Chapter I:

-''Checkmate''-

-New Alexandria, Montana-

-30 May 2015-

-1814 Hours-

"Alex! Get up!"

Great Commander Alex Vaughn was startled from his daze by Terrias' voice, and his cold blue, killer's eyes snapped open to find the servine kneeling beside him, extending a paw.

"Are you okay?" and the creature tossed the Commander an AK47.

"What happened?"

"Oil rig collapsed on us...luckily we weren't underneath it when she decided to go down, we need to find the others...they are still alive, right?"

"Yeah," Alex replied, "Last I saw them, everyone was at the command center."

"Let's go there then."

They fought across the southern business district of New Alexandria, Montana, capital of the Terminator Militia, heading north.

"Hope Alpha Company's all right..." the servine said nervously.

"They're fine," the Commander replied, eyes distant. Every time he closed his eyes, horrific memories of his time as the brainwashed Thanatos, general of the sentient, organic, genocidal machines known as the Reaper Armada, would flood before his vision. Thankfully, Harbinger, the Reaper commander, had fallen silent and was no longer tormenting the Commander telepathically. Around the duo, the Reaper's shock forces, including other brainwashed soldiers, referred to as indoctrinated, the mechanical, converted, reanimated corpses known as the infected, and the cloned velociraptors from the experiment known as Perditus, pestered Alex and Terrias relentlessly. At least no more of the flying squid-like machines themselves were in the air...were the Reapers really gone at last?

On their way to the military district, they received a call for help from Dash, who's unit was pinned down in the northern Business District by an army of infected. The duo decided to relieve her first, and upon arriving at the scene, were stunned to find the entire area crawling with hundreds of the mutilated, zombified corpses. Alex and Terrias moved in perfect synchronization, cutting down the Reaper forces and carving their way towards their trapped allies. Upon emerging through the crowd, the Pegasus quickly ran up to her mate, embracing him tightly and kissing him repeatedly, "You came just in time!" she then asked, "Did you take care of Ares?"

Falling silent, grin diminishing into a frown, Alex awkwardly stepped aside to allow Terrias through. The Pegasus' eyes widened, and she blinked in surprise, "Terrias...?"

"I'm gone for a little over a year and everything goes to hell, Jesus..."

Grinning widely, Dash abruptly tackled Terrias to the ground, the two embracing, "Jesus, Terrias! Where the hell have you...?" and she suddenly connected the dots. Appearing worried, the Pegasus turned to face Alex, asking, "Was Ares...?"

The Commander nodded, and Terrias frowned, looking away, "They got him...same way they got me," Alex replied.

"But I thought Zack killed him!?"

"I was bested, I fell into a pit and broke my neck. Zack captured me, attached this damned device on me," and the servine tapped the metal spine barred into his body, "His goal was to puppet my body...though it never had a chance to be realized before he was killed. Shortly after that, the Reapers hijacked me through this damned thing."

"Alex..." Dash began, worried, "You know the others will probably not take this very well."

"I'm well aware," he replied, "But I'll do whatever I can to help be accepted again...we were both under the Reaper influence, so it's as much his fault as it was mine."

Dash only nodded, "Well...it's good to see you back, Terrias...we all thought we lost you."

He smiled, "Well...just so long as I have one friend left at least..."

"Where are the others?" Alex suddenly asked, "Are they all right?"

"Far as I'm concerned, yeah," the Pegasus replied, "Can't friggin' believe that Bleu's plan worked..."

"Are they still in the command center?"

"No, after you left everyone moved out. We all went to different corners of the city, trying to help keep the machines at bay until they were gone. I think a few of them called back to the command center to regroup, like Spyro and Cynder, but the rest are who the hell knows where."

"Do you know where any of 'em are?"

Dash suddenly nodded, "Yeah...I think I heard Zinnia say she was cornered a few miles east."

"Son of a bitch..." Alex breathed, "All right, I'll meet you back at the command center..." and Alex prepared to run off, shortly before he was tackled to the ground by Dash.

"What the h..." he began, but was cut off as the Pegasus kissed him, "Take care of yourself...all right? I'm glad you're back...and I'd hate to lose you again."

Alex only nodded, "I will...and I'm glad to be back, too..." before he picked himself up and running off, Terrias in tow.

"Terrias!" Dash called, "It's good to see you back, too! Aria will be very happy!"

He only waved in response before turning around and following the Commander once again.

They found Zinnia, along with the raptors, blocking themselves off in a heavily shelled, three-story building. Cutting through the indoctrinated and Perditus forces, Alex and Terrias swiftly raced up the stairs to reunite with Zinnia, resting against a half-destroyed wall, out of breath. Upon emerging on the third floor, Tiberius appeared from seemingly out of nowhere, tackling the servine and hissing, "Ares!"

"Hey! Easy! He's a friend!" Alex called, "He's on our side now!"

"Tiberius!" Zinnia called, "Stand down, hon."

After several tense moments, the male deinonychus backed down with a snort, hissing towards them, "Make one wrong move, and you'll both be dead!"

"Who are you? What are you?" Athena, Tiberius' twin sister, asked shyly towards the servine.

"Name's Terrias..." he replied, "I'm a servine...native to the Regions."

At the mention of the area, a series of islands off the coast of Japan, Zinnia straightened, and she stood. Her bare legs, arms, and face were covered in mud, her short black hair, tied in a ponytail, was matted and in disarray, and her fine, dark blue clothes were stained. The girl instantly ran up to the Commander, hugging him tightly, "I'm so glad to see you okay!"

Alex chuckled nervously, "Yeah...it's good to see you, too, Zinnia."

"So..." she began, nodding towards Terrias, "Was this Ares?"

The Commander nodded, "Yes...but before then, he was an old friend of mine."

"You're from the Regions?" the girl asked the servine.

"Not necessarily," Terrias replied, "My ancestry ties back there...but I was born and raised here in New Alexandria."

"Are you Aria's mate?" the girl asked.

The servine nodded, "Yeah."

"She'll be very happy to see you again...she's been missing you."

"I can only imagine..." and Terrias sighed, "Listen...I'm sorry if I've caused any of you guys any problems."

Tiberius snorted in irritation, Athena said nothing, and Zinnia only hugged him, "Hey...we all make mistakes. Besides, I know you weren't in control over yourself."

"I hope Ruby is still okay..." Alex frowned.

Zinnia stiffened, "Yeah...about that..." but she was interrupted by a call on the radio, "Sir! Another one of those damned machines has arrived!"

"Where?" Alex asked, walking away.

"In Town Center...this thing is fucking HUGE!"

Following this, Bleu radioed the Commander next, "Alex...for some reason I can't control this unit...it's too strong...is there any way you can get down there and see what you can do? I've already commissioned everyone we got to head down there and Rocket's bringing his cannon."

Alex exchanged nervous glances with Terrias, both mouthing at the same time, "Harbinger..." before the Commander turned away again, replying, "We're on our way now..." Alex turned to face Zinnia again, "Why don't you take Tiberius and Athena back to the command center...Terrias and I will take care of this bastard."

"Do you think you two can take it alone?"

Both the Commander and the servine exchanged bitter glances, and Terrias said, "We have some unfinished business to settle."

The pair rushed out of the building through a back door and into an alley. The quickest path to Town Center was a series of alleys, taking them less than a mile north, instead of taking the normal path, which would take them at least a mile west before another half mile to the north. Traveling through the alleys also reduced the number of resistant they would encounter from the Reapers, as most of the Reaper forces would go after the primary routes. Here, they encountered very few enemy units, only finding one or two small teams that had either gotten lost or had just wandered off.

The creatures were quickly dealt with, and Alex called telepathically, Piermont! One of those damn machines in in Town Center! Can you give us a lift?

The dragon responded almost instantaneously, I would if I wouldn't have lost my wing to that fucking bat back in Eden...hold on, I'll send Cherub your way.

Suddenly, with a booming roar, the shining, gold body of the Martaanean field dragon landed down the block from them, engulfing the alerted infected forces around her in flames. Alex quickly sprinted up to her, Terrias struggling to keep up. Upon spying the servine, Cherub's jaw dropped and her eyes widened, "Terrias!? You're alive!"

"Yeah...will explain later," the servine replied impatiently, quickly climbing onto the golden beast's back, "Right now, we got a giant fucking death machine that's have a jolly could stroll through Town Center."

"How's Sarah?" Alex asked.

Cherub did not respond, refusing to acknowledge her rider outside of a simple, "She's fine enough."

Soon after, the she-dragon, Piermont's mate, rocketed into the skies, flying fast and low straight north. Even from here, both Alex and Terrias could see the unmistakable form of Harbinger, unique from the rest of its brethren by its larger body, higher amount of armor and weapons, and its three golden eyes, over the other machines' two. Its eye-lights flashed briefly and it trumpeted mightily, reaching out to Alex, So...you have also broken Ares...you will regret all of this with time.

We'll see about that! Alex hissed.

Its attention now turned towards the trio, Harbinger ignored the other Terminator forces pestering it, barely denting its shields, and the immense machine began to creep towards the fast-approaching dragon, charging its primary weapon, a giant plasma cannon. "Cherub!" Terrias bellowed, "Flame its shields! Eventually you'll overpower it!"

"I know how to take down a fucking Reaper!" the she-dragon hissed, dodging the fired beam of light with a smooth aileron roll, "You forget, we've been dealing with these monstrosities for a year!"

I am merely here to evolve you... Harbinger began, To save the human species, it must evolve! We are your evolution!

Cherub commenced her first pass, breathing an unbroken stream of white fire across the machine's hull. Its shields flickered blue in the contact, but otherwise it remained unscathed, only turning around to face the dragon again, charging its cannon once more. "Look out!" Alex roared, but Cherub evaded this with a barrel roll.

She snapping back. "I know how to fight these things, Alex!"

With a grunt, Alex tapped his earpiece, saying, "Message to all units: Concentrate fire on the Reaper in Town Center, it's imperative we overpower its shields!"

You fear only what you do not understand... Harbinger continued, So allow me to explain...we are immortal, timeless...we will liberate you from your existential mortality.

You are only driving us to extinction! Alex hissed.

It is the only way. Only through death of your current form will you be granted immortality. The union of organic and synthetic life is the destiny of all organisms. From your history, like seeds in Spring, you have thrived and grown. For your race, it is now Autumn, and the time of the Harvest is here...we are your harvesters.

Finally, a burst of blue fire emerged from one of its legs causing it to trumpet in surprise...and maybe even pain. Its legs briefly gave out upon it, but it soon recovered, standing upright again, even at its shields flickered unsteadily.

"That's it!" Terrias howled, "Keep it up!"

Cherub commenced another pass, blasting fire down across it once more. This time, another burst of blue fire shot from its head, blowing pieces of the hull and exposing alien scaffolding beneath, as well as the glowing blue power core for its onboard shield generator.

What are you doing!?

"Take that you son of a bitch!" Alex cackled wildly.

Ares, Thanatos...do reconsider...

But another explosion blew off a massive plate from it back, exposing the fleshy core within.

Its severely weakened shields struggled to keep up with the constant barrage of attacks, and now explosions were occurring repeatedly all across its body, each one blowing more and more of its armor off to reveal what lay beneath. After another pass from Cherub, there was a violent series of explosions, dozens occurring consecutively across its entire hull, emitting enough light, heat, and wind to disorient everyone attacking. When their vision cleared and the dragons stabilized once more, Alex and Terrias' jaws dropped at the creature. The vast majority of Harbinger's hull had been blown away, revealing a ghastly, wrecked form, as if the ship came from a scrapyard. The blue light near the top of its head flickered out and its shields gave way completely. Now with the combined attacks against it having no barrier to deal with and the machine itself more vulnerable than ever before, Harbinger was unable to steady itself, let alone retaliate.

Pieces of its body continued to fall freely from the machine, crashing into Town Center and scattering its ground-based assailants, but still the attacks continued, unrelenting. Finally, from the industrial district to the west, a lone gunship appeared, and over the line, the raccoon named Rocket screamed, "EAT THIS, BITCH!"

In a blast of light and heat, a massive plasma beam rocketed from the front of the ship, tearing cleanly through Harbinger's body. The creature trumpeted a deathcry, collapsing forward and slamming to the ground with enough force to topple two skyscrapers in the square. Still, the machine attempted to pick itself up, but its body was too weak to do anything but prop it up, exposing it to another blast from the Reaper cannon affixed to the ship. Finally, it collapsed for the final time, it eye lights flickering out into darkness...and the world fell silent.

When the smoke cleared, revealing the destroyed machine laying still and unmoving on the ground, Cherub landed in the heart of the square, out of breath. Alpha Company quickly hurried over to her, and Alex and Terrias dismounted, both walking towards the machine to ensure it was truly dead.

"We...we did it," Alex chuckled, "Holy crap...we actually did it!"

Terrias snarled, kicking a chunk of steel, launching it across the brick plaza, "And stay dead you son of a bitch!"

"It's you..." a small voice spoke from behind, and Terrias turned to see Aria walking slowly up to him, eyes wide with shock.

He smiled towards her, "It's me." and his mate immediately ran up to him, hugging him tightly. Terrias only held her, burying his head in her shoulder, "It's me..."

"Alex!" another voice called out, and Alex turned, only to be forcefully embraced by Sapphire, alarmed by the bull dolphin's surprising display of emotion and excitement, "It's true! You are alive!"

Alex chuckled, petting the beast, "Of course...you can't get rid of me that easily, you know..." and the Commander frowned, replying in a low voice, "Where's Ruby?"

Sapphire grimaced, lowering his head, "Ask your second-in-command..." before he walked away, heading somewhere unknown.

Alex looked towards the bull dolphin before navigating the massive crowd, calling for Spyro. He found the purple dragon speaking with his mate, Cynder, and Piermont, in his human form. "You did good, Alex!" Spyro laughed, "Brought down Harbinger...and you killed Ares, too, right?"

"Spyro," Alex began grimly, "Where's Ruby?"

The purple dragon instantly sobered, his grin quickly dissolving into a frown of defeat, and vaguely, of fear, "Um...about that."

"WHERE IS RUBY!?" Alex boomed, causing startled looks all around, and everyone in the immediate area to back away from him.

Spyro held himself high, attempting to lessen the blow to his ego, "You must understand...we had no choice..."

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!?" Alex roared, pouncing the purple dragon and pinning him to the ground, holding an arm against the dragon's throat.

Spyro struggled to breathe, snarling through bared teeth, "She's...she's..."

"WHERE IS SHE!?"

"ASYLUM! She's in...the asylum!" Spyro managed, and Alex weakened his restraining grip, allowing the dragon to gasp for breath. The Commander himself backed away in horror, and Spyro looked up to face him, snarling, "That bitch was suicidal...she damn near succeeded, too...we didn't have time to look after her and fend off the Reapers...so we...I...handed her off to a mental hospital in Helena."

"You are gonna take me to her," Alex said, voice eerily cold and calm, a very dangerous sign.

Spyro only smirked, "I would if I could...but unfortunately, she's in solitary confinement...absolutely no one is permitted to see her."

"Why?"

All eyes of Alpha Company, unknowing of the dolphin cow's fate, turned to face the duo, and Spyro, with a sigh, admitted, "She had a nervous breakdown...murdered seven doctors, wounded dozens of others. She was being held in solitary...and due to the collapse in the prison system from...you guessed it...the fucking Reapers...she's being held there in a substitute cell...on death row."