A week passed by.

  Beelo walked into the room of the ragtag group while all of them were asleep and sat a chair in the middle of the room. He sat in it, then spoke with a normal tone.

  "Get up or die."

  Everyone rose like they were haunted by his voice, or almost like they had been trained to wake up on just the smallest sound. As they walked over to him, the lights reacted, lighting the whole room. They all circled around him, not getting the sleepiness out of their eyes but as if they were preparing themselves to get active right away. Even Rixon now had turned to this automatic 'on' button of a warrior.

  Beelo continued to speak with the same smooth tone. "Now I want you to look at each other. Do any of you know what makes all of you special rather than most other species and why you are here?"

  "Is it not because we all know how to kill, or is that just some crap you have put us through to tickle your third eye?" Masinon said, slightly annoyed with the question.

  "Now, I know someone smarter here. After looking at all of you, I know one of you can tell me it is something else. Enlighten our buddy." Beelo crossed his legs and laid back in his chair.

  "I have been wondering this actually since I was first brought here and I saw all the dead bodies. Does the boss collect species from destroyed planets and make them her exhibit? Because if I'm correct, everyone here legit has no home planet to return to." Rixon peered around the room at the others and Beelo.

  "Oh wow, you all let the newbie here out-think you all. Yes, little dude, that is the case. All of you are not a part of the family because you are assets in the eyes of our enemies and therefore a liability to be attached to the family. So the reason why you are here learning to fight or die is because on any of the missions that you partake in, you will get no backup and no help. If you die, get captured, or worst,get played with.You have to find your own way out and rely on each other because no one from the family will be coming to help you. Now here is another thing—" Beelo said until he was interrupted by Lo.

  "You know, I really don't care, but what is stopping us from doing things on our own and running away with our skills instead of helping the Boss? I mean, honestly, this is a huge galaxy." Lo lit a smoke.

  "Don't answer that, Beelo. He is still young. Allow me to enlighten him so he knows what situation he is in." Kiala peered over to Lo. "As you are correct, we could run and go to other parts of the galaxy, but the reason the Boss is so powerful is because she is connected with all the sectors of the Lowtipia Galaxy. Meaning even if we ran, it would not take them long to find us and tell them that they would find all the rarest 'species.' We are inherently our own salvation and our own poison."

  "Thank you for that, Kiala. Now, as I was saying before I was interrupted by the young beast, there is an actual salvation, and the boss believes she has found the key, but it is a one way ticket. Meaning no coming back and no one following. She has told me that this is not knowledge she will be passing through to you all, but rather you have to go and extract it for yourselves. As she wants to give all of you the real chance to live a better life." Beelo stood up and looked them in their eyes.

  "Wait, so the witch actually has something of a heart and isn't cold to the touch? Because I promise when she punched me, I thought she was trying to kill me." Rixon chuckled lightly in a sarcastic tone.

  Everyone was shocked. Eyebrows rose and hair stood, even from Beelo.

  "Little dude, I can't believe you even survived an encounter like that, but with that said, meet me in training room 12. I and forty droids will act as a simulated family that you all are told to exterminate. So prepare and get there when you're ready." Beelo put the chair against the wall near the door and walked out.

  Everyone went to their station, and Rixon put on all his equipment, even his mask. He was done quick and had time to people-watch a little.

  Lo put on arm plates that covered only his arms and his chest area. It left his back out for his Fernecta hair to be out and breathe. Rixon knew that their hair was like a rite of passage on the Fernecta planet, as well as a shield to most foreign weapons and objects. Lo equipped two rifles on his shoulders and put a waist belt of different grenades around himself.

  Masinon put on his chest plate armor and attached thigh armor plates to his pants. He put on his special mask as it had a tiny scope in the spot where his third eye was. Then he went into his storage chest where he grabbed this huge sniper-like gun, it had two grips where both places could be a place for the trigger, and the barrel extended out nearly four feet, gleaming with modifications Masinon had clearly customized himself.

  When Rixon looked over at Relisis, he seemed to only have on armor and two pistols on his side. Rixon was perplexed, as it seemed that he would be going into this mission underprepared. But then he noticed something, Relisis's knuckles were wrapped in reinforced plating, nearly invisible until the light caught them just right. His stance was different too, grounded and loose, like a coiled spring waiting to explode.

  When he looked over at the beautiful Kiala, her tail waved in the air as she went into her storage chest to grab her backpack that seemed to have a ton of equipment. She had a sword and four pistols strapped across her body in a cross pattern. Rixon wanted to know more, but her area in itself looked like a laboratory. It had vials, syringes, custom ammunition, and what looked like medical supplies all organized with military precision. So he just stared at the ceiling as he thought about how he would play his role.

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  "Yo, Rixon, get up and come to the table. We got to discuss the plan and let you in on how we fight." Masinon said as Rixon was slightly starting to doze off again.

  Rixon made it to the table.

  "Look, Rixon, it's your first simulated firefight with us, but I think you can do this with ease. The problem is that we have yet to even been able to get to Beelo and Velo. You haven't met Velo, but he is just as dangerous as Beelo. Your job today is to help us at least get to him. Once we get to him, we can then just learn how to beat someone as fierce as him. Now look, Lo and Relisis are the breach and advancement duo. Kiala is our medic and a part of the support duo with me. I provide sniper and support fire, along with reconnaissance. I've seen how you fight, and I think you will be a branch of your own. You will be like our espionage." Masinon said as they all stood around the table.

  "How am I gonna do espionage if we're in the middle of a battle?" Rixon looked confused.

  "On attacks like this that are surprises or planned rather than ambushes on ourselves, we will always reveal our presence. Your job will always be to find the path of least resistance based off my callouts and clear that path and shorten their support. So in reality, if we are pushing up the middle, your job is to veer off to a flank and push it all by yourself without revealing your presence till the last second." Masinon sounded confident in himself.

  The quiet Relisis finally broke his silence. "Well, his job is based on how well you can give callouts while you're supporting us."

  "Correct. Now let's move." Masinon walked away from the table with the biggest grin on his face.

  They took an elevator up, and Rixon, the boy who used to have to psyche himself up, was calm and already locked in for the battle that was about to launch.

  They reached the simulated door, and when they walked in, they came across another door. Like clockwork, Lo went to the side of the door, and Relisis stood right in front of it. Lo nodded his head, and Relisis's face showed emotion for the first time. He took a stance, then he punched the door.

  The door exploded off its hinges, and Lo smiled and threw smoke and short-timed E.M.P. grenades inside to disorient the droids. He followed behind his grenades and took out five droids and gained position in the room up the right middle flank of what appeared to be a lobby of an extended-stay hotel station.

  Relisis followed behind and went on a tear, moving with Lo, punching and shooting droids with his pistols. His movements were fluid, almost like a dance, ducking under energy blasts, pivoting on his heel to deliver devastating hooks that crumpled droid chassis like kid build toys.

  While they did that, like a silent killer, Masinon let off ten shots of his sniper, taking out ten incoming droids coming on the left flank. Each shot was precise and calculated, he barely even seemed to aim.

  Kiala, like the wind, passed Rixon's face and raced in after those shots and gained the left flank so Relisis and Lo could not be counter-flanked. She in herself took out five with ease and calmness, her movements surgical as she placed shots directly into droid power cores.

  "Alright, Rixon, GO! The weak side is actually up the middle. I will cover you. It looks like Beelo and possibly Velo are being held up in the room of that ballroom with fifteen droids. Clear the remaining ten droids so we can have a clean breach on that door." Masinon said as he used his third eye's scope to scan the room while he took out the rest with his sniper and his other two eyes, never breaking his rhythm.

  Rixon felt the moment. He sprinted up the middle with his shield guarding his face. He used a lobby cart as a tiny moving ship and laid on it, shooting droids as he floated by. He took out three on his right flank where Lo and Relisis were coming up from, allowing them to move up from the café area of the lobby. Then he took out two on the left, allowing Kiala to move up and support everyone else. Then he got skimmed by a stray shot and took it personally. He jumped off the cart and killed the remaining five with a fierceness of Delisus warrior, his sword flashing in the simulated lighting as he moved like a whirlwind through the droids.

  As he cleaned up the rest they stayed locked in, as they knew that they had the chance to at least fight the monsters of Velo and Beelo.

  "Kiala, boost them! It's go time! Everyone switch to close range!" Masinon yelled as he ran up with his sniper to catch up with everyone.

  Kiala shot Relisis with a syringe pistol and injected him with something that got him repumped to go and fight. But each person had a different reaction every time she shot a different person. When she shot Lo, his fur on his back stood up for a second, then his gold eyes lit up like molten metal. He became crazed, feral even,his movements faster, more unpredictable. When she shot Masinon, it calmed him down and had him more relaxed, his breathing evening out, his aim steadying to an almost supernatural degree.

  She didn't shoot Rixon though.

  "Alright, everyone, time to breach. Relisis, can you do the honors? It seems the doors are reinforced. Let's show them that no matter what they put in front of us, we want their head." Masinon said as he pulled apart his sniper and recalibrated it into two small machine guns with practiced efficiency.

  Relisis stood in front of the door and chose not to stand in a stance this time. He just stood there loose, then tightened his fist and punched it. The door fell straight down.

  Kiala dropped her bag and pulled out two swords. She threw them both, and they landed in the chest of two droids. She followed behind them with her rifle, her tail whipping behind her for balance as she moved.

  Lo, on the other hand, ran in and just took off heads and torsos of the droids with his sword that he grabbed from Kiala's backpack, his enhanced state making him a blur of violence.

  Relisis charged in with his fists, making short work of the droids, each punch denting metal and shattering body of the droids.

  Rixon followed behind Relisis, fighting with only his shield and sword, deflecting incoming shots and taking heads off the droids with precision.

  And with unconscious precision, Masinon took out the last six droids, his dual machine guns singing a symphony of destruction.

  They did all of this within seven seconds after the door fell.

  When the smoke cleared from the door falling in the ballroom, there stood Velo, a Legzla with his four arms all holding swords, and Beelo holding a rifle and a shield.

  "No fair ones. Rixon and Relisis, y'all go after Beelo. Everyone else focus on Velo. Let's create the opening and get us some heads on a stick." Masinon said into their comms with a calmness.

  Like with a light flash, all of them took on their assignments.