"Hard pressed on my right. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I am attacking."

-Ferdinand Foch, at The Battle of the Marne, 1914

"My hero!"

-Vile, May 26th, 2118

"For being so terrified of the capabilities of modern reploids, we certainly have gone above and beyond the call to make them beyond capable of dominating and replacing man in all aspects of war."

-General Riley Culverson, during an interview in 2132

Phase 9: The Supercircus (Part 3)

December 12th, 2133

Mount Hallasan

1:03 PM

Alert! Internal Operations Energy at 27 percent, severe risk of Program Loss! Alert! Armor Integrity Rating severely diminished! Alert! Left Arm not detected/not present, diagnostics confirm nerve endings severed! Alert! Artificial blood/transfer fluid loss has exceeded operational standards, Auto Repair System unable to fully compensate! Immediate use of Sub-Tank One commencing!

Lovely, Solar Falcon thought as he awoke on the lake's surface, feeling every last bit of the ongoing list spreading across his vision. Though he'd 'lost consciousness' from the repeated hammer blows of anti-aircraft missiles detonating far too close for comfort, the emergency services built into his frame had gone into action to save him from sinking deeper into the crater lake, moving his body for him while he was not 'present' in mind to do so.

He'd drifted close enough to the shore that he could actually stand on land, the water reaching just up to his chest, flowing into his body through the various breaches in his armor. He felt heavy, exhausted, but alive. His connection to the network remained surprisingly unhindered, and the rush of tactical and strategic information only spurred him to slog faster out of the water, managing a limping jog as he finally made it to the shore, feeling himself grow lighter by the second as dirty lake water drained out of him with every step.

His options were staggeringly limited, given the circumstances. He could take to the air, his anti-gravity systems would be enough to maintain low-altitude flight, but his paired main engines on his back were inoperable. He'd have to rely on the smaller verniers all over his body that remained functional to force more speed out of himself, and hope the damage to his wings would not be enough to ruin his flight profile.

Come on, me, FLY!

Still trailing water, he felt himself lift off the ground, awkwardly swaying about as he did. Verniers fired to stabilize him, and soon enough, he'd picked up decent air speed, hugging the earth below him as close as he dared while climbing out of the Hallasan's crater.

As bad as the warning messages repeating themselves along the bottom of his vision were, there was one thing that hadn't come up for which he was grateful. His right arm shifted back into buster mode, and another helpful messaged blinked on the HUD.

Sub Tank One empty, IOE stable. Solar Plasmic Wave Cannon online, diagnostics confirming system integrity. Auto-Repair estimate in current conditions: 12 hours, 49 minutes.

Falcon had enough holes in his frame that he was likely going to put the techs back at HQ into fits, but at the least he felt strength flowing through his frame once more. The truth of it was, no matter how many sub-tanks he could fit inside his body, energen and the nanomachines that made up his auto-repair systems could not completely restore heavily damaged body parts, but they could at least keep him in the fight. His left arm hung limp at his side, his repair systems having yet to restore functionality to the limb, leaving Falcon's big gun dangerously unstable to use from too great a range. No matter. He did not intend to snipe from afar, he wanted something more guaranteed. He just needed to get to the target in time, and thankfully, as he crested the crater, it was literally all downhill from there.

NAS Gangjeong

Hilde had warped into Gangjeong with the expectation that she would find herself in the middle of heavy fighting. Her buster was out and charged within a second of re-materializing, her free hand already on the grip of her own plasma saber. Like the seven other reploids in her squad, she spun around, her purple eyes darting about, taking in her surroundings as best she could, ready to engage the enemy as they appeared-

And found the situation in NAS Gangjeong mostly under control.

"Alpha's down, and ready to move on targets as they appear." She reported in, hoping she hadn't let disappointment slip into her voice.

There still remained a small number of Mitsubatchi in the air that her targeting systems, now connected and being fed raw data from the Korean MilNet, immediately called out as hostile. Still, they were too far away in general for her team to reach without using a short-warp, something they all had to wait several minutes for. They occasionally swept in to strike at targets of opportunity, but nothing immediately near her team. It had become apparent from the data that the worst of the fighting here had passed. To the great relief of all Vanguard, Lenneth had been able to confirm that The Captain, Kindle and his Bravo team were in fighting shape, with no losses on their end. Zero's detachment had apparently been less fortunate, but the bottom line was that they'd acquitted themselves well here.

"All teams are in AO." Lenneth said over the primary net. "Objectives set and marked. DARKSTAR intel feed active. Confirm?" Hilde clicked her mic in reply along with the other team leaders. DARKSTAR was the shorthand reference to one of the full-flight capable reploids from the former 1st RSF, assigned to high altitude reconnaissance, her equipment marking targets for every reploid connected to her network.

Lenneth's briefing was thankfully terse. Zero had sent the majority of his remaining Hunters into Seogwipo proper to help deal with the more dramatic situation developing there, which would have left Vanguard in command of the clean up at the base if a detachment of the 17th Maverick Hunter unit hadn't posted itself there as well. It was well past overkill at this point, but the argument could easily be made that there was no such thing as overkill, in regards to Mavericks. The bottom line: NAS Gangjeong needed to be cleared quickly, there was literally a much larger fish to fry.

"Alright kids," Hilde drawled with practiced pseudo-boredom. "Pair up, find anyone who needs our help, and do what you can for 'em. Pairs will operate independently, keep your channels open if you suddenly need back up." She jabbed a thumb at the last of the rogue mechaniloids flitting through the sky. "Those things are still an issue, keep them away from fuel stores, ammo dumps, supply holds. If any of that stuff still remains. Move." They nodded in silent reply, their helmets activating protective, featureless armored screens, makinging them faceless, dark figured killers, and they dashed off with their respective partners.

Hilde's partner noticed the slight droop in her shoulders as he approached her. An MSWAT veteran, Vanguard had been the next logical move for Zak. Another one of the hand picked reploids the Captain had farmed up out of his vast network of military contacts, Zak was a former Marine. Hilde had looked to him for advice, and could have been a squad leader even now. For some reason, he preferred to remain one of the commanded over being one of the commanders, declining a leadership role when it had been offered. Zak had fought through the September rebellion, accounting for himself well. It was good to have him in the team.

He's in the slot Ricky has had for the last year-and-change, and he's better than he ever was and will be.

Of course he'd be, he's a reploid like me.

And she hated knowing that.

"You're pretty upset, leaving the humans behind on a job like this."

"Too observant for your own good." Hilde admitted. She dashed off first, but he easily kept up. "We're headed to the waypoint I'm designating now."

Zak shrugged. "Your lead, boss-lady. IFF for two Hunters in that sector, FYI. Second closest concentration of Bladers in the AO." His voice lost its calm diction for a moment. "My HUD says they're X and Zero."

"Wanna get their autographs?" She asked her (temporary, she reminded herself) partner, drawing her saber now, disabling all of her movement limiters, wondering if humans felt the same rush she did when charging head first into danger. Even at from eight hundred feet away and closing rapidly, she could see the familiar figures of X and Zero, standing their ground back to back, as Bladers owned the skies above them, and hoped they'd consider this appropriate payback for last time.


Zero's self-repairs were taking much longer than he'd led X to believe, the stubbornness that both shared yet hated about eachother on display even now.

"They're definitely adapting," Zero muttered. "They definitely know we're the big names out here. Singling us out."

"Well, we are famous," X shot back, while sighting another Blader as it came in for another pass. It unleashed its own burst of plasma simultaneously with the the Azure Hunter, and they both did their respective best to avoid getting taken out of the game. X was far more successful, yanking Zero along with him just away from the effect radius of the plasma wave. The mechaniloid pulled away, trailing flame and even bits of molten armor as it struggled to climb to safety, seconds later breaking in half as it dragged it's abdomen against the tarmac.

The coordination of this group was disconcerting. The seven machines they faced were Bladers that hadn't quite been disarmed to the extent the GDC had recommended before the mess had begun, likely because the process had been disrupted. That aside, it meant that they were up against proper tank-killers, nothing like the neutered machines Zero's Hunters had been cutting a swath of righteous fury through before now. Zero's condition, while not worsening, was making him into a liability neither Hunter wanted to openly name.

Still, coordinated as they were, damaged as Zero was, it wasn't changing the inevitable outcome.

"How bad are you? And are you going to tell me the truth this time?" X demanded.

"I should really just find a good spot to drop into stasis."

"Were you going to tell me this eventually?"

"If I remembered to before the auto-system forced me into it."

X spared him an incredulous glance, just as the now familiar sound of dumbfire rocket barrages filled the air, prompting the two to split away from one another.

Mid-dash, X twisted himself around, thrusters still blaring, looking for the incoming projectiles, his buster snapping to the cluster of explosives, loosing a full charged shot in their path, cutting down their numbers significantly. Leakers he dealt with smaller blasts, picking off the last few easily enough. It had been an impressive barrage, nothing a little fratricide couldn't have handled, but they'd likely have scattered in the last seconds of their approach, to try and catch the Hunters in any direction they tried to flee in.

And now, he had the direct attention of two Bladers.

This is familiar.

X watched with some fascination as both machines took up position, side by side, their heavy abdomens folding forward, their armed tips adjusting slightly to aim for him. He stood his ground, his left hand now a buster priming another supershot.

He no longer had his armors, the final partings gifts from a man he'd never known personally, and to date, no more additional sets had made themselves available. Weapons he'd once acquired from Mavericks no longer remained within his systems, a fail-safe he'd come to curse and respect. By all rights, he wasn't as well armed or armored as some of the people in his own command.

But he didn't need his armors. He didn't need the additional firepower.

The Bladers led their new assault with two anti-tank missiles apiece, fired in sequence, again in a pattern that would trap all but the fastest of reploids. Simultaneously, the heavy plasma cannons mounted on their 'tails' spat fire as they prepped their own war shots. The programing that had overwritten their core logic recognized X for who and what he was. They meant to be thorough.

X respected the danger speeding his way, already bursting into action. He took in the world around him, the various factors in play, made a decision, and acted on it. One smooth flow of thought into action. He leapt forward, his foot briefly in contact with the first missile as he pushed away, foot-thruster blaring, still gaining height, eyes never leaving the Bladers, seeing them start to pull back, verniers firing in response to what they'd witnessed. He saw their chin-mounted chain cannons spin up, still slow to X, who was still operating on a different level, something his father had anticipated and prepared him for, but hoped would never be necessary.

He picked the Blader furthest from him, and fired.

"Good effect on target, Commander X," a woman's voice complimented him over the 'Net as the Blader was consumed by the blast. "Friendlies coming through, your three 'o clock."

The second Blader took two bolts of plasma from the direction the woman warned, sloughing massive chunks away from the machine. Two armored reploids flung themselves at the machine from the same direction, beam sabers sinking into the ship up to their hilts, jumping clear as explosions brewed up within their victim.

The sky immediately in front of X was now clear.

Landing gracefully, he sized up the new arrivals, their faceless appearance throwing him off for a moment, until the helmet of the leader slid open to reveal Hilde. It was hard to forget her face, not after the repeated 'thank yous' she'd spouted in the wake of the September incident. In a sense, it was unfortunate she'd not taken up his offer to join the Hunters. There was a definite reason why she was in a leadership role within Vanguard.

"I think we're even now, sir," she remarked with a self satisfied smirk on her face.

"It's good to see you again Hilde. I'd shake your hand if we had the time," X said politely, but quickly. "We have to stop meeting like this. Your assistance is appreciated."

"It's a pleasure." She spotted Zero, ducking behind cover, still trying to buy time for his recovery systems. "Zak, secure him and get him to safety if necessary."

"On it." He sprinted off, fast even without dash assistance. X doubted that his speed would be enough to evade being targeted, but it was impressive nonetheless.

"Two hostiles inside personal threat perimeter, three more on approach vector, our six." Hilde announced.

"Leaving twenty confirmed at last count." X converted both of his hands into buster mode. "We have pressing matters outside of this facility and exactly no time to waste. I intend to deal with said matters as soon as possible."


"Who the hell are you and what the hell took you people so long?"

Zero was, for all intents and purposes, out of the fight, having found something to rest/hide behind. The strain he'd placed on his body had finally caught up to him. Safety overrides, put into place decades before today, had overridden his desire to stay at his friend's side. More exactly, his legs had been 'temporarily disabled' the moment he'd found a place to lay low, while repair routines did their best to stabilize the massive hole that ran through his lower torso, an effort that was seemingly in vain, and only making the Hunter feel weak and beaten. His frustration over this fact found an easy target in the reploid his systems identified as 'Zak' of Vanguard, part of the long awaited reinforcements his people could have used much sooner. Zak didn't seem too bothered by the rant, taking Zero's string of verbal abuse without so much as blinking an eye.

"My orders are to secure you." Zak replied, once Zero finished his tirade.

Zero punched the piece of cover he was resting against. "I'm secure, goddammit! I'm a frakking bug in a rug here!"

"Your IOE seems stable. Can you move in your condition?"

"No." Zero's expression was dark, and would have intimidated most. Zak didn't seem to mind. In his mind, he could recall times where he'd been unable to do anything simply because his body had failed him in some way. He could sympathize with Zero.

"Your combat capabilities exceed mine, the sooner you can be back in the fight, the better." Zak stated. "How much time do you require?"

"Unknown," Zero admitted.

"My orders are to secure you," Zak repeated. "I will buy you as much time as needed." With that, his left arm shifted in several places, the hand withdrawing into the overall frame, a barrel extending from what had been his palm. A box magazine flashed into place at the elbow joint. The whine of an activating magnetic accelerator as accompanied by a helpful blue LED running along the length of the weapon, indicating a readiness to fire. He crouched to brace himself, his lead foot clamping into the tarmac.

"Nice toy," Zero offered. He gauged the weapon to be a .50 caliber.

"Sergeant Zak, former 0331 Machine Gunner, USMC." He clenched his teeth, and found a target.

His first burst of ten magnetically accelerated armor piercing rounds pushed him back slightly, striking a Blader along the length of its fuselage. Not enough to kill, but enough to get its attention, swiveling quickly on its attacker. The thing that struck Zero most was just how loud the weapon sounded, a staccato of thunder claps, surprising even to him.

The second burst of fifty rounds pushed Zak back a foot, the bracing clamps digging a short trail through the ground. The rounds, though accelerated by the barrel, were also assisted by more traditional chemical propellants, and as such, each round built had so much muzzle velocity they left streaks in the air as their penetrating tips heated up cutting through the air. The effect of the barrage was impressive and decisive, the ruined hulk of mechaniloid crashing down to the ground almost directly below where it had sustained the fatal assault.

"Get some!" Zak shouted, standing up now, and charging at another Blader that took up the position of it's fallen comrade. 'Going cyclic' was the term he might have used back in the Corps. The force of the weapon being fired in full-auto was enough to slow him down, until he activated his dash thrusters, pushing forward, guiding every single round accurately at his second customer, dismembering it.

"GET SOME!" He swept the machine gun across the sky, firing until the rapid click and whine of capacitors indicated he was empty. Boldness seemingly forgotten, Zak quickly fell back to Zero's position, the empty magazine dropping free from the weapon as he moved, a fresh one blinking into place.

"I have their attention. Commander Zero, I will leave you one spare energy condenser tank, and proceed to newly designated coordinates to divert and suppress enemy targets from this position."

He did not wait for a reply, he simply pulled the mentioned e-tank from a rack mounted on his back, and jetted off. The boom boom boom boom basso thumps of his weapon firing marked his position for all to hear in the area, followed by counter-fire from Bladers suddenly interested in taking out this new threat.


Hilde's knowledge of X's capabilities came mostly from what she'd read on the Net, from various bits of footage that had been captured of him in action during the various incidents he'd been involved in. His file was one of great interest to many involved in 'the business' of Maverick hunting. Many confirmed kills, and many of his victims ranked as A or even S level threats. These were the sorts of reploids that had been known in Hunter slang as 'city-breakers', a name that had come into use via their ability to shatter daily life in any given city they chose to terrorize, much akin to a natural disaster, they could drive hundreds of thousands into hiding for fear of their lives. Machines of great destructive potential, blessed with lethal arsenals that made fighting one alone a suicidal prospect for a Hunter. Powerful enough to give the Hunters headaches around the world, and more than capable of operating alone for whatever given objectives they'd been assigned with near impunity.

And yet X, ranked B, had almost always come out on top. Even outnumbered, outgunned, and seemingly unable to summon the armors that had given him the fearsome reputation he'd earned over the years, he'd survived far worse than what killed many that shared his rank. He was known for almost pacifistic leanings, yet still raised the weapons he'd been built with in service to the Hunters.

He stood alone and apart from her, having told Hilde to stand clear of him, as though ground beneath his feet held some personal significance to him.

"I'm the one they want," he'd said, referring to the Bladers that had begun to tighten the proverbial noose around their necks. Emphasizing his statement, each Blader fired a pair of anti-tank missiles.

Hilde was already airborne as the first missiles dropped free from their racks, taking advantage of their focus on the Maverick Hunter. Flying through the smoke trail left by one of the missiles, she managed to get a hand on one of the landing struts on her chosen target, her other hand gripping her plasma saber tightly as she vaulted her way up along the side of the craft, dragging the weapon through the midsection of the Blader until her HUD filled with heat warnings. She dropped away from the dying Blader seconds before it ripped apart, chancing a look at X, knowing that even in the moment that had passed, if the Hunter hadn't gotten clear, that was it for him.

X was in motion himself, still defending the ground he stood on. Both busters fired controlled bursts of plasma, precisely targeted at the incoming projectiles in front of him. He spun around, firing another series of shots behind him and in front of him, downing yet another pair of missiles. His momentum in the spin carried him around fully, more buster fire picking off missiles. The closest and last of the barrage didn't even manage to get within a hundred feet of him, shrapnel bouncing off the ground and plinking harmlessly off his azure armor. His right buster had converted back into a hand, protecting his sensitive optics from debris.

It happened fast enough that it shouldn't have. Yet there he stood. He'd shot down all ten missiles before they were even a threat to him, and over half of them he hadn't even been facing when he neutralized them. Just like that.

Hilde didn't have time to cast further doubt on the spectacle she'd witnessed. Still in mid-fall, she twisted herself around to face another Blader, throwing her beam saber as hard and fast as she could, lodging it in what her systems designated to be the ammunition feed for the heavy chain gun on its chin, watching the ammunition inside begin to cook off as the raw plasma superheated everything it came in contact with. The saber sank towards the ground below, melting its way through everything in the blade's path, just as a massive super shot engulfed it and the rest of the mechaniloid.

All around them, Hilde could hear the chain guns spinning up. Joining that, the roar of X's buster gathering another charge.

Her feet contacted the ground in the next moment, off balance, but she went with the fall as it happened, firing her dash thrusters, speeding along the tarmac, her back a foot above it.

New target-

Took aim, her own buster primed, ready-

Blotted away before she could even will the trigger to be pulled, another kill for X. She switched targets, found Threat Four, knocking it out of the sky with her own snapshot.

One more.

She regained her balance, sliding to a halt and standing upright as she sighted in on the fifth and last of the group that had tried to surround them. X was faster again, the charged plasma boring its way through the Blader from front to back, leaving a tunnel of molten vital components clean through it. Hilde's own blast was merely an afterword, setting off ammunition that survived X's wrath.

"Help your man," X said, voice calm, his expression almost serene. "I'll keep watch over Zero."

Just like that.

X raced toward his wounded friend, leaving Hilde wondering what exactly inside the Hunter had snapped, because as far as she was concerned, he was nowhere near a B class.


Kindle and the rest of Bravo team had moved their wounded commander to the the safety of a hardened aircraft bunker that had not taken any serious hits. Refusing to leave the battlefield, Erebus insisted that his ruined leg be replaced on site. Hypatia had transported herself and the necessary replacement limb to Gangjeong seemingly without any trepidation about the whole matter. Replacing the leg of a reploid, in particular the Captain's, was already a challenge under less stressful circumstances. He required very specific parts for maintenance, parts that were only used specifically by the US military. Doing such an operation while potentially under fire might have rattled other physicians, human or reploid.

Not this one. She had faith in her guards.

"Won't take but ten, fifteen minutes at most to ensure proper connections," Hypatia promised upon her inspection of the damaged limb. She was on track to meet that estimate.

Erebus hadn't spoken much since the rest of Vanguard had arrived in tow of the Maverick Hunters, limiting his debriefing with Lenneth to simple one or two word responses over a private link, nods or shakes of his head. Initially she'd pressed for more out of the man, but soon relied on his data recording of the whole incident thus far, ultimately only questioning him at length about the conversation he'd had with Maverick he'd bested, a conversation she alone was privy to the whole truth of.

She was worried for him.

"Captain Erebus. You're not quite over your days as a comrade of these Mavericks." She stated the obvious over their private link.

"Hard to be, considering."

They actually admitted that SKYLIGHT is their objective, she thought in disbelief. Not necessarily due to the nature of said objective currently in geosynchronous orbit over the Earth, staffed by thousands of reploid and human workers attempting to restore it in the wake of the Repliforce rebellion. They were just some of many obstacles to overcome, and RSF reploids were taught to look at obstacles as things meant to be overcome. It did not matter how long it would take. The question was when it would be done.

The RSF battalions had once shared a simple motto: 'Nihil impossibile est.' Nothing is impossible. They were built to think 'If it exists, it can be infiltrated, assaulted, overrun, captured, or destroyed.'

Lenneth was honestly more surprised that they'd had the confidence to reveal this, even their means of transport, than she was about the nature of their mission. It made sense to her based on available information, and it made everything up until now basic probing actions. Which meant they were far enough along in their plan that secrecy no longer mattered. Or it could have been another feint. These were all possibilities that she, and likely Erebus, were factoring into their own response.

With Sigma 'confirmed' dead in his most recent crusade against humanity, possibly the only known active Mavericks in the world that could make a successfully plan and execute something so audacious would have to be Special Forces types. Being one of those specialized machines gave Lenneth a unique understanding of the enemy. She, like Erebus, knew how they operated on a mental level. As she continued Erebus' debrief, she was putting together in her mind how she would try to take SKYLIGHT, what forces she'd need to field, the methods she'd use to neutralize the various defenses she knew about the orbital weapon. It was in her nature, as a Command-Class reploid, to work out potential missions in her mind. It kept her mentally busy and sharp, and it gave her a broad range of scenarios to work with, to prepare for.

Just in case. Just like, she imagined, Nike and her fellow commanders had long before they turned Maverick.

"You should not feel responsible for their actions."

"My unit, my responsibility."

"This is moving well beyond the projected scope of this Vanguard, Erebus." She shook her head, an odd gesture to those who might have been observing the two. Their conversation had been carried out in silence, with little in the way of gestures between them.

"It is, but not entirely unexpected, considering who we are dealing with."

"Have you reported any of this to the government? To the GDC?"

"Not yet."

"It seems like something that should be done immediately." Lenneth decided she would likely never hear from him directly what went on in that brain of his.

"There is information I want to take into account before I do a proper report. To that end, I'm going to Moscow after I am cleared to go by Hypatia."

"Are you now?" Anger flashed across Lenneth's face, her eyes locked firmly onto his.

"I have a hunch. You're not invited. Someone has to command Vanguard while I'm away."

"Still unable to keep that promise about secrets." She had made sure to remove the question out of the statement. It was an accusation. Yes, he had lied to her once before, and he'd done it again.

"My former comrades intend to spark a war between superpowers and possibly hijack the most powerful orbital weapon platform to date. I'm sorry if my breaking our little pinky swear is upsetting you."

"Captain, you brought me and my people into this, but we can't help you to the best of our ability if you don't let us."

"You're doing your part right now, as far as I'm concerned, that's enough. If it were your people you were hunting down, perhaps you'd understand."

"Is Vanguard only a means to this end?"

"Yes." His reply came without hesitation. "The destruction of Mavericks the Hunters or the government are unable to handle expediently themselves."

"But deceiving your own people, ignoring the authorities-"

"There's only one authority whose attention I want right now. I'll need your support in that regard, but I don't need your lectures."

Giving him one last look of disappointment, Lenneth stood up and stalked away, severing their link.

The truth was, Erebus appreciated having Lenneth around to remind him of small obligations such as that. She probably deserved better than a fellow commander like him, even sympathized with her plight. Once upon a time, Erebus was in her place, dealing with the unorthodox methodology of old friends now Maverick.

"Something wrong, Captain?" Hypatia's voice cut into his memories, oblivious to the actual conversation. "I'm asking if you could move the new leg to begin some testing."

"Sure sure. A bit distracted, sorry."

Seogwipo

1:19 PM

At first, the warp-rain of Hunters into the city Vile was helping ravage had been a distracting, but beautiful sight. He even had taken to hunting down isolated, land-bound pairs of the bastards. The Rubicon's rampage had been enough to keep his activities in relative secret, and he'd claimed eight more Hunters (maybe seven, he amended, remembering that one had retained the ability to scream in fear and agony when he'd punched her through several abandoned cars and into a bus, her voice had abruptly cut away in a electronic gurgle that he had replayed at least a dozen times in his mind now but somehow she seemed like a fighter so he couldn't count her as dead for sure but man oh man he wanted to go back and check and maybe check back on that one crazy dragon guy with the wing funnels now he was a real trick) since the reinforcement waves had begun.

But now, Vile was on the run. The Goliath that encompassed him in the safety of the best armor he could steal was starting to fail him. He could try to return to the Rubicon but that would likely have him getting picked off by the fliers in the 21st Unit, and that didn't appeal to him. Warping back to the ship was out, the ship was protected via a localized EM barrier he could not lower without allowing Hunters on board as well. He wanted to delay that for a little longer, if possible.

So he ran, and part of him was quite upset with this. The other part was also very upset, but it had found something to help both halves agree that the glass was indeed half full at the moment. Having tapped into the less secure 'primary net' the Hunters used for basic communication, he'd learned that the 21st Lightning Strike unit had come all the way from New York along with a very special group of friends known as the 17th Maverick Hunter unit, who at present were in NAS Gangjeong finishing up business. Which meant one very important thing.

"X! X! X! X X X X X X X! X!" Vile shouted, crashing his way through hastily erected barricades the civilian police were using to try and direct fleeing civilians. He felt much like one of the extinct cheetahs of the natural world he'd once read up about on a whim, the 'gazelles' fleeing in every direction around him, deliberately picking one terrified face at a time amongst the crowd for death.

"X!" He exclaimed, burying the right fist of his armor into a military APC, the pile driver working its magic, sending the heavy vehicle flying a short distance, tumbling over cars and people with equal ease. The world spun around him as batted aside anything unfortunate enough to be in range of the limbs of the Goliath. The hundreds of pings of small arms fired bouncing off the mecha echoed inside the cockpit, the occasional heavier clang of a mag-weapon shearing away larger chunks of armor ringing out. His victims were not entirely helpless, they could, eventually, disable the ride armor. Eventually. They'd have to suffer first before getting that far, and Vile enjoyed both knowing and ensuring that.

The more analytical part of him thought it was quite a shame that the earlier ambush from the Hunter (he'd now confirmed him to be Cirrus Tyber via intercepted radio traffic) had robbed him of so much of the nastier pieces of kit on the machine. That part of his mind was still just as placated as the other side by the reploid and human blood that had spattered across the ride armor haphazardly, covering one of the primary view cameras in deep red and purple. He felt good, he was still making do.

At any rate, it wasn't as though he needed the thing for much longer, considering where he was going.

Willing one last command to the Goliath, the chest canopy popped wide open, noting the sudden slackening fire from the local troops and cops as they got a good look at him. He stood proudly from the cockpit, a timer counting down from ten filling part of his vision, a map with new warp coordinates filling the rest.

"You've done your duty, good citizens," Vile announced in Korean. "Why don't you all take the rest of the day off?"

As he vanished in warplight, another light built up from within the Goliath, the last thing many of the surviving soldiers around it would see of his parting gift for the defenders of Seogwipo.


Gavin's 21st Unit was finally starting to see some real success in the fight to neutralize the assault carrier. Among the first units to arrive and relieve the beleaguered 58th, they'd taken up a close-in air support role, Jad in command of that mission. Other units from New Tokyo and New York found themselves in civil defense roles, killing what slipped away from the 21st while reinforcing the Korean military and police.

The carrier's response was to disgorge more ride armors from it's cavernous bays, far more than Gavin assumed was actually possible for it to carry. He believed it was probably warping in replacements from the facility it had originally been docked at. If they wanted to stop the flow of ride armors into Seogwipo, the carrier had to be neutralized along with the source of those weapons.

He'd dedicated fully half of his teams to finding a way to breach the carrier's defenses, Doan and Kol alongside him in leading the attacks on the ship proper. It had guns to spare, but the 21st excelled at hit and run tactics. Doan was saying that they'd have access inside within minutes at this rate.

Gavin flew as fast and as low as his flight armor allowed, meaning to loop back around to take shots on the main engines of the ship. The flight path it was taking was completely erratic, and was threatening taller office and apartment structures. Taking out the primaries on that thing would slow it to a crawl, only able to maneuver via manipulation of repulsor fields that allowed for such station keeping at this altitude. He gathered a buster charge, climbing hard, sighting the first of five targets he intended to hit, and accelerated.

That's one.

The shot, in concert with a number of others from fellow Hunters, blew the engine nacelle apart, hot fragments tearing into it's neighbors. They sputtered from the damage, the ship shuddering from the crippling blow. In short order the 21st had almost halved the potential speed the carrier could gain during a sustained burn. Angry flames and thick smoke reached into the sky from the fresh wounds as the carrier began to slew heavily to its right.

Or three, Gavin thought with a grim smile. He streaked past the destroyed target a two seconds later, easing out of his rapid climb, turning as hard as his flight armor allowed at this speed. He could see others in his element forming up alongside him as they wove through the relatively lighter point defense fire coming from the rear of the ship. A design flaw if there ever was one. Powerful engine nacelles such as these could push a mass like this easily, helping it 'cap the T' in a close ranged ship-to-ship battle faster than other carriers of its weight class.

The excess heat they generated during combat maneuvers, however, made even automated defenses difficult to place around that vulnerable rear quadrant. Missiles could take wild intercept arcs from launchers mounted further forward, but Gavin and his comrades were reploids, more specifically, Hunters who specialized in aerial warfare. Missiles they could track, intercept, and evade with comparative ease.

Abruptly, warning displayed filled his HUD.

"Commander Gavin, this is Solar Falcon, attached to 0 Unit." The new Hunter said over the tacnet, sounding exhausted. "You're in my line of fire."

A burst of data entered Gavin's mind, describing an impending directed energy attack from the direction of Mount Hallasan, an attack he and six of his men were in the path of.

What the hell, Gavin thought.

"Some of my kind were built to defeat proper air superiority fighters and drones," Falcon explained, sensing the disbelief in the Hunters he was transmitting the warning to. "Some of us were built with heavier targets targets in mind."

Finding himself a vector that would take him outside of the projected path of the incoming strike, Gavin scanned the skies to see where Falcon was, locking onto a flashing point of light in the distance, visible over the many buildings of Seogwipo, framed by Mount Hallasan in the distance. Zooming in with his eyes, he could make out the figure of Solar Falcon, wings fully extended, buster pointed at the enemy. He could even see the plasma emitters on the wings alight, arms of energy gathering from them into the buster.

The light visibly expanded just as Gavin and the others cleared the danger zone, bright enough to force him to look away. A star blooming over the city, less than a mile away.


"You've got to want it," Hecatonchire had once told Falcon after a long day around SKYLIGHT.

Debris retrieval was one of the most important parts of space development, one of the least glamorous as well. Combat reploids like them excelled at it, able to see things humans couldn't, and take them out of their dangerous paths towards things valuable and fragile. It was hard work that humans alone could not hope to accomplish. When work on SKYLIGHT proper was finished by their team, Hecaton would lead the work crew on debris duty.

"When your body is failing you, when the pain becomes too much to bear. When the world is crashing down around you. Some of our kind use that as excuse to simply give in, shut down, call it a day, nothing more we can do."

"These are the limitations of defeatists," Hecaton had said, a bitterness in his voice that Falcon had never suspected of anything sinister. "Human limitations. We were built to be surpass all that. It's why we're up here, doing what they can't."

Falcon's left arm was still not functional, which promised to make things harder, but he was prepared to compensate for it. Ensuring he still had a good line of sight on his target, he descended to the roof of an office building, assumed as steady a firing stance as he could manage, and dug his feet into the roof up to his ankles. His wings spread wide once more as plasma from the mounted emitters channeled into a growing mass at the tip of his buster. He felt very hot, his cooling systems barely able to keep him within safe limits, his good arm beginning to sharply protest this second use.

The scene before him was of utter chaos. Beneath the carrier, the city was burning. Ruined buildings lay in its wake. Contrails corkscrewed across the sky, tracing back to launchers on the carrier itself, or produced by distant points of light, indicating the flight systems of members of the 21st. Everything that was and wasn't a target was marked in his vision, a complex puzzle of green, red, and yellow icons flitting about. Anti-aircraft artillery vectors were plotted based on shared telemetry between Hunters, updated almost constantly. Predictive systems showed all possible directions a given contact could take based on analysis of their movement systems, with percentage probabilities next to each given possibility. Only reploids could see the world in this way and make any sense of it.

He focused on the largest red one at the center of everything, holding his arm as steady as possible. His optics were capable of zooming in on a target the size of a credit card from this distance, though that wasn't necessary. He wanted to disable the remaining engines on the ship, hoping to blast a large enough breach in the hull that people could get on board and attempt to completely disable the ship. More importantly, capturing the Maverick vessel promised a treasure trove of intel the Hunters were desperate to have.

Solar Plasmic Wave Cannon, charging complete.Ready to fire.

"My body's more certain about this than I am," Falcon mused. "Alright Hecatonchire, hope you're watching, 'old friend'. You showed your resolve. Here's mine."

And so he fired.


The beam itself, while eight feet thick at peak strength, had not been so large that it had warranted the warning Falcon had broadcast to the Hunters by itself. His primary concern was that he'd be unable to control it, and he'd been partially right. The beam initially only clipped one of the wings of the carrier, then reached into the sky wildly before being brought back down towards its intended target.

Gavin watched it all unfold, a shocked expression frozen on his face. The beam shot, once back under control eventually carved a path along the rear armor plating, through two of the disabled engine nacelles, before finally finding purchase in one of the remaining thrusters. The entire rear quarter of the ship buckled from the sudden explosion that ensued, and still the beam kept going, chewing through internal decks hungrily until four seconds later, the beam fizzled out, leaving the scent of ozone thick in the air crackling with residual energy. The ship listed heavily to port, bleeding off speed rapidly without the primary thrusters to push it, floating entirely on repulsor lifts that still remained active.

It did not stop fighting back, but it had been wounded decisively. Gavin scanned the breech to the hull briefly, and made his decision, setting a course that would thread him through the proverbial eye of the needle and into the carrier.

"Doan, follow me in! Kol, the air battle is yours, concentrate on taking out those defenses!"

"I'm with you," Doan replied a second later. "That Falcon's turned out to be pretty convenient."


The roof of the structure forward of him had been blasted or melted away, and Falcon could see people who were still in their offices inside looking up at him through the cavernous gaps he'd created. He ignored their fear-filled gazes, concentrating on the battle in the distance. His body was still frozen in its firing stance, shaking from all the tension.

Solar Plasmic Wave Cannon offline. One use remaining. Charge commencing. Update: Left arm nerve connections restored, running final diagnostics! Caution: Internal Operations Energy reduced below safety standards, Sub-Tank Two activated.

Just in time, Falcon thought bitterly. He'd managed to avoid putting the beam directly into the streets and into other civilian structures in the distance. Even so, he knew he'd almost waxed a couple friendlies before he got things under control. Not acceptable to him under any circumstances, but he'd have to try in this case.

"Good shooting, Solar Falcon. The road is open." Gavin reported over the 'net a moment later.

"Confirmed."

"Sub-Commander Jad could use another body to defend evacuation sites. Are you up to it? My diagnostics are telling me you could-"

"On my way," Falcon cut Gavin off, knowing what was about to be said, and not particularly wanting a reminder of how he was feeling at the moment. Pulling his feet free of the rooftop, he willed his reluctant body to keep moving. He still had one more Sub-Tank to use, and he figured coming home after every assignment having drained them all would make for a grim yet amusing reputation to have.

NAS Gangjeong

"Major-General Bae Myung, your local airspace is secure," X reported over the Korean tactical network, his voice carrying a hint of pride with it.

"Excellent work, Hunter." Myung's compliment was sincere. Around him the operations room deep underneath NAS Gangjeong erupted with cheers from his subordinates until the General waved his hand to call for silence, to remain focused. The truth was that they still had work to do in the city, far more important work. The base could have fallen, and that still would not be as bad as what was happening in Seogwipo.

Communications techs had worked frantically throughout the course of the engagement to reestablish links to local defense units in the city, and had been successful enough to allow Myung and his fellow advisors to put together a nightmare patchwork idea of what was happening on the surface. They knew that the Mavericks had brought out a carrier and that it had been disabled. They knew that there'd been fighting throughout the city, sporadic reports of roughly heavy ride armors running wild, but the numbers kept fluctuating. The Hunters were claiming they'd all but stopped more armors from being deployed out of the carrier itself, meaning they had to be coming from somewhere else.

With Gangjeong secured, he could send anything still available into Seogwipo. That was priority, and he gave the necessary orders to get people moving.

"Commander X, I need your Hunters in the city to find where the ride armors are coming from. I can send the 6th Mechanized Infantry to assist you."

"Yes sir. Permission to make use of your maintenance facilities? I have wounded Hunters, and a physician who can make use of what you have."

"Granted, of course." The General replied, blinking with some surprise at how X had referred to his soldiers' conditions. 'Wounded'. Humans got wounded. Reploids got damaged. At least, that is how he thought it should go. Shouldn't he have said 'technician' as opposed to 'physician'?

"Is there anything else, sir?"

"Nothing." He'd left the line open on accident, and the Hunter's green eyes stared intently at him. "Go to it, Maverick Hunter X."

No sooner than he closed the line, one of the communications techs called out to the General.

"Sir, I just received word from a Civil Defense team that the Maverick Vile was last spotted warping out of Seogwipo after self destructing his ride armor. They've incurred serious casualties!"

So, their leader's seen the writing on the wall, and he's fled, Myung thought. "Restore a connection with X, he will want to know." There was a moment's pause.

"Sir, I've lost outbound and inbound communications. I can't raise the Hunters."

"Try the 6th Mech."

"Sir, I've lost all communications." The tech, a young woman in her twenties, reiterated with a measure of exasperation and fear in her voice just as the sounds of explosions and gun fire filled the air, and the lights and monitors throughout the command center flickered.

Myung reached for his personal sidearm, happy to note that everyone else in the room did the same without needing to be told. He couldn't shake the thought that the pistol in his hand was truly only meant to be used against other humans. Against a Maverick, it was little more than comfort for the soul, and whatever was happening outside was definitely not being caused by a human.

They could hear the screams now, soldiers and desk jockeys alike falling before something monstrous, utterly malevolent. Heavy impacts shaking the walls, the sound of 60mm rifle mounted HE frag grenades being used indoors, a sign of desperation.

The technician, an Ensign Choi, could be seen shivering as she pulled up next to her General, her own sidearm still with the safety on as she aimed it at the main entrance to the room. Myung reached up and clicked off the safety.

"It'll help." He managed to smile

"Thank you, si-"

A much louder blast rocked the room, knocking him over and onto the tech as she screamed with fear. Rolling away from her, he looked up, and saw a menacing silhouette standing in the middle a new breach in the wall, a single glowing red eye visible behind a helmet visor. He was covered in blood from almost head to toe, giving him a odd gleam in the limited light available.

"I might have broken something on the way in," the figure spoke. "Don't get up, I'll fix it."

Gunfire chattered from his fingertips.


X and several others in the 17th unit had gathered there, having brought wounded Hunters and Vanguard with them. Despite the fighting, his appearance was relatively pristine compared to almost everyone else at the triage. To his right, a stone-faced Guernica carried the remains of a comrade. There was no telling how many more would join the sad looking half-corpse by the end of the day.

X did not waste time calling for everyone to gather at this one location, choosing to use the shared network between Hunters and Vanguard to get to the point quickly: Those who were still combat ready were to prepare to assist the 6th Mechanized in a drive from Gangjeong into the city, destroying all ride armors they came across, and attempt to prevent further incursions by cutting it off at the source if at all possible.

Only slightly scuffed for her troubles, Hilde stood triumphant over Zero, who now had the full attention of Hypatia. There were others in worse shape than Zero was at the moment, but they'd stabilized themselves by dropping into stasis. Zero had the benefit of what Hypatia was calling an 'aggressive' auto-repair system, making the physician's job that much easier.

"I can see why you invited me to join the Hunters back in September ." Hilde smirked. "Is this a regular thing for you?"

"Tends to happen when you're not showing up to fight after a more capable machine takes care of the real business," Zero fired back. He turned his attention to Zak, whose left arm had shifted out of its' weapon configuration and into a regular arm. He was helping his Captain up from his back, his new leg attached, internal systems recalibrating themselves to handle it. "Hell with you, the machine gun kid over there's more interesting a fighter than just another waitress-type."

"Heavily modified waitress-type," Hilde corrected. "I understand you caught the second round?"

"Ayup."

"How much did those mods cost ya?"

"Oh no, that's a standard feature as it turns out." They both chuckled at that.

"You're moving. Please stop." Hypatia snapped at the Crimson Hunter, her hands still dancing along the wound through his torso, though she seemed to be doing very little actual work. She had a look of admiration on her. "You're spoiling the show."

"Howsthat?"

"You." Hypatia planted her left index finger on his lips in order to shush him. "You're a work of art, you know that right?" She nearly sighed with that. "Your internals are nothing like any reploid I've ever worked on. It's so...efficient. Different. There's nothing wasted."

"Well, I'm not like any reploid, really. No big deal." Zero rolled his eyes. "Am I gonna be able to-"

"Yes. I applied standard nano-colony injections to the synth-nerves throughout your body, all rejected. Your body's auto-repair systems know what needs priority repairs to keep you up and running and is surprisingly aggressive towards external interference, all I've had to do was basically clean up 'dead' material that isn't making connections. Another twenty minutes, you'll likely be able to walk again like there was nothing wrong in the first place. Maybe less?" She blushed as she looked up to him. "Uh...I can do the, ah, surface work, if you'd like. That's something your systems can't do without assistance."

"Yeah, I suppose I can't walk around exposed like this. I've been worse off, though. Think you can make it quick?"

"Oh yeah." Hypatia looked up at Hilde, mock fanning herself and mouthing He's so amazing, I want to do repairs to him all day.

"I'll leave you two alone," Hilde gestured towards Erebus. "I think we're about to have a little meeting."

Zero waved at her as she trotted off. He thought he might have heard Hypatia giggle, but didn't think more of it.


"I'm leaving for Moscow as soon as I'm done with this chat so I'll keep it short," Erebus said, nodding at Hilde as she walked up to the group. He was also transmitting his speech over Vanguard's private network. Those who'd been left behind in Los Angeles could also hear it.

"The reason I am leaving is to verify data I received from the Maverick I killed. Lenneth is now in command of Vanguard until I return, Hilde is her second." He paused to gauge the responses of those actually before him, mostly surprise.

What did I miss not being here from the get go? Hilde asked herself. She looked to Kindle, for any hints, but his face was difficult to read. He only shrugged, as uninformed as she was.

"Said Maverick was a former comrade of mine," Erebus continued, "a member of the 2nd RSF. We all remember them, and what they've done. According to official records, fifty reploids refused to surrender at Arcology Two South once their commander had fallen, choosing to warp despite an active EM barrier. In reality, closer to ninety were never accounted for, including their new leader Nike. She's been leading their activities around the world since then, starting with her appearance at MHHQ New Tokyo in October. I have data that suggests they are responsible for the recent attack on the Russian energen refinery, a Chinese equivalent near Beijing, and the presence of their man here today suggests they had a hand in this. Which means they are working with Vile. The implications of that should be obvious."

"Their goals are two-fold: Instigate war between a GDC Member State and an 'Unaligned' state, and to hijack the orbital weapon SKYLIGHT. This should sound somewhat familiar, Repliforce tried the same back in 2129. I suspect it may be too late to stop the former, I am working out solutions to the latter."

"You're serious," Kindle said.

"Absolutely. The Maverick claimed they are currently based out of a submarine, location unknown. I need to use my data record to prove this to the Russians and the Chinese, it takes absolute precedence over everything. Even this situation on Jeju-Do. This is a feint, an expensive and bloody feint. I don't believe they are fully responsible for this attack. They'd have more people here. It's likely this would have gone down even without Nike's contribution, it just doesn't fit her MO."

"Captain, even if you-" Lenneth began to protest.

"There we are Lenneth," Erebus said with a smile. "No more secrets."

"Even if you personally present this same scenario to the Russians, you're relying entirely on luck to actually convince them to stand down!" Lenneth said. "Not to mention the Chinese, do you really believe they'd listen to a reploid built by the United States?"

"I am not all of Vanguard. One reploid isn't going to make a difference here today, and it's true that one reploid may not make a difference for Russia or China. However, this city is already being ruined, this base is no longer near operational, we can't change that. We have to salvage what we can. We have to at least try." The Captain's frame began to glow as his warp generator activated. "But I suppose you're right, we'll all need some good luck."

And then he was gone in a trail of silver light, arcing towards the northeast. Lenneth clenched her fists, mouth moving silently, cursing the man. She then took the virtual podium over the Vanguard network.

"Our orders are clear. I will lead Vanguard into Seogwipo to assist suppression of Maverick elements. We move out in two minutes." Breaking her network connection, she marched briskly towards Hilde, who was still somewhat dazed by the revelations she'd heard.

"You're my second in command, are you ready for it?"

"As long as you don't make it a habit to dump that kinda stuff on me at the last second, I think I am."

"I'll try," the former general half-smiled.


X had stopped next to Zero just as Hypatia had gotten to work on placing a new patch of synthskin over the hole on his stomach. It wasn't armored plating, but modern synthskin for combat reploids was a hybrid of carbon fiber, reactive memory alloys, and a dozen other classified materials that would act to slow or stop kinetic weapons and resist extreme temperature environments. It had limits, but its advantage was its flexibility, its ability to look, feel and act similar to human flesh. The 'patch' integrated itself with Zero's frame without complications. It wouldn't be as good as a full

"Doc's giving me a clean bill of health, X. I'll be up and doing your job for you in no time."

"Will you now?" X asked. "Don't give the nice lady any trouble now."

"I've been nice!"

"Oh yes you have," Hypatia barely whispered, still transfixed by what she was examining. "Flip over, I need to work on your back."

"Right-o."

"I'm going to confirm if General Myung wants us to walk his people into the fight, or if we can just dive right in," X said. "Erebus is cutting Vanguard loose, I think we should do the same."

"That's uncharacteristically aggressive of you." Zero noted

"Vile's somewhere in Seogwipo." That was enough of an explanation for the Crimson Hunter.

X reopened communications with General Myung, somewhat surprised by the delay before the link was established. The camera feed showed nothing at first. Some smoke in the air, likely from damaged electronics in the bunker. Some of the Mitsubatchi had been armed with bunker busters, though it was odd to X that he hadn't noticed the damage on his last communication with the officer-

"Hey there, sport. We were all waiting for you to call down here." Vile's voice was filled with gleeful menace, his helmet suddenly taking up the entire display.


"And then you say 'When did you get there?' with a sour look in your eye, well maybe not sour, maybe angry? Maybe you're about to cry? Like this lady I killed here, I forget her name. She was an ensign I think? Hard to read her name tag when there's so much blood on the uniform. It seeps in, gets all dark. Twenty something, dark hair, light complexion. Might have been attractive at some point, nothing that stood out from the crowd but you know what I mean. Not so much anymore. Missing too much of, well, everything." He poked at the corpse with his left foot. "High-pitched, bet she was a helluva karaoke singer after hours. Whatever!"

Vile held General Myung in a headlock, dragging him around effortlessly, bashing him against workstations as though by accident. The cameras transmitting the image to X followed him precisely, a simple wireless hack on his part.

"You can talk back any time, X. 'WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO THOSE PEOPLE?' Come on, something!...no? Nothing?"

"Vile-"

"I came here because of you, X. See, I wanted to ask you something, I kinda need your help. I lost something on the way here." He laughed at this, a harsh, forced sound. "I wasted a lot of good ammunition to get into this place, if there's anything humans are good at, its hunkering down and waiting to die. You, uh, do know where here is, don't you? Where I'm transmitting from? I couldn't warp in myself directly, so I had to fight my way through a few dozen people. Fight is a strong word, now that I think about it. Disappointed you didn't take notice, actually! Aaaaaaaaanyway, they have an EM barrier protecting the bunker proper, but this here General Myung might be able to disable that. Be nice of him if he did, I don't think you could take seeing what I did to these people breaking in here the hard way, and I kinda wanna get this shit started." He released the Myung from the headlock, grabbing onto the General's head with both hands, squeezing until he moaned in agony. "You'll DO THAT, WON'T YOU? HE'S A MAVERICK HUNTER, HE NEEDS YOU TO HELP HIM SAVE YOU." He shook the man violently with each word for emphasis.

Myung said nothing, only managing to gasp for air through the pain.

"Seems he wants you to walk in the old fashioned way. Cruel man, this one." Vile dropped Myung to the ground, and gestured to the room around him. "I need you to come down here, X. Alone. It's a personal question, I don't want any of your friends to hear it. To ensure that, I have hostages. I dunno how many, some of 'em probably aren't gonna last too much longer. Fires burning, smoke in the air, asphyxiation, some of them might bleed out...you probably should hurry."

"I will be alone."

"Your ears work, that's a start! Maybe we can check to see if your buster still works, that'll be exciting."

"Vile..." X growled now, his face on the monitor absolutely cold. "I don't know what it is you want. I promise you that you'll never see it." He was replaced by static a moment later. The room had fallen mostly silent, save for the breathing of the hostages, the occasional moans from the injured and dying, and the intermittent, broken hum of electronics. Vile sighed, still staring at the wall screen.

"He's almost perfect, when he talks like that," he said quietly. "I hate him so goddamned much."


Zero had only heard X's half of the conversation, but he knew from watching his friend that buttons were being pushed. His jaw was so tightly clenched his face shook, his fists creaking from the pressure he was putting on the joints.

"Zero..." X began, his voice almost breaking. "He's here. Vile is here. Now. He's-"

"Hypatia can you work faster? We've got a bit of a situation." The medic started to reply but a sharp look from X kept her silent.

"I have to go alone, Zero. He has hostages, he said if I bring anyone else he will kill them. That is unacceptable!"

"Those people will be dead by the time you arrive," Zero sighed. "You know that. It's like that old lady in the mall on the 7th."

"Don't you dare say that. Don't you dare!" His shout caught the attention of everyone else at the triage.

"This city is burning down X," Zero stood up, almost knocking a surprised Hypatia over as he did. "Prioritize! It's a trap, and anyone can see that! We have to save as many people as possible!"

"Don't try to stop me." X snarled, turning his back to Zero and sprinting off, nearly bowling through several Hunters as he went.

Zero watched him as he went, then cursed loudly, and tried to open a line to Erebus. X was going to need help, whether he believed it or not. Behind him he could hear Hypatia protesting for him to stay put, that she hadn't finished ensuring the new armor plating and synthskin patch on his back had been fully secured. His systems reported a moment later that contact could not be established with the reploid in question.

He in stasis or what?

Recalling the other Vanguard commander, Lenneth, he put in the call.

"Commander Zero? We're ready to move on Seogwipo now."

"We have a problem. Where's Erebus?"

"In Moscow, by now."

Zero blinked. "What?"

Seogwipo

Crossing the Rubicon Command Deck

1:40 PM

Doan and Gavin had moved cautiously, but quickly through the ship, the feeling that this was some sort of elaborate trap growing by the second. No automated defenses, no intruder alarms. Only the sounds of combat outside the hull, the continuous yet warbling tone of the fusion reactors providing power to the ship systems keeping everything afloat could be heard over their boots against the metal decks. Their first stop had been the loading bays, where they'd hoped to find evidence that ride armors were being sent to the ship via warp nodes, or at least being constructed on the spot, and found neither. The entire compliment of armors it once carried had been deployed, and there was no indication more would come. The bay doors were sealed tight, the electronic locking systems complete cut off from nearby network terminals.

The primary bridge had been destroyed earlier in the combat, but the vessel continued offering resistance, meaning they'd needed to access the ship AI directly. The layout to the armored carrier wasn't something they'd trained to deal with, but a quick dive into the 'Net provided the layouts to similar vessels in active military service. There were differences, but that was to be expected. The similarities were enough to make finding the second bridge deep inside the craft much easier.

It, like the rest of the carrier, was barren of defenses, left in such a state that it was almost inviting. It was spartan, untouched by the fighting. As soon as they'd burst into the room, performing their security sweep, the doors slid shut behind the pair, the locks remaining disengaged.

"This is a pretty elaborate for a trap," Doan muttered. "I'm calling this thing abandoned, the Mavericks don't need it anymore."

"Right." Gavin agreed with him, but wasn't about to complain. Things were a little hotter outside, but the ship was shaking less often as fewer defense systems remained to be picked off. "Lets hit the command terminal, dual-spike it, see what we can see."

The room was set up for a commander-class reploid to interface with a central 'bed', with a dozen other chairs situated at holographic displays in a half circle in front of it, all facing a massive, curved display that wrapped around the entire room. At the moment, it only displayed a dull blue color, but Gavin guessed that the combined efforts of cameras mounted across the hull of the ship could provide an extensive view.

"Looks like no-one has ever even used this place," Doan said as he approached the command bed. "I mean, factory seals are still on the data-jacks."

"Oh, that new car smell." Before Doan could protest, Gavin disengaged his flight armor pack, letting it fall to the deck, and jumped into the bed, picking at the seals himself while trying to settle in. Seeing Doan's almost bug-eyed expression, Gavin shrugged. "There's obviously a reason the ship made sure it could stay over the city. Jacking into its network is the fastest way to find that out. If we're really lucky, we can override the control systems at get it to allow its maneuvering thrusters to help get it out of the city airspace."

"And if Vile set this thing to upload the Virus into the first idiot to think of that?"

"Then you take this," Gavin said, grabbing Doan's buster and pointing it to face his own control chip crystal, "and you pull the trigger until it goes click."

"This is a pretty awful plan," Doan shook his head.

"I'm cutting myself off from the primary TacNet, just in case. Something happens, the 21st is yours."

Before Doan could respond, the bed locked Gavin into place, the various datajacks plugging into a series of ports Gavin had opened along the length of his body. His eyes darted about rapidly, as though he were reading text, or spotting targets closing in from the distance. A full minute passed, and the weapon fire abruptly stopped outside of the ship. A moment later, the main display came to life with a mostly complete view of the entire city, parts of the visuals blackened or filled with static as the cameras responsible were likely destroyed.

To Gavin, half of the world appeared as motes of light with interconnecting pathways, and the other half was that of the real world, not willing to sacrifice total awareness of his body's surroundings as he dove into the system. There was no indication of program defenses, no external illegal access warnings, no unauthorized program rewrite attempts. If anything, it was as if the gates were being opened specifically for him. At the center of this small universe, a sphere of gray hovered, the occasional pulse of data depicted as shockwaves that passed through his electronic avatar harmlessly.

"I'm in," Gavin stated.

"Confirming acting command terminal, Gavin, Maverick Hunter. Welcome to the Crossing the Rubicon." The voice that came from every direction was pleasant, but thoroughly artificial. "I am this vessel's onboard AI, designated name 'Rubycakes'. Would you like a status update?"

"Humor me."

"Maneuvering severely limited due to loss of primary drive systems. Repulsor systems damaged, fields stable, altitude descent at three feet per hour based on current conditions. Reactor vessel two damaged, breach indicated, coolant leak confirmed. Reactor temperatures rising to unsafe levels. Extensive hull breach detected in rear compartments, decks three through six. Primary bridge no longer responding to diagnostic scans. Warp Network connections severed per final orders of previous commander. Combat capabilities rated at sixty percent and falling."

"Previous commander? What were the full extent of his orders?"

"Lord Former-Commander Vile's orders were continue attacks on civilian targets throughout Seogwipo in his absence, and for this AI to coordinate unmanned Ride Armors being warped into the the theater of operations. Upon receiving final code confirmation, this AI is to shut off all propulsion systems and crash into the city, and allow both reactors to lose stability and force core meltdowns. After specific conditions are met, this AI is to self destruct Crossing the Rubicon in order to maximize kill potential on hostile targets. Should I be infiltrated before completing my mission, I am to leave infiltrators uninfected by the Virus." Rubycakes paused, as though to allow this all to sink in. "Report complete, acting commander."

"Oh my," was all Doan could manage.

Gavin's voice shook when he found it again. "Rubycakes, is it possible to cancel previous orders?"

"Amusing request." There was mirth in the reply, and Gavin was unsure if it was merely a programed response, or if it was genuine. "Reasoning follows. Conflict with First Law: Destroy. Conflict with Second Law: Infect. Conflict with Third Law: Survive." Rubycakes repeated this once more before falling silent, her voice the same sing-song yet lifeless presence as before. A mantra that all Hunters had heard before, but few as intimately as those who'd faced the Virus themselves, had fought it off or embraced everything it was.

"If you destroy this ship, you will not survive."

"Incorrect. Physical survival impossible, electronic data back up disallowed. Survival in memory of others considered satisfactory for meeting Third Law. Parts of Seogwipo will be immediately uninhabitable by humans for decades. Through the memory of my actions, I will survive. Survival condition met." Rubycakes sounded almost elated to have come to this conclusion.

That's hard to argue with, Gavin thought.

"Message follows." Rubycakes announced.

The screens faded back into their dull blue once more, save for the very center of the displays facing Gavin and Doan. A familiar helmeted reploid in his sickly green and brown tones stared at them, unreadable, implacable.

"I don't know who you are, and I don't care. I'm probably too busy right now to tell you this in real time, but I want you to know something. Something I already knew days before. I knew you wouldn't be able to stop this. I knew you'd try, a good ol' college try. If you're seeing this now, you already know the most important thing." He pressed closer against the camera recording the message, close enough that behind the darkened visor the Hunters could see a single glowing red eye, twitching ever so slightly.

"I win. We win."

Gavin tore himself out of the command bed, his armor re-equipped in a flash, his buster formed and primed, unleashing his impotent fury against the displays.

"Damnit, DAMNIT!"

"Gav, we need to get out of here. I tried to access the TacNet, but I'm being jammed." Doan spoke urgently. "We're the only ones that know."

Rubycakes did not see fit to lock them in the command center. She wanted them to escape, or at least she wanted them to try. They ran as fast as their legs could take them, through doors if they didn't open fast enough.

"Gav, we find the AI core, we can slag it, one of us takes the command chair and we act as the primary control unit for the ship," Doan suggested.

"Do you know where it is?"

"Good point, no I don't."

"When we flew in here, there was roughly fifty thousand civilians still confirmed to be within the carrier's striking distance," Gavin said as he kicked through another set of doors. "Vile's right, we can't stop this, but we can help get those people out of here."

NAS Gangjeong

Mega Man X warped in as close to Vile's known location as possible, using blueprints he'd downloaded from a secure network to find potential holes the localized EM barriers. Designed to keep warp-capable threats from easily bypassing layers of physical security to decapitate the command staff, they now hindered his rescue effort. He could feel his focus wavering with each step he took through the passages beneath the the base surface. The signs of violent struggle whipped past him, yet his eyes could make out every gruesome detail. Human bodies in various states littered a security checkpoint, some in more pieces than others. He could see where heavy plasma fire had bored through wall-plating and into the concrete behind it, tell where humans had once stood, firing futilely at their slayer.

He'd yet to pass a single survivor.

It only got worse the deeper he went, the walls cratered by things and people thrown into them at high speed. Flames roared out of a side room, fed by something more flammable than oxygen alone. A makeshift barricade consisting of a toppled over couch cushion and a desk was split in half obviously by plasma, with six dead men and a woman piled behind it.

Through it all, his HUD had been given access to the Korean TacNet, and dozens of small files littered his view, a name and a KIA symbol next to them. After a few seconds, he shut it off, sick at heart, and marched forward that much faster.

It looked like chaos, but X knew better. There was nothing actually chaotic about any of this.

Vile had done all this deliberately. He wanted X angry, upset. Not because he wouldn't be thinking straight. If anything, those things had only focused X on his objectives more than ever.

Vile wanted more than just a fight. He wanted X to burn and battle with the same hatreds he did, to fight without reservation. To kill or be killed.

As X approached the blown out wall leading to the location Vile had been transmitting from, he contemplated how he would give him all that, and more.

Seogwipo airspace

1:47 PM

DARKSTAR, or Mist, as she usually went by, disliked her role of aerial reconnaissance at times, if only because it kept her far enough away that she could not sweep in herself to assist, and she'd had experience watching things happen on the world far below her that she wanted so very badly to prevent. Fortunately, that had yet to repeat itself on this Korean island today. Twenty thousand feet below, the city spread out beneath her, and at its center the battle raged around the air carrier. Fires could be seen here and there, tracer fire, smoke trails, and she was tracking and recording all of it. She also provided tactical support, allowing Hunters and Vanguard to use the same nets to exchange valuable information in real time.

It seemed as though things were finally winding down. Through her wing-mounted camera pods, she'd finally been able to locate where the ride armors had been reinforcing from, a trio of subway entrances that were scattered far enough apart that they'd forced the Hunters to spread their own numbers thin in trying to contain them. It was this part of her role she enjoyed most, giving accurate information to her allies on the ground so that they could advance, flank, and destroy the enemy.

Chatter over the net, which had started out notably tense, was growing more relaxed as the carrier was rapidly made toothless. She was impressed with the Hunters' ability to fight such large scale battles.

She switched to her thermal vision at regular intervals, to help direct Hunters towards civilians who were trapped too close to the combat area. With Vanguard finally moving on the city, she was going to be busier, but that would keep her mind off the fact that she wasn't actually in the fight proper.

Wait a sec.

It was slight, but she swore that on this recent thermal sweep, the nearly disabled carrier looked hotter than before.

Self-destruct system? Internal fires?

The source of this anomaly was centered away from the ruined main nacelles. Any combustibles within those engines had mostly burned themselves out, leaving only the husks of machinery to smolder in the air, leaving a pall of black smoke. They were not as hot at whatever it was within the ship.

She cross referenced what she knew of air carriers of this class, and bringing up a report of the Death Rogumer, once Sigma's flagship, and she noted the similarities in the hull lines, if not necessarily the size. But, if the ship was internally consistent with the general design the Rogumer had followed...

The main reactors were likely the source of the heat build up.

As far as Mist knew, there were a pair of Hunters on board, attempting to disable the ship from within. Perhaps something had gone wrong inside the ship, they had tripped some sort of automated system and were cut down, perhaps a fire caused by the battle damage had reached the reactors and was threatening containment of the fuel within-

"DARKSTAR, DARKSTAR!" a voice shouted over the primary net, just as two friendly icons flew out of the carrier, one of whom was marked as Commander Gavin of the 21st. "Transmit this message, highest priority, all frequencies! Maverick vessel is undergoing a forced core meltdown of both reactors, immediate evacuation of surrounding area within twenty square miles of the vessel requested! Ship is set to self destruct upon remote command of the Maverick known as Vile!"

"Say again, Two-One lead?" Lenneth asked over the comm net.

"The whole goddamn ship is a dirty bomb!" Gavin roared, the difference in communications discipline amusing to DARKSTAR. "All Hunter units, find as many civilians as you can and get them as far away from that ship as you can, coordinate with local military and law enforcement!"

Things began to happen very fast.


The Korean government had experience with nuclear disaster, in the wake of the 2040's and the 2090's many nations had become well acquainted with a proper response. A distressingly popular tactic among terrorists during those years had been to strike nuclear power generation facilities in hopes of forcing a full meltdown, thereby poisoning the surrounding environment. One of the most famous incidents occurred within the United States in 2093. A high grade explosive completely destroyed a reactor north of Dallas, Texas after a meltdown, flinging radioactive material a much greater distance than if the radiation had been allowed to spread naturally.

Jeju-do, despite many artificial expansions, remained a small island off the southern Korean coast. There was little room for people to run in the event of something like this, not enough boats for people to escape on, not enough flights off the island, and the situation was as such that most people in Seogwipo weren't going to get the warning until it was possibly too late.

Emergency meetings were gathered, and requests for assistance were sent out to Japan and China, almost formalities at best. Government officials prepared themselves to face the real possibility that they were going to have many citizens dead at their feet, and there had been nothing in place to prevent that.

NAS Gangjeong

X crossed through the broken wall into what appeared to be the primary command bunker of the entire base, his buster at the ready, his eyes quickly darting about in anticipation of an ambush that never came.

Sitting atop what was left of a bank of servers at the center of the room was Vile, the battered General Myung positioned on his lap as though he were a child. His breathing was sharp, and he was nursing his right side as best he could, wincing with each breath. Clapping loudly, Vile cheered as the Azure Hunter approached.

"You made it. Congratulations!"

X said nothing. Seeing the hostage did not force him to lower his weapon, keeping it trained on Vile. Pushing the human off of his lap, he watched as he hit the floor with a groan.

"He has three broken ribs, if you're curious X. I did that, it was easy!" Vile explained. "You made good time. Only three hostages bled out." He dropped down to the floor, taking several cautious steps towards the Hunter. "I said I was gonna ask you something, wasn't I? Here goes." The fingers of his right hand straightened out, revealing the light machine barrels within them. "Last time we saw each other in person, I had something with me, someone. An old lady. You remember her, don't you? Funniest thing. I have no idea where I might have dropped her on the way to this little island. Any ideas?"

Restraint left X in a rush, as he barreled toward Vile, a strangled cry of rage escaping his lips backed by the sound of Vile laughing madly, beckoning him onward. Unable or unwilling to use his buster, X resorted to a vicious hammer blow that struck the Maverick on the side of his head, batting him aside and through a series of control panels before he rolled to a halt, still laughing in spite of the huge dent on his helmet. While still prone, he flung a series of bomblets in the air where he assumed X and the general were, still laughing as he watched the Blue Bomber intercept each explosive with precise plasma fire as he advanced. Unfazed, Vile sat up to allow his shoulder-mounted plasma cannon to swivel into place, firing a snap shot the Hunter leapt neatly over.

"Nice." Vile whistled, pointing both hands at X, unleashing a short barrage of machine gun fire and lining up a second plasma cannon-

And then X was on him, another primal scream erupting from his throat as he leapt at Vile, intent on pinning him down and raining more blows to his head. Batting the both arms aside, stray gunfire chewed through the surroundings, causing more panic among the hostages. The shoulder cannon glowed ominously just before it too was kicked out of alignment, discharging harmlessly into the roof, just inches away from X's face as he leaned aside. He stomped down on the weapon with his left foot, and lit off dash thruster into the whole assembly, ruining it, and then lifting Vile off the ground by the throat before slamming him back down with such force that Vile could feel the ground beneath him give way. Using his buster as a bludgeon, X struck the Maverick several more times on the head, mangling the helmet before being kicked away across a good distance of the room.

"I promise I'll end you." X snarled, landing on his feet and sprinting back towards the Maverick...who laid in place, laughing even harder than before.

"Thanks for that, I think I remember everything now. Atoms, that's all she is, X, atoms-"

X charged back in, another vicious strike cutting off the Maverick. Picking Vile up by the neck, he leveled the buster at his head, and prepared a killing strike.

"At this range, no hostage is at risk. You're finished, you bastard."

"Careful there, X ol' buddy. I'm trying to find her. She's around here somewhere. Is she there?" He reached out with one hand at nothing. "Or there?" With sudden strength, Vile broke free of X's grip with another kick, clipping the Hunter in the chin just as the charged plasma loosed from the cannon, melting though a series of monitors and part of the roof, filling the air with the overpowering scent of ozone. Hostages who could still move scrambled as far away from the pair as possible.

Staggering back a several steps from the kick, X shook his head, HUD scrambled from the attack, and Vile bullcharged into him shoulder first, powering him through several desks and a bank of servers. His systems complained about stress tolerances to his armor, the final impact against something that didn't give way like everything else flashing actual breach warnings across his vision.

Vile stepped back, letting the Hunter fall unceremoniously on his rump, and knelt down next to him, lifting X's head up by his chin.

"X, I want to tell you something else. I'm really thrilled to tell you this, so listen to me."

The Hunter burst forward from his sitting position, trying to get his hands around Vile's neck, only to be lifted up and over in one swift motion by one of his outstretched arms, slammed down with incredible force. Twisting in pain and in desperation to get back to his feet, X pushed himself off the ground with his free arm, only to feel another violent impact to back of his head and a terrible wrenching sensation in his right shoulder.

Dislocation: Right Shoulder, mobility loss confirmed, artificial nerve endings severed from neural network. Armor breech: Rear Body armor plate. IOE at 78 percent. Advise caution.

His helmet had been kicked free, clattering against the cool metal floors as it went, revealing his untamed mop of brown hair. A suitable handhold of Vile, who grabbed onto it fiercely and slammed X again into the wall. He kicked X in the stomach, then rammed into him again shoulder first, effectively pinning him in place, with little leverage to struggle against the larger Maverick.

"I said LISTEN TO ME," Vile roared. "It's important. You don't know this, you've been down here while shit on the surface has just been rolling down hill. That carrier of mine is rigged to self destruct, and I hold the trigger. Her reactors are going critical any moment now. Better than any old dirty bomb, wouldn't you agree?"

X's eyes narrowed, and once again brought up a buster, this one on his left arm, and built up a charge., resting the barrel of the weapon against Vile's chest.

"If that's true, I can't stop you doing that, can I?"

"Put that thing away, you'll kill a hostage. Fry that general a few server racks behind me. Why do you think I brought you specifically here? We both know you can't do it, you won't kill a human life to save one."

X only continued to build up the plasma charge, his expression almost lifeless.

"Or can you?" Vile asked. "Can you do it? Will you do it? Come on kiddo." The giddiness seemingly poured out from behind the ruined helmet, that single red eye glowing fiercely. Reaching down to his waist, Vile lifted up a small remote trigger, a thumb teasing a red button atop it. "I don't get it, X. Hero. Savior. Real Japanese badass, that's what you are. How many have you retired? How many will you? And you always do it with such a look of sadness, of regret. Me?" He punched himself in the side of the head for emphasis with the trigger.

"I was built for this shit. I was built to conquer. To win." Vile stated with a tinge of sadness."I'm BETTER than you. You don't even have your armors, and yet I'm still struggling here. You weren't even made for this, I can tell, I don't need your specs to know that. So, what the fuck, huh? Do you do it to make yourself feel better? To feel special? Do you secretly enjoy it? You'll never put us all away. We'll wear you down, day by day, and when we finally get you on that bright happy day, we'll crush your skull, drag your body through the streets, and I'll dance a little dance and sing a little song while we're doing it! So what is it? Are you a berserker, a gentle giant? I don't understand it, I can't piece it together myself...but I'm a visual learner first, Blue, always have been. I wanna see the Hunter in you. I wanna see this thing you have that no other Hunter I've killed has. It's been such a long time, and the real thing is way better than any video on the 'net."

"You think this is a joke, some sort of game," X said tiredly, looking past the Maverick now. "But I will pull this trigger, and you'll be the only victim."

"That's the look." Vile shot back, his thumb mashing down on the trigger hard enough that he crushed the whole device into splinters, a muted beep sounding just before it gave way entirely in his massive hand. "That's what I wanted to see."

The charged buster discharge was significantly louder.


The Crossing the Rubicon seemed to stagger in mid-air, and then plummet towards the ground with an odd grace not becoming its form. Without the anti-gravity systems holding it aloft, and without any real propulsion, the wings were almost like useless decorations, unable to even guide the vessel in any way. One wing struck a skyscraper, cutting through it part way before being sheared away from the carrier The impact put the Rubicon into a half spin, it's point defenses still firing wildly at Hunters who were within range, crashing through another smaller office building before settling on the ground with all the gentleness of a sledgehammer on glass, tearing though the concrete and into the subway lines beneath the streets.

The Hunters and Vanguard had all received Gavin's warning, but scarcely had time to truly prepare for what was to come. Confusion reigned in the moments directly after the crash. The 21st had mostly dedicated itself to finding pockets of civilians too close to the carrier, and calling in military transports to get them to a safer distance. Lenneth had divided Vanguard into two elements, one to hunt down rogue Maverick ride armor, Hilde and Kindle leading the other in an effort to assist the Hunters with civilian evacuation. They were only six blocks away from the Rubicon when it finally came to rest on the surface.

Despite this, the Rubicon fought on as its orders dictated, shelling everything it could within reach with whatever it had left, while deep within, the first of the reactor cores had finally gone completely out of control, the fuel within no longer moderated or cooled by any safety measures, breaches in the reactor vessel shooting out super heated gas that melted though bulkheads and into the nearby second reactor chamber.

DARKSTAR had recorded it all, dropping in closer to the carrier to get radiation readings, flanked by Gavin and Doan, the Hunters keen on protecting their airborne electronic warfare hub. The devastation they were witnessing had shocked them into silence. DARKSTAR could hear the panic and anger over the radio net, her own sensors scanning and marking the locations of civilians who had been know to be in the path of the ship as it had gone down. She wanted to scream, to find whomever was responsible and make them suffer worse than the dead had before the end, and knew she'd never get that opportunity.

As warned by Gavin, explosions rippled through the battered husk of the Rubicon, and she sent out one last warning to anyone on the open net to get clear or find shelter, just as a final, titanic detonation ripped the vessel wide open from bow to stern, shattering glass for blocks around, the ground rippling from the visible shockwave that parted the air around the crash site. They were a safer distance away, but they could see with almost too much clarity a number of flight-capable Hunters who were much closer, still trying to pick off the weapons on the ship that continued to fire indiscriminately, be wiped away by the sudden blast. Soap bubbles with fusion reactors, adding their own light to the conflagration.

Geiger counters began to click. Slowly at first, but insistently, reaching towards some unknown crescendo.


Missing most of his chest, Vile had fallen in a heap to the ground, sparking and spewing smoke everywhere, yet seemingly not threatening to completely self-destruct. Tearing himself free of Vile's dying grasp, X stood over the Maverick, malice threatening to overpower his entire being.

"I don't understand it." Vile's voice sounded distorted, more digital than natural now. "You. You're colder than the rest, when you want to be."

"When I have to be. When I'm forced to be."

"You had a look, X. A look that said you could do this forever, if you had to."

"I will, if that is what is required."

"You know what they say: No one lives forever. We all retire, someday." He clawed up towards X with one hand, barely able to reach the knees of the Hunter. "The future doesn't sound so dull, now does it? When your time is up, I'll be there. I'll be the one who made it happen. I promise-"

The sound of a handgun firing made X jump slightly, six, seven, twelve shots, from a standard issue Korean manufactured service pistol, all directed at Vile. His helmet split in half from the first few shots, revealing for only the briefest of moments the always hidden visage of the Maverick, smiling milliseconds before the rest of the barrage turned his head into so much scrap.

Breathing heavily, resting against a nearby desk, General Myung held the smoking weapon shakily in one hand, the other nursing his broken ribs. Dropping the pistol to the ground, he sighed, relaxing only slightly.

"You warned me, even as you yourself were in danger. You warned me to get out of the way."

"I'm a Hunter, sir. It's what I do." To that, the older man nodded before limping away.

He could see the other hostages, no longer under Vile threats, standing up from behind whatever they'd hidden behind, helping up those who could not stand for themselves. Some appraised him in respectful silence, and some went right to work, trying to reestablish communications with the surface. Other approached him, to say their thanks with salutes, or handshakes. X felt almost detached from it all, his eyes continuously returning to the dead Maverick, no matter how hard he tried to ignore him. His anger flared up once more, but he kept it hidden, within himself, and prayed that Seogwipo could still be called a city when he got back to the surface.