampires, the lycans, and the demons. You will commit the same acts that stole your mother, your sister, and everybody else from you. You will kill them, because while those vampires might have taken their lives, you will destroy their memories, erase the good that their lives caused by killing the love for them in your heart with hate. Can you really do that? Can you destroy everything they were, everything they stood for?"

"You think that I can''t possibly understand, but I do. I''ve seen more horrors than you can imagine. An infant ripped out of it''s mother''s womb with demonic claws and sliced open upon a desecrated altar. People driven mad, tortured body, mind, and soul for weeks, months, even years by demons, not even being allowed peace in death as their souls were stolen and eaten by their tormentors. An elementary school, turned into a feeding ground by a gang of vampires who''d spent the day in the boiler room until clouds covered the sun''s face and they could come out to feast. A nun, violated over and over again before being nailed to the cross of a church and allowed to bleed to death. A group of police officers, stripped naked and impaled on the spikes of a wrought iron fence. Couples having a romantic evening in the park, only to be turned into dinner. A paramedic, torn in two by the girl he was trying to save, the girl he didn''t know was a lycan. Withered husks that were once young men full of promise, lying discarded on the dirty carpet of a check motel, lured to their final thrill by succubi. An old man doused in gasoline and set alit as the vampires who''d dragged him out of his home and did this to him watched and laughed like they were watching a sitcom. A meat packing plant, where it wasn''t cattle that were slaughtered and cut up for food, but human beings, some of them still alive as the carving knives cut into them. An entire city, suffering from a mysterious plague, quarantined and left to wither and die by the CDC who couldn''t possibly imagine that it was a demon mage who''d created this disease. And my Hunters, people who trusted me, people who I cared about like they were my family, my children, being ripped to shreds as I watched helpless. Don''t think for even a second that I don''t understand your anger, you pain, because you can not possibly imagine mine. I forced myself to keep myself here, away from my final rest, away from heaven, all for the sake of you and the others. I could have known peace, not this living hell. Don''t pretend I don''t know your pain, your anger. But I won''t allow myself to become something twisted, something no better than the things I hunt. To do otherwise would mean that the lives and deaths of everyone I seek to protect and avenge were and are meaningless. And I won''t do that to them."

Finally Will''s strength gave out and he collapsed, lying on his knees on the floor. Blood trickled from his shoulder and side, pooling around him. He looked up at Tokeru, eyes pleading with him. "Tokeru, please. Hear my words. Listen to them. Don''t throw your life away on hate. You live. You live to remember your lost loved ones, to keep them alive in your heart. If you harden your heart, if you give up on living, then they will be completely lost. Please..."

It was then that Gail burst in, screeching like a banshee at Will for his stupid recklessness. She put the bed upright again and forced him into it, restitching and rebandaging his wounds. And through it all, Will''s eyes never left Tokeru''s, still pleading with him, still trying to save his heart and soul before it was too late.

Skiaska sighed as she re-entered. Riona wasn't happy. At all. "Damn me... Damn me much." She punched her wall and crumpled up the note on her bed. "How many friend have I made out of the things I hunt? Riona, Jasmine, Aleix, Solaer..." She looked sadly at the gorund as she said the last name. "God, if Will found out how many of them got involved in my life... I'd be chewed and spit out." She sighed and decided to do a little loosening up. She put on her excercise clothing and starting doing some "build flexibility" excercises.

((See pg. 14 of Haven for excercise outfit, but without the shoes.))

"I'll be fine. I can't say Bridget will be if Will don't do something with her." Myyth shook her head, and looked away. "I don't have a problem with what most of you did. It need to be done....."

"If she did what I think she did......." Myyth shrugged and mandered back into one of the supply cubords, and took out a large back bag and began to hunt for something in it.

"Let me put it this way. Many things can be forgiven. I lost my first pack to hunters, and yet I work with you guys. Killing pups isn't somethng I'll forgive, or forget."

((Hey Zin, how long did it take you to write that last one?))

TOkeru heard his words. A part of them struck a chord deep in his soul. But the bigger part. The part filled with hatred of what they had done prevailed for now. He knew that some unnaturals were helping them. But they would eventually turn, as they all did. The always returned to their thirst. He knew they would need to die but, another part of him denied that. Just as it had denied his action to the vampire family. He had wandered around for months after that. Trying to justify his actions. He had killed. He had entered a vampires house. Hostaged his children. Upon the arrival of the vampire that had killed his family, he had slaughtered them all. Slowly, he had done to them what they had done to his family.

Bridget was asleep(or as close to it as she could come) when Jaffar found her lying
on some equipment with a ruck-sack as a pillow. Jaffar explained that William wanted to see her; yet there was something in Jaffar's voice that triggered some
kind of warning.
She let Jaffar know that she would be on her way as soon as she checked her leg wound. Bridget removed the dressing and removed the packing from the wound and checked the bleeding (very little now). She re-packed the wound and applied
a new dressing to the wound. She was still stiff at the locations where she had been shot, but that would be gone by morning.
Bridget got up and grabbed her gear and hobbled to the infirmary to see what William wanted.. though she had an idea of what it might be.


She remembered all the training both physical and psychological testing and training she had under gone. She knew she wasn't normal...nobody in the unit was
truly human anymore. The volunteers for "Project Nemesis" were broken down to
thier basic core(thru drugs/surgical(DNA) implantation) and rebuilt to become the
perfect soldier for special operations. Her designation was Nemesis #12 or just 12
and she exceeded the operation's command exspectations in all training missions
and even the few real missions "Project Nemesis" was allowed to carry out.

To Bridget war had no right or wrong for either side the only thing that mattered
was the mission. She had no real sense of what the truths were....ethics by another
name. Everything was a blurred shade of gray absolutes were a myth. She could live among the normal people but she was no longer a part of them anymore than the "creatures" she hunted. Yet she had seen first hand what the "creatures" did
and like any good soldier she gave herself a 'mission' and would carry it out til she
died.

Bridget entered the infirmary and went directly to the bed where William was and
spoke. "I hear you wish to see me"

Will regarded Bridget for a long moment, then gave her his best drill sergeant style dressing down. "Soldier! You will refer to a superior as sir unless otherwise instructed! Failure to meet even the most basic of military protocols will result in me shoving my boot so far up your a** that you'll taste shoe polish and leather for the rest of your natural life regardless of whether I'm laid up in a damn hospital or not! Do you get me?!"

Bridget just nooded numbly in shock, and Will snarled in satisfaction. "Good! Now atten-hut!"

Conditioned reflexes took over and the female Hunter quickly stood at attention. Will allowed his expression to relax a bit, keeping her standing there for several minutes, before he finally spoke again. "Very good. I see that you still remember how to follow orders. You may stand at ease... Nemesis 12."

Shock and surprise were barely noticable expressions on her face, but he saw them nonetheless. "Yes, I know who you are. In fact, I know everything about you and the Nemesis project. I read your entire military file. Don't look so surprised, we have some of the best hackers in the world living right here in Haven. We can get information about just about anything from almost anywhere. Despite knowing who you are and what you were turned into, I gladly accepted you into our midst. You accepted your place as one of us, and that means you accepted me as your leader and superior officer. So now I'm ordering you to tell me everything with complete honesty, soldier. Why did you murder those children? And don't give me any shite about it being part of the mission. None of your orders stated that the Lunite children were to be executed. In fact, if you'd bothered to act like a soldier and radio your commanding officer for instructions, I would have told you to secure the room and keep the children there until we could have captured them. So whether or not it was unknowingly, you exceeded your orders and committed acts that would allow me to have you shot for breaking the Rules of Engagement, the Geneva Convention, Military Justice, and standard protocol. Make no mistake, you are in a lot of trouble, soldier. So I'll ask you again, why did you kill those children?"

((Beginning of this look back is in Lunite War page 34 I think incase someone was curious.))

The place was dark, the only light seeped through cracks in the roof, but not much concidering it had been raining outside. The hunter shook his head, the water flailing in which every direction. He then lifted his form straight looking around. It was too dark and he removed the sunglasses, placing them in a pocket. Then movement sounded in the corner of the room. He turned, looking, watching intently. Nothing. He backed up, realising the door had already closed. What in Hell could have made him want to come here was beyond him, but there was definatly something not right.

He turned, trying to turn the knob, but it wouldn't budge. Then raspy breathing pierced the quiet area, bright white eyes peering at him from the darkness behind him. The breathing was so centered that Len could almost see it without even facing that direction. He closed his eyes slowly, and when they opened he was suddenly facing the eyes, but then two more pairs of bright white eyes flashed in the other corners of the room. The clicking of his pistols was heard, but he kept them to his side. "...Len..." Came an even raspier voice from the shadowed figure in front.

The hunter's eyes widened, but only for a moment. "What...who are you? Why...why am I here?" The voices seemed illuminous and echoing, as if within one's mind. Even his own. A chuckle came from the one in front and then from what he could tell, the other two. "You don't remember...do you?" The hunter lifted his Eagles, clickin them back. "Remember what!?"

~~~~

Len raised his head as he sat in the chair in front of Will's desk. He breathed in deep, as if recalling something within his mind. "Remember what?..." He shook his head and looked down at the desk seeing several papers and disreguarded folders. Some were obviously being used for research on something. He then turned, looking toward one of the file cabnits which was locked. he pulled out a key in which he had received from his leader and inserted it into the lock, the door shelf swinging open almost immediatly.

He skimmed through some of the folders when he finally came upon the right one. Lifting it out he opened it, shuffling through some of the papers and strike plans for their next and hopefully final skirmish against the Lunites. It was an excellent plan and if things went as well as the last strike, they ould plan on fewer Lunite problems in the future. He looked along the paper, the main sheet reading this:


Mission: Operation Endgame

Target: Lunite Safehouse

Location: Apartment building in the upper eastside of the Bronx, building number 3478, third and fourth floors

Defenses: Minimal

Estimated numbers: Estimate twenty to thirty-five adult Lunite terrorists

Suggested plan of attack: The building is approximately five stories tall with five floors, with a six story tall abandoned building across the street from it. There are no fortifications or defensive points in the building, although the greatest gathering of Lunites is on the third floor. Best plan of attack is to take a small team onto the top of the abandoned building, shoot a zip line over to the building occupied by the Lunites, and zip over to the rooftop of the target building. While the rooftop team is getting into position, all other remaining Hunters will secure all exits from the building with sandbag fortifications and heavy weapons. Once everyone is in position, the rooftop team will proceed to the fourth floor armed with flamethrowers. They will set fire to the entire floor then retreat back to the roof, setting further fires in the building as they fall back. They will then climb back to safety onto the other rooftop using the previously set line, severing it when they are all safe. Any Lunites not caught in the blaze will seek to flee the building only to be cut down as they try to escape by the heavy weapons teams. The fire will ensure the death of all Lunites and destroy any evidence of their presence. There are no other people living in the building, so civilian casualties should be non-existant. This mission must not exceed fifteen minutes, as all personnel must pull out and be well away from the scene before the police and fire depatments arrive.

Len nodded as if agreeing with the plan and then closed the folder, looking forward at the wall blankly. Thoughts of his fallen commerades came to him and he let out a sigh. He then thought to Will and what had happened. He slammed his fist on the table, a few papers sprawling off and onto the floor. "Watch this guys..." He gave a grin, knowing they wouldn't want him to be down, especially with such a mission on hand and his current responsibility. Although, in truth, it didn't change too much, concidering his friends that is. He was and had been just as determined to keep them as safe as possible and to look after them. Now it would be as dire as ever.

The door of the infirmiry had been open but now made a sound as it was shut, Len in the corner behind it before, now looking to Will who nodded at him and then Len looked to the woman with a certain distaste. He watched now as she began her reply.