"This way," Epifan called out to Donnie, Pyotr, Roman, Valeryan, and Dagmar as he led them along the long, winding corridors.

Dagmar continued to remain close to Aedona--she continued to hold the older siren's hand as well.

Finally, Epifan stopped in front of a door. "We're here," he exhaled.

"So..." Pyotr began. "Are we going to lock pick that? Because there's no way they'd just leave that door open for us to-"

Aedona pushed past her brother, raising up her leg and pushing it forward, hard.

The door caved inward, falling off its hinges and sliding across the floor of the room.

Pyotr blinked a couple of times in disbelief. "Or... you could do that... That's fine too."

Aedona stepped over a couple of splinters before running over to where Bear was chained up. "Bear," she called out to the older siren.

Bear raised her weak head a little in Donnie's direction. Her face was lined in cuts and bruises. Her nose looked broken. "Aedona?" She seemed surprised.

"I'm here to get you out..." Aedona breathed, softly. She raised her fingers up to dance them along the side of Bear's face--she stroked the bottom of it. Aedona's gaze drifted over to the chains that bound Bear. She inhaled deeply before ripping them in half.

Bear stumbled and Aedona caught her. Bear struggled into a standing position. "I guess it's your turn to save me from being tortured," Bear commented, weakly as Donnie helped her to the door where the rest of the group was currently waiting.

"Bear?" Pyotr asked. "Why couldn't you just break out yourself? Aren't you supposed to be the almighty Warmonger after all?"

In unison both Roman and Bear responded, "Essences of Xuviphas."

Roman continued to explain to the group, "The essences of Xuviphas are enough to even kill the immortal.... Demons, vampires..." He took a deep breath as he put extra emphasis on the word, "Sirens."

Donnie could see Epifan visibly gulp.

"What about me? ...A wraith?" Pyotr questioned.

"You're dead... Not immortal," Roman responded. "You can't kill what's already dead."

"I sure am loving this whole learning experience," Epifan began. "But, I think we should get out of here."

Roman nodded. "Let's."

Aedona approached the door, her gaze meeting one of Boris's men who was holding a loaded pistol.

The soldier fired the gun off.

Aedona froze right in her tracks like a deer when it heard the booming sound of a hunting rifle.

Roman quickly jumped through the doorway, pushing Donnie out of the way just in time to get hit with a bullet in the chest that was fired off.

Roman staggered to the ground.

Bear barrelled through, her golden eyes wide. "Roman!" She held onto him, trying to support him. Her gaze drifted toward the group. "Go!" She shouted.

Epifan reached for one of the knives in his belt before chucking it with the blade aimed right at the head of the soldier.

Pyotr and Aedona blinked a couple of times before corralling Valeryan and Dagmar to the closest exit.

Bear helped carry a limping Roman while Epifan pulled out his sniper rifle, ready to shoot it at any one of Boris's men who may emerge.

All the way to the exit, Roman kept coughing out blood.

"You're gonna be okay," Bear tried to reassure her brother, but she wasn't quite sure how much she believed that fact.

Finally, the group pushed their way though the doors into the setting sun.

Roman collapsed upon making it out of the building.

Bear dropped to her knees right by her brother as the rest of the group stopped dead in their tracks.

Bear's hands began to shake.

Kathump. Kathump. Kathump.

"Bear?" Roman weakly called out.

Bear could already feel tears welling in her eyes. "I'm right here." She grabbed her brother's hand comfortingly.

"Remember the Russo-Turkish war?" Roman started.

Kathump. Kathump.

Bear nodded. "I do."

"You... Me... Agafon... We sure showed everyone who was boss," Roman rasped.

Aedona felt her heart shatter when her father's name was said.

Bear smiled to Roman, a few tears escaping her eyes. "We did."

"The three of us... Inseparable..." Roman said, reminiscing.

Donnie hadn't ever put too much thought into who her parents' friends were before that, but now she couldn't help but think of Bear, Roman, and her father getting into trouble with their reporting officers. Donnie could feel tears coming to her eyes now too.

Dagmar, who was starting to cry for the man who was like an uncle to her, turned away from the scene and rested her head against Donnie's stomach.

Aedona began to stroke the young girl's hair comfortingly.

Kathump.

"B-Bear... I-I'll tell Agafon you say hello... I think he'll like that." Roman relaxed.

Bear stared down in disbelief before shaking her brother. "Roman? Roman? Roman?" When she got no response, she broke down crying--burying her head in Roman's breathless chest as she did.

Everything seemed to slow down for Bear. She felt like she was choking on her tears--she felt like she was suffocating.

"Amvrosiy..." Boris's voice called out, condescendingly. "Did Roman die? How unfortunate."

Bear rose her head up from the corpse of her fallen brother. Her frown contorted into a bloodthirsty snarl. "Sirens," Bear called out as she stood, turning to face Boris, Aaron, and their men.

"And wraith," Pyotr chipped in quickly.

"It's time we avenge Roman..." Bear started to say. "It's time we do what we do best..." She paused before finishing, "Kill."

Aedona pushed Dagmar behind her to protect her.

Valeryan too had begin to glare at Boris. He belted out a war cry before charging straight at a werewolf soldier.

Epifan reloaded his gun before repeatedly shooting it off.

A soldier shot directly at Pyotr--the bullet went right through his forehead.

Pyotr laughed at this.

The soldier stared in horror as the bullet pushed its way back out of Pyotr's forehead and clattered to the ground.

Pyotr's wound began to heal rapidly.

And as the soldier began to shake with terror, Pyotr commented, "I think you know by now that you can't kill a dead man." With that, Pyotr lunged at the soldier.

Bear was dodging the attacks of soldiers left and right. She swung her leg outward in a kicking motion, driving her leg right through one soldier's chest cavity.

As the Bear towered over the soldier she had just killed, another soldier who had transformed into wolf form tackled Bear, snapping his jaws close to her face.

Bear strained to keep the wolf from biting her. She reached her hands into the wolf's mouth before using all of her strength to rip.

The wolf began to whimper as Bear continued to strain.

Bear heaved out an immense amount of energy, ripping the wolf's upper head away from the rest of its body. She stumbled to her feet.

Pyotr, who was nearby, yelled out to the corpse. "Don't you know bears beat wolves?"

Bear dusted herself off before continuing to fight her way toward Boris.

As Donnie continued to try to protect Dagmar from the wolves, she yelled, "Epifan! I could use some help here!"

"Got it!" Epifan yelled before tossing a hand gun over to Donnie.

Donnie picked it up off the ground before aiming straight for one of the wolves' faces.

Finally, Bear had made it to Boris. "Privyet, Boris," she said hostilely.

"Oh little Amvrosiy... How you grown up," Boris began. He raised his gun, aiming it off in Aedona's direction. "Too bad your child won't."

Bear froze for a second before trying to wrestle the gun out of Boris's hand. She tackled Boris.

Boris pushed the trigger down, letting a bullet escape the chamber and bury itself under Bear's ribcage.

Bear seemed to ignore her injury. She crushed Boris's fingers, breaking his hand and making him drop the gun.

Rage continued to twinkle in Bear's eyes as she lunged toward, bitting down hard on Boris's neck, drinking deeply before ripping his neck apart.

Bear could feel her giant black bird-like wings showcasing themselves for the whole world to see, but she didn't care. She didn't care who saw. All that mattered to her now was killing Boris.

Bear ripped her head upward in a swift jerking motion. Blood trickled from the corners of her mouth down to her chin. "This is for Roman." She placed her hands around Boris's neck--or, rather, what was left of it as she sat upon his chest. She once again continued to tug and strain.

Boris let out a blood curdling scream that echoed through the new night.

"And this is for my mother!" Bear shouted as she yanked Boris's head away from his body--casting it away soon after and allowing it to roll across the snow.

Bear stumbled to her knees turning to look at the rest of the group, rage and vengeance still beating in her eyes. She examined all of the corpses of soldiers that lay strewn out across the ground.

Next, Bear noted the footprints in the snow. "Ebner," She said out loud for the rest of the group to hear, noting that he had fled the scene.

As everyone continued to catch their breath, Valeryan asked, "What now?"

Silence lingered among the reforming group before Pyotr broke it.

"Anyone ever think about taking Osowiec back from the Germans?" Pyotr began to ask almost randomly. "You know... Just for shits and giggles."

"Definitely," Epifan said in response.

Donnie wasn't sure whether or not Epifan was joking.

Donnie made her way over to Bear with Dagmar trailing behind her. She placed a hand on Bear's shoulder. "It's okay." She tried to calm Bear down. "It's over."

"For now that is," Epifan commented, looking at the footprints and trying to figure out where they led. "Ebner got away."

"So?" Aedona began before narrowing her eyes at the line of trees that lay beyond the group that the footprints seemed to carve their way through. "There's nowhere Aaron can go that we won't find him."