[The original ending of Shadow of GigaCity is the canon for this. Unlike SoGC, this story is not plausible canon of the series, as will be plainly obivous]

1 - A new, old face

"Ciel!" CyberElf Passy yelled as they ran through the rubble, hearing the screams of their comarades dying in the corridirs behind them. "This isn't the place!"

"I know!" Ciel knew the deaths of her friends and fellow soldiers was on her hands now. She continued running towards the place where their sub was docked with the ancient underwater prision. "this was one of the two places he could have been!" If Ciel made it in time, she could perhaps prep the craft in time to allow her and the few living soldiers in her company to live.

"We knew it was a gamble when we took this mission!" A man named Milan tried to ease the guilt obviously shown on the teenaged scientist's face, "it was a 50-50 shot, and we missed!"

"It isn't your fault," Passy seconded as Ciel had to stop for a brief breath.

Slow, confident footsteps ahead of them alerted the human party of the presence of another, unknown party. "Welcome to my domain," A female voice said victoriously, "Dr. Ciel, it's truly a pleasure to be the one to end your pathetic rebellion."

The eyes of the girl went wide as Guardian of the Seas, Ice Goddess, Lady of the Lance, or whatever moniker you prefer, Neo Arcadian General Siren Leviathan, stepped around the corner. "How did you find us so quickly?"

Leviathan pulled her spear from its harness and began to absent-mindedly twirl it. "Simple," she smirked, "we never stopped watching you to begin with."

Ciel knew that no human could ever stand even the shadow of an eyelashes's chance against the S-level fighter before them. After standing a moment, she heard footsteps behind her group, she knew there was no escape. "I suppose we'd all be killed even if we surrender to you."

"Technically that's up to the courts, but I have been given orders to terminate any who threaten the peace of Neo Arcadia... I think it would be more fitting if you went down fighting then as a mere line in the records of the courts. don't you?"

"No," Ciel felt herself trembling as she stood her ground, "I won't allow it to end like this!"

"So..." it was obvious the Guardian was eager for the brownie points of taking down the Resistance, "What's it gonna be?"

"I-I...I..." Ciel collapsed to her knees and began crying. "We were so close!" she sobbed, "We brushed our fingertips on the door that held equality for all! Why couldn't he have been here?"

"Tch!" Leviathan had heard enough, and stopped twirling the weapon and pointed it at the pink-clad human.

Instinctively, the three soldiers jumped between the two women and brought their weapons to bear on the blue armored reploid.

"Useless!" she screamed as she leapt through the air and thrust her weapon at the lead soldier.

a dark-colored blur appeared between the point of the weapon and the human who hadn't even been able to react.

"Who the fuck are you!" Leviathan spat, angered that her moment of victory was interrupted by a purple beam saber catching her spear.

"I don't know," a dark armored reploid replied. He pushed the General back, causing her to stumble. "But no reploid is ever allowed to take a human life. You are clearly Maverick."

"Me? Maverick?" Leviathan paused awkwardly before bursting out laughing so hard that she had to use the shaft of her spear as a support.

"This is no laughing matter!" His green eyes flashed, "You have blatently attempted to violate the First Law of Robotics! Something that's hardwired into all reploid systems!"

"I have been given specific orders from the Courts of Neo Arcadia as well as Master X to eliminate anyone who threatens the peace. Reploid or otherwise."

"Neo Arcadia?"

"Are you new or something?" Leviathan took stock of her opponent, "No. You are ancient, I can see it in your build."

"Ancient?"

"Yeah," she leaned against the spear as if she hadn't a care in the world, "way old school. you even have a core-orb under your vest-armor. I haven't seen any of those since before the Elf Wars."

"Elf Wars? What about the Shinigami Ressurection incident?"

"The what?" Leviathan actually looked at Ciel for an answer.

Ciel turned to look at the largest soldier in the group, "you are the history buff, Kindle..."

"I think he means the GigaCity War. A Reploid named Shinigami ressurected the entire Repliforce V3 and tried to take Giga City as his own in order to gain access to the Force Metals. A combined effort of the GigaCity Defenders and the Maverick Hunters foiled him in the span of two weeks; after incurring the loss of Axl, one of the legendary S-Class Maverick Hunters at the hands of a traitor."

"Axl..." The name sounded familiar and brought a tear to the dark-clad reploid's eye. The half-memory caused him enormous pain.

"look," Leviathan took a battle stance, "as interesting as this is, I really have to kill you so i can get back to my troops."

"Do you have a transport?" He asked one of the soldiers.

"yes, but Leviathan is blocking the way."

"Don't worry about that," the reploid answered, "the moment you see either of us move, run."

As ancient as her opponent was, it was easy for the Guardian to tell he was skilled. Very skilled. She shifted her stance, changing from an offensive stance to a balanced one.

Milan saw the move, and grabbing Ciel by the wrist, he took of running full-tilt.

Leviathan almost moved to stop them, but blocked an attack as the dark one took advantage of the distraction.

"oh," he responded, "you are as good as i thought."

Leviathan was struggling against the strength of the reploid, or so she thought. after he pulled away, she realized that she simply couldn't move. "What the hell is this?"

"ShadowPin," he grinned as he heard the sound of the human's transport undocking and departing.

"Just who are you," she asked, "really?"

"I already told you that I don't know," he responded as he relaxed slightly, showing that he didn't intend to kill the woman who was far too lucid to be a Maverick, she was merely abrasive and under questionable orders.

"Then what do you want?" Siren asked almost nervously.

"You said that you work for X, right?"

"Yes, Master X is the leader of Neo Acadia."

"Take me to him," The dark reploid said as he placed his weapon back on his hip. "I don't know myself. But I DO know him... somehow... he can tell me."