Intersexed Ch. 03: Part 2

Intersexed Ch. 03: The War on Terror. Part 2.

From Part 1.

"Lanner sends his regards," Tank chuckled as his lengthy cock swelled. Morning did not look like the woman from his visions, but he knew she was her. "Morning, please, will you return to your natural form? It appears we are brother and sister, or maybe you might even be my distant mother. Either way, we share Lanner as an ancestor.

Continued...

Well, he's your father, but... fuck!... I don't know. What I'm saying is that Lanner is ultimately my father, too."

"Light on the Water is your father?" Morning wonderingly asked, angry that her squelching cunt had reacted to the handsome intruder. Throwing a robe around her shoulders, she guided Tank and everyone else to the dining room table and sat.

"Way, way back in my family tree," Tank admitted. "He took over my mind only an hour or so ago and explained some things. When he left, I commandeered an entry and landing craft and came to talk." He waited for Morning's reaction.

She shrugged, and suddenly, an intense, glowing light surrounded her head. It coalesced there before brightening and expanding to envelop her entire body. The light became too intense to stare at. Then, when it died, it exposed the woman from Tank's dreams--tall, ebony-black skin glowing under the overhead lights, muscular, with high, firm, widely-spaced C-cup breasts deliciously revealed above a narrow waist, a heart-shaped, powerful ass, a verdant pussy, and long shapely legs.

Lanner spoke unexpectedly in the space between Morning and Tank. "Morning is not your many times removed mother. Instead, she is like a great aunt many times. Day and your 'aunt' are not related."

Only Morning and Tank seemed to hear the spectral voice because only they responded by smiling relievedly. They desired each other, and Lanner's declaration freed them to pursue their desires.

"Well, fuck me," Cain gasped, holding his bruised throat and ogling Morning. He looked at Solange. "If that is Bella's true form, what do you look like?"

Morning held her mother's hand, and the light reformed before easing down Morning to her hand and then rising to envelop her mother. It surrounded Solange's body and glowed intensely. Then, the light faded, and Day sat proudly beside her daughter. Three-thousand-five-hundred-years-old and looking no older than her twenty-year younger daughter. Neither woman looked more than twenty-five years of age.

Day was a taller, more slender version of the woman she gave birth to. Her breasts were perhaps a smidgen larger, her waist a tiny bit smaller, and her bottom not quite as pronounced. But Day's beauty matched, if not exceeded, her daughter's.

"My Gawd!" Cain groaned awedly. "I've been fucking Gigi Hadid and Solange Knowles, but you've been hiding the hot bitch you are from me? Jaysus,... fuck, what is your real name?... whatever your name is from me? No one in their right mind would choose either of those two slags over you!"

Morning took Cain's head between her hands, and her light flared again. Seconds later, Brandon reappeared. "Aww," he protested as he examined himself. "I prefer Cain! His cock's way bigger than mine, and Solange seems to like it!"

Morning laughed heartily before taking his hand and returning him to Cain. "My mother's name is Day Dawning, you Muppet."

"If I'm a Muppet, why don't I have a hand stuffed up my ass?" Cain facetiously asked.

"That can be arranged," Morning threatened, holding her hand up and flexing her fingers.

"What is it with you wanting to fuck my ass?" Cain teased. "Got a bit of a homo fixation there?"

"As amusing as this is, children," Tank kidded. "I have some information for you, and then you all need to decide your future."

Everyone's head turned to face him, their expressions concerned. Tank hesitated, unsure how to start. Although he would occasionally ad-lib a line, typically, he preferred to immerse himself in the role the writer and director had chosen him for and bring their vision to life.

"You know," Tank said, turning to Julie. "It might be easier just to show them."

"I think you're right," Julie replied. "Ladies, Cain, please. We have a hover ship parked on your condo's roof that will take us to an atmosphere entry/re-entry craft, which will take you to an alien spaceship orbiting the Earth." She grinned, with her eyes twinkling at their disbelieving looks. "Come on! If you can't trust a pair of Hollywood actors, who can you trust? Your local used car salesperson, oops, I mean politician, perhaps?"

"So, when we reach the roof to find it empty, will you then tell us what the fuck is happening?" Antoinette growled irritatedly.

"I'll make you a deal," Julie grinned. "If there's no ship, we'll take you all to dinner and allow you to tag and post as many photos of the seven of us eating together as you want. You get in it if there is, and let us take you into space."

Antoinette and Eloise immediately agreed, already imagining the many amazed comments from their friends and family. Cain and Day waited for Morning's response. They'd back her decision either way.

Morning glanced at her mother to garner Day's opinion. When Day nodded almost imperceptibly, Morning stood. "I suppose I should put some clothes on."

Antoinette and Eloise chatted excitedly with Julie as they waited for Morning to return. Julie deflected their more personal questions with practised ease until Eloise asked, "Are your kids with you?"

Julie sighed heavily before sadly saying, "I haven't seen them for over a year. I video chat with them every day, but I'm involved with something that takes precedence over even them."

"What could be more important than raising your kids?" Eloise asked doubtfully. Eloise had always been a romantic. It was why her johns enjoyed her company so much--she really did love them.

In her high-priced escort days, Eloise dreamed of falling in love with a client who loved her in return. They'd escape to where she wasn't known and do the whole suburban marriage thing: Stay-at-home mum, white picket fence, two point three children, cats, a dog, and happy chats over the fence with her neighbours. Eloise was mid-fifty and more realistic now. But she still thought raising happy, healthy kids was the most important job in the world.

"Ensuring the world survives long enough for them to have a future," Julie stated plainly.

Silence reigned around the table as the others digested her grave words.

"It's that serious?" Antoinette whispered fearfully. Julie nodded, and Antoinette sighed. "There really is a ship waiting for us on the roof, isn't there?"

"There really is," Julie agreed as she stood.

Antoinette opened the roof's door and looked out. "No ship!" She said, relieved.

"Guess again," Ms Angelina said as she took two steps past Antoinette and disappeared.

"WTF!" Cain spat. He ran after Julie. He, too, disappeared two steps later.

Antoinette and Eloise grabbed each other, their eyes wide and scared, and their bodies shaking.

"Oh, come on," Tank said amusedly. Watching people disappear when they stepped through the light warped around the hover to hide it still freaked him out a little, too. He repeated Angelina's words, "If you can't trust a pair of Hollywood actors, who can you trust?" He separated the women, held their elbows, and walked to where the other two had disappeared.

Eloise and Antoinette gasped when the hover appeared between one step and the next. Morning, Day, and Cain joined them and looked flummoxed before they stepped back, testing what their eyes told them. Morning and Day exchanged glances before shrugging and boarding the ship. Cain muttered, "WTF?" and joined them inside.

"George!" Morning and Day squealed, rushing over to hug their friend and mentor.

Antoinette and Eloise also eagerly rushed over and embraced him. They felt better knowing the man who had steadfastly supported them for over thirty years was there, too.

"George? What the fuck's going on?" Morning asked. "Is all of this you and the cabal?"

"You know as much as I do," George answered in his typical cultured rumble. "I wake up with two A-list celebrities standing over my bed, and I damned well know they're not there to kill me or film an episode of 'This is Your Life!' but other than that, only they know."

Julie and Tank laughed as they helped their quarry into the webbing seats and buckled them in. Tank explained, "The inertia dampeners should mean a smooth trip up to the re-entry vehicle. But if turbulence strong enough hits the ship, you might get thrown about. So, better safe than sorry."

It took less time than it takes to type this for the hover to land inside the re-entry crafts bay. The nearly inaudible hum from the hover's engines stopped, and Julie and Tank unbuckled and stood. "We're here," Tank grinned.

"In space?" Cain asked disbelievingly.

"No!" Julie chuckled. "In the re-entry craft that will take us into space. Come on, we can go up the front of the ship, and you can watch while we fly into space."

"This is a one-way trip, isn't it?" George asked defiantly. "I believe now we are on some kind of top-secret military spacecraft, and there's no way you can let us return to Earth and tell anyone what we've seen."

"Who would believe you?" Tank asked drily. "Four whores and two pimps make up a story about actors appearing out of thin air, kidnapping them, and taking them in invisible aircraft to another unseeable space vehicle that flew them to an invisible spaceship orbiting the planet? Nobody will believe that, though I'm sure you'll get lots of calls asking where to buy the drugs you were so obviously on."

"You have a point," George grinned. "But still? You can't let us leave lest someone does."

"I guarantee you'll be allowed to return to your previous lives if that's what you want. One, any, or all of you can make that choice, and I give you my solemn oath as a genuine Hollywood star, you'll return home safely," Tank joked.

Julie laughed, "Yeah, Cain. Trust us, we're actors!"

"And if you can't...?" Cain said glumly, believing George was right.

Tank and Julie took their 'guests' to the re-entry craft's nose, where Panton sat, guiding the ship. He didn't have much to do but ensure he selected the correct destination from the menu option. The craft's automation took care of the rest. It was only if he needed to manoeuvre the vehicle to a place his computer didn't know or he needed to operate it outside of its standard safe operating procedures that he took over from the autopilot.

Morning, Day, George, Cain, Eloise, and Antoinette watched awedly as the sky ahead turned dark blue and then black, and the stars appeared. By how quickly the sky turned from light to dark blue to black, the sextet knew they were travelling at an immense speed, but there were no typical feelings of movement generally associated with travel.

A few moments later, Cain muttered, "I don't see no fucking boat out here."

Tank chuckled at the nonsensical sentence and said, "You and ex-marine Brian Bennett will get along just fine. But to answer your question, seeing an invisible ship is difficult."

"Brian Bennett?" Cain asked. "The like gazillion times Olympic gold medal winner? He's on the boat?"

"The star warship, yes."

"Must be legit then," Cain said, rolling his eyes and not believing a word.

The next moment, though, Cain had to bite his words because, all around them, other spacecraft appeared, and with them, the sides of an enormous spaceship. The appearance of solid objects allowed the passengers to realise how fast they still moved--quicker than any car, train, or plane any of them had been inside. But before they could worry, their space vehicle spun on its axis and faced out into space before settling onto support struts.

"Honey, we're home!" Julie kidded as she and Tank walked towards the door opening on the nose's left.

The sextet huddled behind the actors and followed them along a narrow passageway into a massive, curved corridor. After what seemed like an age of walking, the group passed a number of rooms that looked like hospital wards. Every bed contained a patient, they assumed, surrounded by a clear box filled with white, swirling gas.

"Yeah, that's one of the things we need to talk about," Tank grimaced. "But rest assured, the gas is helping, not killing them."

Julie and Tank guided the sextet to their favourite canteen, where General Zaha, Brian Bennet, Genet, and the others waited. They all stood to greet the newcomers. Zaha stared intently at Morning before growling, "There's no doubt Lanner is your father. You must tell me that story someday, but for now, welcome." He turned to the others and made the introductions.

Cain ran to Brian before skidding to a halt, "Fuck! Sorry," he said. "I thought you were ex-marine and Olympian Brian Bennett."

"Bennett laughed and said, "I am Brian Bennett, ex-marine and Olympian."

"Yeah, but you can't be. Brian's in a wheelchair. You don't get out of those and walk again. Not unless you're a charlatan to begin with."

"Yeah," Tank growled. "That's another thing we must talk about."

After everyone had greeted everyone else, a waitress appeared and handed out menus. To the ship members' surprise, Morning and Day immediately perused it. The other four did as they'd expected: Looked at it blankly, turning it back and forth and shrugging.

"You can read that?" Tank disbelievingly asked Morning and Day.

"Sure," Morning said. "It's written in Sanskrit, our native language."

General Zaha laughed heartily before saying, "I'm not sure what Sanskrit is, but that's Providian."

"Perhaps," Morning agreed. "It's a somewhat archaic form of Sanskrit that only the eldest of our people spoke. But I can read it okay."

"How old are you?" Zaha asked.

"Don't you know it's rude to ask a woman her age?" Day teased before replying. "I'm unsure of my actual age, but I'm around three and a half thousand years old. My daughter's twenty years younger than me.

"What language are we speaking in?" Tank asked. A question that had befuddled Julie and him since they were first allowed to explore the ship.

"It depends," Morning answered. "When you're talking to your shipmates, you're talking in Sanskrit, Providian, I assume. When you're talking to us, you use English. But when you address my mother and/or me, you seamlessly flip between Sanskrit and English. Sometimes, more than once in any one sentence." She turned to Julie. "So do you."

"When you're in the gas," General Zaha explained. "Major Tenerife uses subliminals to teach you humans our language. It makes conversing with you easier and helps you understand what you're reading."

"Which is all fine and dandy," Cain drawled. "But what has it got to do with us?"

"I'll tell you what I know and then what I think," Tank replied. He looked around until the group nodded. Everyone, including the ship members, wanted to know why these six humans were so important. "What I know." Tank pointed at Cain, Antoinette, Eloise and George. "You four have the required mix of human, Neanderthal, and Providian DNA to create super soldiers similar to myself, Julie, and Brian."

"Pile it on thick," Cain snorted. "I don't think it's up to my ears yet."

Tank ignored him and continued. "The ship's sensors automatically scan everyone who comes on board. That's what the narrow passageway we passed through is for. It's both a safety and medical issue. The ship scans for anything or anyone that isn't allowed on board. Humans and Providians are permitted, of course. Anything else is killed immediately. It also scans for anything contagious or hazardous we may have been exposed to. The ship will seal us in that passageway until we can be decontaminated."

Tank looked around and could see his audience had questions. But before they could voice them, he continued. "That's how I know you four have the DNA combination I mentioned." He turned to Morning and Day. "Initial analysis says that you two have more Neanderthal DNA mixed within you than anyone else on Earth. That analysis conjectures the Neanderthal DNA, combined with the treatments Major Tenerife and his crew will offer you, will make you faster and stronger than even Julie and me, and we are the fastest and strongest of anyone on board this spacecraft."

"I don't suppose you'd like to prove that?" Cain challenged. "I've got a tenner that says both Morning and Day will kick your butt."

"A demonstration certainly convinced me," Brian added.

"If I agree, please let me explain what's happening and why we need your help first? Before you answer, you need to know that my crew, Brian, Julie and I, are the ones raiding the terrorist militia camps around the world."

"Sure," Cain sneered. He'd clearly taken point on challenging Tank's explanations. "Two Hollywood actors and a charlatan lead the terrorist group WOLF, which is attacking other terrorist groups, trying to make themselves the most powerful anti-government group in the world. Sure! After all, why not?"

"You have no idea, Cain," Julie laughed. "There are a million people on this ship, with sixty thousand of them permanent troops, all but a few of them capable of fighting. A large faction of the commanders leading those troops want to eliminate all of Earth's governments and install puppet ones they control. Another equally large faction wants to kidnap every human with the required DNA structure, forcibly mutate them into super soldiers, and force them to accompany the Providians to Aridia, where they'll invade and try to free their enslaved people."

"Aridia?" Morning hissed? "Slavers? You want us to join you and fight Aridian slavers? Day and I are in!"

"Why?" General Zaha asked, surprised by her vehemence.

"Too many of my children, descendants, friends, lovers and mates have been killed by what we first believed were Gaelic Slavers but have learnt are Aridian. They killed our medicine man, my father, Light on the Water, and have hunted my mother and me for three and a half thousand years. Day and I have already decided we need to hunt them. We just don't know how. Now we do."

"Why do they hunt you?"

"Because I know how to kill them permanently!"

"Easy, I assume," Tank presumed. "I find blowing or cutting their heads off works."

"No," Morning denied. "If you only kill them, they regenerate overnight, and a clone is generated with them. Then you fight twice that number the following day."

"Fuck!" General Zaha swore. "No wonder we could never defeat them! Excuse me, people. But General Tibolt needs to hear this now. Captain Zaffra, please bring Morning and her mother to the parade ground when you're done wiping the floor with her. I'm sure the other generals will have questions for them."

"I get why you want Beyoncé and Solange. Even getting Cain and George makes some sense. But why Antoinette and me?" Eloise timidly asked. "Sheesh, we're both closer to sixty than fifty, weigh less than one hundred and thirty-two pounds, and can barely lift a bag of groceries inside. What use are we in a war?"

Tank smiled indulgently. "Do you remember how old I am?" He asked obliquely.

Eloise's eyes widened, "You're sixty! I remember seeing the birthday cake on 'X'."

"Do I look sixty still?"

"No," Eloise admitted. "Then again, you never did."

"I'm forty-eight, Eloise," Julie added. "I look better than when I did the Lara Croft movies."

"You sure do!" Brian and Cain blurted.

"Down, boys," Julie grinned. She winked at Brian, "You, maybe later."

Brian smiled broadly.

"First!" Tank said, interrupting. "Let me tell you what I don't know but suspect." The others nodded. He let his gaze wander over the six he and Julie had gathered. "The Providians will need a blood sample from each of you to confirm, but I'll wager that you're all, except Day, descendants of Lanner, Light on the Water, Morning's father."

When they all looked at each other, wondering if they should be disgusted with themselves for having had sex with a relative, he added, "The inherited genes from Morning's father are so far removed from Morning and Lanner that you're no longer genuinely related in any way. But we can track your ancestors through your mitochondrial DNA, and I'm sure they'll all lead back to Lanner."

Everyone looked guiltily relieved by Tank's explanation.

"What that means is that I believe you'll all become like Julie and me. Kind of Super, super soldiers. Faster, stronger, and more accurate with any weapon than even the super soldiers like Brian and the others such as Roque, Envet, and Alban."

"Haven't been able even to touch him in a fight," Bennett confirmed. "Julie neither, and only Julie has ever been fast enough to strike Tank."

The gathered sextet eyed Julie speculatively, trying to fit that information with the famous, diminutive, beautiful actress before them.

Tank stood, saying, "Let's take this to the dojo, and I'll prove what the mutagenic gas can do."

"That's the stuff we saw in those plastic thingies coming in, right?" George asked as he fell into step beside Tank. "That General called you Captain Zaffra. You're a captain in his army?"

"It is," Tank confirmed. "Technically, it's five-star general Tibolt's army, but essentially, yes."

Morning had held her mother back. She waited until she thought the others were far enough away that she wouldn't be heard, unaware that speed and reflexes weren't the only things the mutagenic gas enhanced. "Challenge Angelina when we enter the dojo, Mum," she whispered. "If Tank's training her, she'll fight similarly to him. Watching her might give me enough of an advantage to destroy him quickly."

"You're worried?" Day asked.

"Light says he'll kick my ass," Morning admitted. "But I'll own his after the enhancements."

Day sighed deeply, "You're right to worry," she stated.

They hurried to catch up with the others, not noticing that Angelina and Zaffra exchanged winks and grins.

Tank and Julie showed Morning and Day into the changeroom and casually stripped. Tank had never been bothered by changing in front of others, and with everyone around her having similar equipment to her, Julie had gotten past her embarrassment at having a stupendously long cock and tennis ball-sized testes. Therefore, she was surprised by the other women's gasps and shocked looks when she dropped her jumpsuit and her cock and balls fell free. Julie typically tucked them away on her recruiting trips back to Earth so they wouldn't shock her targets.

"Side-effect of the mutagenic enhancements," Julie explained, unembarrassed. "Tank's got a pussy under his, too."

"The treatments turn you into a hermaphrodite?" Morning queried.

"Yes," Tank confirmed, trying to match Julie's nonchalance as Morning curiously examined his 10+ inch cock and enormous balls.

"I never thought to try that," she mused.

Tank and Julie were nonplussed by her casual acceptance of them being intersexed and stared at Morning wonderingly. She grinned, "Beat me today, and I'll show you."

The actors exchanged glances and shrugs, handed the two women Gis, dressed in theirs, and guided Morning and Day to the dojo.

"I challenge Ms Angelina," Day said as they entered.

Tank grinned as he looked around. A substantial crowd gathered around the central mat, waiting to see Tank and Julie fight. Their battles against each other were legendary and the most watched replays on the Providian military channels.

Genet welcomed Day and Julie onto the mat. She would be the referee for their fight. "What are the rules of engagement, fighters?" She asked.

"First to achieve two takedowns or the first to draw blood wins?" Julie suggested.

Day shook her head, thinking their fight would be over too quickly, with her victorious, if those were the rules, and Morning would learn nothing. Day estimated Angelina's pride would ensure that she lasted at least a little while, so she suggested, "First to tap out."

"Agreed," Julie grinned, knowing Day was in for a rude awakening.

"Agreed," Genet accepted. "But I will call the fight if I believe there's a clear winner and the other is only too prideful to admit defeat."

"Agreed," Day and Julie answered together, each thinking the other was going down.

"Warm up?" Genet suggested.

"I'm ready," Julie stated as Day said something similar.

As the women bowed, straightened, and waited for Genet to call the start, Morning noticed Tank wasn't watching the fight. Instead, behind the crowd, he moved gracefully through his Tai Chi Katas, warming his muscles and preparing for their battle. Her pussy clenched and moistened as she watched his muscular figure work through the forms. 'Still going to kick his sexy ass,' she thought as she blinked away an image of Tank's enormous cock.

Morning heard, "Fight!" and quickly turned her head to the battle.

Thinking it would be over in less than a second, Day charged at Angelina, planning to dump her onto the mat and grind her into submission. Day's hands never touched the woman. Instead, Angelina spun to the side, swivelled on her left foot's ball, and kicked the older woman in the ass. Day, already unbalanced by missing her intended target, careened into the crowd, who caught her and helped her back onto the mat.

"Now, that's what I call an ass-kicking!" Brian chortled to the crowd's amusement.

Day circled Julie more cautiously this time. The woman's speed had shocked and concerned her enormously. Day thought she still outweighed and outmuscled the young woman, but she needed to get hold of her first. Julie's incredible speed made doing that problematic.

Julie made no move of her own. Instead, she calmly turned to keep Day before her and waited. Julie was relaxed, her arms hanging loosely at her sides, waiting for the older woman's next attack.

It didn't come. Day was determined that Angelina came to her this time.

Julie was reluctant to attack because she had learned the hard way from Tank that attacking a prepared, skilful opponent was a sure way to lose. However, moving in a stationary circle and watching your opponent didn't achieve that tap-out necessary to win the fight. Julie began to stalk Day.

Day's patience expended first, and she spun, swinging a roundhouse kick at Julie's head.

Angelina pushed forward, dropped to her knees, avoided Day's kick, and punched the woman above her knee, the inside of her upper thigh, and directly in the cunt. Then, she pulled her leg from beneath her body and swept Day's foot, dropping her to the mat. Next, Julie heel-struck Day's stomach before rolling and leaping to her feet. She leapt toward Day's head, planning to drop her elbow onto Day's upper chest, but Day rolled in time to avoid Julie's blow.

Day staggered back, giving herself time to recover. She knew that not only had Julie pulled her blows, but if the first punch above her knee had landed on her knee, where Julie would have placed it in a genuine fight, her knee would have dislocated. Day also knew that if Julie had truly wanted to hurt her, the elbow would have been aimed at her throat or chin and not her upper chest.

Day shook her head as she tried to recall the last time she'd lost to an opponent, let alone been unable even to touch one. There was no point continuing, even though her pride demanded she should. She made the universal time-out gesture and bowed, facing Julie.

Julie, who had sprung to her feet, returned Day's bow and stepped off the mat.

Genet suppressed her grin before saying, "Tank, Morning, you're up!"

Tank took his position behind the centre line and before Morning. He placed his right fist in his left palm before his chest and bowed. Morning dipped her head to acknowledge Tank's respect and repeated Tank's actions. Tank respectfully acknowledged, and the fighters turned to face Genet. They bowed to her.

"This is going to be good," Brian chortled, excited to watch the match. His experienced eye told him that the two fighters were evenly matched but that Tank's extra height and strength should carry the day.

"Morning will wipe the mat with his smug face," Cain replied disdainfully. "I've never seen anyone capable of even touching her, let alone making her tap out."

"Want to make a small bet, then?" Brian suggested, hopefully.

"Sure," Cain said, remaining disdainful and overconfident in his friend and lover's abilities. "If Tank wins, I'll suck your enormous cock. But if I win, you have to put on a French maid's outfit and serve me breakfast for a week."

Brian laughed, saying, "Well, I was thinking of ten bucks. But sure, what you said. You'll need to dress pretty for me before you suck me off, though."

"Deal!" Cain agreed. The two enormous black men spat on their palms, smacked their hands together, and shook.

"Same rules as the other two?" Genet asked. Tank and Morning nodded, then turned to face each other. "Fight!" Genet barked, backing off the mat quickly.

Tank immediately drove his massive right fist at Morning's head. Following that by powering forward, flinging fists, forearms and elbows at Morning's surprised face, Tank forced Morning to do nothing but defend. He wasn't moving as fast as he could because he was testing her defences and speed as well as her ability to counter.

Initially, Morning backpedalled as she resisted Tank's attack. He'd caught her unaware because she thought he'd stand motionless, much as his student had. It would not have surprised Morning to learn that that was Tank's typical first fight action: Stand still and evaluate his opponent's movement and patience.

Typically, when two fight Masters came together, the first to move lost. Tank strove never to be the first to move. However, he already knew his speed and strength exceeded Morning's, so barring an error born from overconfidence, he'd win this battle. So, to confuse her, Tank struck first.

Well before she ran out of mat, Morning regrouped from Tank's whirling attack, ducked under his fists and elbows, spun past him, and turned to kick his rear. Finding him facing her when she completed her turn shocked her again. 'How can such a massive man move so silently and swiftly?' She wondered as she let her foot drop and prepared for his attack.

Tank spun, offering alternate leg, kicking attacks next. He shifted seamlessly between left and right foot, straight, roundhouse, spinning, and sweeping motions. Morning avoided every attack, but sweat poured down her face and body, and her breaths came in huge, gulping gasps. She avoided being forced off the mat by the barest margin.

She turned to find Tank standing with his fist in his palm again. When she faced her, Tank bowed, acknowledging her skill in avoiding his attacks. Then, he shifted to a defensive stance and gestured for her to attack.

Morning gave herself time to recover as she considered her options. As Light had predicted, she knew that Tank was beyond her skill to fight. Morning suspected he wasn't showing his full abilities and had slowed enough to allow her to defend his attacks. However, she could not understand how he could purposefully slow down and yet remain so graceful.

Decision made, she calmly stated, "I will attack so the watching crowd gets their full quota of entertainment. But no more holding back. I want to see your entire capabilities."

Tank shifted to the respectful position, bowed again, and said, "Agreed." He retook his defensive stance.

"WTF?" Cain confusedly wondered, his pucker clenching when he realised he'd have to suck a giant black man's enormous cock.

Morning closed her eyes and summoned the void she'd learned as a young woman being taught her fighting craft. Her mother's husband was the man Morning called Father until she discovered Light on the Water was. The man she called Father was the clan chief, Bull Roaring. He had one child, and Bull wanted his child to be as great a warrior as he was, uncaring that warrior women were rare in his tribe. His desires were met tenfold. By her teens, Morning was more dangerous in armed and unarmed conflict than any other warrior bar one in their village.

That 'bar one', Eagle Swooping, took her hand in marriage as soon as Morning reached marriageable age. Morning's father's strength faded shortly after seeing his daughter mated, and Eagle Swooping, the tribe's greatest warrior, challenged Bull for the chieftaincy. He was successful, and like her mother before her, Morning became the clan chief's wife.

Centred, Morning opened her eyes and flowed across the mat toward Tank. To the interested watchers, Morning moved faster than they could believe. Even those who had undergone the mutagenic enhancements thought Morning moved faster than anyone they'd seen except Tank and Julie. They wondered and feared how much faster she'd be after the treatments.

However, despite the crowd's awe and Morning's best efforts, she never got close to striking Tank. He was like smoke, effortlessly swaying and swirling before the wind of her attack, always where her fists, elbows, knees, and feet weren't. In return for her attempted strikes, Tank jabbed fingers into her elbows' ulna nerves, wrists' radial nerves, and sternum. Morning's thighs received Tank's elbows and knees, rendering her almost incapable of walking.

She stopped attacking, painfully reformed the respectful pose with her fist in her palm and bowed. Tank returned her respectful bow, and they turned to face Genet and bowed again.

"Fuck!" Cain defeatedly spat. He looked at Brian and added, "I guess I should go make myself look pretty?"

Brian laughed uproariously before politely declining. "Or, you could hand me a tenner, and we'll call it even."

"Here," Cain gratefully accepted, pulling a ten-dollar note from his wallet and giving it to Brian.

Researcher Anan grabbed Day's and Morning's elbows and tried to drag them from the dojo. "You need the regen chamber," she growled when neither Morning nor Day moved. Anan poked Morning in her stomach and growled, "You're bruised and bleeding internally. Stop being a fucking hero, and let me fix you."

"No gas," Tank growled menacingly. "Put them in the regeneration chambers, but only return their bodies to pristine." He glared at the researcher. "If you gas them with mutagens, I swear, Anan, I will shove my hand up your tight cunt and pull your heart out through it!"

"Jaysus!" Anan gasped. "I'm not sure what you really mean. Can you be a tad more explicit?"

"Fucking with me now would be a very bad idea," Tank snarled. "Fucking with them would be life ending!"

"Sure, sure," Anan soothed. "Wait for them in the cafeteria. I'll return them both unaltered in about an hour."

"You'd better!" Tank humphed as he took Julie's arm and left to shower and change.

"She's going to be that good?" Bennett disbelievingly asked an hour later in the cafeteria.

"If they get only a ten per cent boost from the mutagens, then Day will equal Julie, and Morning will exceed me," Tank unequivocally stated, unaware that Anan guided Day and Morning behind him and that they could hear him. "If they get as much improvement as is typical, then they'll be so far beyond us that it will be like they're Gods to our pitiful ants."

"I do not want to be a God," Morning protested as she joined the combined table, having heard the conversation. "I want only the strength to eliminate the Aridian scourge from existence. Lanner spoke to me," Morning continued. "If we cannot defeat the slavers here on Earth, then they will take over the universe, and everyone will be enslaved to them. Lanner called the Aridians 'the darkness wanting to extinguish the universe's light'. If they are not stopped here on Earth, then they cannot be stopped, and their darkness will engulf all of existence."

"Pressure much?" Tank muttered. He jokingly turned to look at Julie, "You know, I was thrilled when you asked me to act in your damned 'Salt' movie? Now? Fuck you, bitch, for inviting me!"

"Yeah?" Julie amusedly spat back. "If you didn't match their DNA requirements, they wouldn't have abducted you, and I would never have come to their attention!"

"Tank," Anan interrupted. "Tomorrow, you will present yourself in my lab, and we will investigate this sudden telekinesis ability you have developed. Also, I've created more weights and a new treadmill capable of higher speeds. I will test to see how much you've improved since the last time we measured you." She glared at Julie before adding, "You, too, will attend."

Then she looked at Morning and Day, "You will be there, too. I've yet to have baseline readings of unenhanced humans, and I need them before you begin your treatments."

"They're hardly typical humans," Tank growled sardonically. "Morning is more Neanderthal and Providian than human. Day's more mixed, but entirely different to typical humans."

"Whatever," Anan airily replied. "You four will attend, or I'll send Tenerife to fetch you."

"Tenerife had better send his goons," Tank growled. "If he comes himself, I'll send him to you bent like a pretzel and with his head stuffed up his ass!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Anan teased as she left.

"Telekinesis?" Morning queried.

"Moving objects with your mind," Tank explained.

Morning rolled her eyes. "I know what the word means, but what does Anan mean?"

"This," Tank angrily snapped. He willed a chair from across the room to travel to his hand. It lifted above the tables and hit his outstretched palm moments later.

Morning concentrated, "Like this?" she asked. Another chair smacked into her palm.

"Umm, yeah," Tank disbelievingly answered as the others gaped, also disbelieving. "Just like that."

Tank shook his head to clear his wonder before saying, "If you follow me, we need to face the big brass, as General Zaha asked." He spoke to his team. "Guys, I'm sure Day, Antoinette, Eloise, Cain, and George are confused, possibly frightened, and have a million questions. Will you all look after them? Give them a tour and introduce them to the other humans who have joined us?"

"Sure," Julie agreed as the others nodded.

"Tell me about this mutagenic thing," Morning asked as she walked toward the parade ground with Tank. Morning was acutely aware of how turned on she was and hoped the handsome Hollywood actor couldn't smell her arousal.

"It works on anyone with pure Providian blood," Tank explained. "But in their case, the improvements max out at about a fifteen to twenty per cent improvement in speed, strength, and mental acuity. We believe that will be enough to face a slaver on even footing, but unlike we mutated humans, they won't be stronger than them."

"The slavers are incredibly strong," Morning explained. "But they're slow even in comparison to our human warriors. They're difficult to kill, and you don't want to kill them anyway. For over three thousand years, Day and I have fought to maim and disable so we could escape."

"Why don't you want to kill them?" Tank asked curiously. "Dead men can do no harm."

"These ones can," Morning emphatically replied.

"We're here," Tank said, stopping before the door. "They'll want the same answers I do, so I'll let them ask you." Tank hesitated before saying, "Most of these pricks are arrogant beyond belief. They'll talk down to you, belittle you, insult you, and tell you you're nothing but a devolved Providian and not worthy of their respect." Tank grinned. "I had to crack quite a few heads before they began being respectful. If their arrogance becomes too extreme, offer to fight anyone who thinks they're good enough and kick their ass. Do not kill anyone!"

"So, why do you fight for them?"

"Aridians, Providians," Tank replied with his hands out to his sides and palms up as if weighing something. "One wants us to help them free their people but is undecided about the best way to achieve that. The other wants to kill everyone too old or young to work, all the men capable of resisting them and enslaving the rest."

"What about the women who want to resist them?" Morning teased. "It's the twenty-twenties after all."

"I do not know what happens to the people captured and transported to Aridia," Tank admitted. "But I'm told every female of breeding age is repeatedly raped and inseminated until she's no longer capable of having children and then killed."

He guided Morning to a spot before the block of seats where the Generals waited. Tank saluted and said, "Generals, I present Morning Sun. Daughter of Providian Lanner and human woman Day Dawning. Day is also on the ship and is available if you wish to interrogate her, too."

Muttered conversations broke across the assembled senior officers when Tank announced Morning was Lanner's daughter, but they waited for General Tibolt to speak first.

"Your father is Senior Researcher Lanner?" Tibolt asked.

"Yes," Morning answered.

"How old are you, child?" Tibolt asked gruffly but not unkindly.

Morning replied, "I've lost exact count, but at least three and a half thousand years."

"Lanner is dead?"

"Killed by slavers when I was twenty."

Another hiss of muttered conversations washed through the assembled officers.

"Aridian slavers?" The general asked.

"We believed them to be Gaelic slavers at the time. But I have recently discovered they're Aridian, yes." Morning answered.

"How did you discover that?" Tangran angrily queried. "Did Tank tell you on the way to the ship, and did you concoct this story together so we wouldn't forcibly mutate you?"

Morning turned to look at him. "You are?" She asked disdainfully.

"Colonel Tangran. Supreme Leader of the Providian forces on Earth."

"Which means precisely squat to me," Morning sneered as Tank fought to hide a grin. She ignored Tangran and returned her gaze to General Tibolt.

Tangran's face flushed as he shook, looking close to apoplectic. Which he probably was. He stood and snarled, "You will answer my questions immediately, woman! Or..."

"Or what?" Morning asked disparagingly, not looking at the raging Colonel. "You'll throw even more toys out of your cot as you wail like a two-year-old? Maybe I should put you over my knee and spank you like your parents should have when you carried on as you are."

"Seize her!" Tangran commanded the guards standing close to the officers' box."

"Yeah, I really wouldn't if I were you," Tank drawled as he stepped beside Morning. "Firstly, I doubt you have enough men here to seize her, and secondly, even if you summon more, they have to take me first." He glared at Tangran, daring him to order the guards to continue. If Tangran did, the first soldier to reach for Morning was landing in Tangran's lap.

General Tibolt held his hand up, "At ease!" He barked. "Captain Tank, why must you insist on antagonising your superior officers?"

"Because idiocy must be called out whenever it is encountered, Sir!" Tank barked back as he snapped to attention and saluted. He left the second part unsaid, but everyone there caught the inference that Tangran was an idiot.

Tibolt sighed heavily, "At ease, son." He sighed again before addressing Morning. "When did you learn the Gaelic slavers were Aridian? If Lanner was your father, surely, he told you earlier? Your story holds little credence."

Morning glared at him but answered after a nudge from Tank. "Senior Researcher Lanner impregnated my mother. But I did not know that either until recently. I was raised believing my father was the Clan Chief Bull Roaring."

"How did you discover the truth?"

"Meditation. I now understand that Lanner was communicating with me from the void before the light that Providian souls enter when they die. However, Lanner did not appear in my meditations or speak directly with me until much later."

"Lanner speaks with you from beyond the grave?" Tibolt asked.

"She lies!" Tangran snarled. "Enough of this nonsense. She has the DNA we need to make our super soldiers even better. Let me kill her and harvest it from her body!"

General Zaha stood. "I was there earlier this evening when Senior Researcher Lanner contacted Tank," he stated calmly. "I believe the last ancestor to contact a living relative from the rift did so around the time we abandoned Providia."

"What's with killing everyone to harvest their DNA?" Tank drawled. "You can take it from skin droppings, saliva, or blood. You could even take tissue samples and leave the host alive." Tank glared at Tangran before adding, "Or is it because dead men tell no tales? Tell me, ex-researcher Tangran, what is the real reason the Providian people are slowly becoming infertile and their clones are failing?"

Gasps and questions boiled from the senior officers like water from an overfilled pot. Some yelled queries at Tank. Others demanded Tangran deny or confirm Tank's accusations, and still more demanded Tank's head."

"I'd be interested to know who told you that hidden information," General Tibolt said icily. "Those files have been removed and kept hidden for millennia. Only a select few know of Tangran's early life as a researcher, and fewer still know of his research into Providian's fertility problems." Tibolt turned cold eyes onto General Zaha. "In fact, only one person here could have told you."

General Zaha threw his hands up, "Wasn't me," he flatly denied. "I have no idea what Tank's saying. Nor did I know Colonel Tangran was a researcher before he joined the military. I also don't know anything about hidden files, although I now desire to examine them."

The assembled senior Providian officers turned stony stares onto Tank, who was grinning like a Cheshire cat. "That tactic works every time!" He laughed. "I sifted the available evidence: Tangran was more knowledgeable about the DNA program than any other senior officer. He knew all about the mutagenic process and how it worked, and he consistently wants to kill and open up all the humans he finds with the required DNA profile so he can examine them. These are all things a researcher would know and want to do, but an army man wouldn't care about.

"Then I surmised that if he was a colonel in an army of virtual immortals, he must have joined many centuries before, but given he's been cloned many times, it stands to reason that he must have joined the army later in life, and I guessed it was because he'd been shitcanned from his researcher job." Tank laughed again, "So I laid my educated guess out, and you, Sir, confirmed I was right."

Then, his face changed to match General Tibolt's stern mien, and he addressed Colonel Tangran. He accused, "You introduced something into the water supply or the air you thought would strengthen your people so they could equal the Aridians' power and defeat them, didn't you? But instead, what you introduced is slowly turning you all infertile and causing uncontrolled mutations in your clones."

More shouted questions rained from the officers as others demanded Tangran's or Tank's immediate arrest, depending on which faction they supported. Only Generals Tibolt and Zaha remained impassive. The chaos continued until Tibolt smacked his hand onto his desk. "Silence!" He demanded. When the hubbub ceased, he turned to the fidgeting guards and commanded, "Stand down and take your positions."

General Tibolt looked at Colonel Tangran and said, "Colonel Tangran, you are stood down and relieved of all duties until a panel can be assembled to investigate Captain Tank's accusations. I already know some of what Captain Tank has accused is correct. The panel will discover what else is. You are confined to your quarters until the investigation is completed."

Tibolt glared at Tank. "Captain Zaffra, what am I to do with you? Your outstanding battle successes notwithstanding, I wonder if you and your ilk are more trouble than you're worth."

"Imagine getting Earth's peoples on board," Tank pointed out. "There are potentially 1.25 billion people on her who, with the right motivation, will join your fight against the Ardians. That's potentially another 312,500 super soldiers. Can you afford to lose them?"

"Or we could do as Major Tenerife suggests and kidnap those we need, forcibly mutate them, and absorb them into our ranks," General Tibolt growled, with many officers behind him nodding their agreement.

"And when some or all prove to be as recalcitrant as me?" Tank asked innocently. "What then?"

"We kill you all and harvest the DNA from your carcasses," Tibolt said coldly.

"How many of your sixty thousand soldiers survive a superhuman revolt, do you think? Of course, you'll need to send your enhanced Providian soldiers in to help. How many will be left after we've all been killed? Who will repel the Aridian Armada when all of Earth fights you? You see humans as weak, and we are. But we're also stubborn and warlike. Kidnapping and murdering three hundred and twelve, five hundred thousand of their people might finally achieve what many have attempted and failed: Uniting Earth. Only they will unite to destroy you!"

Tank turned and took Morning's arm. "Sorry, I wasted your time, Morning," he apologised. "These arseholes are so wilfully arrogant and ignorant that we're better off out of here. I'm sure General Tibolt will at least allow you and your group to leave. But it's probably too late for me and the rest." He tried to make Morning walk with him off the floor.

Morning resisted and addressed the assembly, "My mother and I are prepared to join your fight against the Aridian Slavers, but not at the cost of enslaving Earth or taking away a person's will to choose. I have information that can help you, us, win, but unless my help is willingly accepted and not forced from me, I will leave you to die at the hands of the slavers, and I will lead the resistance from Earth." She spun on her heel and marched away.

"And if we invade Earth ourselves to gather what we need?" A general in the assembly threatened.

Morning turned back, her grin feral, "Then I will help Tank, Julie, Brian, and the rest kill you all and save the Aridians the bother." She turned to leave.

General Zaha pleaded, "Wait, Miss Sun, please?"

Tank and Morning turned back. "We are not the Aridians and are not evil. We're merely a people who have run as far as possible with nowhere left to hide from the destruction and/or enslavement of our entire species. We've fought the Aridian scourge alone for sixty-five thousand years and lost family, friends, and comrades resisting them. Everywhere we've fled to, the Aridians find us. Many places we thought were safe had evidence that that planet, too, had been invaded and decimated by the slavers. We fled again.

"We tried invading and taking over planets and making them join our war with the Aridians. We discovered the people fought back more resiliently than we suspected and that soon after we'd settled, the slavers came, seemingly attracted by the war and our technology. We approached developed civilisations, asking them to join our fight, and were rebuffed, if not attacked, because they coveted our technology. Using our stealth technology, we infiltrated planets with inhabitants whose outward appearance resembled ours and tried to disappear among their population. We were either discovered, arrested and evicted, or we brought the slavers down on them.

"We attempted to seed backward planets like Earth and move on, hoping we could circle back ten or twenty thousand years later and find thriving communities ready to rejoin us and repel the Aridians. Instead, we found empty planets. Some showed they'd become victim to the slavers. On others, we found no sign we'd ever been there.

"Earth is the first planet where we've found surviving Providians. But you humans are evolved--yes, I know, in our arrogance, we typically say 'devolved'. But you humans have evolved so much that most of you carry genes that are less than ten per cent Providian."

The general stumbled to a stop, unsure how to reach the two angry humans before him.

General Tibolt stepped in. "As you correctly surmised, Captain Zaffra. Earth is the last throw of the dice for the Providian people. If we cannot ally with Earth, convince her governments to allow us to settle here, and fight with us against the Aridian Armada, our species will die. So will Earth and all her people."

Tibolt sighed as the mantle of leadership descended heavily upon his shoulders. He looked down for strength, somehow found it, and looked up with his eyes blazing. "Cards face-up on the table, Captain Zaffra."

"General, no!" Some of the senior officers protested.

But Tibolt ignored them. "This ship has maybe one more interstellar jump in her before the bulkheads come apart and spew everyone on board into space. The others waiting outside The Kuiper Belt are city ships. They're extremely fast but capable of only enough self-defence to hopefully escape an attack and run. They're next to helpless against an Aridian battleship.

"There's not enough room on those ships to take the approximately nine hundred thousand on this one. We need Earth to allow us to stay in orbit, create a spaceship manufacturing facility, rebuild this ship, and build at least another one like her. We can't do it without Earth's permission because we have nowhere for the ship's inhabitants to go when we power down the ship to rebuild her. The starship will also be visible to anyone with a telescope and show up on the satellite cameras."

General Tibolt stopped and considered what else he thought Tank needed to know to make his decision. His eyes focused on Tank, "We arrived here in what your people call the 1980s and have been quietly negotiating with the world's three superpowers ever since. Your Earth leaders believe our representatives are an advance party from Proxima Centauri C, who, unfortunately, crashed on Earth. They're unaware we have this ship orbiting their planet, nor do they know there's three more staged only a short jump from Earth."

The general waited for Tank's reaction.

Zaffra breathed deeply and released his anger. It served no purpose now. But he had the upper hand now, and it was time to cash in. "Void into space the mutated monsters you're holding in the prison cells on level three and were planning on dropping into the middle of Earth's battle with the Ardians, and I'll help you to ensure as many of the world's 1.25 billion prospective fighters join up as possible."

"There are no mutated monsters, Captain Zaffra," Tibolt denied, but others turned to stare uncomfortably at Colonel Tangran. "You and Tenerife demanded we execute them before they became too dangerous."

Tank grinned humourlessly at his leader. "I think Colonel Tangran might know differently."

General Tibolt turned to examine Tangran, who hadn't yet 'confined himself to his quarters' because he wanted to hear the outcome of this meeting. Tangran blustered before the general's steely gaze, but it was clear that another of Tank's 'guesses' were correct. However, it was Waitress Melinta who had warned him.

"Tangran, you fucking worm!" Tibolt exploded. "Get out of my sight before I execute you my damned self!" He turned his rage on the other senior officers. Tibolt roared, "If I find any of you are complicit in keeping these monsters alive, I'll shove you out the damned airlock with them myself! You have an hour before I'm taking an inspection team through the ship, and if I find any damned mutated monsters, you'll all join Tangran on charges! Dismissed!"

A mad scramble ensued as those who knew there were monsters rushed to correct that before General Tibolt discovered them.

Tank and Morning returned to the cafeteria to find their usual crew, who had been joined by Tina Tanzer and the twins Demi and Adelle Lovette, Tank's and Julie's first human recruits. The girls looked beautiful, muscular, and deadly. They moved with the same calm, confident grace the rest of Tank's and Julie's crew had.

Tank introduced Morning to the three super warriors, who immediately challenged her to a fight. They'd heard of her and Tank's battle, watched it on replay, and wanted to test their skills against the millennia-old warrior woman. Tina, especially, was eager to get her hands on Morning, whom she found highly alluring.

Tina had been raped by her stepfather and had fled her hometown to the streets of New York, where even worse horrors awaited her. She was fooled by a pimp, who repeatedly raped her and allowed his friends to do the same before he addicted Tina to ice and turned her out onto the streets to hook.

When Major Tenerife's recruitment team collected her from New York's streets, she was dying of kidney and liver failure caused by several STIs, Hepatitis C and AIDS. But Tiny Dancer, as she was named then, had the DNA and gene combination required to be mutated into a super warrior similar to Julie Angelina. Tina was distantly related to Julie, according to their DNA profiles.

With the changes wrought by Tenerife's mutagenic gases, Tina grew an enormous 12-inch cock and massive balls, and Tina became an aggressive Top who pursued feminine presenting Providians enthusiastically. The only man she allowed inside her recreated pussy now was Lieutenant Brian Bennet, ex-US marine sergeant and recently a lieutenant in the Providian army. Although Major Tenerife had hidden it, as he had for Julie, Tina was a breeder, capable of bearing children or creating them in another.

All the human men and women recruited were breeders, but Major Tenerife, Genet, Tank, and Julie knew that until the Aridians were defeated, they needed super warriors rather than breeders. However, the Providian top brass would not have agreed, so they kept it secret. Researcher Anan had provided all the mutated humans with shots that temporarily interrupted their fertility cycles.

Word spread that Morning would be fighting again, and when Tank and his team got to the dojo, there was barely any space left around the central mat. Having had her ass comprehensively handed to her by Tank, Morning was more cautious this time and insisted on warming up before the fight.

"Who's first?" Julie asked. She was the referee.

"I'll take all three on at once," Morning stated calmly. She'd watched the warriors warm up and knew they were no match for her yet.

A susurrate sigh eased through the crowd at Morning's confident declaration. They hoped for a grand battle.

Shrugging, Julie waited until the three younger women gathered opposite Morning on the mat, then she asked, "Rules of engagement?"

"No rules," Tina said confidently. "Yield if you can take no more. Winner gets to fuck the loser."

Morning tilted her head and eyed the muscular warrior before her. She smiled. "Agreed."

"So be it," Julie stated. "Fighters, bow." All four bowed respectfully. "Fight!" Julie backed out immediately.

The twins launched flying kicks instantly. Unfortunately, neither hit anything except the mat at its very edge. They both avoided tumbling outside the mat's confines by the barest margin. In a fight to someone yielding, being forced from the mat meant nothing but embarrassment for the fighter. However, no one likes being embarrassed. The girls turned, got to their feet, and attacked again.

They'd barely gotten upright when Tina, flying into them from being flung by Morning, knocked all three back onto the floor. The three friends laughed joyously before leaping to their feet and attacking Morning again. The immortal warrior ducked, weaved, and dodged, remaining untouched. Her opponents were good, and Morning acknowledged that. They were almost as good as her wife Malkoha became. Still, they were no match, not even together, for her.

The girls' feet were swept, crashing them to the floor. Blows too fast to see rained across their large muscle groups, making those body parts painful to use. The girls' hearts sang as they tried to strike the ebony, glossy-skinned woman sharing their mat. They tried paired attacks, individual ones, and they attempted to distract Morning with feinted blows while another crept up behind her. Nothing worked. Not one strike landed on Morning, whilst many landed on them.

After fifteen minutes, the three challengers were at their endurance's end. The friends nodded to each other before turning to Morning and pressing their right fist into their left palms. "Yield!" They stated before bowing their heads in respect.

Morning relaxed, returned the girls' bows, and stepped off the mat. Tank handed her a towel to dry off with and grinned, "You held back on me," he teased.

"As did you," Morning acknowledged. "Even so, with you, it was clear I was outmatched."

"Until you take the treatments," Tank responded.

"Risks?" Morning asked as Day joined them.

"One per cent of all Providians who have taken the enhancements have had a hyperreaction to the gas, which has led to uncontrolled, random mutations."

"Hence your comment and demands about mutated monsters," Morning said.

"That was what Major Tenerife and I requested, yes," Tank growled. He thought momentarily before snarling. "If that fuzzy bastard has anything to do with them being kept as prisoners instead of killed, I'll wishbone the cunt!"

"Wishbone?" Day queried.

"Pick him up by his feet and rip him apart like a chicken wishbone," Tank explained.

"Oh," Day muttered, shocked.

"Fuzzy?" Morning asked.

"No one else seems to see it," Tank spelt out. "But to me, the clones seem fuzzy around the edges, as if your TV isn't correctly tuned to the station."

"Like that one," Morning said, gesturing toward the approaching Tenerife and Anan. "The one in the military uniform looks out of focus as if the camera lens needs adjusting or cleaning."

Pleased that someone else saw what he did, Tank answered, "Yes. Just like that one."

"How can someone not see that?" Day asked, examining Tenerife. "It's close to nauseating."

Tank saluted the major before returning his gaze to Morning and Day. "Other risks, or side effects, if you prefer. Humans are born either with XX chromosomes or XY ones. All Providians are born XXY--hermaphrodites. After your first treatment, you'll grow a fully-functioning cock and balls. The males grow pussies, and the remainder of the female sexual organs. More than likely, you'll be breeders capable of carrying a child and impregnating a woman. Theoretically, you and your partner could impregnate each other almost simultaneously and be pregnant together."

"Anything else?" Day queried.

"Your libido will be maxed out continuously. You'll want and need regular sex."

"I'm waiting for a downside," Morning joked.

"It hurts like fuck," Tank said, almost shuddering.

"But only if your body fights the changes," Anan said cheerily. She took Morning's and Day's arms. "Ready?" She asked. "George, Antoinette, Cain, and Eloise are already in their chambers."

"Yes," Day and Morning responded.

Major Tenerife accompanied Tank as he walked to his room, leaving Anan to guide Day and her daughter. Tenerife remained silent as he marched beside Tank, so Tank did, too. When Tank eased onto his bed, Tenerife took the only other seat in the room. He observed Tank quietly, waiting to see if his first successful experiment would talk first. Tank didn't. Instead, he lay back and closed his eyes.

"No questions for me?" Major Teneriffe finally asked.

"Why bother when I'd never know if your answers were the truth or not?"

"If I lied, it was mainly through omission rather than outright ones," Major Tenerife defended.

Tank lifted his head to look at the leader of the Providians' medical and research division. He grinned ironically and teased, "So, you're admitting to lying to me? Nice to know you're capable of some honesty."

Tenerife's eyes crinkled with amusement even as he laughed deprecatingly. "We have to stop falling for that tactic, don't we?"

"You Providians keep assuming I'm stupider than you, and subtlety is something you all sorely lack. It shows in the attack plans your enhanced lieutenants keep coming up with." Tank shrugged, "Everything is brute force. That works as long as you're physically stronger than your enemy, have greater numbers, or superior technology. You have none of those things over the Aridians, yet you continue to try to defeat them with brute force actions. I'm not surprised you've consistently had your asses handed to you."

"What do you suggest we do instead?"

"Apache attacks."

"Huh?"

"Come in fast from an unexpected direction, slash along your enemy's flanks, destroying as many as possible and then hightailing it out of there before your enemy can respond. Circle to your next ambush site and repeat. Wait until you have your enemy entirely confused, stressed and spread out, then drive straight up the middle and remove the leadership. Mopping up the rest should be easy."

Tank thought furiously before swinging his feet out of bed and marching for the door.

"Where are you going?" Tenerife asked.

Tank grinned at him. "To rewrite our battle plan for the slaver encampment. We'll only need around a thousand troops, I'd guess. We'll take two to be sure." He grinned laconically. "Or, given it's Ireland, maybe that should be three, argh, to be sure, to be sure!"

The End of Part 2.

Note: Thanks to MormonJack for editing this for me and trying to restrict my verbosity to reasonable limits.