Red auxiliary lighting throbbed through the compound like a beating heart.  The dim, bloody lighting seemed to outline Vlad's figure in a hazy glow. Danny's breath shook in his chest as he followed Vlad back through the base. 

 His pounding heart and clenched fists were screaming that he shouldn't be this close to this monster. This was the man who had turned his only fellow surviving species against him. He didn't deserve his help or his pity. 

But despite all of this, he kept following Vlad as they retraced the steps of the Grangen. 

As much as Danny hated to admit it, they did need each other. He longed to be back with the Halphas, to tell them the truth, to get them away from this hellish situation. But not yet. Not until their hunter was stopped. 

Vlad suddenly flung out an arm, catching Danny in the chest and stopping him in his tracks. Danny glared at him, his glow surging at the touch. 

Vlad pointed toward something on the floor. Danny leaned in closer and smelled something  acrid and charred. He picked it up and realized it was part of the Grangen's synthetic uniform. Some of it had melted and torn off from Danny's attack earlier. This part must have fallen off while he had retreated. 

The small device in Vlad's free hand let out a small beep. Vlad consulted it and pointed it down the hallway in front of them. 

Another beep. 

Vlad began to move again, steps tighter and faster than before. Danny noticed the change of pace and matched it. They must be getting close. 

As they rounded another turn, Danny's heart gave a nervous throb. This felt too familiar. How did the Grangen know where to go? It couldn't track the Halphas from inside the memory room. It was locked down and sealed against their radioactive signature. 

Unless he had another way to find them. 

Danny's thoughts were cut abruptly short as the smell of burning metal met his nose. A second later, there was a deafening bang, and flares of light began to erupt from the turn of another hallway. Abandoning all caution, Vlad began to sprint forward, Danny right behind him. They hurtled around the final turn and were met with a nightmarish scene. 

The Grangen had ripped through the memory room door. Jagged, half melted edges of the metal framed the room like fangs. The monster was halfway into the room, advancing into the darkness. 

Before Danny could do anything,  a blinding wave of heat and light poured from inside the room. The Grangen roared and braced itself against the mutilated door. Danny and Vlad stumbled backward, shielding their eyes. 

Danny squinted through the light, trying to see the source. His eyes stung and burned, blinded by the intensity. 

It had to be the Halphas! They were fighting back! A surge of hope rushed through him at the realization. They had a chance now. 

But then the voice of the Grangen bellowed,

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

A pulsing blue light drowned out the other. A strange electronic whirring sound cut though the chaos, along with the panicked yell of other voices. In an instant, both of the lights sources went out. 

Danny blinked his watery eyes and tried to adjust to the sudden darkness again. The red lights began to blink again, illuminating the massive outline of the Grangen. He was getting to his feet again. The lights flashed off his teeth and metal implants. 

"Guess it works after all," he grinned, holding up a small cylindrical shape. Danny felt a wave of cold was over him as he saw that the device was glowing with the same color as the second blast. It had to be a weapon. 

A weapon designed against Halphas.