NINE

CROSSROADS

Note: Thank you Ulquiorra9000 for submitting his characters.

Port Estuaria, Owl City,
Eastern Continent, Planet Zi,
January 29, 2128

Saskia followed the Command Wolf dragging its feet away from the blazing port, resting behind the shadow of an abandoned industrial complex. Sirens blaring in the distance as law enforcements and fire fighters poured in to the site, battling to extinguish the raging flame. Rev Raptors equipped with special tanks on the backs sprayed water and fire retardant to the wide area, keeping the flame from raging out of control.

As the fire fighter zoids struggled to contain the flame, the Command Wolf leaned on a large milling machine with a weak growl. Its body looked like it was ready to crumble, held together by sheared bolts and rivets. Smoke billowed from several parts of its body, and gear fluid dripped like blood. The canopy clanked open and Royce climbed down. He himself was a wreck; his face was all blue and black, a memento of getting smashed into the cockpit interior. His hands trembled, and although he was not losing all control of his limbs, it took a great deal of him just to function normally. His breath came in wheezes and gasps, and his blank stare was laden with pain.

"Here, here," Saskia moved in to help her companion, if she could call him that. She slung his hand upon her shoulder and supported his body, helping him teetered to a large metal platform. She rested Royce on the platform and made quick check on his body. Nothing seemed to be broken, although his body was marred with bruises and cuts.

"Your wounds need tending," Saskia sighed. "I found no traces of broken bone or internal bleeding, but it doesn't mean they are absent."

"A pointless waste of time," Royce muttered. "I'll be alright. Wounds heal. They always have."

"I am not taking risk," Saskia started to leave. She didn't understand why men had to act tough in front of girls. This happened to her often, when she was still employed by ZOITEC, and during her tenure with the Helic Military. Men and boys didn't seem to have a good understanding about pain, and would rather lose their limbs than their machismo in front of girls. "See yourself rested. When you're yourself again, we go to hospital."

Saskia was just about to check on the Command Wolf when suddenly Royce grabbed his wrist. His fingers dug into her flesh so deep she felt her pulse throbbing against his fingertips.

"I said I will be alright!" Royce huffed. "No need of hospital!"

"You could have internal bleeding!" Saskia yanked her arm free. "Do not pull off stunt like that again! You took me out of Fat Bob's hellhole. My heart swells at such kindness. Now it's my turn to get you proper care…"

"I do not need care!" Royce hissed, denying all the pain to rise up to his feet and challenged Saskia. "I need time, and we are wasting it as we speak!"

"What are you running from?" Saskia snorted. "Who piloted that Arosaurer? Have you two met before?"

"None worth of your business!" Royce grunted, then started walking away from her.

"None worth of MY business?" Saskia snapped. It was the last thread of her patience, and she wouldn't take Royce's attitude any longer. "Have you ever seen me as you would a partner, Royce?"

"You are a mere necessity in Rottiger's mission!" Royce growled. "Traveling with me does not make you my partner! I want Wolff Muroa, you want your zoid back. We want different things, and in the end we will get what we want. That is all there is to it. Do not put yourself on equal footing with me."

"Fine!" Saskia yelled. "I'm a mere necessity! Fine! As long as you take note that you know nothing about Mio, the president's daughter! Absent me you will never get anywhere near her! And absent her, you will never find Wolff Muroa! Rottiger can't even find Wolff Muroa by itself! Necessity, you say? I am the only chance you have, and I am the only chance Rottiger has! And I am your only chance to get back to your Command Wolf again because it's not going anywhere in that condition! How dare you say I'm a mere necessity!"

Royce took a step back, weathering Saskia's storm, and gathered himself to fire back, but he knew she was right. Saskia was a critical element in his mission. She was they key to everything. He just had to accept the fact that he had to yield to her demand, at least for now.

"I will brief you on the way," Royce sighed in defeat. His voice went feeble. "We don't have the luxury of leisure."

"I will not go unless you take rest," Saskia replied, still intense. "And unless you tell me everything."

"Everything," Royce moaned. "How much truth can you handle?"

"Everything," Saskia coaxed Royce to sit on the platform again. "Try me."

"That Aurosaurer was piloted by Lieutenant Cassiopeia," Royce started halfheartedly. "She was a Rottiger agent, the best of sort. Stood forth for Rottiger, even in the advent of death. But a mission gone wrong saw her discharged absent honor from Rottiger."

"What kind of mission?" Saskia interrupted.

"Death mission. Lost civilian lives. The cardinal sin in any military doctrine. No one wanted this kind of publicity, so she was fired. She took it hard and now she is on a vengeful path to see Rottiger destroyed. She will not cease until Rottiger's blood is on her face."

"Was that the reason she attacked you?"

Royce sniggered. "You think she's after me? She's after you!" He pulled the holodisc player he acquired from Kenny and played the message where Cassiopeia asked to meet Saskia alone.

"Me?" Saskia's mouth gaped. "But I am no Rottiger! What did she want from me?"

"The same thing Wolff Muroa wants from you. The same thing everybody wants from you."

"Oh no… Gilvy," Saskia buried her face in her palms. "She was after my zoid…"

"… because she needed the devastation your zoid can deliver," Royce finished her sentence. "Her Arosaurer can not convey her vengeance. She must find a zoid worthy of fifty Arosaurers, then she will succeed in her quest for blood. She intended to take your life and your Gilvader."

"Oh my god, why didn't you tell me?" Saskia whimpered.

"I am but protecting you," Royce stopped the message. "Your purpose is pure. I would hate to see it poisoned by bloodlust."

Saskia never thought that the time she spent as a captive, forced to labor and tortured to the brink of insanity, actually saved her life. She couldn't imagine what happened if Fat Bob didn't kidnap her. She might have walked into Cassiopeia's trap and been murdered, and her Gilvader been forced to be the only thing she avoided to be: a mass destruction. Sometimes it was funny how fate worked.

"Why didn't you take her life?" Saskia bemoaned.

"With what? Command Wolf? The fight didn't go in my favor. I was blessed to escape her presently."

That was not how Saskia saw it. The Aurosaurer clearly lost its footing and was at the mercy of the Command Wolf. Royce had all the chance to finish the fight in fatality. But he turned away, as if giving Cassiopeia a chance to live. She didn't understand any of it.

But she didn't want to press the charge. She was not in command of the Command Wolf. Whatever it was, it happened that way, and now she had to assume that Cassiopeia was still alive, hunting for her. She started to see Royce's reasoning not go to the hospital, because Cassiopeia could find them easily. She didn't know what Cassiopeia was capable of, so she had to assume that Cassiopeia was capable of anything.

"We must go presently," Royce staggered to stand and grabbed her hand. "The odds that Cassiopeia is still hunting for your blood remain high."

"We cannot go presently," Saskia rose to her feet, inspecting the Command Wolf. "Your zoid will lose power in one hour. Even if we survive to another town, you will not. You need medical attention, Royce. We must go to the hospital."

"An open spot for Cassiopeia to make attempt! I will not see my end in exposure!" Royce's voice grew intense again. "I will stay here, in this place, tonight. We leave tomorrow at dawn. No more hospital rubbish!"

"Alright, be that way," Saskia puffed out a long exasperating breath. She went ahead to check the Command Wolf. "But we have to leave your zoid behind."

"I'm not leaving Command Wolf!" Royce snarled.

"You're blessed if it's alive by tomorrow!" Saskia sneered back. "Look, Royce, we all have emotional attachment to zoids, yet mind must stand clear. This zoid will die absent repair. I can fix it, but I need parts," she said matter of factly. "We find zoid shop tomorrow."

"Another undeserved delay!" Royce huffed in frustration.

"Well then, it's your decision," Saskia scowled, annoyed at Royce's stubbornness. "Leave zoid to go to Helic Republic, or find parts to fix it. Your choice."

Royce grimaced in pain, looking back and forth at Saskia and his Command Wolf, pondering which path to take. In the end he surrendered to his fate and lied back down on the metal platform. "Alright, we do it your way."

Saskia drew a deep breath. She observed Royce, wondering what to feel about him. She knew she had an uncharacteristic physical attraction to him, but the way he treated her was repulsive. He kept her in the dark and took advantage of her knowledge, almost to the point of using her for his own advantage. But he said it was for her own good, which could mean he genuinely cared for her. Saskia had never had anyone cared for her since her father, so Royce's gesture gave her tingles in her heart. However, she didn't know if Royce was telling the truth. As much as she wanted to believe him, she decided to take it cautiously.

"Gratitude," she whispered.

"For what?" Royce replied unenthusiastically.

"For sincerity." She shot a small smile. "Now rest. I will see what we need to get your zoid fixed."

In another corner of the city, Kenny, Roxy, Maia and Cleto watched the grudge match with much interest, rooting for the Arosaurer to beat the Command Wolf. None of them had seen such a brutal, evenly-matched fight between two zoids. Each strike was laden with so much hatred that both zoids were left severely damaged. Even when the Command Wolf seemed to win the duel, there was not much of a victory to savor. The price was too great to be called as laurels.

The Arosaurer staggered to get up and teetered aimlessly, escaping from the port to a small field behind several buildings. Kenny hopped on Cleto and tailed the grogy Arosaurer until it stopped in the middle of the field. Through the busted canopy Kenny watched Cassiopeia wheezing and gasping agonizingly on her command couch. Blood covered almost every inch of the cockpit interior. Her hands trembled as she struggled to maintain control of her zoid, but it was clear that she was not going to hold very long.

"Oh My God!" Roxy yelped upon seeing Cassiopeia's blood and buried her face on Kenny's shoulder.

"We must get her to the hospital!" Maia tried to pry open the cockpit.

"No… no hospital…" Cassiopeia gasped. "We go now… Kenny… get in!"

"Do you lose mind?" Kenny blurted. "See your wounds tended, or die presently!"

"Death is fated!" Cassiopeia coughed out blood as she growled. "Get in here! Now!"

"Please, Cassiopeia, put reason to mind," Maia begged. "You can not proceed in this state…"

"I asked you not to come, so leave as you wish!" Cassiopeia snapped at Maia. "Kenny! Disregard my words again and I will split ass cheeks!"

Maia was about to speak when Kenny halted her. "Just do as she says. We'll deal with her later."

Kenny slid into the blood-smeared cockpit and Cassiopeia strained to pull the Arosaurer back on its feet. Maia and Roxy mounted Cleto and followed the allosaur zoid to leave the city. Despite her condition, Cassiopeia maintained a good control of her zoid long enough to get close to small village. But no matter how hard she pushed herself, her wounds got the best of her. She slumped over the console, unconscious, prompting the Arosaurer to stop running and crouched as if trying to get help for its pilot.

"Cassiopeia? Lieutenant, are you hurt?" Kenny called to her from behind her seat. He pulled her shoulder but she didn't responded. Not knowing what to do, he popped up the mangled canopy and jumped down the zoid, meeting with Maia and Roxy who were just catching up with him. "She'd fallen in her seat. Her wounds are atrocious. She will die without medical attention."

"A struck of fortune!" Roxy suddenly chimed. "Now we can have our lives long deserted!"

"What?" Kenny couldn't believe his ears. "Roxy, what meaning do you speak of?"

"Cassiopeia stole our lives," Roxy stated, her eyes burning with anguish. "She made us join her quest to obscure purposes, bearing blood after blood, death after death… so much violence, so much bloodshed. Now we own a chance to take back life departed! Let's not see it wasted!"

"We can't leave her like this!" Kenny cringed. "She will die!"

"She tortured us!" Roxy cried. "She tortured me!"

"An offense well scorned, but not to be repaid by death!" Kenny argued. "She is just doing her job!"

"Then let her do her job!" Roxy cried even louder. "This job is not yours, Kenny! You had a life, full and merry! You are not of proper heritage for this job. Leave it to the people with breeding for it! Let us go home!"

"But… but…" Kenny stammered. "What about Saskia?"

"Saskia?" Roxy snarled. "She still occupies your mind? I thought you are doing this to protect me?"

"Do not twist my words! I am doing this for you!" Kenny started to get aggravated. "You are worthy of the world to me, yet your life has never been threatened! Cassiopeia's life is hanging by a thread, and we don't even know Saskia's fate. How could you make it all about yourself?"

"There is nothing left to protect!" Roxy came out yelling. "Cassiopeia's dead presently, and Saskia's faded into absurdity! Set your head to more pressing matter!"

"Perhaps you need a little discourse about Saskia's importance to me!" Kenny spat.

"Perhaps you need a little discourse about my importance to you!" Roxy replied with equal bile.

The argument became so heated they failed to see 2 zoids coming from the village. When they realized they had company, the 2 zoids were already within striking distance with them. The zoids, a Rev Raptor and a Saber Lion, stopped next to the fallen Arosaurer. The Rev Raptor pilot dismounted and walked toward the group. She was a middle-aged woman wearing hijab and police uniform, drawing breaths of relieved from Kenny and Maia. Roxy, however, remained morose.

"I am Lieutenant Sahar, Abzan City Police Department," the woman introduced herself. "What offense is this?"

"We are not looking for trouble, Officer," Kenny explained, trying to avoid too much police attention. "That Aurosaurer's pilot needs medical attention."

"Leila, please check on the Aurosaurer's pilot," Lieutenant Sahar called the pilot of the Saber Lion.

The Saber Lion pilot, a woman drapped with similar hijab and uniform but was of considerably younger age, jumped off her zoid and climbed up the Arosaurer to examine Cassiopeia. She checked her vitals and approached the older woman with grave stare in her eyes. "She's alive but critical. I'll call the paramedic."

"What happened?" Sahar went back to Kenny. "Who made mess?"

"Well, we were actually…" Kenny didn't know how much information he should give to the police without looking too suspicioius. Cassiopeia just trampled a port in a death match against a supposedly rogue Rottiger agent. He wasn't sure the police would believe that story. "Actually none worth of attention, we were just…"

"The Arosaurer pilot is Lieutenant Cassiopeia from Rottiger Special Operation Force," Maia went for the absolute truth. "She is tracking a Rottiger fugitive by the name of Royce DesGagne. She caught up with him at Owl City and got a fight with him, but she was hurt."

"Are you of Rottiger?" Sahar asked.

"Well, no. My name is Maia. I am but a dancer. His name is Kenny, he is a courier, and that is his girlfriend Roxy. We all hail from Blue City."

"So what affair do you have with Rottiger Special Force?" the police woman shot a doubtful look at Maia.

"A vexing conundrum," Maia sighed. "Lieutenant Cassiopeia believed that Royce DesGagne was making acquaintance with Saskia van Leewenhoek, the girl that foiled Helic Republic revolution 5 years ago. Saskia's Gilvader was stolen by Wolff Muroa from Neo Zenebas Empire. Royce and Saskia were retrieving the Gilvader back from Neo Zenebas, but Cassiopeia believed that Royce held a hidden purpose that could yield catastrophies. She feared that the Gilvader might be subjected to a ritual that could turn it berserk…"

"… like the Death Saurer," Sahar interjected.

"Yes, like the Death Saurer, so Cassiopeia intends to stop Royce from acquiring the Gilvader. I bear no connection to this affair. I am here merely to pay my dues to Saskia. And I believe Kenny and Roxy fall into the same situation."

"Reports said that Port Estuaria has been obliterated," Leila tuned in.

"Was that of your doing?" Sahar asked.

"I fear so," Maia muttered. "We meant no harm, but Royce resisted cooperation. He put up a fight."

By this time paramedics had arrived and extracted Cassiopeia from her Arosaurer.

"If tongue speaks truth, you are to come to Abzan City," Sahar said as she walked back to her Rev Raptor. "Leila will escort you."

"Uh, apologies Lieutenant, we don't mean to overstep…" Kenny blurted, afraid that the police would get too involved in their already complicated problem. "Let us just continue in our path…"

"Set mind to ease, you are not fugitives," Leila said, smiling at Kenny's awkwardness. "Mother favors movements with anti-Neo-Zenebas persuasion. She merely comes to aid."

"Your mother?" Kenny winced. "Lieutenant Sahar is your mother?"

"She is," Leila nodded. "Neo Zenebas killed Father, so Mother extends hands for Neo-Zenebas oppositions like Rottiger. She will nurture Lieutenant Cassiopeia to health. I will make arrangements for your convenience."

"Well bless my fate!" Kenny said cheerfully. She turned to Roxy, speaking with gentle tone, "They have food and water, possibly shower and warm bed. Please, there is no cause for our disagreement to fall into further unpleasantness. Come with me to Abzan City."

"How much longer must I suffer this vulgarity?" Roxy scoffed.

"I swear that you will not experience hostility and bloodshed anymore," Kenny sighed. "But please understand, I cannot go home just yet."

Roxy made a loud huff, then walked briskly past Kenny. He exhaled exasperatedly, and proceeded to follow her when Leila tapped his shoulder.

"That would be unwise," she said.

"What is?" Kenny grunted aggravatedly. "Have your eyes laid upon disagreeing couples?"

"She's mad. Let her alone presently. Sleep it off. Good meal and rest will spur her mood in your favor."

"Apologies, Officer, but this is beyond jurisdiction!" Kenny blurted. "What fever grips brain, that you think you can give advice for love life?"

"Just a friendly suggestion," Leila walked past Kenny, smile on her face. "Take it as you like."

"Suggestion my ass!" Kenny cursed under his breath, making sure Leila didn't catch it. As if the fight with Roxy was not bad enough, he had to listen to a perfect stranger making comments about his relationship. But deep in his heart, he agreed with Leila. Roxy was tired and hungry. And as a matter of fact, he was, too. Their conversation would be much more civilized in the morning. He begrudgingly followed the rest to Abzan City.