Episode Twenty-Five

Eve—The Angel Loses Her Wings

"Fight!"

Leena had not yet had the pleasure of seeing Fuma's Bio Tyranno close up. Though, when the beast let loose its first Charged Particle Cannon and broiled away the desert, she gained the distinct displeasure of knowing the smell of burnt Zoid.

Jamie, Pierce, and Bit had already launched their flyers into the air, and Harry and the others soon headed out towards the Crescent, set on destroying the ZBC's laser cannons. Her father left soon after, making a path towards the wreck of the Hammerhead within his invisible Hover Cargo. She had been unable to dissuade him going; he had cut her off before she could even finish speaking. The nerve…from her own father!

"Lighten up, little sis'," Leon smiled at the frown he caught on her face.

"We need to be serious. I have half a mind to go rogue and wipe that smile off of your face."

"You are a walking oxymoron."

"And you are impossible," she grouched, moodily having her Gunsniper give him the cold shoulder while half-heartedly scanning her targeting system over the surrounding area.

There was a burst of sound and commotion, and her and Leon turned their heads towards the Crescent, which now spewed hundreds of Strikers. They washed over Fuma's feet like a wave, spilling in a fluid crescendo, and began across the expanse towards them.

Leon glanced up at Bit, then at the Lightning Team and Sanders that surrounded him. His eyes settled on Leena who was now fully focused on the incoming tide. She had already known it would be her job to protect the other warriors' backs as they fought the Deathsaurer, even though they had all agreed to try and fight side by side.

"Leena—good luck. I know you can do it."

"Thanks, Leon." Then, dryly, "Just don't block my comm-link too."

Now the Strikers were only a few hundred yards away, and Naomi inevitably called to her. "Leena, we need your guns on this mob."

"On it." Before her words had finished traveling through the ether she had launched, propelling herself on her Gunsniper's long legs towards the battleground that had caught her eye. She fired a few warning shots from her Gatling gun while in motion, gathering their attention and keeping them from veering off. "Hello boys, you remember the Leena Special unit, don't you?"

She put both her fingers on the triggers, and missiles flew everywhere. They fell on the approaching Strikers like a rainbow of bombs, and it was beauty to her eyes.

At this point she'd definitely caught their attention, and that was where things got dicey. They tried to circle around her, but she quickly put her back to the frozen Gun Blaster she'd spied. With the giant Ankylosaurus Zoid to protect her, she wouldn't have to worry about them jumping on her head. The Blaster's porcupine-like array of guns on its back would be impossible for them to navigate.

Then it was all in the dance. They'd move forward and she'd push back, a continual twist of the feet to keep the majority in front of her and mercy to her weaponry. She was even being careful with her ammo—well, maybe not. She did enjoy watching the husks pile up…

And, of course, that small bit of vanity had been her mistake. A bright red Striker launched itself off of a ramp made of its downed teammates, and she only had time to see it block out the sun before it landed on her side, knocking her to her knees. It was a moment of vulnerability that they cashed in on, and the swarm closed in, weighing her down.

She struggled with the controls, a bubble of fear and dismay in her throat. I lost too quickly! She turned her head from side to side, searching for help, and her eyes caught a shadow within the Gun Blaster. There was a pilot inside.

A howl pulled her attention away—the howl of a Wolf—and an invisible blur shot down from the Blaster's back and made quick work of the closest Strikers. She was left to shoot her way to standing. Though she was a tad annoyed that this Wolf had waited so long to help—and indirect help at that—she couldn't deny that the pilot had skill. The Wolf moved so quickly and so expertly; the only way to guess its path was to see its trail of destruction.

Suddenly the blur landed in front of her, and she recognized the hazy outline and the small head that gave her an appraising glance. A Command Wolf, with a male pilot (because it had to be a man who piloted a Zoid that stood with such cocky confidence and eyed her with such swagger.)

"Hey, thanks." She tapped into his comm-link, but he didn't respond. She couldn't even access his vid-screen, so he must have been blocking her.

In the lapse of her concentration, a beam fired and knocked out a nearby Striker. With a wave of astonishment she realized the Gun Blaster, however much it may have looked it, wasn't truly out of commission…it was sniping in plain sight.

The Wolf looked at her, then at the person hidden within the Gun Blaster. They were teammates. Then he leapt back into the battle, and she followed.

"Jamie, I'll be tied up for awhile. I'm sorry, good luck with Fuma."

"As if I need luck," the Wild Eagle replied with an air of distraction, giving her a wink before separating from her link. He rolled quickly, flipping out of the way of a group of missiles. "Cloud!" He yelled back at Bit who had lagged behind instead of fighting with him against these Eagles. "Should I get you some popcorn, or are you going to help?"

"That's what I'm here for," Pierce responded with a smirk. Then she jerked her chin towards the friendly group of fliers close behind her.

"Oh great, cannon fodder. I mean…how lucky for us, you've brought a group of Pteras'. That will surely have them shaking in their boots."

Five of the new enemy Zoids altered their trajectory, and the Wild Eagle immediately knew they were tracking him. He pulled the stick back, tilting his nose upwards and launching himself upward to prevent them from surrounding him. The Buster Eagles stopped playing coy and hit their thrusters, climbing in altitude along with him.

Altogether they formed a large cone in the sky, he the point and them the base, and as a group they tossed the cloud layer to the wayside.

At this height Jamie was running out of options. He couldn't rise much further, and if he leveled out they'd catch him before he could attack. A normal pilot would have called for backup, or just gave in and ejected. Jamie would have seen the reason in either of those choices. The Wild Eagle's tactics, though, did not contain any weak-spirited solutions. If he needed to attack, he attacked.

Four of the Wild Eagle's missiles spiraled up into the air, chugging little smoke trails behind them. The air was getting thin, and his engine's available power began to taper out; the Raynos started decelerating. He was losing maneuverability with each passing second, but so were his four missiles. They wavered in the air above him, spiraling unstable, then lost their energy and tumbled back down towards him.

The Wild Eagle grinned. These Buster Eagles were about to understand why so many of his enemies ended up on their back wondering what went wrong. The Raynos swiveled and pivoted and danced between the bullets, hiding them from his enemy's eyesight until that last possible moment, then corkscrewed away.

The Wild Eagle knew, however superb the Zoid, its pilot was the limiting factor. One Eagle fell prey, unable to dodge, and the missiles bloomed along its body.

He smirked. "When am I going to get a challenge—Whoa!"

Just as he'd broken the cloud barrier, with the four eagles trailing him, he'd almost broken his beak on a blue and white hawk-type Zoid. "Pierce! Where did that Hurricanehawk come from? It wasn't on radar!"

The Buster Eagles were just as blindsided by the new Zoid, and Pierce took advantage of it by flying right through their pack and taking another enemy out of commission. "It's S Class, from the Bitegriffon Team. Maybe you should take notes."

The Wild Eagle grumbled under his breath, and Pierce laughed loudly as she took her Stormsworder into another area of the battle.

Jamie was very humble. So the Wild Eagle was very not. He was going to defeat these last three eagles without any help from a stupid little hawk. He just needed a wild idea. And there it was: the perfect opportunity. It was down below him in the form of a dozen Stealth Vipers, twelve oblivious snakes who were going to play right into his hand.

The Wild Eagle dove, and his last three pursuers followed suit, closing in behind the Raynos quickly. Although the dive was high speed, and he closed in on the Crescent in record time, the straight path was to his disadvantage. In seconds he heard the beep of their targeting system and the whine of flying missiles.

It lost the Wild Eagle his last few precious seconds, the ones he needed to end this battle swiftly. Dodging too early would be futile; the eagles already in his slipstream would have ample time to dodge his trap—the wall of cobras littering the Crescent's roof.

He adapted quickly—sacrificing a tactic and rolling ninety degrees while tucking his wings in. "Kirkland, jump!"

Kirkland heard the call through his comm-link, and glanced upward in a moment of confusion. He was graciously provided the terrifying sight of a Raynos, three Buster Eagles, and fiery missiles bearing down on his head. But where he normally would have cringed, some reflex obeyed and he jumped, heaving his Zabrefang and the two Stealth Vipers crawling along his back a full ten feet in the air.

In that precise second, Jamie swept by him at full tilt, angled so drastically that their cockpits nearly brushed. The Wild Eagle had a wicked grin on his face, a grin that stayed behind Kirkland's eyelids even after the missiles slammed into the Vipers on his back and nearly wrenched him over the edge of the wall.

His claws scrabbled for purchase on the sleek metal, but just as they caught a Buster Eagle slammed into the roof only feet from him, the force of which swept him cleanly off of the edge. The back of his mind reasoned that the flying Zoid must have lost control while maneuvering in the close quarters of the roof, wiping out the remaining Vipers in its crash, which was lucky for the rest of his team. "Fat lot of good it does me though," he mused aloud, "since I'm falling to my death."

His brain caught up with the sickening lurch of his stomach. "To my death!?"

He shrieked, and Mary came swinging out of the yawning blue to catch him in her huge Zoidian palm. Together, they re-enacted a scene from King Kong until his last scream died down.

"Are you alright now, damsel?" Mary asked cheekily.

Kirkland blushed in shame, "Yes." Lineback's laughing furthered his humiliation, but a pretty flutter of Mary's eyelashes in his direction bolstered him. Back in leader mode, he was able to look around the rooftop and determine they were safe for the moment, though that wasn't the case for Jamie. "Two against one, you think he'll make it out on top?"

The Wild Eagle cackled through the radio waves. "I could eat two eagles for breakfast!"

Omari's eyebrows inched up his face. "I certainly hope not."

"Is it pylon breaking time yet?" Mary asked innocently, smashing one gorilla fist into another.

"I think I'm in love," Omari said, supplying his teammates with a nauseatingly wistful sigh.

"Stop falling in love with every girl in your air space. You don't stand a chance!" Kirkland pointed at the nearest pylon. "Now let's destroy these Charged Particle Cannons!"

—

Directly below the feet of the Zabrefangs, just a few levels down, Oscar and Dr. Toros crept through the bleach white walls of the Crescent. It was a vast building, but they had quickly covered lots of ground in their search for a way to control the ZBC's Charged Particle Cannons; the deep rumble that went through the base following each firing was enough to spur them on whenever they felt discouraged.

"I'm positive we passed this painting before. I made fun of this guy's mustache, didn't I?"

Oscar raised his eyebrows. "Negative, due to impossibility." Steve gave him a look that said Oh, and what makes you the expert? "We can't go in circles in a semicircular floor plan, after all."

Another Boom! echoed through the corridor, and both men looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Could that have been the CPCs again? It sounded so close," Oscar said.

"Maybe it was the laser cannons—or maybe the Tigers team actually blew something up."

The aviator had his head titled to the right, still listening. "No," he mused. "It was a handgun."

Steve looked pensive, then, in a flurry of movement, grabbed Oscar's overalls and hauled them towards the sound. "Whoever it was must know their way around this place."

"Superb. Let's just get closer to—" Oscar was cut off as a nearby door swished open; he and Steve barely having time to hurtle into the nearest open doorway. They held their breath as the man with the still-smoking gun walked right by them.

Oscar let out a breath of relief, while Dr. Toros whistled quietly. "This lab is a wreck."

"Can we please focus on our potential murderer?"

"But look…Zoid models…" Oscar growled his name in the background, but the Doc ignored him, walking quickly over to a small Whale King. "This is the Great Whale King!" Dr. Toros flipped the model in his hands over, astonished. "It must be Laon's..."

Oscar waited quietly while his friend turned new eyes on the broken lab. Finally, he said, "Our lead is getting away."

Dr. Toros nodded quickly, stuffing the model into the pockets of his lab coat. "You're right. The longer we take, the more things get blown to smithereens."

They inched out of the doorway and steadily followed the mystery man's fading footsteps. Together they climbed three more levels before the man finally stopped in front of a wide set of metallic doors. They heard him cursing as he had trouble with the fingerprint scanner before he was allowed to enter.

"That must be the command center," Oscar said, nodding towards the doors.

"And that must be Polta." Steve finished for him, having recognized the former Backdraft pilot. "Now we just wait for him to leave."

"Or we bust in."

The two good friends exchanged a glance, betraying their slight fear. But they both nodded simultaneously. "Ready?"

"Go."

The three Saix's fell into step, accelerating towards the first enemy Zoid.

The Lightning Team had to get rid of whatever was blocking the communication channels, and they had tracked the source to the roof of the Crescent, and these strange Dimetrodon-type Zoids. Their enemy was long, with a huge bladed fin along its back. It wasn't a Zoid Jack recognized, but it didn't look very fast, so it would lose in the end anyways.

Jack pulled ahead and the girls fanned around him—giving him cover as he went for the first strike. He leapt, claw outstretched for its laser attack, but the enemy pivoted and swung a charged tail right into his side.

He tumbled, Strike Laser Claw digging into the roof, and the pilot, an older man, called him through the vid-screen. "A sleepy attack like that isn't going to stop a Dark Spiner," he said smugly. "It's not just a new Zoid, it's a new breed of Zoid. Three against one might help you, but…" his voice trailed off and he shrugged, smiling cockily.

"His name is McNair," Chris said, using the grainy signal only usable in close quarters. "He's the Desert Gang's leader."

"What's he doing up here, then?" Jack grumbled, getting to his feet. He quickly measured the distance of the roof, deciding that while there wasn't as much room as he would have liked, there was definitely enough. "Let's try that hurricane thing."

"It's called…oh forget it." Chris rolled her eyes. Kelly chuckled as she leapt to race around the Dark Spiner, her teammates quickly melding into her circle. They sped up, faster, until they were a whirling torpedo of metal, sure to confuse their enemy.

McNair stood placidly, an amused smile on his face. He let them have their fun while he moseyed his machine guns into position. All he'd have to do is fire straight, and he was sure to hit one of the three. Then the remaining two would crash. Like dominos, he thought happily. He expected better tactics from the famous Lightning Team! Oh, well. He'd just have to use his imagination when telling the story later tonight.

He held down the triggers, but he was so caught up with his fantasies that he didn't immediately notice he'd missed. He had barely a second to blink before bullets were raking against his right side. He swiveled to face the Saix, but another round hammered him on the left. He froze in anger, and their circle reconvened.

"So that's how you're going to play it, huh? Wait for me to strike? I'll show you a strike!" He launched two missiles into their path, blowing a crater into the roof. Knowing they'd dodge and attack, he immediately swiveled to his right, catching a Saix barreling towards him.

When McNair had decided to break the floor, Kelly had leapt over the hole while Jack simultaneously ran towards the center to attack. It was his turn anyway, and he thought he'd properly get his claws into him this time while McNair was distracted. Not so.

It was really his fault for thinking McNair would fall for the same trick twice. When the Dark Spiner turned towards him, Jack could only jump while hoping to clear the spines along its back. That, embarrassingly enough, failed terribly as well. The Dimetrodon charged its teeth in a surprise Electron Fang attack—tearing into his back legs. His Saix tumbled and smashed through the sheetmetal array of fins along the Spiner's back, landing on the roof covered in circuitry.

His leg was sparking, but the Dark Spiner was definitely the worse for wear with the Lightning Saix sized hole in its fan. McNair turned to him with fury in his eyes. Then Kirkland yelled for his mother.

"Excuse me?" Kelly asked.

"Mommy?" Kirkland replied, just as shocked.

"How are you…you're too far away." Jack stared around himself in confusion, though the look Chris gave him and the broken electronics underfoot quickly clued him in. He turned his back on the machine guns aiming for his head.

"And where are you going?" McNair shouted, firing.

Jack's Saix burst forward, his hind legs pushing him like a coiled spring. The shots rained down harmlessly behind him. "You weren't much fun. I'm going to try my luck with the other Dark Spiners."

The Dark Spiner lurched forward, but the Tasker twins flitted in front, both firing their back mounted cannons. As McNair reared away with a roar, the girls nodded to Jack.

He nodded back, activating his ion booster and accelerating around the curve of the Crescent towards the second Dark Spiner. If those flimsy spines were the only thing causing all the radio interference, then, by Zoid Eve, he was going to turn this tide, and fast.

. . .

Ba-dump.

"Curse you Nyx-drinking empire-bitten mongrels…"

Ba-dump.

"I need backup!"

Ba-dump.

"Why won't anyone answer?"

Naomi clenched her fists around the controls for her tail unit, sweeping her scope back and forth across the desert. Her heartbeat mimicked the pulses of radar, and with every pump, more enemies speckled her screen. She couldn't see them, but they were swarming her.

It wasn't a fluke. She'd seen those other Zoids attack the Guardian Force from below ground, and they'd decided to turn their sights on her. Maybe they didn't like someone watching their every move. Who would?

She checked her ammo reserves. Not nearly enough. But she wasn't one for full-frontal assault regardless; if she stayed smart she could get in their heads, maybe scare them off. How she would do that without her comm-link working would be a feat unto itself.

Just stay calm. Her neck was starting to hurt from holding this position on her stomach for so long. No it wasn't.

A purple fin breached the surface of the sand, and she flinched. Luckily she saved the bullet. Were these all Warsharks?

No—two sets of fins rose from her left, and she realized what she thought were fins were truly flippers. A bulky head rose between them, followed by a thickly armored shell. Turtles. Cannondivers. Much less to aim at for a successful shot, but she could definitely get her bullets into those fleshy joints. She fired.

If her bullet hit she didn't know, because half a dozen turtles surfaced and turned their searchlights on, blinding her. Knowing she had seconds, she curled her tail towards her and laid her Gunsniper flat on the ground just as a volley of beams flew overhead and into the rock beneath her.

Her perch gave her an advantage for now, and she hoped to use it to its limit before those beam launchers pulverized it. So, she inched her way to the right, wasting precious time as the next wave of turtles formed closer ranks as their brethren covered them. They didn't even need to shoot her. If they got close enough, they could just bury her. Tactically brilliant.

Well, almost. Any average shooter could wipe out a semicircle of sitting turtles. Maybe they couldn't while blinded, but Naomi was no average shooter.

As soon as the next set of beams crunched into her rock, she raised her tail and fired six shots at where they had to be. Five went down. The lights dimmed. Not bad. As the enemy adjusted in shock, she took advantage. A quick reload and another six shots—another six down. "Hah, let's see you try and get closer now—" Missile!

No time to move, or even shoot it out of the sky. It landed directly below her, and the rock crumbled.

There was one moment of weightlessness, then the jarring slam of the ground. Her Gunsniper landed on its back, and she as well, falling from her padded chair and landing with a thud on the curve of her Sniper's spine.

They're moving, they're reloading… she repeated to herself in a rush of adrenaline, brought on by just a twinge of panic. It was a fuel like fire, and with it she arched her back off the former ceiling, slammed her face back into the scope, and started shooting.

. . .

Steve Toros and Oscar Hemeros burst into the room, wrenching the sliding doors aside and leaving them sparking.

What they had believed was a command center was instead a nearly empty room. Metal, snakelike cables threaded through the ground and ended at a nondescript pillar in the center of the room. Besides that, there was only an array of doors leading to a new maze of hallways and rooms. No Polta, and nowhere for him to hide.

"What do you think it is?" Steve asked in wonder.

The two men edged around the pillar, stepping carefully over cables. "Can we focus on Polta, please?" Oscar asked, putting his ear to a metal door and creaking it open to peer into the room beyond.

Steve, who so far had been completely unhelpful, choosing instead to gape at the garden ornament, now turned to grin manically at him. "It's a resonant transformer…with a helix!"

"So…a time machine?"

Steve shook his head, turning adoring eyes back to the coil-pillar. "So much power…"

"Is it a weapon?" Oscar turned back in disbelief. "For the Ultrasaurus?"

Dr. Toros wasn't listening. "I'd go evil for this. You think this is what Laon was after?"

"Steve…you're drooling."

Dr. Toros was just reaching his hands up to touch the pillar when a door slammed open behind Oscar. A cold barrel touched the back of his neck.

"Hands up!" Polta sneered at the good doctor from behind Oscar's head. "You really think you could follow me without my knowledge?"

Both men slowly raised their hands—not that they had any weapons to fight with anyway. Steve's eyes slid back and forth sheepishly. "Dr. Laon here, just poking around."

Polta was frowning, and the light glinted off his white mask and he slid it off to glare at him. "You are not Laon, now start talking."

"I taught him everything he knows," Dr. Toros continued nervously, grinning.

"I know who you are," Polta sneered. His hands whitened on the butt of his gun, and he growled. "You're Steve Toros of the Blitz Team." He jerked his gun to smack Oscar in the head with it. "But who in Helic are you?"

"Custodian."

For some reason that ended up being the cue. Steve laughed loudly and dove behind the transformer. Oscar sidestepped and elbowed Polta in the gut, then turned and delivered a ferocious uppercut. The gun fell slack from Polta's hand, and Oscar quickly kicked it across the room.

Polta recovered enough to lower a shoulder and slam into his sternum. Oscar stumbled backwards, but he was able to get a good punch into Polta's side, tripping the blue-haired man further. Rather than continuing the wrestling match—he really was too old for this—he turned and ran towards where Steve had disappeared behind the pillar. Hopefully that doctor was smart enough to realize two against one were much better odds.

He glanced over his shoulder to see Polta gritting his teeth while holding a hand to his ribcage. His lips pulled back in a snarl, and his expression was murderous. The blue-haired man took a few threatening steps forward, slowly pulling a long knife from another holster. Then it all went wrong.

Electricity arced through the room, running through Polta as if he were a lightning rod. The dads had a moment to fear that they all were about to be fried alive, when something even more terrifying happened. The air opened.

Between Polta and the transformer, space turned pink and crackled, ripping out from nothing. It was an energy—so ancient and dense with power that it forced the two men to their knees.

Steve's head ached and buzzed. And this could have been his head exploding—but he could swear he felt the Whale King toy in his pocket move.

Polta howled in anguish and collapsed to the ground. The light screamed closed.

The silence was so extreme that Steve checked his ears for blood. Polta scrambled away from the pillar like a madman, choking and shivering. His back hit the doorway they'd entered from, and his eyes flicked from the pillar to Steve. They were wild, with just a hint of pink around the edges of his pupils…

Then Polta stood and fled, leaving the two friends alone.

. . .

The Cannondivers hadn't let up. They stood where another had fallen, firing their beams. Most hit the rubble. Some hit her. But that was okay. New angle. More shooting.

"Naomi?"

"Brad?" Her throat was raw. Only then did Naomi realize she had been screaming an inhuman warcry. "Brad!"

"What's wrong?"

"Cannondivers!"

That was all she could spare. They were getting so close. Any closer and they'd just be big blurry shapes in her scope. A mass of white shells, grey guns, and purple underbellies. She just kept firing at anything purple—until she couldn't.

A dark mass rose from the ground, but her one shot ricocheted of the shadow, then it fell over her and she saw nothing. A part of her knew that a Cannondiver had crushed her sniper. It was terrible—not seeing her attacker. Not knowing where its gun aimed, when it would fire. Every second was agonizing. She was dead.

But the hit never came. There was a crunch of metal…an eerie howl…Brad's face in the monitor. The overwhelming rush of gratefulness and relief she felt was enough to make her lightheaded.

He covered her as she fumbled for her forward controls, raising her Zoid to standing as her chair creaked into position behind her. She shuddered, murmuring thank you Zoid Eve, when her small handgun blinked green. Her Gunsniper lurched into position next to Brad.

The Shadowfox kept firing, and Brad met her eyes through the comm-link.

She could form no words, but her expression may have been enough. What she saw, reflected in him, had been. Her throat felt thick and her heart too big in her chest. Even as she returned to battle she blinked back tears, because she knew, knew, she would never have to face the world alone ever again.

. . .

"You sure this is the corridor he came from? It's a dead end." Oscar said.

Steve nodded in return, running his hands over the back wall of the hallway. He wouldn't put it past these people to have a secret trigger. "Why don't you help me?"

"I'm keeping an eye on that transformer."

Steve shrugged and began poking at various rivets in made up patterns. Oscar knew it was strange to have a hallway for nothing, but anyone who built a creepy pillar that could rip open space could build as many hallways as they wanted. He thought it would be more productive to go back and search the other paths leading away from the transformer room, but was hesitant to return and possibly be transmogrified into fried chicken.

He turned back to his friend, who was dancing around animatedly now in his code-breaking. He smiled bemusedly and leaned against the wall—or, at least, tried to. He fell through, you see.

His muffled yelp of surprise brought Steve over. The good doctor looked at the paneled walls and where Oscar now sat. "Genius!" He cried. "An optical illusion. There's a corridor behind the wall!"

Oscar stood and dusted himself off. Why could scientists never be straightforward? They were all crazy.

The two men walked down the dark secret passageway. There was one sharp L turn, and then they emerged in a bright office through another architectural anomaly. Oscar's eyes almost lost the opening as he looked backwards, even though he'd just passed through. Steve immediately went to the computer at the desk, and Oscar moved to the giant glass panels lining the back walls of the office. He could look out on the two ends of the Crescent and the battle being waged on the grounds in front of them.

"You better not tell me I fought through this entire Crescent just for box seats." He turned back to his friend. "What was Polta doing on the computer?"

"He connected to one of the hangars…started mobilizing a Zoid."

"The Pillbug?"

Steve shrugged. As he did, a Charged Particle Cannon blast fired from overhead—a bright line of light that scoured a path through a group of Zoids.

"That's a good reminder of why we're here," Oscar said. He gestured at the computer. "Hurry and override them."

Steve bent to his task, and Oscar moved to the vid-phone, fiddling with the dials. He wanted to find the team's radio channel; they'd been out of touch for awhile. "Anybody hear me?" He asked the airwaves.

"Got it." Dr. Toros said, and Oscar abandoned his task. Toros pointed at something on the screen. "They've been tampered with. If you manually reboot them, I can replace the original software."

Oscar nodded and quickly scanned the base's map. "You're staying here?"

Steve nodded. "I'll watch you through the cameras. If you run into any trouble I'll turn on the sprinklers."

"Thanks." Oscar said dryly. As he left, he checked the right pocket of his aviator jacket, wrapping his hand around the hilt of Polta's gun. He knew Steve wouldn't have approved, but what the good doctor didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

Dr. Toros turned back to the monitor, but was soon distracted by faint voices coming from the vid-phone. He scooted over and grinned when he caught sight of the Tigers team. "Hello, Fuzzy Pandas!" He said cheerily.

The three men looked at him in surprise, and Toros turned up the volume.

"There's been a change of plans. You now need to defend the guns, not destroy them."

"What?!" Kirkland yelped. He had just landed from Strike Laser Clawing the first pylon, and Mary had drawn back a fist to smash it.

"All three!?" squealed Omari as he stared out at the great distance between the towering structures. "We'll be spread too thin. I, for one, always need backup."

"Oscar and I are going to have control over them soon. It's a good thing you four were slow at your jobs."

Lineback glared at him, and Dr. Toros grinned back cheesily.

"Alright," gulped Kirkland. "Omari and Mary, stay here. Lineback, you cover the middle. I'll take the opposite side."

"We'll cover that one; though a sitting duck in King of the Hill has never appealed to me as good tactics." Jack Sisco interjected.

"Not his cup of tea," Chris said.

"Though, Jack doesn't drink tea," finished Kelly, she and the rest of the Lightning Saix's speeding towards the left side of the Crescent.

Kirkland and Lineback began their run too, their Zabrefangs lithe enough to avoid the groups of enemy Zoids. Kirkland's heart was beating fast, and he kept muttering to himself that this was just like the courses Leon and Bit had them run through—except for a few more bullets than he was comfortable with.

When the two teammates finally made it to the central gun, Kirkland immediately put his back to it and aimed his guns at the Stealth Vipers that listed around them. He laughed a little manically. "Why did they stop fighting back?"

"Scaredy-snakes!" Lineback shouted.

The force of Jack's glare through the comm-link shut them up. "Look."

They did. Every Zoid on the field had frozen in place, foes and friends alike turning their heads towards a pillar of smoke. It rose from the Bio Tyranno.

"It's over!"

Harry shouted gleefully. "We won!"

The self-proclaimed prince turned to his two robots who only blipped at him, which could have meant a lot of things. The swarm of Strikers, the sand-stingrays, still surrounded them, and he supposed that the enemy was calculating whether numbers were still on their side. Then he felt the ground shift.

"What is this?" He wondered, and the robots looked down at their feet, watching the sand spill as if they stood on a beach and a wave was rolling in. A divet in the ground grew longer, and the sand began to fall faster. It struck Harry suddenly. There was a door in the ground. "Move!"

His shout galvanized the trio and the horde of Strikers around them. Suddenly the air was filled with a stampede of Zoids fleeing the quickly disappearing ground. They were running up one massive door whose opening formed a slope that grew steeper every second. Over his shoulder he saw the same, a swarm of various Zoids clawing their way up a cliff face. Harry turned his attention forward in time to see Sebastian leap over the hinge and feel a Striker slam into his chest.

Time had run out—the earth had abandoned him. He grasped Benjamin who caught Sebastian's hand—the Iron Kong's arm the only thing keeping them from falling into the pit. They swung out over the void as the last few Strikers tumbled past them.

"I can't lift you," Sebastian said tearfully. "I'm slipping."

There was the grinding sound of metal, and Harry didn't know what awaited them below. If he had had no morals, he may have realized that he could climb his robot's Iron Kongs like a tree, though the scramble would likely push them over the edge.

Sebastian's Iron Kong slipped a few inches lower, and sand spilled around him. Harry looked at his two robots, whom he knew as friends and could read well despite their ambiguous metal faces. Both were terrified. "You won't have to lift us," Harry said soberly.

He let go, and he fell into soundless dark. He saw the sky framed by the awful doorway then hit metal. His Iron Kong landed on its side and he was wrenched left. His ribs cracked on his restraints and he blacked out.

Far above him, Mary screamed.

As she and the Tigers team watched Harry fall, a small Zoidian head broke the curtain of darkness, raising slowly over time on a long neck of armor as white as bone.

"Is that…" started Kirkland.

"…the Ultrasaurus." Jack finished.

Dr. Toros felt a stone fall into the pit of his stomach. "That's not possible in so short a time span."

The Ultrasaurus had risen to show the curvature of its spine, and with the emergence of the titan the enemy was revitalized. They turned with impassioned glee back into the battle.

How could Fuma have fixed the giant that quickly? She had so many cards. All he had were the guns...and Oscar…and Laon. Where was Laon? Not on the battlefield…

Knowing it could only mean one thing, Dr. Toros whirled back to the computer. He began bringing up the hundreds of video feeds, opening and flicking them away as he found them empty. With a cold feeling in his chest, either terror or hope, he thought Maybe Laon is in the Ultrasaurus.

"No." Then, with relief: "There you are." Laon's iconic dark overcoat wrapped around him as he lay on the ground…sleeping?

The walls around his friend looked dingy and cold, and he wasn't moving. Dr. Toros then knew with a certainty that someone had hurt his friend, and he abandoned Oscar's journey to blow up the footage from Laon's lone camera. He rewound, and when he caught a shock of blue hair moving quickly through the room he stopped and let the video play at normal speed.

It started in the middle of a conversation. Polta adjusted his mask and looked down on Laon, who was sitting, looking dirty and beaten down. Laon said, "I don't believe you."

Polta shrugged. "Believe what you want. The Liger Zero is finished." Laon turned his head away, his lip curling. "The CPC's worked much better today—Fuma knew you'd come to see it our way. And that's not even the best part!" He squatted down conspiratorially, whispering. "We found the armor."

Laon didn't react.

"You know," Polta continued, "the new Ultrasaurus armor you designed, and tried to hide from us." He grinned. "It's a fantastic set. I doubt the Bio Tyranno could have defeated the Ultrasaurus so easily if the ZBC had the time to switch the armor." He patted Laon on the shoulder, and Laon flinched. "To think—we would have used the ZBC's extra set! After Fuma exploited its weaknesses on national television! The Blitz team might have stood a chance." He laughed.

Polta rose, and from his pocket pulled the gun that he had later wielded against Steve and Oscar. He leveled it at Laon's head.

"Minutes ago we finished outfitting the Ultrasaurus. It's perfect. Unfortunately, that means you've outlived your usefulness. Any last words?"

Laon blinked once slowly. Took a deep breath and let it out. Then he turned to look into the camera and seemed to lock gazes with Dr. Toros. "My Whale King is still my finest work."

"Crazy old man," Polta said, and then killed him.

. . .

Bit tore through the battlefield in the Schneider, running straight for the hulk of the Ultrasaurus growing from the protective arms of the Crescent. The five blades in the Schneider's mane were thrust forward in the powerful Buster Slash attack; any Zoid that tried to head him off was ripped cleanly in half.

The comm-link was filled with his teammates. Jamie was rattling off various battle strategies that ranged from wild to impossible, Leon was shouting coordinates while trying to round up anyone available, and Mary was wailing. He turned them off.

"Are you ready, Liger?" His Zoid responded with a thrumming growl.

He reactivated the comm-link when they skidded to a halt in front of the Ultrasaurus as it rose the last few feet. The sturdy floor it stood on was littered with Strikers, and as Bit watched the floor locked into place with the groan of moving metal.

"Harry!" Benjamin shouted, pointing at a sparking Iron Kong amidst the rubble of Zoids. He and Sebastian immediately ran for their downed friend, scooping up the out of commission Zoid.

The Ultrasaurus let them scurry beneath it, then the head bent down until Bit could see the man inside the cockpit.

"Ehga." He said with acid, the Schneider roaring in unison.

Ehga shrieked, euphoric in his battle high. "Bit Cloud! How I Have Waited!"

. . .

Next time on Zoids:

"Bit Cloud. A part of me knew that this wouldn't be over until I'd faced Ehga and Negola too. Even without the Lady Fuma, the Fuma Team is something to be feared, and this time I don't have Koga to fight my battles for me. I'll face the second moon by blade or by foot. You ready, Liger? I am. Let's finish this. Next time on Zoids: The Miracle of New Century Zero. The end is only ever another beginning. Ready? Fight!"

Disclaimer: I do not own NC0.

I didn't realize this until I'd already done it, but in my desire to hint at S class teams and battles, I ended up introducing you to a few of their new rivals. In the S class, they deserve new rivals don't they? I think so. Jamie's is the Hurricanehawk. Brad's is the Command Wolf. Leena's is the Gun Blaster. And Bit's is the Buster Fury. But speaking of Vega…

I realize not everyone was pleased with the way I brought Vega in and out of the story. My intentions and the way it came across was completely different. Considering that Vega fainted in their last battle, I think it's pretty understandable that he wants to get stronger and better before he faces Bit again. However, he also doesn't care if Fuma wins or loses. Vega is just concerned about his future battle with Bit, and with winning that battle. And, boy, are they going to have some awesome battles and an epic rivalry over the next few years. That's the feeling I wanted to get across, so I apologize for not succeeding. The best Vega story I've ever read is called Consumed by randomcat23. (I didn't realize you'd written it randomcat23 until just now!) So, if anyone is feeling gypsied, I recommend it.

Also, since I did have plans for Vega, just not for this story, I'll be sure to focus drabbles on him in the epilogue portion.

Brad and Naomi deserved it their fighting scene, and while it wasn't detailed, I still thought it was great. Jamie was fun to write, as he always is. I deleted the written part of the Lightning Saix running up the vertical wall, it just never sounded good in words. Remember that they're epic.

Oscar and Steve are always fun, though their scenes were a mix of very difficult and very easy to write. They were pretty much the only important plotline in this whole chapter -_- In case it wasn't clear…well there was no way it was clear…but that energy that Polta accidentally activated is what reanimated the Ligers. In my head the ZBC have been trying to harness the power of the Zoid Eve. It's because of the secret Organoid Wars that have never been explained. It's a plotline that extends into season 3, the epilogue. Also, the pillar was a Tesla Coil.

Harry isn't dead. I thought it was pretty amazing how he would have given his life for Leena in the show's finale, but then they completely took away the seriousness of it. I surprised myself by bringing this back in another way. Harry would have died to protect his two robots. I think that's so honorable, and it's definitely in his character. However Harry may have annoyed me in the show, he is now redeemed in my eyes.

Laon is dead. Polta killed him and is definitely not a good guy anymore. He's the evil guy of season 3. I think it's still ambiguous just how good or evil Laon was, and I planned on explaining this chapter, but it just didn't fit. It's better explained at the beginning of the next chapter.

The Ultrasaurus is the true final battle. Maybe you expected it, maybe not. But it's going to be great. After running around seeing small battles between the other characters, we're going to get back to Bit and the Liger Zero and some epic. Also, some Brad, instead of Leon this time, because he deserves some epic hero too.

Reviews: Gojiralee, now Leerex, again, sorry for dismissing Vega. Definitely read Consumed if you haven't already. Also, thank you for PMing me and reminding me to keep true to my word of finishing this story. Player Zero, I'm very glad you enjoyed the BL scene, I thought it was great. I couldn't be happier. And yes, I too hope they stay unhurt through the last chapter. :) john doe, so happy about your glowing review, it makes me warm inside. I'm really glad you enjoyed the buildup for Bit and Leena, and that the brain scene creeped you out haha! I know this chapter could not have flowed as well as 24, but 26 will definitely live up to expectations. Guest, thank you so much, extremely nice review. I do try and go over my grammar as much as possible, and only leave 'and' and 'but' at the beginning of a sentence if absolutely necessary :P I'm always happy to have a reviewer who thinks I've done justice to the characters, and who enjoys a good BL smooch! Randomcat23, super glad you enjoyed Red Bull, and the Doc's shrine! I chuckled too when I wrote it, which just shows how crazy I am. I see now that you were interested to see what happened to Laon…sorry for killing him? Tell me what you think. Also, very glad the brain thing creeped you out too! And that you reread it haha.

So I think I need to close this off with an apology. I really have no excuse for saying one thing and then falling off the face of the earth. I can only hope that I haven't ruined the story with my long lapse, and that you all will find it in your hearts to forgive me, return, and read the ending. I also wish I could have returned with a chapter that I liked better, but unfortunately I can't. It's a little bit of a filler chapter, so I apologize for that too. I promise the next one is going to be good, I'm excited to write it. And I won't disappear this time. Anyone who has come back to read this chapter and gotten this far into the author's note, thank you.