Chapter 18:
Mistake

	They spent a good two weeks like that. They'd get up, go to "work" in 
the mine, where slacking off and what not was common, and go back into their 
cells at the end of the day. Kaitlyn still kept Samantha and Tobias seperate 
from each other, although she did allow for cuddling at night and in the 
mine. Crash and the others didn't seem to mind it. They just let it be, 
treating it as if it were something regular.

	As for Swift, well, she kept herself busy. She would probe into 
Tobias' mind every spare chance she could get. It was their private chat 
spot. They were granted the luxuries that Isthus and the Raiders stripped 
from them. And it seemed that every visit brought more and more space for 
them to exist in. They lived care-free. Time just about stood still for 
them. What seemed like days there would only be hours in real time. They 
truly enjoyed themselves.

****************************************************************************

	"This is gettin' fuckin' annoying." Isthus slammed the bartop, causing 
everyone around him to scatter. He was not too please with how well Tobias 
and his crew were holding out. "What am I going to do?"
	The barkeeper approached him. "About what?"
	He sighed. "The human."
	"Ah...Lone Wolf."
	He growled. "Please don't mention that name."
	"Sorry." He poured Isthus another drink. "So what's the problem with 
him?"
	"He's not cooperating with us. He remains dead set in his loyalty to 
the Pack." He took the drink and finished it in one hit. "I don't know where 
to go with it next."
	The barkeep nodded. "Have you exausted all of your ideas?"
	"All but a few. And I don't really want to those that I have left."
	"What are they?"
	"You know the skunk that he's attached to?" The barkeep nodded. "I'd 
have to threaten her life to get his unadulterated loyalty."
	"Ah.....I see." He picked up a glass to clean it. "But why don't you 
wanna do that?"
	"Because she's make a nice slave girl, don't you think?"
	"Yes. She would." He put the glass down. "Tell me Isthus, which is 
more important - a pretty slave or a slave that's the world's most powerful 
being?"

****************************************************************************

	The door slammed open the next morning, waking everybody. Three burly 
guards were standing there. "You," one said, pointed at Samantha. "Get up." 
She did as she was told. The guard walked in, grabbed her wrist, and pulled 
her, sending her to her knees.
	"Stop it!" Tobias yelled, getting up. The guard punched him in the 
face. He staggered back. He let out a growl and leapt at the guard. He let 
go of Samantha's hand and tried to wrestle Tobias off. "That's what you get 
for sockin' me." He brought a fist up and punched the back of the guard's 
head. He then pushed himself off the guard's back. He landed gracefully. The 
guard landed on his face. The other two that were there rushed him, knocking 
him out. They picked him up, grabbed Samantha, and dragged thier comrad away 
with them.

	"Son of a bitch," Tobias moaned as he came to. "What the hell 
happened?" He opened his eyes and saw Isthus standing there.
	"You've been hanging out with the grunts too much," Isthus said. 
"You've picked up their foul habits."
	He smirked. "I've been doing this for a while." 
	He frowned and backhanded him. "Don't talk back to me, boy."
	He growled and tried to retaliate. His hands were bound behind the 
chair he was sitting on. "Fuck! Isthus, what are you up to now?"
	"We tried to be nice. We honestly did. But now we must make you 
suffer. You will work for us, no matter what pain we put you through."
	He smirked and sat back. "Try your best, Isthus. You won't affect me."
	"Oh? How so?"
	"I've had to put up with far worse shit than this. You can riddle my 
body with needles, you can stone me, it won't work. Earth has made me 
strong."
	"I know. You told me. So...." He hit the lights. Behind him, Samantha 
sat bound as well. She had a gag in her mouth.
	He growled. "Let her go."
	He shook his head. "No. She is the key to getting to you." He removed 
the gag. "And since we can't beat you into submission, we'll beat you until 
you comply with our orders." He nodded to a hooded figure. The figure 
approached Samantha. He held a whip in his hands. "This whip," Isthus said, 
taking it from the figure. "Is the ultimate in punishment." He pushed a 
button on the handle. Something powered up. "Do you know why?"
	"No, but I get a feeling you'll tell me anyway."
	"Ah, you're perceptive." He looked at the figure. "Stand her up." The 
figure nodded and stood Samantha up. She reamained quiet. "This whip...." He 
whipped at her back. She winced. "....Has a built in electric charge 
that...." He whipped her again. She winced harder, tears forming in her 
eyes. "....Increses in voltage after...." He whipped again. She let out a 
small cry of pain. "....every usage." He whipped her again.
	"Stop it!" she cried, the tears now streaming down her face.
	He whipped her once more. "Shut up, wench." Every muscle in Tobias's 
body tightened as he tried to get up to rush to Samantha's aid. Isthus 
laughed. "You don't like it when I do this to her, do you?"
	"Whip me, not her. She doesn't deserve it." He tried again to get up.
	"Don't bother struggling. Those cuffs we have on you are bound by an 
energy force. You're not going to break them." He turned to Samantha and 
took her chin in his broad hand. "I'm sorry to be doing this to you, my 
dear. But it's nescessary to get to your boyfriend." He gave her a kiss. She 
spit in his eye. He growled. "You'll pay for that wench." He raised the whip 
over his head in anger and brought it down on her back. She cried and fell 
to her knees.
	"Samantha!" Isthus ignored Tobias's yell and started to furiously whip 
at her back. Tobias filled with rage as each hit went down. "ISTHUS!" he 
shouted, his voice shaking the entire room. He pulls his arms apart, 
breaking the cuffs, got up, and charged Isthus. He planted his fist in his 
face, sending him into the wall. He grabbed the whip and turned it on 
Isthus, whipping with the rage of the worst of all tempests. The guards had 
to go and knock him out to stop him from killing Isthus.
	"Take them to their cell," Isthus growled. "Chain them up to the wall. 
Make sure they can't hold onto each other."

	Tobias let go of another moan as he, once again, regained 
conciousness. His arms were chained to the wall; he wasn't going anywhere. 
"Samantha?"
	"Shh..." Kaitlyn said, coming over to his side. "She's all right."
	"Kaitlyn, can you get me out of these shackles?" She shook her head 
sadly. "Where's Samantha?" She pointed right next to him. Samantha was 
there, crying her eyes out. "Samantha."
	She looked at him. She had a gash running across her face. "Tobias?"
	"What happened to your face beautiful?"
	She winced at his words. "I'm no longer beautiful. Don't call me 
that."
	He tried to reach for her hand, but failed. "I still think you are. 
Are you all right?" She nodded. "How's the back?" She let out a sob.
	"I managed to heal her back," Swift said. "But I can do nothing for 
that gash."
	"Can you break these shackles, Swift?"
	"I tired already. I'm not strong enough. They're solid Tetrium."
	He cussed. "Crash! Can you hear me?"
	There was some movement from the next cell. "Yeah bro?"
	"You guys got something there that can break solid Tetruim bondings?"
	"We've got Psycho."
	"Okay, let me rephrase that. Do you have anything that can break the 
bondings that can fit through the hole we made?"
	"Nope."
	"Fuck."
	"Please don't curse," Samantha said, weakness ailing her voice.
	"I'm sorry, my dear." He pulled angrily at the chains. "I hate this. 
He's doing this to break me." He looked up at the ceiling. "You will never 
win Isthus! I will kill you before you ever do!" He yanked at the chains 
again. They creaked. He yanked again. They groaned. He yanked once more. 
They broke. He immediately rushed over to Samantha's side. He gave her a 
gentle hug and broke into tears. "It's okay dearest."
	She whimpered. "I don't want to die Tobias. I really don't."
	"You won't....."
	The cell door creaked open. It was Isthus. And he wasn't very happy. 
"You broke your bonds." Tobias got up, ready to fight. "I guess we have to 
go to the last resort." He knocked him out of the way, removed Samantha's 
bonds, and took her with him as he left.
	"Samantha!" He raced to try to stop Isthus, but got stopped by the 
door. He started to beat on it. "Isthus! You leave her alone! You better not 
hurt her! I'll fuckin' kill you!" He pounded the door, leaving several 
decent sized dents. Kaitlyn and Swift had to pull him away. He fell to his 
knees and broke down in tears. "Samantha! Samantha!"
	Kaitlyn gave him a hug, trying to calm him down. "It'll be all right. 
She'll be okay."
	"Bullshit. He's gonna do something to her."
	*You will never know how much she means to you until she's almost 
lost.*
	He looked up. "You heard that, right Swift?" She nodded. He cleared 
the tears. "Everybody get dressed. We must be prepared to leave tomorrow." 
He went over to where Samantha had hid their clothing and grabbed his stuff. 
"I will make sure that Isthus pays for what he's done."

****************************************************************************

	"Is the girl alive?" Isthus asked the attendant.
	"Beaten within an inch of a coma," the attendant told him. "Just like 
you ordered."
	"Good. We'll show her in this state to Tobias, or Lone Wolf, or 
whoever the fuck he is. If that doesn't get him to comply, we'll threaten to 
kill her. If that fails..." He shook his head. "She would have made a good 
slave girl if we have to come to that." He turned to a guard. "I want them 
to be coralled into the execution area tomorrow. Make sure that the human 
and the big wolf cannot break free. Otherwise, I'll have you killed."
	"Y-yes sir." The guard moved off.
	"Lone Wolf's strength will be mine, even if I have to kill him for 
it."
	One of the elder members of the council approached him. "Isthus, stop 
this. You know you shouldn't kill anyone."
	"Shut up, old man. This is my show. I'll run it how I want to."
	"If you kill the girl, Lone Wolf will never work for us. You'll fill 
him with so much rage, the guards won't be enough to hold him down. He'll 
kill you Isthus."
	"Back off. I know what I'm doing." He stormed past the elder, who only 
shook his head.
	"You are making a big mistake, Isthus. I hope you can recover from 
it."

****************************************************************************

	They were dressed by the time the guards got there. They were shown 
out of their cells and Tobias and Psycho were taken by the arms by two 
massive guards. They were led down many dark passages at a blistering pace. 
Tobias and Swift knew what was coming. *I hope you know what you're doing,* 
she told him.
	*I know what is going to happen,* he replied. *When Isthus pulls 
something on Samantha, these two guards are dust and he will join them 
shortly after.*
	*Tobias, that's suicide.*
	*Well, if he kills Samantha, I'll be with her. That's all that matters 
right now. I want to be with her.* They were led out of the building into 
an open court yard. The harsh, red sun they had become accustomed to was 
beating heavily on them.
	"It's an execution area," Crash said. "This can't be good."
	"I noticed," Tobias said. He looked around.
	"Bring him forward," Isthus said. Tobias was dragged forward by two 
guards. Isthus stepped out of the shadows. "Welcome to my little arena....
Tobias."
	He cast a sharp glance at him. "How do you know my name?"
	"I overheard your precious woman talking to you."
	"Where's Samantha?"
	"Do you really want to see her?"
	"Do you want to keep your balls attached to your body?"
	He sighed. "Bring her out then." A guard dragged out the silent 
figure. Her fur was matted with blood. Her legs were swolen, as were her 
arms and her left eye. She had been beaten badly. All could tell she was 
barely alive.
	"You bastard! You did this to her!" He struggled with the guards, who 
almost lost hold of him. "I'll fuckin' kill you for this!"
	The guard brought her over to him. He put a gun to her head. "This is 
your last chance, Tobias. Work for us, she lives and we'll heal her to 
perfect health. Refuse, and we end her pain right here."
	Dark clouds started to form overhead.
	"So you've given me an ultimatum, huh? Work for you or you kill my 
lover." 
	There were a few booms of thunder.
	"Yes. Pretty much." He charged the pistol up. "You have five seconds 
to make you desicion."
	"You want my desicion?" There was a crack of thunder and a flash of 
lightning just outside the compound. With a mighty swing, he sent the two 
guards that held him flying. One hit Isthus, knocking him far, and the other 
mowed the guard that held Samantha down. He rushed over and picked Samantha 
up. With the aid of the adrenaline pumping through his system, he leaped 
from the ground up to a ledge where nobody could possibly get to without 
gear. The fires of hell were burning in his eyes as he set Samantha down. He 
put a hand to her chest and closed his eyes. Some of her wounds healed. He 
turned to Isthus, who was just getting up. "You will pay for this Isthus." 
He slammed the little red button on his belt. His headset, though covered in 
dust, appeared. "You will learn why I am called Lone Wolf."
	"Idle threats boy. Come down here and die."
	He removed the little, golden chip from his belt pouch and put it into 
the headset. "Bring it on Isthus." He dove straight at him in a perfect 
verticle torpedo. White streams of light errupted from his fingertips and 
dragged off behind him like silk ribbons. Isthus dove to the side just as he 
hit the ground. A huge blast of white light claimed the area, existing for 
mere seconds. The result: a figure.
	"What the hell is that?"
	The figure looked at him, his eyes glowing green. "I am Lone Wolf." He 
dashed forward and hit Isthus, sending him flying. Without flinching, he 
blinked in and out of existance, appearing behind the two guards that held 
Psycho. He grabbed the backs of their necks and tore them out. They fell to 
their knees and spilled blood.
	"All guards!" Isthus called out. "Code Red!" The surrounding doors 
opened and a whole mess of guards flooded out.
	"Time to kick some ass," Psycho taunted. Crash and the others got 
ready to rumble.
	Lone Wolf grabbed Kaitlyn and Swift and took them to where Samantha 
was. "Kaitlyn, you take care of her. Tobias helped her out to the best of 
ability. Swift, you help the guys out by picking off the soldiers."
	"What about you?" Kaitlyn asked. He looked at her and said nothing.
	"Be careful," Swift said. He nodded and dove right after Isthus.

	Isthus had gotten to his feet. "Let's dance." Lone Wolf landed right 
infront of him and socked him in the lower jaw with an uppercut. As Isthus 
reeled from the hit, he quickly followed up with a rapid volley of slashes 
from his claws. Isthus was forced backwards, slowly at first, but quicker as 
the attack progressed. He was soon up against the wall, recieving a full 
scale ass whoopin' from the beast. He slowly reached to his belt and hit a 
button. The result was an burst of energy, which sent Lone Wolf backwards. 
"We'll meet again," he taunted. He stomped on the floor and disappeared into 
a tunnel. The guards and soldiers that were there took that cue and left.
	Crash approached Lone Wolf. "Hey, LW." He got no response. Lone Wolf's 
gaze was centered on the spot where Isthus had vanished. "Lone Wolf!" 
Nothing. He shook him gently. "Snap out of it!"
	A crushing hand reached over and took Crash's wrist. "I am not going 
to stop until I kill that bastard. He will die a hundred deaths for what he 
did to Samantha. Tobias will make sure of that. I will make sure of it."
	"Well, if we don't find some help, Samantha will die."
	He looked at him, a fire burning in his eyes. "We can't allow that to 
happen." He looked up at the sky. "We also have to find the rail gun. 
Otherwise, we'll have another problem on our hands." He leapt over to Swift, 
Kaitlyn, and Samantha, took all three in his arms, and leapt back down, 
landing softly. "We need to get out of here. Everybody come around me." They 
all did so. He closed his eyes and levitated the entire group out of the 
arena.

	They landed on a building a few minutes later. He set Samantha down on 
the roof and set his hands upon her. Her wounds started to heal a little 
more. "That is all that I can do for now," he said, standing. "Swift, can 
you do anything?"
	"I don't think so," she replied. "But I can try."
	"Please try." He turned and looked around. The entire compound was 
like a prison. There were walls of barbed wire, probably with enough 
electricity running through them to shock Godzilla to death, followed up by 
concrete walls, and a web of corridors connecting the various buildings 
together. "Where would they take my rail gun?"
	Crash pointed over to a domed building. "That's their weapons research 
lab," he said. "They'd probably take it there."
	"Thanks man. I'll get that and then get us some wheels to get out of 
here."
	"The builidng next to it is a garage. Steal an underground transport 
or something."
	"That's a load of help." He brushed himself off. "I'll be back in a 
half an hour tops. Swift, you watch over Samantha. Make sure she's 
comfortable. I don't want to lose her."
	"I will, Lone Wolf. You be careful."
	He smiled. "When have I not been careful?" Before she could respond, 
he disappeared, heading off for the lab.

****************************************************************************

	The Raiders weren't the most technologically advanced group going. So 
when they had the rail gun delivered to them, they were most perplexed. They 
spent weeks just looking it over. They were unable to work the control, 
figure out how to open it, or even fire the bugger off. They were smart 
enough, however, to x-ray it. They were going over the results.
	"I don't really know what to make of it," the head technician said. 
"These configurations are way out there."
	"I'm trying to figure out the energy systems still," his partner said. 
"These are gel cells, but they don't look like the sort that stores power."
	"I noticed. They look like they're designed for focusing energy." He 
ran his finger down one of the many lines. "Look....these move down the pack 
to a power conduit of some sort."
	"And the conduit is connected to where the subject's back should go." 
They both looked at the device. "Could it use the life's blood of it's user 
as ammunition?"
	"Could be." There was a sound of grinding metal. Both techies covered 
their ears. "What the hell was that?"
	"You don't want an answer to that," a third voice said. The two 
technicians turned to the door and saw Lone Wolf standing there. "Can I have 
my gun back?" The didn't hesitate in turning it over. "Thank you. I wish 
your other comrads were this kind." He bowed to them and took off, leaving 
the two dumbfounded technicians.

****************************************************************************

	With the rail gun on his back, he raced through the halls of the 
building. He took every chance that he could to avoid conflict. He was 
reserving his strength for the battle to get a transport. But that wasn't 
his first concern. "Where the fuck is the garage?!" He had stepped into a 
broom closet to avoid a patrol. They had been tipped off to his arrival and 
were hunting him down. They wouldn't stand much of a chance anyway. "I don't 
know ass ends in this place." The sound of guards stomping by dies down. He 
slipped out of the closet and down the dimly lit hall. "I'm gonna find the 
guy who designed this building and tear his lungs out." He turned a corner 
and nearly ran into a single, lightly built panther. They looked at each 
other, both stunned. Lone Wolf shook it off, grabbed the guard by the 
collar, and covered his mouth. He dragged him into a corridor. "I won't kill 
you if you tell me where how to get to the garage."
	"Down two floors, third right," the panther spat out. "It's the big 
set of double doors."
	"Thanks. You've earned yourself a nap." He punched the guard in the 
face, puttin' him out for a little while. He waited for a second guard 
detail to pass by before dashing off to the stairwell.

	He peered down the hallway. There were two, massive steel doors that 
stood between him and their ride out of there. There were also a pair of 
security cameras. "How am I going to get past those?" he asked himself. "If 
I destroy them, that'll alert the guys in the garage. But if I ignore them, 
they'll know I'm there and send all hell upon me." He ducked into a nearby 
corridor to think it over. "I'm gonna have to end up fighting the ones in 
the garage anyway. So blowing the cameras sounds like the best idea right 
now." He flicked his wrists and send a few streams of energy around the 
corner. He heard a small explosion and looked. The cameras were destroyed. 
"Here we go!" He spun around the corner and dived through the doors. He 
landed and drew his claws, ready for a rumble.

	The garage was huge. The room was at least 40 foot by 60 foot. The 
roof easily cleared 20 feet, hovering overhead omniously, it's pale lights 
shining down on everything. Everything was seperated into levels, about 7 of 
them total. Ramps led up to the first 5 sections, which held tanks, 
transports, bikes, and other such goodies. The top two levels, accessable only 
by stairs, were held by various aircraft. There were weapons of mass 
destruction all over the place. But there was one thing missing: people to 
monitor it all. Cautiously, Lone Wolf started to the small booth that was in 
the middle of the room. He kept his eyes open and his claws drawn. Nothing 
had happened by the time he reached the booth. He slipped over to the front 
window and looked. There, in plain view, was a sign: "Gone to Lunch. Be back 
in an hour." Sadly, he retracted his claws. "Well, I'd better find a 
transport." He turned around and looked up the wall. "This...could take a 
while." He turned back to the booth. Figuring they had something in there 
that could be of help, he went over to the door. He broke the lock rather 
easily and opened the door. He found a book sitting at the small shelf/table 
that was there. It was the vehicle registry. Grinning wildly, he popped it 
open and flipped through. "Level one.....berth 83." He chuckled. "That 
should do!" He stepped out of the booth. Right ahead of him was berth 261. 
"Oh boy....I've got one hell of a walk. So long as nothing ELSE happens." He 
started to walk. But once he reached somewhere around berth 111, all hell 
broke loose.

	The doors opened. Two guards stepped in and saw him immediately. 
"Freeze!" they screamed, drawing their weapons. Lone Wolf let out a growl 
and stepped behind a pillar. The guards fired, chipping away at the giant 
concrete pole.
	"They want to play?" He held his hand out. A small, green orb formed. 
He let go of a satisfying yell, leapt from his barrier, and threw the orb. 
The guards dove for cover as the orb smashed into the ground infront of them
and blew up. While the guards were still reeling from his assault, he took 
off at full speed, heading for berth 87. The guards recovered and rained 
hell on him. He dived for the transport as soon as he was close enough. He 
barely made it. He opened the hatch, slipped in, and sat down at the 
controls. After a second or so to figure out what each button or lever did, 
he hit the ignition and drilled straight into the ground.

****************************************************************************

	"Where the hell is he?" Crash demanded. He was busy pacing on the 
ceiling, worried about Lone Wolf. "He'd better get here soon. We can't hide 
like this forever." He turned to Swift. "How's Samantha doing?"
	"She's all right, for now. I've got her stabilized, but I fear she'll 
die if we can't get her help."
	"Damn it! He's not gonna be happy about that."
	"Crash," Bomber said. "Calm down. Everything's goin' to be all right."
	"How can you be sure?" The ground suddenly started to shake. 
Curiously, the five guys went to the side of the building and peered over. 
At first, there was nothing. But after a few minutes, it upheaved and a 
transport surfaced. It came to a rest. "Could it be him?"
	The top hatch blew open and out popped Lone Wolf. "Now boarding for 
anywhere but here," he joked.
	"All right!" He turned to Kaitlyn and Swift. "Our ride's here. Let's 
go!" He went over, grabbed Kaitlyn by the waist, and jumped over the side of
the building. They both landed safely in the transport (well, not really. 
Kaitlyn slapped Crash once they landed). Swift picked Samantha up and 
followed, landing softly due to some unseen force. Psycho, Hack, Bomber and 
Wrench followed soon after. They closed the hatch and the transport 
submerged once again. They were on their way out of there.