.

Boone clamped down on the strip of leather between his teeth, the muted sound of his scream breaking the silence of the cold night as he emptied the medical foam into the bullet wound in his leg. The foam deadened the pain quickly, and the sniper leaned against the wall at his back.

For a moment, he let his body rest. For a moment, he thought about how lucky he had been that the minigun hadn't torn him to pieces. For a moment, he considered passing out and letting whatever happened next happen.

The moment passed, and Boone lifted himself to his feet and began limping towards the doorway, rifle still in hand.

.

.

Gaius Magnus stood at the entryway to the Repcon Test Site and surveyed the battlefield before it. The Courier's gas still hung like a heavy cloud over the land. Legionaires paced back and forth through the obscuring smoke, faces covered with wet cloth as they searched for the maimed and the dying, aided in their search by the anguished cries of their wounded comrades. The Courier's monstrosities had brutalized his soldiers - leaving those that survived with vicious, gaping wounds. Many of those filling the night with their anguish would perish long before the medici could care for them.

And yet, as Gaius Magnus looked over the dead and dying, he could not stop himself from smiling. His soldiers reported that Catenatus' Velites had suffered ruinous casualties during the battle. Only two score of the lightly armored soldiers remained, and as Magnus stared at them from across the field of corpses, he could feel their fear and apprehension.

Catenatus himself still smiled, however, but Magnus drew solace in the fact that soon that smile would be feeding the crows.

Magnus turned back towards the Repcon Test Site, his eyes searched the consuming blackness beyond its entryway. Soon, the foreign soldier would be finished with her task and have no further need of his cooperation. Soon he would be able to pay Catenatus back in full for his blasphemy.

Heretics such as him belonged on a cross.

.

.

A shadow moved through the empty corridors of the Repcon Test Site. A low hum reverberated through the walls, muffling the whisper quiet footsteps that betrayed the shadow's presence. Gradually, the hum grew louder as the figure approached the source of the sound.

"Who are you?" a voice asked.

Over the next few moments the question was repeated from every direction, seeming to emerge from the very stone of the shadow froze as the voices washed over it, the question going unanswered as the hallway was once again consumed by the gentle hum of the Test Site.

The sharp retort of crackling electricity broke the droning silence, stripping away the concealment provided by any stealthboy and revealing two figures standing twenty yards apart from one another. The shadow pounced the moment the manufactured veils dissipated, its sword humming to life as the weapon hissed through the air towards the newfound foe.

A pair of impossibly reflective knives intercepted the blow. The coursing energy of the sword poured into the weapons and they began to glow, burning with inner fire yet maintaining their strength and integrity. The wielder of the knives kicked his leg out, striking the shadow in the side of its chest and releasing a sudden burst of force and sound. The shockwave sent the shadow flying into the wall of the corridor, cracking the heavy concrete as if it were glass.

The Courier flung one of his glowing knives into his off balance opponent, the blade hissing angrily as it pierced through ebony colored armor and embedded itself to the hilt in the shadow's chest.

An instant later, the shadow gripped the handle of the knife, ripping it from its body and sending it flying back towards its original wielder. The Courier dove backwards, only just avoiding the vicious throw.

"A better question, is what are you?" the Courier muttered as the shadow pulled itself from the wall and began stalking towards him.

The shadow met his question with silence. Its sword speaking for it once again as it sought out the Courier's head.