Once again, the sound of gunfire rang throughout the R.A.P.I.D base, now turned into a Conversion Camp. And to add to the sound of bodies either falling or getting shot to bits, there was the sounds of blades slashing away. Talon and Nova (or maybe just Nova) were destroying any Shade in their way in order to save their fallen ally. Or at least, Nova's ally.

Talon could clearly see these were humans or earthlings that he needed to help. They might've been the only defenders of this city. They NEEDED to defend together. After all, Talon could not stop this invasion by himself. And even with Nova and Macy helping him and if he could get them too, trusting him, they needed more help. But right now, that wasn't the focus.

Saving Macy was.

Eventually, The Shade were defeated, and Nova quickly busted herself into the camp, but only met with more guards.

But then Talon came in and started to fight, slashing away his blades at his own kind, but not killing them. "Grab the human! I'll hold them off!"

Nova nodded and then started rushing to the lab before seeing the silhouette of her brother. She instantly took action and tried to open the doors to her brother's capsule. But she couldn't. She growled and then slammed her fist against the glass of the capsule, shattering it.

Her gloved fist bled, but she didn't care. She had finally broken him out. So after grabbing her now unconscious little brother, she quickly ran to the lab to hear screams of pain. Screams of agony. Macy.

"MACY!!" Nova screamed as she slowly set her brother down and then ran in, shooting away at the Shade scientists, not even giving them enough time to react before she blew out their brains with lead.

Inside a clear capsule, she could see Macy, but she was turning into something. She had fur, pointy ears on her head, a fluffy tail, and paws. But Nova merely thought 'screw it' and shot her free.

Once the capsule's glass dropped, Macy panted before she fell out, barely able to stand. "U...Ugh..."

"Macy?! Macy!!!" Nova cried as she cradled her friend's body, shaking her a little to try and wake her. But nothing was working. "Come on, Macy! I know this won't bring you down! You're the strongest and smartest person I've known for years! Come on, Mace!"

Macy slowly groaned before she opened her eyes. "N...Nova?"

"Oh, thank god." Nova whispered as she helped Macy to her feet. "How are you feeling?"

"I...have a sudden urge to eat a rabbit?" Macy asked as she rubbed the back of her head before she froze. She looked at her hand and then screamed so loud that the battle going on outside the lab could hear.

Talon heard this and then screamed in pain as he held his head, and the other Shade seemed to do the same. It hurt all of them. They couldn't even focus on their mission or their battle because of how much the noise hurt them.

"WHY DOES IT HURT SO MUCH?!?!" One of the Shade cried as she began rolling around on the floor, trying to make the sound get out of her head.

Talon screamed just as loud as the others before he finally managed to unleash one of his blades and slashed at some of the Shade guards, knocking them down because of the added pain. Talon continued to scream in pain before the sound stopped. The purple Slasher fell to his knees, panting.

"I...now...hate this planet..." Talon breathed before he ran over to the lab, seeing Raymond on the ground, resting against the table...and Nova trying to comfort a crying fox mutant.

"I'M A FREAK!!!" Macy screamed, looking at her hands, sobbing. "NOVA, LOOK AT ME!!!"

"Macy, you're not a freak!!" Nova said, trying to look around for a mirror. Macy didn't even look that bad. Kind of adorable actually.

"Wait...Macy?" Talon asked as he walked over. "One, that's your name, gotcha. And two, what happened-"

"I'M A FREAK OF NATURE!!!" Macy cried as she began shaking Talon back and forth, sobbing her eyes out before Nova handed her the pieces of Dean. "O-Oh...Oh, the poor guy, heh. Good thing this isn't the first time this has happened."

Talon felt extremely dizzy before he groaned, and found a hand mirror on the work table. "Uhhh...Well, you don't look too bad. See, look at this shiny square."

Macy then looked at herself and was silent. "Huh...I-I guess I don't look t-too bad...I look so soft actually."

"See? You're not a freak, Mace." Nova said before looking at Talon and sighing. "...Thanks for the help back there and here...Space...Cat...thing? What's your name again?"

"Talon. My name is Talon. I promise you, I'm one of the good guys. And I'm going to keep helping you until The Shade are defeated and Earth is liberated." Talon said. "If you'll trust me that is."

"You've helped us this far. I guess we can." Macy said before offering her furry hand out for a handshake. "It's nice to meet you, Talon."

.....

"What are you doing?" Talon asked.

"A...A handshake?" Macy said as she tilted her head before she sighed and held his hand and shook it. "Like this! See?"

"Ohhhh!" Talon said before feeling incredibly awkward. "Okay. Can we try and do some hero stuff now?"

"You're new to this, aren't you?" Nova asked.

Talon nodded before letting go of Macy's hand and heading to the exit. Macy giggled a bit before standing up and putting the remains of Dean in her pocket. "You know, he's kinda cute."

"What? Gross, he's an alien!" Nova said as they loosely followed Talon.

"And I'm now a fox. Don't be racist, Nova."

As the new group of heroes headed out, Nova carrying her brother. Something caught Macy's eye. One of the computer screens flickered before showing the exit of the city. Shade were arresting every single citizen.

"They...They didn't make it out." Macy whispered.

Nova and Talon stopped, facing her before they walked over. Talon squinted his eyes before gasping. "Macy, can you give me a view of the whole city?"

"I can try, but it'll short out the computer afterwards." Macy said as she began typing away on the keyboard and then showed a digital map of the city, which seemed to have been updated with a giant blockade around it.

"Can you zoom in? Just for a few seconds." Talon said.

Macy nodded just as the computer began to glitch out on them, and then when they saw a Shade warrior forming some kind of energy shield around the city, Talon knew what was going to happen. The computer shut down and Macy turned to Talon.

"We're trapped in this city. Every time there's a huge planet, my race will form energy shields around each city, so forces can conquer them individually. The Warship will drop off a commander in this city before leaving with the other ships."

"Then...What are we going to do?" Nova asked.

They all walked outside of the base, watching the sun begin to set over a new age of endings. They all looked at each other before Talon spoke up. "We fight against them. For now, we try and lay low and think of any plan of attack, and try to save Raymond in the process."

"What's gonna happen to him...?" Nova asked.

"He'll be in a coma." Talon said. "He'll be in this state for over a year. For now, we just take him with us while he rests."

Nova felt tears in her eyes before she hugged her little brother closely. "Alright. We should probably keep this as a base for now. We can move in the morning."

"Sounds like a plan." Macy said with a thumbs up. "I'll fix up Dean and maybe he can help with Raymond a little more."

Talon nodded before they all headed inside. This wasn't going to be easy...at least he wasn't alone. He hoped Kagin was proud of him. He then looked into the sky and wondered about one more ally. What was she going to be thinking when she got back if she would come back at all?

The purple Slasher shook it off and carried on with his new mission: saving the world.