Author's note: My apologies for these chapters taking so long to get out. Between ACfA's Japanese release and school, much of my time has been sapped. Now that For Answer is getting a proper US release, I can finish this up without worry that I'm screwing up the cannon of the series too much.

Part 12 – Below the Surface

Reflection was nearly unconscious in the Ark's cramped resting area, which was little more than two bunks built into the side of the cockpit. They were at Zextex Global Airport in northern Canada, which was owned and operated by GA, awaiting repairs and supplies for both the NEXT and Anatolia. Their pilot was out getting food from the airport proper while Reflection rested. Fiona was beside him, using an ice pack on his head as Reflection tried to rest. The AMS was taking more and more out of him now after so much combat. Given that this compatibility with the system was unusually high, the level it was set to meant he would burn out that much faster for using a greater degree of control. The red headed woman knew this, and it had been on her mind more often in recent times, but now she was truly beginning to understand what her father had done and what his creation would do.

'One of the 6 Companies just fell by your hand. I never imagined it would have come to something like this…' She thought to him instead of speaking, hoping that it would be easier on him and those within. 'You're truly amazing. I never would have guessed, looking at you back then. I miss those days…'

'As do I.' Jacob replied earnestly. Though he couldn't see her through the ice pack, which had slid down over Reflection's eyes, he could feel her thoughts without any effort. 'When we get back, let's go up to the hills. I miss seeing the sunset from up there.'

'Yeah. I'll bring some snacks, and we can just enjoy it for a while.' She smiled and removed the cold compress from his face. 'It'll be good for us to get away.'

They would have time to do so, as far as Fiona could tell. The Aaliya had suffered greatly from Prometheus' counter-attacks, and though Reflection had won the fight it was hard not to say that the contest of wills could have gone either way. Its head half removed, and huge pieces of its Core armor missing, the Aaliya had certainly seen better days. By his own estimations, Reflection was sure that another sniper round would have punctured his Core in much the same way his plasma had affected Mary's. The more he thought about it, the more certain he was that he would regret killing her, especially after her rather obscene outburst upon entering his mind. Finding out she would be involved in a collective of all male essences besides herself didn't make her at all happy with the situation, and realizing that she may well be forced to stay there until Reflection finally met his end made it all the worse.

'Any chance your headache will go away soon?' Fiona inquired as his face tensed again.

He tried to chuckle, but failed. 'I doubt it. For now, I'd better sleep. She'll calm down soon, I hope.'

Inside his office, Emil pressed his forehead against his folded hands. He had half hoped that BFF's woman would end Reflection, and the headaches he was bringing about. Without him though, Anatolia would fall into ruin, and him along with it. He needed to secure more power to avoid that fate, and GA was helping him get it. What worried him most however, aside from the fact that he had destroyed a Corporate entity via proxy that would certainly send it's remnants against the colony, was the fact that someone had leaked information about the attack to BFF before Reflection had struck. He had known of the leak, but left it alone to see what would come of it. Now that BFF's surprise had failed, whoever had sent the information was probably long gone and therefore the only suspect remaining was himself. Unless something was done, Reflection would obviously come after him. His musings were interrupted by a sudden beeping noise from his desk.

"Director Gustav, we've received a coded message over the Corporate network. Do you want me to send it to you?"

Emil rubbed his hands over his face before responding, trying to get some life back into it. "I've nothing better to do at the moment, so please, send it through."

He was slightly disappointed that he had sounded so flippant about the message; communication from his sponsors was supposed to be welcomed, not looked upon with disdain. In this case however, he was right to dread the coming of the Corporate word.

"…They can't be serious. Why would Leone Meccanica use this kind of weapon against us? True, they had ties with BFF, but this is beyond rational." With a dismissive hand, Emil jabbed 'delete' on his keyboard, removing the intelligence report from GA.

Part 13 - In the Deep

The Juggernaut moved along the Gear Tunnel's rails at a rapid pace, the squeal of its body scraping against the tunnel walls echoing for miles and miles as it rushed toward its target. It had no problem hacking into Anatolia's defensive networks and throwing open the subterranean gates to their city. All but two gates fell to its code before it was within range to strike, where it stopped and waited for its next commands.

They came only five minutes after it had arrived. A signal sent straight from the board of directors at Leone Meccanica; "Destroy target."

And destroy it would. Kojima generators began spinning up with in the beast, alerting every defensive system Anatolia had in the tunnels. Within moments every weapon on its frame, including the internal self destruct system, was ready do strike at any threat that the colony might bring against it. The steady hum of energy emanating from the Juggernaut increased as it began to move again, heading for the first major obstacle in it's path. It slammed against the first unopened gate in it's path, firing streams of Kojima particles to melt it down. Soon enough the door was white hot, sagging under its own weight before it was crushed underneath the Juggernaut's body.

What its programmers had failed to anticipate, however, was that a NEXT would be waiting for it just on the other side.

Without a moment's hesitation, the AALIYA burst forward with its right arm drawn back for a heavy swing of its armored fist. The limb lashed out, seemingly igniting as it slammed into the open Kojima cannon below the machine's heavily armored control unit. The freshly installed CERBERUS parry blade smashed into the cannon's wall, sending and echo of thunder throughout the dimly lit tunnels. The burst of fire and metal it unleashed inside of the Juggernaut caused the whole machine to shudder as if it had received a mortal wound, but instead of slowing it speed up, almost pinning the AALIYA to its body with the speed. A flash of power from the NEXT's hip mounted thrusters sent it away from the beast, allowing for another wind up that struck just above the Kojima cannon, smashing in some of the control unit as the explosive strike impacted.

Amazingly, with the squeal of metal on metal filling the air, the Juggernaut slowly stopped on the tracks. A testament to the power of Eqbal's latest experiment, the prototype CERBERUS unit hung sparking on the AALIYA's right arm, overloaded from both the Kojima exposure and Reflection's overuse of it.

'They really need to improve it's cool down time…' Jacob lamented as several warnings began flashing on the right side of the screen. The other voices began adding in their own opinions on the matter, quickly drowning Reflection consciousness as they all tried to speak from their piece of his mind. Waves of nausea swept over him, all the voices suddenly going quite as they realized what was happening. A lucky turn of events, as Fiona's frantic call for his attention over the radio just reached his ears as the nausea began to recede.

"Energy spike detected… It's going to explode, get out of there!" Instinct took over almost instantly, the AALIYA responding as a part of Reflection's body as it swung around and activated its Over Boost. A sickly green glow slowly formed around the seemingly dormant Juggernaut, its core set to overload upon its failure to destroy Anatolia. Just as the AALIYA's oversized thruster kicked in, the building power erupted from its containment and shattered the hulking metal beast, washing over the underground corridor in a destructive wall of green light. Reflection held on for dear life as his machine took off, barely escaping the raging maelstrom of green hellfire…

As the AALIYA finally came to rest in its hanger, Reflection relaxed into the cushions of the cockpit seat as the crews outside prepared to retrieve him. He was glad that Sus had instructed him on how to bug Emil's office, though morally Jacob had argued against it. The information which Anatolia's leader had deleted without a second thought had fallen into Reflections hands without anyone being the wiser, and with Fiona's help he'd been able to avert a disaster. 'However, that little conference you all had was hardly helpful. One or two at a time, please.'

'Like you have any room to complain.' Mary commented from the back of his mind. 'At least you aren't living in what feels like an alien.'

'Enough of that,' Sahdana said with an air of authority, "he does have a valid point. That moment when he couldn't even move straight could have been the end of us all. Had he recovered any later, escape would have been nigh impossible."

Jacob chimed in quickly, cutting off Mary's rebuttal. "I agree. We could have died. We know it's easier for Reflection to listen to all of us when he's concentrated on combat, probably due to the endorphins in his blood at that time, but outside of that slim time we can't all speak unless we want to risk his life. I know it's hard, but we need to keep some order."

'I agree.' Reflection nodded to himself, closing his eyes and letting the NEXT power down. 'I certainly don't want to die. All this fighting is getting to me as well, slowing me down with every fight. It's not as significant as it should be, since I'm getting more rest, but it will catch up eventually. Death is inevitable.'

Silence followed Reflections final remark. It was a fact that every one of them knew all too well, as each of them had died. As limited as their second chance was, it was better than the abyss. When the crews finally opened the cockpit to the safety of the boarding tube, Reflection climbed out only to hear Fiona speaking with Emil as they came down the ramp to meet him.

"But why Anatolia?" She was nearly hysterical, still shocked by the fact that a second attack had been launched on her home.

Emil merely waved off her concern. "We are the hand that struck down BFF. Anyone and everyone with connections to them obviously want blood, and it's easier to attack us than to … Ah, there you are, Raven." He went deadpan upon seeing Reflection, knowing that the man probably knew everything he did about the information leak and why it had persisted.

"Emil. Next time, don't leave things to chance. A threat is a threat. It's alright though. Come on Fiona." He smiled at her and placed a hand on her shoulder, weariness evident in his posture. "We knew this would come. It's nothing to worry about as long as we can stop anybody before they get in striking range of us."

"…If you say so…" She nodded, still distraught but calming down significantly. She followed the Raven as he headed for the surface, letting herself slide closer to him as they whispered to each other.

Emil, alone, looked down the length of the boarding tube to the Armored Core's open cockpit at its end. With a sullen face, he spoke aloud to the dead. "I half wonder what you would think of all this, Professor. Perhaps your ideas were right after all…"