Chapter Fourty Two: Armed for War.

"time to prepare ourselves, we're bringing Project Legion down!"
-emperorwolf.

-in the grey room, a few days later-
999 fiddled with a laptop, upon which, many complex programs were running.
the computer was hooked up to a metal doorway that resembled a piece of ancient architecture.
"nearly done..."

collin approached from behind.
"really? so... it's almost earth time?"
"yeah..."

a beep sounded on the laptop.

"it's ready... call everyone... it's about time Xlen fought back."
collin nodded, and pulled his mask out of his pocket "guess... it's 'NeoWolf' And 'The Emperor' time, too..."
999 groaned, but nodded "i'm bringing backup, too."
"backup?"

fifteen-odd creatures teleported in, among them was Heritos.
the blue feline grinned "hey, wolfy... so after all that, you need our help again?"
999 growled "you know the deal, heritos, you guys help me, i set you all free from your bonds."
collin narrowed his gaze "the other assistants?"
999 stood "yes... they'll be needed."
as the other assistants went about their preparations, a thought came to collin "hey... what'll happen once all this is over?"

"exactly as i promised on the first day, i'll free every assistant of service, and cleanse them of the Gliloutation. free to resume their lives as humans."

colin's heart sank "do you really mean... every assistant?"

"yes... i do." 999 said sadly, ears splayed, tail tucked, aware of what collin meant.

"but... i love being like this! i really don't want to go back to being human!" collin protested

999 smiled kindly "collin... i'm the only thing keeping Gliloutation active. if all goes properly in this, i'll die... it's unavoidable, we must kill all the legion's soldiers so that Xlen's people can live..."
999 walked away to go and prepare himself.

collin clenched his fists "damn it all..."

---

kevin and oriado stood in Ronaldo's weapon closet, having explained it to him, he'd given them access.
kevin grabbed four handguns and two submachine guns, and strapped a shotgun to his back.
oriado took a pistol and an assault rifle, along with two half-metre long broadswords. a bandolier of grenades hung from his belt.
oriado's 'brother' was with them, packing a chain and a battle axe, along with about 50 throwing knives.

Kevin looked at them "you guys ready for this?"
Oriado nodded, determined "ready as i'll ever be."
Norido sighed "it's what we were made for..."
the german shepherd, the black-and-white wolf, and the panther all strode out, and met with ronaldo.
"so... this is it, huh?"
kevin looked down at his footpaws "yes, dad..."
ronaldo looked away "just... promise you'll come back in one piece..."
oriado hugged kevin closer to himself "don't worry mr Gh--"
"please, i'm kevin's father... you can call me Ron or ... dad... if you'd like."
"uh... sure," oriado smiled "... Ron... i'll keep kev safe."
norido nodded "and i'll keep oriado safe."

they followed ronaldo out to his squad car, got in, and started off to the place where 999 would break through to earth.

---

carl and syrus geared up as well, having contacted the now commanding General Davis, Syrus' old friend from boarding school.
the white and green Biocat laughed "it's good to see you two again! it's been what, four years?"
syrus put on a pair of silver gauntlets "yeah, too bad it's under such dark conditions, though..."
General Davis sighed "true, i suppose. but then, it's not like you can just call up a military general just for a chat, i guess."

across the room, a group of other soldiers were helping carl gear up.
syrus sighed "i hope he doesn't make for an easy target... from what the wolf's told us, earth humans are the same size as the ones here... a giant like him... it'd be too tempting to--"
"yes... that's true... but, remember, he himself can also deal out a megaton of damage, because of that size!"

syrus let a single tear drop "if... anything happened to him..."
General Davis placed a compact gun into syrus' paws heavily "if antyhing does, blow those MoFos away with this, that'll teach 'em."
syrus smiled sadly "thankyou..."
General Davis fitted a bulletproof vest, and lightweight body armour to the otter, and handed him a device that resembled half a goggle-visor.
"what's that?"
"this, my 'natural' friend, is a new piece of tech, a 'gazer', which synchs with whatever firearm you're using, and shows you just where to use it to deal maximum damage"
"oh, so it's a lock-on thing."
"essentially, yes. it has a radar, too."

when he was done, syrus wore light, yet effective body armour, and was equipped with wrist-mounted machine guns, and retracting forearm scythes, and had three submachine guns hung from his belt.
he looked over at carl, who had been equipped near identically.
"ready, carl?"
the leopard nodded "yeah... you gonna be okay?"
"i'll be fine..."
"if they hurt you, believe me, there ain't gonna be much of anything they own left standing!" carl joked.
"and likewise, i'll make sure they fall to pieces if they hurt you!" syrus chuckled.
carl picked up the otter, and strode outside to where they were to assemble for the passage to earth.

---

-in heaven-
Kenziel, surrounded by Powers and Archangels, was being armoured up as well.
he had his wings tipped with blades, given spiked gauntlets and greaves, and War himself, clad in his grim-reaper-esque robes, handed Kenziel a new Angel's Sword, engraved with Holy runes.
"be sure to give them the scenic route to hell!" the concept joked.
"i will, Red Rider. thank you."
next, two more Grim-Reaper looking entities walked over, one wore a colden cown.
they handed him an Angelic bow and arrow set, and a Holy-Looking-scythe.
"many thanks, Pale, White. i'll use them wisely... where's The Black Rider?"
"famine is over there" the crowned one pointed to a fourth Grim-Reaper-looking spirit leaning against a column a little further away.

"well, Four Horsemen, thank you for your help, and likewise to you, powers, archangels."

Zeitiel walked in "hold up a moment, Kenziel."
"what's wrong?"
he placed a shiny white, cannon-shaped gun with little wings on it in Kenziel's hands.
"Metatronius. Given it's name for the Scribe Himself."
"wh-what?! Metatron? HE'S allowing the use of Metatronius?!"
"yes. a little Divine punishment where Divine Punishment is due, right?"

Kenziel chuckled "Judgement Maniac much?"
Tarikel ran up and smiled at her brother "Sorry, i know i'm not supposed to come in here, But Zeitiel forgot the Ammunition!"
Zeitiel facepalmed.

Kenziel smiled "hey, you're allowed in here."
"wh- really?! why?"
he touched her shoulder "my own sister should be allowed to see me off, shouldn't she?"
"thanks Kenzi... me and the family will be watching, so kick those creepos all the way down to hell!"
tythiel floated in, giggling "show everyone what a Cherubim can do!"
zeitiel chuckled "ty, he's somewhere between a cherubim and seraphim! but yeah, closer to cherubim!"
Kenziel rolled his eyes "i gotta go, they'll be waiting."

and in a flash of blue flame, he vanished.

---

benson, assisted by his old particle-construction colleagues, geared up with armour plating on his gauntlets, greaves, tasset, and pauldrons, and they constructed a pair of dual-wielding, double shot, rapid fire handguns for him.
"thanks for this, guys, i appreciate it a lot."
a grey cat scoffed "well, we still owe you from way back! plus, we usually don't get this kind of order!"
benson chuckled "sure, i'll pay for it"
"oh, no i didn't mean--"
"it's alright, i'm okay with paying!" the fox laughed "just 'cause i'm this size doesn't mean i'm a different person, you know!"

the cat chuckled nervously "heh heh... alright then... whelp, you're Done! all gunned up and ready to rumble!"

benson waited until they'd all got out of the way, then got up to a crouch "seriously, thanks guys! craftsmanship's great as ever!"
they all shuffled in embarassment.
"w-well... we put a shield in on the left paw..." one of them said, cheeks flushed.
"thanks a ton, okay, seeya!"
he crawled out and headed off to the meeting place.

---

outside the military base, camera crews and a Massive crowd watched on hopefully as 999 hooked up the gateway.
everyone who could make it, had arrived, humans, Bukis, and Gikis, even a camera crew all the way from ildelessus had made it. even the military of Virada was present to see them off.
this was being shared worldwide.
999 himself was wearing red armour rimmed with gold, his purple cape around his neck, and a large red and gold scythe on his back, there was a gold circlet around his head.
all in all, he kind of DID look like an emperor. plus, he was surrounded by all 17 assistants.

over the next five minutes, the rest of 'the pack' arrived, and finally, the gateway was fully operational.
"alright, the Gate's on!"
the crowd cheered.

collin, now dressed in a coal-black coloured, shinobi's armour, stretched his arms "okay! this is it!"
syrus got pumped up "let's show those Freaks what happens when they mess with OUR WORLD!!"
the crowd cheered again in response to that.
Patrick, who had also been outfitted by the particle technicians, and stood in feline form, grinned "i second that! anyone wants to take over, they answer to US!"

Kenziel and Benson were talking to Lily and Amelia.
"lil, please, you're Pregnant! you just Can't fight like that!"
"amelia, don't, i want you to stay safe!"

"ben, come on! i can still help!"
"don't give me that! just because i haven't got any powers doesn't mean i'm useless!"

"please, lil... i don't want to see you get hurt, especially when you're with our unborn children!"
"please, amelia... just please stay here where you're safe."

the two sisters gave in "okay ben..." lily said as she hugged at his toes "but you better come back safe!"
"alright ian... Kenziel... i'll stay..." she offered a sad smile "don't ruffle your feathers over it"
after giving their Girlfriends a hug and a goodbye kiss, they joined the rest of the group as 999 prepared to open the gate.

suddenly, a blur flew in, landing across from 999.
the person who'd landed wore Pearl white armour, had messy brown hair, and there was a gruesome scar on the top left side of his head.
"wait, please."
999 stared in disbelief "is that... Draco?"
"it is me, yes."
"wh... why're you even here?"
"i have come to help you... i know that must sound Ridiculous, but i mean it."
his eyes were no longer gold, but rather, a metalic silver.

collin scoffed "why should we trust you?"
"Project Legion will have Harbinger and my brother, Jack, you will need somebody to occupy them. that is me."
999 smirked "okay, but if you double cross us, i'm breaking you."
"i accept your deal, wolf."

the gateway opened, and a bright beam of purple fired into the sky, like some kind of almighty pillar reaching into the hereafter.
999 stretched his legs "okay, it's simple, touch the entrance and you'll be sent to PL-HQ, got it?"
everyone nodded, and touched the gateway...

WHUMP!!!

the light carried them out into space, past the barrier, and into the void.
they were following the light like a path as it propelled them forward.
999 grunted "once we arrive, fun and games are over, things get serious, okay?"
everyone nodded.
"okay, we work in unison, and take out any soldiers we encounter, but remember, they're DSBIWO, they don't exactly 'live' in the true meaning of the word, don't feel bad for destroying them. they're being controlled against their will, and i asked them, they said they'd prefer destruction over being used for destruction."
benson felt depressed "poor guys..."
"don't feel sorry for us, we've chosen. please, once this is all over, destroy my pod, it's number #999... i don't want to be used for evil anymore."

in the distance, a blue planet could be seen, and they were approaching fast.

"okay... soon... the final battle begins!"

(Next chapter: Battle- 27 VS 1000!)