Chapter 4

After the rescue mission in Atlanta, everyone was on their way back to the Anvil. Chase had just returned from talking to the Strider pilots, who were not all too pleased about the revelation about gen:LOCK's mystery mech.

He looked around the whole Hornbill to see how everyone was handling things. Oliver and Cammie were sitting silently in a corner, while Yaz and Valentina were just talking amongst themselves. Eero, and Kazu were talking to Colonel Marin back at the Anvil.

As he looked around, Eva approached him. She had a rather stern look on her face.

"Okay, monsieur." She said. "You have some explaining to do."

"What, about our mystery mech?" Chase asked. "Look, I know things are kind of coming at as pretty hard, but-"

"You're dodging my question." Eva interrupted. "That thing… it said your catchphrase."

"What do you want me to say, huh?" Chase asked, getting defensive. "Look, I'll get to the bottom of this when we get back."

"I hope so." Eva pleaded. "Because you're not really giving me a good reason to not cut your life support right now."

With that somber note, Eva walked off to talk with the rest of her team. Chase just stood there and stayed silent. Yaz looked back at him very concerned, but quickly went back to her own business.

The Hornbills quickly arrived at the Anvil, where they landed on their respective landing pads. The gen:LOCK crew departed from theirs, looking forward to some rest. Cammie yawned as Oliver stretched his arms. Everyone else just walked on into the base.

As Caliban unloaded Chase's tank, Chase began to think. Yaz had just finished talking to one of the workers on the airfield, and turned to Chase to see what was up.

"You okay?" She asked.

"The whole time." Chase said, after some thinking. "What if he's been lying to us the whole time?"

"Chase. Please." Yaz responded. "You and I owe Dr. Weller so much. Give him at least the benefit of the doubt."

Chase closed his eyes and breathed in. He then made up his mind.

"Able, where's Dr. Weller?" He asked. "I need to talk with him."

"Dr. Weller is currently on the Eastern Observation Deck." Able's voice replied.

Chase nodded and quickly mixed away to meet Dr. Weller up top. Yaz saw him off before meeting up with the rest of the gen:LOCK members.

Cammie and Oliver continued their way into the base but stopped. The two stopped and waved at someone. A few feet away, Henry, along with the other prisoners they had saved board a Razor to depart somewhere.

"Where do you think they're goin'?" Cammie asked.

"Debrief, presumably." Valentina answered. "Then wherever home is for them."

"Hey, GL." Leon's voiced called.

Everyone saw the grizzled Strider pilot walking towards them, with Jodie and Miranda behind him.

"We're gonna do a review." He said. "Dissect your mission performance."

"Cut us a break, would ya?" Charlotte sighed, crossing her arms.

"What's everybody's deal?" Kazu said. "We actually won a battle. We should raise a glass."

"What do you want a party?" Leon shot back, his eyes hardening and getting into Kazu's face. "Is that how the world works? You finish a mission, someone hangs a banner with your names on it, and throw a little confetti?"

"Just be in the North Common in an hour." Leon said, bumping Kazu out of the way.

All of the gen:LOCK members looked at the Strider pilots going off. They were a bit confused but at the same time slightly ticked off.

"I know he means well…" Hyun-Woo said. "But does he have to be a hardass about it?"

"You think he's bad now?" Valentina teased. "Just wait until our debrief."

With that note, everyone just went into the base, looking forward to some rest.

Meanwhile, Dr. Weller was standing over the railing on the Eastern Observation deck. He seemed rather absent to his surroundings when Chase mixed in behind him. He walked toward him as Dr. Weller began to speak.

"Do you ever wonder why we're here?" He asked.

"Only every day since New York." Chase replied. After a brief pause, he said, "I figured out why the Colonel made me that offer."

"Pardon?" Dr. Weller responded.

"To transfer me back to the Vanguard, and why you started crunching on the new toys." Chase explained. "Both of you knew what this thing might be, and neither one of you told us what was up."

"Better not to raise alarm until we knew for certain." Dr. Weller answered bluntly.

"Better for who?" Chase asked, getting harsher in his tone. "It's GL tech, isn't it?"

"…yes." Dr. Weller replied with a slight sense of regret in his voice. "At its core is… likely one of our brains."

"You're really making me do this?" Chase said, finally showing his anger. "Who's running on it, Doc!?"

Dr. Weller clasped his hands together, and sighed. It was time he told Chase the truth.

"There is a very good chance that it is you in there, Julian." He said. "Well, at least another instance of you. Your… nemesis, to put it simply."

"But… you said you couldn't make copies." Chase stated.

"I said I wasn't making copies. I never said I couldn't… or didn't." Dr. Weller sighed.

He then adjusted his position, and then told Chase the entire story.

"We started backing you up the instant the gen:LOCK initiative began…" He began.

Dr. Weller told everything to Chase. From the day the Vanguard were able to rescue him from his crash site. He explained how Chase hung on to life as hard as he could while the gen:LOCK program began around him. Once he was eligible for field operation, he began to finally turn the war around the Vanguard. And every time Chase uploaded, the crew shunted a copy into another Cyber-Brain. But one mission. That is when everything went wrong. The Union were prepared, having dedicated an entire garrison of its troops into capturing him. He disappeared. When the dust settled, they just restored Chase with the copy, and made him back whole again.

"The practice of copying ended, and the gen:LOCK program continued." Dr. Weller concluded.

Chase was wide-eyed. He seemed to be aware of everything that had happened, but didn't seem to know the details of it all. He quickly shook his head to get his attention back.

"But… you told me that mission was scrubbed." He said.

"That we'd had a malfunction and the system was offline for a couple of hours before we could restore you." Dr. Weller replied.

"You lied." Chase finally said.

Dr. Weller stood up straight and faced Chase dead in the eyes.

"Yes." He replied. "I lied."

The two were tense for a few seconds. There were several glares and hostile faces at each other before the atmosphere was cut by a loud alarm from the base.

"All crews, defensive battle stations." Able's voice echoed. "All crews, defensive battle station. This is not a drill."

"What is that?" Dr. Weller asked before looking out to the distance.

There was a loud whooshing sound from afar as a Union Behemoth decloaked only a few miles away from the Anvil.

"Karma." Chase commented as he mixed away.

Dr. Weller wanted to say something, but Chase had already disappeared. He bit his lip and made his way down to the command center.

As the alarms blared throughout the entire base, all maintenance workers and mechanics ran into the hangers. Once everyone was inside, all turrets of the base activated, pointing their barrels towards the Union Behemoth.

"Union Behemoth has dropped quantum cloak." An officer said. "Distance, two clicks."

"Scramble alert fighters." Colonel Marin ordered. "Ground companies to follow plan Alpha."

"Colonel, Union is broadcasting in the clear." A comms officer called. "They're including a Vanguard ID code."

"Continue deploying defenses." Colonel Marin said, ignoring the callout.

"Ma'am, the code is Lieutenant Chase's." The comms officer said.

Silence immediately consumed the command center. With that callout, they knew they couldn't keep this a secret any longer. With no other choice, Colonel Marin gave in.

"Start the channel." She said.

The comms officer did so, bringing up the screen in front of the command center. It first showed the large Union Behemoth walking towards them, but then it panned down to show the Union's mystery mech, which the screen codenamed as "Nemesis." It walked beastly until it stopped. The Behemoth continued walking though, but it slowed down enough for Nemesis to speak.

"C-c-colonel." It said. "He-hello. G-g-g-goodbye."

"Who am I addressing?" Colonel Marin asked carefully.

"W-w-who would you l-like it to be?" Nemesis back with something akin to a chuckle.

Dr. Weller just shook his head as he saw Nemesis's speech and behavior.

"Oh, Chase. What did they do to you…?" He whispered.

Nemesis twitched and made a motion to seem like it was holding its head.

"W-w-why am I still here?" It spluttered. "W-why do I-I-I keep hearing new voices in my head?"

Dr. Weller stepped forward to speak while Colonel Marin stepped back to talk to Able.

"Status of the Hammer System?" She asked.

"Stage three test fire can be available in approximately 10 minutes." Able replied.

"Proceed." Colonel Marin replied, turning back to the screen.

Dr. Weller did his best to explain the circumstances to Nemesis, but he wasn't doing so good.

"You have to know we tried to find you." He said.

"You l-l-lost you-u-u-ur chance." Nemesis responded. "And now, there's no choicek-k-ill the c-c-copy."

"There's always a choice." Dr. Weller continued. "Whatever they've said to you, done to you-"

"K-k-kill the c-co-copy." Nemesis interrupted.

"Julian." Dr. Weller begged. "Please. Return to us. I promise you I will do everything in my power to help you."

Nemesis paused for a moment but then twitched one more time before continuing.

"Y-y-you can'tfix me-me-me…" It said in almost an echoey voice. "Want out…. The-the Union…"

"Julian, they cannot promise you a return to your body." Dr. Weller stated. "IT will not work that way. But… maybe… maybe we can find an alternative."

"W-w-ant out." Nemesis said. "He-he-hello? G-g-goodbye-"

Before Nemesis could continue speaking, Chase's teal Holon kicked it into the ground.

"Chase!" Dr. Weller called, quickly running down to his lab.

Nemesis shook its head as Chase looked down at it with all the confidence in the world.

"Oh, you want out?" He taunted. "I can help with that."

"K-k-ill the co-co-co-copy!" Nemesis hollered as it began to swing its arms madly at Chase.

Chase did no effort in dodging its attacks and began to fight back. Meanwhile, the Union Behemoth began unloading a legion of tanks from its body. Beside it, where also squadron of dropships that unloaded fighters and troopers down to the ground. In response, all of the Anvil's turrets and defenses began firing down on the Union forces.

Meanwhile, back inside the Anvil, the other gen:LOCK members just entered the lab after hearing the alarms. Caliban was busying working on the computers as they arrived.

"Doctor, what's happening?" Yaz called. "Doctor?"

"Look!" Cammie said, pointing at one of the screens.

Everyone looked to the screen that Cammie pointed to, where it showed Chase fighting Nemesis alone. Not only that, it also showed a fleet of Union forces coming down behind them.

"Bozhe moi…" Valentina sighed.

"Into the pods, now!" Yaz ordered.

As ordered, all of the candidates took off the clothes they had over their Body Suits and jumped into their pods. Once they had, they all uploaded into their Holons, which all awoke in the hanger.

"As soon as we're up on the other side, hook right." Leon said, prepping his Strider. "We gotta make it zone three, fast as possible. Get ready to run."

Everyone acknowledged him and began to move out. All of the Striders got onto a platform which lowered into an underground deployment method. Kazu and Eero were next, with Kazu standing on one of the platforms and Eero standing on a platform behind Kazu.

"Get down! Watch your head!" An engineer called, motioning a crouching motion.

Kazu and Eero both crouched down, as the platforms lowered and began to move down to tunnels below. Once they were down, the platform carried them down the tunnel. The two Holons braced themselves as they got closer and closer outside.

The deployment zone opened, where Kazu and Eero were finally able to stand. Eero quickly grabbed his minigun from his back as he looked out. As the red and black Holon looked out to the battlefield, everyone else quickly followed suit. Hyun-Woo and Yaz came up, followed by Valentina, Charlotte, and Eva, and Oliver and Cammie were the last ones up. They looked at what laid before them. An entire battlefield littered with Union forces that have already began to make their way into the base. The Vanguard forces began to push them back, but there were still too many for them. One tank even took the chance to fire at the Holons.

"Move!" Yaz called.

All nine Holons jumped clear of the blast, down the hill, and towards the battle.

Charlotte pounced on a Union tank, stabbing the body with her knives. Hyun-Woo and Yaz grabbed one while Kazu and Eero both punched it away. Cammie slid down the battle firing her pistols. A Union Fighter swooped down from above down to her but Oliver shot his cables at it, throwing it into a squad of tanks. Eva threw a set of cards towards some Union tanks. A few seconds passed before they all exploded. Valentina quickly got up on a high position to begin sniping. Eero and Yaz led the Striders into the battle, with the other Holons jumping around into the battle.

As they fought, the Vanguard began to send everything into the battlefield. A squadron of Razors and Interceptors flew out of the base and laid down suppressive fire. Chase flew up beside the Interceptors to take care of the squadrons of Union fighters that seemed to be all over the entire field. Nemesis just looked up as Chase shot down most fighters that came his way. Two Interceptors flew down towards it with missiles, but the Behemoth shot the missiles out of the air. The smoke allowed Chase to tackle Nemesis into the ground. Once he recovered, he began to shoot at it, but it quickly retaliated by dodging all of the bullets and beginning to swipe and punch at Chase.

Meanwhile, all of the Striders began to take a bigger stand in the battle. Miranda got on top of a dead Union tank and spun around firing everything in her arsenal. She stopped to take a breath, but in doing so, she saw Hyun-Woo's Holon jumping over her and continuing the battle. With armored cars running alongside him, Hyun-Woo hacked and slashed through the battle. All of the tanks and fighters were destroyed on contact, burning to the ground as they fell. Jodie quickly shot a squad of ground troopers while a tank crept up on him. But Leon had his back by shooting it away from him.

Kazu was continuing to attack the Union forces, even losing the armor on his lower left arm. He smashed a tank with his arms as other tanks began to fire on him.

"Kazu, check you six!" Valentina called.

"What? My six?" Kazu asked, paying more attention to the tanks around.

"Kazu, let me join you!" Valentina called again.

"I got this!" Kazu shouted back, jumping onto a Union fighter.

He smashed it into the ground, and turned around to see who was next, but then a squad of tanks arrived. They all launched their grapples onto him, with one even jumping on his back.

"Kazu!" Valentina shouted.

She closed her eyes as Kazu continued resisting the tank.

In the mindscape, Val flew down to meet Kazu's limp body. She helped him lift his swords, and then the two began to dance and slash their way through the Union forces. Doing some fancy feet work, Kazu, with Val's help, was able to destroy all of the Union tanks around him. Valentina woke up and waved to Kazu.

Meanwhile, some Vanguard troopers were escaping from a crashed Razor. A Union tank and fighters were closing in on them, but Eero arrived just in time to cover the men's escape. He put up his Barrier Shield to cover the men's escape as a car arrived to take them away. Eero continued to cover their escape, but he was getting overwhelmed. He quickly retracted his Barrier, but at the same time, all of the tanks unloaded their guns onto him. He unleashed his minigun on the Union forces, but he just couldn't keep up with his surroundings.

"Uh… a little help please?" He called, still firing.

As he said that, Charlotte jumped in and pounced onto one of the tanks in front of Eero. She then rolled to the side and cut a leg of a tank and stopped near Eero.

"You called?" She asked. "Let's take them out together!"

In the mindscape, Charlotte grabbed Eero's hand. Then, suddenly the two Holons shared the look in their eyes and then began to attack the Union forces that came towards them. Eero's minigun began firing in a cone shape while Charlotte retracted one of her knives while retracting a machine pistol from her arm. Eero stopped firing for a few seconds to let his minigun cool, but Charlotte jumped over him and landed on the minigun. Eero then launched Charlotte into the air. She then dove forward, firing her machine pistol. She took out a line of tanks behind them, and then she turned around with her pistol out. Eero prepped his minigun, and then two fired on the Union, catching them in a sandwiched rain of bullets. Once all of the Union forces were destroyed, the two exchanged glances of approval, and then departed further into the battle.

Cammie and Oliver were fighting as well, but somehow, they ended up back to back with each other.

"Oh, hi there." Oliver chuckled.

"Back at ya." Cammie replied.

They looked in front of them, and they saw an army of Union tanks walking towards them, all with the intent of shooting them down. The two braced themselves as the tanks continued their approach.

"Hey." Cammie suddenly said. "This might not be the time to bring it up… but do you remember what you said yesterday?"

"Hm? Oh right." Oliver muttered. "Y'know, I actually don't remember much from that conversation."

In the mindscape, Cammie and Oliver were back to back as well. Cammie quickly turned around and flipped Oliver around so that the two were facing each other now. She then cupped his face with her hands.

"I do." She said with a cheeky smile.

She then kissed Oliver on the lips. That triggered something with their Holons, as Oliver readied his cables, and Cammie grabbed hold of them. She then spun around as fast as she could, swinging Oliver around in a circle. The two yelled as they spun around faster and faster. The Union tanks didn't know how to respond as they were destroyed by Oliver's kicking motion. Once all of the tanks were destroyed, the two stopped spinning and sat on the ground for a few minutes.

"Ugh…" Oliver groaned. "Oh, I'm gonna be sick…"

Cammie just laughed and helped Oliver up. Then the two continued into battle together.

Meanwhile, Yaz and Chase had been fighting near each other. Yaz had been taking out Union tanks while Chase was still trying to fight Nemesis.

"Chase!" Yaz called. "We should try fighting them together!"

"What's stopping you?" Chase asked.

In the mindscape, Yaz extended a hand to Chase, who was still busy fighting Nemesis.

"No, I mean, really! Together!" She said.

"Let's not do this now!" Chase retorted almost immediately.

Yaz reluctantly retreated back into their Holon, where she tore off a tank's gun and fired on another with her lasers.

As the battle raged on, the Behemoth launched several crafts towards the Anvil. The crafts were small, but big enough to house people inside. Once they had reached the walls, the crafts attached themselves to the side and began to dig into the wall.

"Intruder alert." Able said. "Exterior breaches on levels 20 through 25."

"Security, repel the intruders!" Colonel Marin ordered. "Seal all blast doors!"

As the crafts finished digging up the hole in the Anvil, one drone hovered out of each hole, followed by a platoon of Union troopers. Vanguard security arrived to deal with them, but they were immediately gunned down by the drones.

Hearing this commotion, Dr. Weller and Caliban were running back and forth in the lab, preparing for a quick escape. Dr. Weller even grabbed a small device of some kind as he worked. He turned to a screen to see Union troopers scuttling away in the hallways. One of them even shot out the camera which was connected to the screen he was watching. Soon after, Colonel Marin called him.

"Weller, we're breached!" She said. "Their main contingent is headed your way!"

"We shouldn't be a burden much longer!" Dr. Weller replied, continuing to work. "I'd like to request an extended use of our Holon transport!"

"Understood. Let us know when you're on the move." Colonel Marin said, disconnecting the call.

Once the call was disconnected, he then contacted the Holons.

"gen:LOCK Team!" He called. "Get your Holons back to your transport and prepare for download!"

Back outside, everyone was still fighting. They got the message but were rather confused.

"Quoi, doctor?" Eva asked, kicking a Union fighter out of the way. "We're nowhere near uptime!"

"You're in danger. Do you hear?" Dr. Weller said.

"We know we're in danger!" Kazu retorted, stabbing a tank with his two swords.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" Yaz asked

"Why are we retreating?" Hyun-Woo asked, asked, slashing through several tanks.

"Now, Yasamin!" Dr. Weller replied in a very short-tempered manner. "There are enemies in the base; Your bodies are in danger!"

All of the Holons became wide-eyed when he said that. They had to get back to their bodies. In agreement, all of the Holons began to run back to the base. They still took out any Union forces that were in the way, but they got too overzealous. Oliver was on his way back, but he suddenly tripped. Two Union tanks took advantage of this, launching their cables at him and beginning to drag him away. Cammie saw this but couldn't get to him

"Oliver!" Cammie shouted.

"H-h-help!" Oliver cried, trying to stop himself.

Valentina rushed in to save him. She grabbed one of Kazu's swords and cut the cables away and 360-no-scoped the Union tanks.

"He said run, mal'chik!" She said, picking up the orange Holon.

The two ran back to the other Holons, who provided cover for them as the caught up. Yaz then noticed that they were missing someone.

"Chase!" She called. "Fall back!"

Chase, who was still fighting Nemesis, ignored her and continuing fighting the black Holon.

"He doesn't mean me." He said.

"Chase!" Yaz called back.

"My body can't run, Yaz!" Chase said, continuing to fight Nemesis.

Yaz, with all of the other Holons, had no choice but to continue back to their Hornbill, taking out any Union forces along the way. But they eventually reached their transport, where they quickly loaded up their Holons and downloaded back into their bodies. All the while Chase kept on fighting Nemesis, keeping off his teammate's tails.

Back inside, a Union drone hovered just outside the lab, and it watched Dr. Weller running from screen to screen. The drone surveyed and recorded everything he was doing, but was immediately destroyed by Caliban.

"Are the Holons secure?" He asked.

"We're loaded up." Yaz replied, stepping out of her pod.

Everyone else quickly stepped out of their pods one by one and began to grab their clothes and other stuff.

"What the hell's happening?" Cammie asked.

"No time! They're coming for you!" Dr. Weller warned. "Get ready to run! Kazu that seems about your speed, take it! Valentina, energy rifle there!"

Everyone came out of their pods and began to put on their clothes over their Body Suits. Kazu and Valentina grabbed their stuff that Dr. Weller pointed them to. Hyun-Woo grabbed his katana that he stored on the side of his pod. Everyone grabbed their respective belongings as they prepped to run. Yaz was more concerned for Dr. Weller though.

"Doctor?" She asked.

"Time to fly, little bird." Dr. Weller whispered, kissing her forehead. "Look after your teammates."

"Y-you're coming with us, yes?" Yaz asked again.

"I'll join you when I can." Dr. Weller answered, turning away.

He then turned to Caliban, who was prepping Chase's tank for transport. The robot turned to the doctor.

"Caliban." Dr. Weller ordered. "You do not leave their side."

Then, quietly he added, "Omega protocols apply. Acknowledge?"

Caliban blinked a pair of green lights from his eyes, afterwards finishing loading up Chase's tank onto a cart. Once everyone was ready, they waited by the doors of the lab. Kazu finished putting on his jacket, but then he noticed something was missing. He quickly went back in and grabbed his guitar.

"Are you serious?" Oliver sighed.

"You'll hear from me once you're away!" Dr. Weller said. "Go! Take that lift!"

All of the gen:LOCK members started to walk towards the lift. As they left, doors on the other end of the hall opened, revealing a platoon of Union troops. They wasted no time in firing at them. Yaz fired back a bit with her pistol while Hyun-Woo only deflected the bullets. Two troopers died as the gen:LOCK crew made it to the lift. The Union troops tried to get to the lift, but the doors closed before the could reach it.

"I recommend you back away from the lift!" Dr. Weller called out, with a hand behind his back. "You won't be following them, I assure you."

The platoon quickly changed their objectives and quickly secured Dr. Weller. They even clubbed his back to get him on his knees.

"I assume you're here for the gen:LOCK technology?" He grunted as he was picked up back on his feet. "Well, you can't have my kids. But I have something new right here."

He revealed some kind of cylindrical device, with a central button in the middle. He pressed it and the device began to beep

"Takei it." He said. "With my compliments."

Then, the device projected a green bubble that enveloped the entire lab with everyone inside. A few more seconds passed until an explosion took place inside the lab, taking everyone inside. The gen:LOCK crew felt the explosion from in the lift.

"No… no, no…!" Yaz muttered.

Cammie quickly went over to the controls and opened the doors. But the doors only opened slightly. Eero and Caliban grabbed each door and forced them open. Kazu peeked out to see where they were.

"Is this the barracks?" He asked.

"It's close enough." Charlotte responded. "We'll cut across here to the main hanger."

Everyone began moving down the hall. Yaz covered their rear, seeing an explosion in the corner of the lift.

"Cammie, how many?" She asked.

"Enough to fuck us!" Cammie called back.

A couple of Vanguard soldiers were firing back, but were shot down almost immediately. The gen:LOCK members continued running, but Eva quickly saw a room they could hide in.

"Personnes!" She called. "In here, quickly!"

Everyone quickly stopped and turned around to enter the room.

"Hurry!" Eva insisted.

Once everyone was inside, Eva threw down a card, which stood up, pierced into the floor. The card opened up and projected a door to cover their entrance. The Union troops just walked on by, ignoring them all.

"What was that?" Valentina asked.

"I used one of my cloaking cards." Eva explained. "It was big a risk, given that I only…"

Eva trailed off as she looked into the room they were in. Everyone else also looked in, and saw what was inside.

There was a table with a bunch of food. There was punch bowl, a big sponge cake, cans of beer, a nacho plate and some dip. There were even confetti falling down with balloons and everything with a banner with their names on it. The banner said "Congrats gL" and "Callsign Ceremony".

And beneath Callsign Ceremony banner, there were their names listed with their respective codenames. Valentina Wraith, Yaz Huma, Chase Chaser, Cammie Trixx, Kazu Shogun, Eva Phantom, Hyun-Woo Warrior, Charlotte Siren, Oliver Racer, and Eero Crusader.

"Ah man, so this was Leon's 'debrief'." Kazu sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, now I just feel terrible."

"You'll thank him if we get through this!" Valentina called. "Let's go!"

Valentina stepped outside of the holographic door and checked to see if they could attack. She gave the others the signal, and everyone began moving out. Caliban charged with Chase's tank and rammed into a trooper. Yaz fired a few shots and then jumped off a wall to land a right hook on to a soldier. Kazu blocked the other bullets with his armor and then punched two troopers. He then got up behind another and suplexed him. Charlotte pulled out a knife from her elbow and got up to two troopers. She punched one of them on his side and then stabbed him right in the side of his neck. Charlotte quickly switched hand, now sweeping another trooper off his feet. She then jabbed the knife into his neck one more time. Eero dodged the gun fire and got in between two soldiers. He bashed their heads together and then they fell. He quickly saw one coming up behind him, so he acted fast. He spun around behind him and then kicked his knees in. The trooper fell forward and then Eero slammed his feet down on the soldier's face. Eva rolled aside and threw three calling cards at a trooper. The cards impaled into his armor, and then exploded. Cammie quickly grabbed Nugget from her pocket and chucked hi at a soldier. She punched the same soldier twice, and then threw him aside, towards Oliver. Oliver caught him, punched his neck and then tossed him to the floor. Nugget jumped on Oliver's head once that was done. Cammie was somewhat impressed but she couldn't focus on that as more troops arrived.

"Behind us!" She called.

Valentina quickly pulled up her rifle and shot all three troopers that were running up to them. She felt three more troopers coming towards them, but as she turned around to face them, all of them grunted and then plopped to the ground with large gashes on their back. Hyun-Woo quickly twirled his katana before sheathing it back in.

"Let's move." He said. "Hurry, come on!"

All of the gen:LOCK members ran into the lift on the other side of the hall, and went down to the hangers.

Back in the command center, the Vanguard were still going on the offensive, but they were starting to lose ground.

"Forward forces taking heavy losses. Multiple security breaches throughout the base." An ops officer reported. "Ma'am, reports of an explosion from upper computer core."

Colonel Marin thought about that for a moment, the only person down there was Dr. Weller, and if there was an explosion…

"Able!" She said, taking her mind off it. "Hammer status!"

"Working. Please stand by." Able quickly responded.

Back in the hanger, a couple Striders walked in for repairs. All mechanics and engineers ran back and forth bringing tools and parts. Migas oversaw everything, helping everyone. Just then, all of the members of gen:LOCK rushed into the hanger. Migas was surprised to see them.

"What are you guys doing back here?" He asked.

"Migas! We need a lift to our transport." Yaz requested. "You're all in danger if we stay."

Migas paused, and then looked at a car and a transport truck. They had just been repaired, so they should be their ticket. With nothing else in mind, he quickly gestured over to them.

"Vamonos." He said.

The hanger doors swung open, and the car and truck rolled out. Migas drove the car with Valentina manning the turret, and Cammie and Yaz riding inside. Behind them in the truck, was Kazu driving. Charlotte, Hyun-Woo, Oliver and Eva were riding with him inside, while Eero and Caliban rode in the cargo bay with Chase's tank.

As they drove on, they drove by Nemesis and Chase's fight. They were wailing on each other, with Chase's Holon looking very damaged. The two actually stopped fighting for a second to watch Chase's tank driving away from them. Nemesis shoved Chase off of him and then ran after the car. It leapt for a good few seconds before Striders came up, surrounding it with guns firing. Chase even jumped in hitting it with a piece of debris. Nemesis retaliated by grabbing a Strider and just tossing it aside.

The car and the truck eventually reached their Hornbill, screeching to a halt behind it. Everyone immediately piled out of the vehicles and ran into the Hornbill. Yaz took a brief moment to thank Migas, then she quickly ran to the cockpit. She began to prep the Hornbill for flight, pressing all the buttons and adjusting the aircraft. Everyone else quickly loaded up and Caliban took the co-pilot's seat. Everyone quickly got to the cockpit as the Hornbill came to life.

"Can you fly it?" Valentina asked.

Yaz smirked, and grabbed hold of the controls. The engines ignited with a roar and slowly began to float up into the air.

"Looks like she can." Hyun-Woo smiled, getting a glance of thanks from Yaz as the Hornbill took off.

Chase, meanwhile, was still fighting Nemesis. He was just now shooting him when he felt a giant thud shake him a bit. Both he and Nemesis turned to see the Union Behemoth now only a few yards away from the Anvil. It fired everything it had, with the outer walls getting littered with bullet holes. Chase, realizing that the base is in danger, flew up into the air as the Behemoth fired five missiles. Four of them were shot out by the Anvil's outer defenses, but one hurled itself toward the command center. Luckily, Chase flew up and threw the missile off course, exploding it in the air. Chase then flew away for a vantage point while the command center finally got some good news.

"Hammer engineering reports ready to deploy." A weapons officer reported.

"Open it up!" Colonel Marin said immediately. "Target the Behemoth and fire when ready!"

The top of the Anvil opened up to reveal two railguns. As the railguns charged up gen:LOCK Hornbill took to the air and flew away from the base. The railguns finally shot two blasts, piercing the Behemoth. The gen:LOCK members and the Vanguard in the base cheered when the Behemoth fell to the ground with a large thud. But that moment of jubilation didn't last long. Cause as soon as the Behemoth stopped moving, the sides unleashed its dark and purple cloud of nanotech, which consumed the grounds outside the base and everyone there. It even began to seep into the base.

"No… no!" Cammie spluttered.

She turned away as Oliver put his arm around her. Eero just silently looked away as Kazu lightly punched the ceiling of the cockpit. Yaz couldn't grieve much as she still had to concentrate on flying. Charlotte was manning the turret on top of the Hornbill, so she didn't have time to grieve either.

Chase though, on his vantage point, looked out to the cloud of purple nanotech mist below him. Knowing that it would be futile, he contacted everyone he could.

"Anvil Ops, Chaser, come in." He said. "Tempest, Chaser, come in! Anyone…?"

The Hornbill was still getting railed with bullets from the Union fighters that are tailing them.

"Chase, we need you!" Yaz pleaded, using her comms.

Chase, looking around him, knew that he couldn't do much else now. He quickly ignited his jetpack and flew towards his teammates. He saw that the Hornbill, albeit firing back from the turret, was still getting heavily damaged. He quickly shot down all of the caught up to the Hornbill. Then, the Hornbill and Chase flew off into the darkening sky, leaving the battle behind them.