Wow, it has been a really long time since I updated this. Hopefully its still with the rest of the story style-wise.

P.S. Remember: reviews make the world go round XP

"That bastard did what?" Irelia flinched slightly as Karma fell back into her bed, a coughing fit following the Empress's horse screaming. Her wound had begun to heal but the blood loss and semi radioactive material of the round had taken their toll on Karma.

"As far as we know Zed took the IAS Infinite, Avenger, and Excelsior as well as six medium warmachines. Strident Fury, Axiom, and Sveron are all missing as well." Karma breathed deeply. At least the Lord General had left her with a sizeable force. Quite sizeable when she thought it over. Zed was not infallible but no matter how confident he was in his own personal forces he never would have underestimated Viktor this badly. Neither woman spoke for a moment, Karma's eyes snapping open as she realized why Zed had taken so little of Ionia's vast military. He expected to fail. Zed had never wanted to start a campaign only stall Viktor's advance. Irelia must have realized the Lord General's plan as well, her eyes dropping to the floor.

"Selfish bastard…Get me a line to the Infinite immediately." Irelia could only nod the sudden emotion in the empress's voice unnerving to say the least. As she left the room, Irelia could hear the façade of strength breaking as Karma finally let the implications of Zed's action come to the forefront of her mind.

Never before had such a mighty force been assembled. Soon the very earth Bandle City stood on would tremble and quake, countless iron machines storming across the fallen capital of resistance on Valoran as the crimson flag of the Glorious Evolution flapped bravely in the burnt air. The cyborg chuckled, centurion 8-1-12 cocking its head as it turned towards him. [Is this force unsatisfactory?]

"Not in the slightest my son, no with your current choice of units I calculate a 99.98% chance of victory at Bandle City."

[Negative. Assuming a lack of Ionian intervention 99.98% victory odds. With Ionian involvement…67.331% chance of victory]

"The duchess is hospitalized and her dogs yammer at her lap. They will not intervene." 8-1-12 took a cursory glance over its forces before replying in the affirmative. [Then I will grind them to dust] Under his mask Viktor smiled, the master of Zaun humming an old Yordle tune to himself as he strode off into the depths of his domain.

Caitlyn checked her new rifle, the outdated sniper she had been using before seeming almost like a child's toy compared with her Artemis. For a moment she simply reminisced, her mid travelling back from the dusty wall on the edge of Bandle City to the marbled halls of the Institute of War. "Remembering something?" She turned towards Ivan, the larger suit of armor shaking slightly as the big man laughed. "Or perhaps, someone?" Her visor lowered from the scope of her rifle. "Ah yes, I know that feeling. When Viktor took over in Zaun he forced many of us to work in his factories. There I met her. Babushka we called her, although she was younger than most of the men at the factory. Hellen was a god-send; she kept us fed and gave us hope that Viktor would be stopped. Many times she spoke of Demacia, its beautiful fields, and lush country. After Noxus fell we escaped, just the two of us. It was a centurion that took her. I still remember its designation, 2-6-40."

"I'm sorry…" Ivan shrugged.

"Let us keep the mood light, yes? We have HQ shift tomorrow and only the gods know how boring that is. "

The crimson armor hadn't moved since launch, a few of the bolder members of the Infinite's skeleton crew speculating that the Lord General had shut down or even malfunctioned. It was only the whispered 'bearing?' that silenced them, one of the younger officers informing Zed that they were on course and would arrive in Bandle City within a day. He had nothing against these new officers but it was the old guard Zed trusted more than anything. The soldiers who had begun their lives as victims of either war or simple chance, victims molded into the greatest fighting force on the whole of the Ionian continent, perhaps even all of Runeterra. When hextech transformed the Ionian continent the Order of Shadows had already begun recruiting highly skilled techmaturges from around the globe, cutting edge technology turning Zed's ninjas into a full-blown army. Each soldier was still a ninja at their core though, with even the combat techmaturges going through the rigorous training required of an elite assassin. The new officers had none of that. They were young and fresh faced but entirely un-suited for his mission. They had no sense of the code that had been drilled into the heads of the old guard. A code that demanded some...extreme measures at times. They would be the ground troops while the younger ones stayed in the massive steel airships above the battle. He read through the list of his forces one final time before returning to his pre-battle meditations. Of the Ionian fleet he had only taken one flagship, the IAS Infinite, and two destroyers, IAS Excelsior and IAS Avenger respectively. Aboard the Infinite were four medium warmachines, Ironfist, Vengeance, Stormblade, and Canever, as well as two heavies and a super heavy, those being the Axiom, Sveron, and Strident Fury. The Excelsior and Avenger each carried one medium warmachine, the Rysear and Defiant. Nothing to scoff at. If he was correct however the machines would field twelve primes as well as massive amounts of support artillery. Bandle City had only a single medium warmachine and an outdated one at that. The Tethron was a relic comparable to those used en mass at Piltover. Yes it had been modernized, but even the oldest warmachine in battlegroup Infinite could outperform it in every aspect. He was pulled from his morbid musings by an officer asking about a call from Ionia. He signaled for the comms officer to answer, the man nodding curtly as the face of Karma took up the large tactical screen set above the Infinite's forward bridge display. He stood at attention, the entire bridge going from hushed whispers to tense silence as the mutinous crew held their breaths. "Karma, I take it you're feeling better?"

"I am. Enough of your false concerns Lord General. What exactly do you think you're doing?" Zed winced, his crimson helmet perfectly covering the involuntary muscle contraction.

"I intend to reinforce Bandle City." Karma sighed, her hair swaying lightly as she shook her head.

"It's not too late for you to return to Ionia. We'll call it a military exercise and forget the whole thing."

"There are letters in the top draw on the left side of my desk. If I don't return in four days Irelia will know what to do with them. As balance dictates." The comms officer pressed the shut off button instantly, a map of Valoran returning to the semitransparent screen as Zed settled back into his chair, a grim frown adoring his face.

Jayce watched the map of Valoran change as he scrolled through the years stored in its databases. Only ten years ago the Institute of War had stood firmly between Noxus and Demacia. Scrolling forward a year showed the beginnings of the Noxus-Demacia war with five years unveiling the mighty armies of the battlecast, the mechanized hordes over taking Piltover only last year. The metal door creaked slightly as Thorin entered the field office within the outer wall of Bandle City. "I had another vision." Jayce looked up from his map, the older mage's face serious as he spoke. "I saw a burning blade get struck by lightning."

"And?"

"It's best not to dwell on such things as prophecy."

I really screwed myself with all the warmachine names...